“Thriving –  Keeping you on the land”

For those interested in making their rural property financially sustainable.

About the Workshop

There are hundreds of ways to make an income from your property and sustaining your dream into the future. Its critical to make sure your property is financially sustainable into the future and not draining your resources. It’s critical to be able to stay on the land rather than get sucked back into the city to earn a dollar, removing you from your dream and taking energy from you and your community.  It’s important to work out the best ways for you to make an income. Ways that suit your skills, knowledge, income requirements, physical capabilities, market demand and life balance.

During this workshop we explore the many variables and considerations for income generation from your property and resources.  Whether you have already selected your property, living on your property or not yet started looking for a property this workshop is invaluable in providing you with some fundamental considerations, ideas and methods to ensure you maintain a right livelihood so your dream lifestyle will keep you on the land and sustain you into the future.

Workshop Outcomes

This workshop will underscore the importance of generating an income by illustrating a variety of income streams and by enhancing awareness of the skill set and personal attributes required to make an income in a rural environment.

At the end of the day, you will have new ideas about making an income; a greater understanding of possibilities and limitations for enterprise income streams; and the inspiration and confidence to get them going – planning for and future-proofing your property.

Workshop Program

• The importance of income on a rural property, how much income you will need
• Ideas for enterprises and ways to generate income sustainably from the land
• Utilising the resources on the land
• Skills and attributes you need, where and how to get them
• Capitalizing on your equipment, skills and knowledge base
• Possible threats and challenges of your activities
• Legal and tax considerations
• Networking
• Marketing and promotion
• Community enterprises and co-operatives
• Alternatives to the cash economy
• Sourcing labor in and outside the community
• Equipment, resources, sourcing labour, funding grants;
• Business set up

About the trainers: Sherri McMahon and Ingrid Cullen

Sherri and Ingrid are farmers in the historic valley of St Albans. They manage their own farm business “She-Ing Farm” from which they make a livelihood and sustain themselves financially. Since purchasing their rural property in 1997, Sherri and Ingrid have subsequently regenerated the land from scratch turning it from a sandy, degenerated unproductive site to a highly productive, diverse, and sustainable property. Sherri and Ingrid built their own house, and have self developed their property into an excellent demonstration site for a productive working farm. They grow their own produce; sell produce; farm and slaughter their own livestock (including cattle, sheep and poultry); log and mill their own timber; and farm in a humane and sustainable way. They also have a successful farm maintenance business. “The Girls” as they are known in the valley are highly respected in their community with active roles  in the Rural Fire Brigade, the St Albans Common Trust and a range of other community activities. They are both extremely capable and highly skilled rural women who have extensive and in depth knowledge of all aspects of rural property management and who provide excellent leadership examples of sustainable, self-reliant and resilient living. The girls are passionate to extend and improve their property using a range of principles and techniques drawn from permaculture, organic and sustainable farming practices.   They are also passionate to share the knowledge they have gained to help others find and develop sustainable farm practices.

Sherri McMahon
Sherri provides a no nonsense insight into the workings of a rural property and will help all participants understand what they need to know to run a successful rural property in a sustainable way. Sherri has a certificate 2 and 3 in Agriculture from the Hunter Institute as well a several other awards and agricultural training certificates. Sherri grew up on her family’s traditional 1500 acre mixed production farm, running 200 sheep, cattle and crops in the Snowy Mountains area and was very much part of the farm team.    She left the family farm to undertake a Bachelor of Visual Arts at Canberra University, and after graduation joined the Federal Police as a photographer, rising to become a senior investigator.  She then travelled extensively through her work, including heading the Vulnerable Persons Unit in the UN peace-keeping mission in East Timor in 2001. She was an Australian champion in athletics and power lifting.

Ingrid Cullen
Ingrid has organic gardening genes in her DNA. She comes from a family of organic gardeners and farmers from Lorne in Northern NSW and her enormous repertoire of rural skills and knowledge are largely a product of her upbringing on the family’s diverse 100 acre farm. Ingrid went on to a Visual Arts Degree at Sydney College of the Arts and has a Certificate 2 and 3 in Agriculture as well as accreditation in the area of fitness, wellness, and massage. She too was a serial competitor and Australian champion in power lifting and rowing.  For many years Ingrid worked as a personal fitness and wellness trainer in community gyms and not for profit organizations. She specialised in working with people with HIV-AIDS and was awarded the World AIDS Day award for her work.

Some LETS accepted. 10% discount for PSI members (if you have completed a PSI workshop in the last 12 months)

 

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