Neko-chan
Lovin' The Homestead
I know there's gotta be at least three of us. Anyone else lurking who wants to own up? 
Australia Fair
- Thread starter Neko-chan
- Start date
Well, it seems it's been a while since you started this thread and no-one's replied. So...
My name's Rachel and I'm from the Adelaide Hills, in South Australia. Naturally one of the first things I did on this forum was to go through the "Where Am I - Where Are You?" section and look for other Australians...
My name's Rachel and I'm from the Adelaide Hills, in South Australia. Naturally one of the first things I did on this forum was to go through the "Where Am I - Where Are You?" section and look for other Australians...
... and then I went to look for a "New Member Introductions" section and couldn't find one, so I'm back again to introduce myself.
As I said, my name's Rachel (as you probably guessed from my username) and I'm sixteen years old. I live in the Adelaide Hills, arguably the best part of Australia, with my parents and thirteen-year-old sister. Both of my parents grew up in the country (my mother was born in Sea Lake, Victoria, but moved to Moe when she was about seven and then to Port Augusta, in South Australia, when she was sixteen; my father is originally from the New Forest in England and moved to Australia in 1989) but I spent the first fourteen years of my life living in the city (Adelaide).
My father's very big on green living and we've always been as sustainable as possible even in the city. I think we were the first private home in Adelaide to get solar panels, in late 2000, and we've kept a small flock of laying hens since 1998. We grew a lot of our own fruit and vegetables in the city.
About two years ago we moved from the city into the Hills. Although the Hills isn't usually considered rural, I would consider my area to be. At one acre, our block is less than one-third the size of the second-smalled property on the street... and my mother gets facebook messages from the General Store in the next town asking who belongs to the alpacas who turned up at the shop that morning (okay, so that only happened once).
We're working on getting our small piece of land mostly self-sufficient. My father has several vegetables gardens growing, although the soil was very clay-y so it will take a while, and he has planted a number of fruit trees. He has expanded his flock of chickens to almost twice the size and I have started my own. He sells the surplus eggs from his flock and I intend to sell both the eggs and some chicks from mine - his are only hens but mine are mixed as I have a couple of roosters. Any male chicks I hatch will also be eaten (sorry I can't put it more delicately!), which my father thinks is a good idea as meat is quite expensive.
My sister keeps ducks and rabbits mostly as pets but my father wants to start breeding both for meat, which my sister isn't too keen on. We're also planning on getting some larger animals, some sheep and a piglet. My father wants to get a goat but my mother and I are a bit apprehensive about it eating through everything!
My father belongs to several Sustainable Communities/ Transition Towns groups - two up in the Hills and one down in the city where we used to live. The one down in the city as a market once a month which we sell produce at - mostly fruit, vegetables, and eggs, although my sister sells handmade handbacks and I sell crocheted rag-rug-oven-mitts, among other things - it depends what scraps I have and what I've been working on making! Once my flock gets going, I'll sell eggs and chickens there, too. One of the groups in the Hills is going to start a market soon, too. If anyone doesn't know, Sustainable Communities and Transition Towns are both community groups wherein people keen on green/sustainable living can get together, talk, and share ideas and produce.
I do my school with the Open Access College - basically South Australia's high school version of SOTA (School of the Air). My sister will be starting with OAC as of next week, too. OAC is correspondence, mostly over the internet and teleconferencing - as it's connected to Port Augusta SOTA, we get a lot of kids on stations in the middle of the Outback somewhere! I'm in Year 11 and studying English, German, French, AUSLAN (Australian Sign Language), Spanish, and Childcare. Once I've finished Year 12, I hope to become a governess (maybe) and continue studying through the Australian Correspondence School (which is more like a university now). They offer some interesting courses, including Certificates in "Home Poultry Production" and "Alternative Farming" and an Advanced Diploma in "Alternative Agriculture"!
Well, this is a very long introduction, so if anyone does read this, I apologise for blabbering on and on like this!
from Rachel.
As I said, my name's Rachel (as you probably guessed from my username) and I'm sixteen years old. I live in the Adelaide Hills, arguably the best part of Australia, with my parents and thirteen-year-old sister. Both of my parents grew up in the country (my mother was born in Sea Lake, Victoria, but moved to Moe when she was about seven and then to Port Augusta, in South Australia, when she was sixteen; my father is originally from the New Forest in England and moved to Australia in 1989) but I spent the first fourteen years of my life living in the city (Adelaide).
