The AirBnB urban farm experience in early June

On June 14th I exited the sustainable urban farm I had been staying at for the first two weeks of June, leaving the 55 year-old urban hippy and his 30-ish German partner and their 17 month old son behind and headed off to Blackheath Vipassana cente.

The urban farm was located in Pascoe Vale. Pretty conveniently located about 1km from a train station in one direction and a similar distance to a tram stop in another direction. The block of land the house is on is a pretty standard size for the area but is well crowded with items that provide sustenance to the family living there. With a trout pool in the front yard, fruit trees here and there, a vegie garden out the back, a chook pen in the backyard and a beehive, this homestead provides for the inhabitants in more ways than your average homestead.

The host, Paul, was a fairly interesting dude, with a bit of a hard edge. For example, there were a couple of French tourists in their 20's staying there as part of the Helpx (I think) program. Basically a work-exchange program where people can exchange four hours labour per day for food and board.  I had seen these guys doing some work around the place on the day I arrived, and had seen Paul take them out for a full 8 hours work with his mobile saw-mill operation. On the day in question I arose around 8:15 am and the guys were milling around in the kitchen while Paul finished his breakfast. About 20 minutes later I had returned to my room, Paul and the French tourists had just moved outside and were just outside the front door but I could hear most of what was being said. I overheard an  exchange between Paul and the French tourists that went something like:
Paul: "You know I'm sick of it!. You guys can go.  I want you out of here by tomorrow. You can have today for free but I want you gone tomorrow. You should have been working an hour ago and we get out here and you are looking at your phone!"

I never saw the French guys again. And Paul acted like nothing had happened. And I never asked what had happened.  Secrets

As I was an AirBnB guest who had already paid for the time I was spending there I wasn't worried about being kicked out. But the incident left a little of a sour taste. Neither of the French guys had particularly strong English language skills. But they were pleasant and smiled a lot.

Paul had recently purchased a Lucas mobile saw mill and had advertised a little on the gumtree website. And he had started to make friends with council arborists. The mobile saw mill gives the councils another option with respect to trees that have either fallen over or have to be taken out. Currently they feed the trees into a wood-chipper for mulch or chop them up for firewood. With the mobile saw mill they have the ability to get Paul in and convert the tree into more valuable lumber.

The renovations in the home were not your standard renovations. With parts of the kitchen bench area being provided by some the trees that Paul had milled.  There was a pellet fed stove/oven in the kitchen that was hooked up to provide wetback warmed water to heaters in the bedrooms. And a couple of rooms had been retrofitted straw bale insulation style. The walls reminded me of a cave. All curvy and hard.

The bedroom I was in had a "New York loft" style bed. In other words, the bed could be pulled up to the roof via a motorized system.  But it was inconvenient to a large extent as it made accessing the computer desk to feel like being in a low cave. A bit claustrophobic if you were going to spend any length of time on the laptop.

Overall an interesting experience.