Guidelines, description and expectations
Equanimity Foundation is based on a mini city-farm 10 klms south of the CBD, walking and cycling distance from major retailers and convenient transport. I am a professional English Language Teacher turned community and sustainability advocate who has travelled and lived abroad. I built this replica Queenslander in 2011 with all the sustainable features re power and water, etc.. I’m committed to removing my assets from the debt-based money system as much as possible, whilst maintaining a high quality of life. Although I advocate Voluntary Simplicity and have down-shifted in some ways, I reject the mentality of poverty and scarcity and am grateful for a quality of life that many are deprived of.
The garden is well established; mainly fruit trees, veges, herbs, nuts and chickens. I’m committed to organic permaculture and am still learning. Accommodation is clean, tidy and comfortable with self-catering kitchen, sharing with two others downstairs and me upstairs. I have a separate living area, but will regard you as part of the household, combining meals & outings sometimes. It’s a household that provides the privacy we need to be sexual beings (gay/bi/unmarried).
Long term guests pay rent in advance which gives you exclusive use of some private space and shared use of other space and facilities. Fresh food is available in the garden to those who grow it. The more it is worked, the more it produces. Further details can be found here. Where there is a perceived need to monitor, tenants can use the TemptyTrust system to deduct consumption of garden produce from their (alternative currency LETS) account.
A tenancy agreement contract document is available to interested prospective tenants. Please enquire here.
Regarding short term HelpXers and Woofers, I am usually only looking for one guest at a time. I welcome short-term Guests (2 weeks) occasionally, when there are a series of fairly repetitious tasks to do, such as spring cleaning or harvesting. Short-term Guests need not be fluent in English. However, longer-term visitors should be fluent in English because the tasks here are varied and complex; work includes taking responsibility for production of food and plants, various aspects of tending and maintaining the garden & property and a few, shared house-hold chores in your area.
The Helpx terms of agreement are; 5~6 hours p/day with two days p/week off… I provide some meals, and for those meals you arrange for yourself, or better still, for the me/&/or the household, time can be deducted from work hours. This is something we can discuss in detail as it may change from day to day, or it may be regular. I try to eat mainly veges, but they’re high prep food so I get tired of doing it myself. Therefore, I like to have ‘escape clauses’ (;>) such as; eating out or takeaway (I pay the first $8, you make up the rest); you cook a meal (lunch/dinner) from the kitchen and take half an hour off work (1 hour if it’s your food or if you’re preparing for me & others in the house as well – sometimes one other HelpXer). Breakfast is usually simple, sometimes together, sometimes DIY. Note, I’m not in the right post code zone to help with 2nd Working Holiday Visas, sorry; you have to get out into the countryside for that. Please check the post codes listed on the Immigration Department’s website. http://www.immi.gov.au/visitors/working-holiday/417/postcodes.htm
Equanimity 