Earlwood Farm is the lovechild of Craig Johnson and Jennifer Hamilton. We are embarking on a life together and we want to find a new way of making home and building a sustainable life in a rental property in Sydney. There are a few significant obstacles to living sustainably while renting, simply because the house and land is not yours and therefore you can’t just install solar panels or construct an underground grey water management system. Also, sustainable living requires mindfulness, care and both emotional and financial investment. And there is always the risk that you will be booted off the property if rent prices become too high or if the landlady decides to sell. But we are going to make a share home and domestic urban farm. We have a hypothesis that you can build this kind of life in a rental property. This is our living experiment and we hope not to disprove the possibility. We will record our findings here.
The seeds for this experiment have been planted both metaphorically and literally. We have signed a lease and we have sowed the first crop: Okra, Silverbeet, Watermelon, Basil, Mustard Greens, Jalepenos, Lettuce and Rocket.