this was an extremely insightful read into the challenges and joys of co-living. It is absolutely fascinating that someone took the time to make this happen - it creates so much hope! Thank you for sharing ☺️
One of my favorites. Thank you for sharing! Living like this is a dream for me and so many of my friends, and seeing real examples of people actually doing it always helps move the needle.
Interested in your “worker bee” days. Is that an Australian term with a definition or something of your own invention? Was that something volunteers did from a moral point of view or was it rewarded in any way?
Hi Sarah, great question. In Australia "working bees" is a pretty common term referring to a work party, or 'blitz', where a group of people come together to help someone with a garden or building project. Often theres an informal swap culture: eg. we all have a working bee in Laurens garden, then next week we all help out in Tom's garden, as a sort of indirect exchange or "pay it forward". Or sometimes its just purely a gift offered for the joy of contributing, learning and being part of a worthy cause.
In terms of the hempcrete working bees, it was a learning exchange. In exchange for volunteering labour, folks learned the theory, process and hands-on skills of how to build with hempcrete, and also received food and board.
We had "paid it foward" by volunteering on other people's house builds in the past, and so were grateful to receive help when it came time for our build.
"We had decided to build the hempcrete part of the house ourselves over 5 weeks of working bees and the help of many wonderful friends and natural building enthusiasts."
The Hemp aspect was actually coordinated by Will Brain of Hempcrete Victoria with ths use of our inhouse labour alongside volunteers, and around one year of consultancy and advice on detailing in pre-construction.
Wow, what a great read. Thanks Nicola! An exciting, rich project and reading about it fully teared me up by the end. Bravo you and Dan for taking on the huge leap to make it happen ♥️
this was an extremely insightful read into the challenges and joys of co-living. It is absolutely fascinating that someone took the time to make this happen - it creates so much hope! Thank you for sharing ☺️
Thanks for your kind supportive words Madhura! :)
One of my favorites. Thank you for sharing! Living like this is a dream for me and so many of my friends, and seeing real examples of people actually doing it always helps move the needle.
Thanks Kendall! Im glad to hear it was inspiring for you despite all the bumps we had along the road!
Interested in your “worker bee” days. Is that an Australian term with a definition or something of your own invention? Was that something volunteers did from a moral point of view or was it rewarded in any way?
Hi Sarah, great question. In Australia "working bees" is a pretty common term referring to a work party, or 'blitz', where a group of people come together to help someone with a garden or building project. Often theres an informal swap culture: eg. we all have a working bee in Laurens garden, then next week we all help out in Tom's garden, as a sort of indirect exchange or "pay it forward". Or sometimes its just purely a gift offered for the joy of contributing, learning and being part of a worthy cause.
In terms of the hempcrete working bees, it was a learning exchange. In exchange for volunteering labour, folks learned the theory, process and hands-on skills of how to build with hempcrete, and also received food and board.
We had "paid it foward" by volunteering on other people's house builds in the past, and so were grateful to receive help when it came time for our build.
Thanks! That’s a beautiful model.
"We had decided to build the hempcrete part of the house ourselves over 5 weeks of working bees and the help of many wonderful friends and natural building enthusiasts."
The Hemp aspect was actually coordinated by Will Brain of Hempcrete Victoria with ths use of our inhouse labour alongside volunteers, and around one year of consultancy and advice on detailing in pre-construction.
Wow, what a great read. Thanks Nicola! An exciting, rich project and reading about it fully teared me up by the end. Bravo you and Dan for taking on the huge leap to make it happen ♥️