Opportunities to work at Carmyllie
There are opportunities to work at Carmyllie from time to time. Up to now we have employed people who have started by WWOOFing with us for a period - so we get to know them and their capacities. It is important to understand that this transition is not common - only 6 out of more than 160 so far!
However, in future, work that we have had completed by forestry contractors in the past ... we want to do ourselves. That will involve a fairly constant stream of silvicultural work - planting, pruning, record keeping. And there is also farm construction work as we develop the farm.
If you are a WWOOFer, we would prefer you have some farming or forestry background - or, at least, the capacity to work as hard and as well as those who have become paid workers in the past.
If you are not a WWOOFer and are interested in working at Carmyllie - please get in touch. Just be aware that opportunities are limited and that a real interest in Permaculture or regenerative agriculture and applying it at a farm / forest scale is essential.
The 3 photos below show the practicality of the effort required. The job was clearing our southern boundary and building a new fence.
This is the 'before' shot. Gorse standing up to 3 metres high on the government road that abuts our southern boundary. It had gradually spread across our fenceline and completely hidden the old fence.
This is the 'during' shot. Our employee (with his marvellous WWOOFer helper) has cut down the gorse (including for 3 metres on the government's side). They have dragged it away and across the old fence - which is now visible. They still have to drag it under the pine trees where it will rot away.
And this is the 'after shot'. The old fence has been removed and a new fence built. This all happened in less than a month - and a lot of other things got done in the same period!
Sharing
Carmyllie is a big place and there are more opportunities to 'stack' crops than the Holdaway family can ever exploit. We are also aware that, particularly for young people, access to land is often a significant barrier to realising dreams.
We are therefore open to proposals to land share at Carmyllie. We would imagine that most often such arrangements would take the form of us providing access to an agreed area of land for an agricultural purpose of some kind - in return for either a share of the crop or for assistance with some other task. We also have certain equipment in the way of tractors and implements that could be part of the sharing.
As of the start of 2023 we have two land sharers operating at Carmyllie. Buck runs a CSA called Ethical Swine that has about 60 pigs in part of our forest. Mark and Trudi run Ballarat Firewood extracting blue gum firewood.
We are still open to other land sharers. If this could be of interest please visit, or even better, think about WWOOFing for a few days and getting to know the place. Then tell us what you would like to do.