We bought our property in 2014 and had always intended to live sustainably. Our goal was to create a self-sufficient lifestyle; grow our own food, collect our own honey, milk our own goats, provide our own water and power and make an income from home.
It was a natural step that when we started our business ReWild we’d do it sustainably and ethically.
What is Sustainable?
One definition of sustainable is “able to be maintained at a certain rate or level”. So literally keeping things the same…not making them worse.
To me Sustainable is not enough. We aim to operate in a Reparative way.
We are repairing the land here at 3 Wishes Farm. It was once completely cleared to harvest timber and then pastured for grazing. For over 50 years there has been a substantial natural rewilding of the property. Many species of Flora and Fauna have naturally regenerated and returned and we want to continue that and give it a helping hand.
Our environmental and social operation ethics include:
Repair and Regenerate the land
· Removing environmental weeds without chemicals is an ongoing project
· Replanting native species. So far (in four years), we have planted over 500 native trees and shrubs
· Renovate and repair old farm building
Renewable power
· Our hot water is solar heated
· All lights in our camping area are rechargeable solar lights
· We intend to purchase enough solar panels to produce enough energy for the whole property
Sustainability
· We limit workshop places and the number of workshops we hold each year because we want this to remain a beautiful and pristine environment. We don’t want a bare dirt camp ground that is over-used. We don’t want to deplete our resources of bush foods or fibre plants.
· We have composting toilets: your poo gets composted, buried for 12 months and then used as compost on our trees
· Use on-farm resources for workshops ie. Growing organic food for meals, planting native bush foods and fibre plants
· Re-use. Our camp kitchen was built from reclaimed, recycled and refurbished wood all sourced on the property…every old nail was hand pulled out and every board sanded and finished
Ethical
· Our toilet paper is recycled
· Our detergent is eco-friendly and biodegradable
· The printing paper we use is recyclable and carbon neutral
· We try to ensure any products we sell are sourced ethically, have limited plastic packaging and/ or are recyclable were applicable.
Environmental
· Platypus live here! So our policies about river use are strict. People are free to swim but we ask you not to use detergents, soaps, shampoo in the river or apply sunscreen immediately before swimming.
· Save water! It’s precious here in this big dry country. We use rain water and when that runs out we use river water. We don’t want to deplete the river so please use water sparingly
· Every adult who attends a workshop can ask to plant a tree to off-set their emissions and make their visit carbon-neutral
Community and Social
· Each school holiday program and family program that we run we offer a free scholarship so a low-income family can participate
· We aim to provide community education and employ local young people
We are not totally sustainable or ethical yet but all we can do is our best.
We always strive to protect the planet and sustain it. To help and improve it where we can and to add good vibrations to our community, the children and the adults we connect with.