My father's very big on green living and we've always been as sustainable as possible even in the city. I think we were the first private home in Adelaide to get solar panels, in late 2000, and we've kept a small flock of laying hens since 1998. We grew a lot of our own fruit and vegetables in the city.
About two years ago we moved from the city into the Hills. Although the Hills isn't usually considered rural, I would consider my area to be. At one acre, our block is less than one-third the size of the second-smalled property on the street... and my mother gets facebook messages from the General Store in the next town asking who belongs to the alpacas who turned up at the shop that morning (okay, so that only happened once).
We're working on getting our small piece of land mostly self-sufficient. My father has several vegetables gardens growing, although the soil was very clay-y so it will take a while, and he has planted a number of fruit trees. He has expanded his flock of chickens to almost twice the size and I have started my own. He sells the surplus eggs from his flock and I intend to sell both the eggs and some chicks from mine - his are only hens but mine are mixed as I have a couple of roosters. Any male chicks I hatch will also be eaten (sorry I can't put it more delicately!), which my father thinks is a good idea as meat is quite expensive.
My sister keeps ducks and rabbits mostly as pets but my father wants to start breeding both for meat, which my sister isn't too keen on. We're also planning on getting some larger animals, some sheep and a piglet. My father wants to get a goat but my mother and I are a bit apprehensive about it eating through everything!
My father belongs to several Sustainable Communities/ Transition Towns groups - two up in the Hills and one down in the city where we used to live. The one down in the city as a market once a month which we sell produce at - mostly fruit, vegetables, and eggs, although my sister sells handmade handbacks and I sell crocheted rag-rug-oven-mitts, among other things - it depends what scraps I have and what I've been working on making! Once my flock gets going, I'll sell eggs and chickens there, too. One of the groups in the Hills is going to start a market soon, too. If anyone doesn't know, Sustainable Communities and Transition Towns are both community groups wherein people keen on green/sustainable living can get together, talk, and share ideas and produce.
I do my school with the Open Access College - basically South Australia's high school version of SOTA (School of the Air). My sister will be starting with OAC as of next week, too. OAC is correspondence, mostly over the internet and teleconferencing - as it's connected to Port Augusta SOTA, we get a lot of kids on stations in the middle of the Outback somewhere! I'm in Year 11 and studying English, German, French, AUSLAN (Australian Sign Language), Spanish, and Childcare. Once I've finished Year 12, I hope to become a governess (maybe) and continue studying through the Australian Correspondence School (which is more like a university now). They offer some interesting courses, including Certificates in "Home Poultry Production" and "Alternative Farming" and an Advanced Diploma in "Alternative Agriculture"!
Well, this is a very long introduction, so if anyone does read this, I apologise for blabbering on and on like this!
from Rachel.
Denim Deb
More Precious than Rubies
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Sounds very interesting. Have you made it to the journal section yet? I'd love to hear more about what all you're doing. And, I'd like to hear more about your sustainable communities, what they are, how they work, etc.
BarredBuff
El Presidente de Pollo
Ya'll sound pretty interesting!! I am a young'un as well
But I am all the way up in the Eastern United States.
snapshot
Farmwife
Welcome Rachel! I look forward to hearing more about your family and community!!!!!
Dawn419
Almost Self-Reliant
Hello and Welcome to the forum!
Wannabefree
Little Miss Sunshine
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Rachel! Sounds like you have an interesting life I like that you're getting a good education and sound very motivated to continue toward something it sounds as if you love. Not many folks can say that at your age...er any age for that matter. I think it's great you have animals and realize they aren't just for use as pets as well. You really sound like you have a good head on your shoulders, and I look forward to getting to know you better and sharing ideas!!
Wannabefree
Little Miss Sunshine
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Rachel, you should start a journal in the journal section No problem on the hijacking, this was an old old thread anyway, and the OP is really nice. I don't think she will mind
No problem on the hijacking, this was an old old thread anyway, and the OP is really nice. I don't think she will mind 
