Where to begin! I have left Joe’s with a bounty of botanic information, quirky media recommendations and beautiful memories of family meals, silly jokes and sincere conversations. Each day was filled with variety but always commenced with the quack of ducks and good, hearty coffee. Days were spent propagating hard wood cuttings and rootstocks, weeding whilst learning the medicinal/ edible qualities of weeds, dehydrating fruits, potting, re-potting, pruning and planting! We went on many a great excursion to other gardens, community events, mushroom picking, farmers markets and the Barossa Wine Region. Joe and Andrew hosted wonderful in-depth workshops upon propagation and grafting. They are in a league of their own and so happy to share their knowledge. I have never tasted such divine fruits and vegetables and I was there in Winter! So happy to have seen the Springtime blossoms, the gardens are a beautiful, visual display of care, patience and love. So grateful for Joes energetic optimism, Andrews avant-garde zany zest, Rosanne’s fascinating insights and stories, Sno’s lovely compassion and gorgeous cooking and Rebekah’s wonderful, enlightening attitude. Thank you from the bottom of my heart! ╰(*´︶`*)╯♡ (Writing from my bus seat ;p)

I stayed at Joe's connective gardens for around a month. There was always plenty to do and and a verity in the work. Some of the task I was involved in ; Fig & grape pruning, strawberry planting, building a greenhouse, learnt about grafting, repotting , weeding and composting. There is always something to do! This is a great opportunity for learning. The gardens are not only connected to each other but to the wider community. They play an active role in education whether this is children or adults. This is very different to your typical WWOOFing experience. You are located within a housing estate and to see what can be achieved is really interesting Joe and Andrew are very knowledgeable about the work they do and are keen to share their knowledge . I also got to go out to D'Annies Arid Rural Farm: Joe's Connected Garden at Bower, you can find them on Facebook. This is truly out in the bush. This was quite a special and unique experience, cold at times!!! They are completely off grid and are building soil brick houses. I also got to visit Adelaide, affecting farm and wineries. A unique and interesting experience!

I stayed at Joe's connected garden for two weeks and I really enjoyed it! I loved the intentions behind the gardens and the community building within the Adelaide suburbs. Joe was kind enough to take me to several places during my stay The beach, the local market, the Adelaide hills and many more! I appreciated this as it meant my experience was well rounded and more integrated with Southern Australian living. I enjoyed the work too. It felt meaningful and gave me a useful basic gardening skillset which I never had before. I'd liked to have stayed longer too but alas I had my transport booked already. Nevertheless, best of luck with the open garden Joe, hoping it all goes smoothly 🙂

I am a young woman who went to this wwoof alone coming from the US, having never been to Australia before. I think that if it hadn't been for the other volunteers at the garden at the time, I wouldn't have felt comfortable staying by myself. There was just a lot of miscommunication and disorganization. This place has really good intentions, and if you are willing to go there and help them do a lot of organizing, then I would say go for it, but if you are a single person going to your first wwoof, this might not be the place for you.

We are two girls from Germany and can totally recommend Joes connected Garden. We felt very comfortable right away. We had our own room with bathroom, which was really great. The work was also always fun and varied. We worked with different people and had different tasks to do. On Sundays we had free time and went to Adelaide by bus. Joe, John and generally all the people from the garden are really very nice. We ate at John's and it was excellent every time. Thanks again for the recipes 😉 Cheers Lilly and Chiara

I stayed 10 days at Joe's Connected Garten. It's a great place, if you want to learn more about permaculture and agriculture. Joe explained a lot and talked a lot about gardening, which was interesting an he also took me into town, so I could spent one full day in Adelaide. He is a hard working man and sometimes forgets the time or the hours of work. John took care of me very well. He showed me a lot of cooking and baking tricks (his Baklava is unbelievable good!) and I always enjoyed his company, though I sometimes talked with him for hours! He also took me to very nice places such as Gorge Wildlife Park and we had a fantastic day there. John and Joe are both very kind and caring souls. Thank you for having me and all the best!

Spending a few weeks at Joes connected Garden was the highlight of my trip to Australia. It was an incredible opportunity and learn from a brilliant and eclectic cast of characters. Joe, Andrew, Rosanne, and John made me feel right at home. John's home-cooking is spectacular and I was often over served (you'll never go hungry). Throughout working around the gardens, everyone enjoys taking plenty of time for teaching moments. In my time at Joes, I learned heaps about permaculture, organic farming practices, self sufficiency, community building, and the power of food. Even in the winter, I was able to try a number of fruits totally foreign to me. ZI loved being able to grab a navel orange or guava right off the tree anytime I needed a snack. In the end, I can't recommend this place enough. Special place with very special people.

Joe's connected garden has been a marvalous experience! Joe, John, Andrew and Rosanne are all interesting intelligent people who have taught me so much in the short week of being here. With such a large community around them I've almost met new fasinating people every day. I've learnt how to prune and propigate fruit trees, mulch, and make bio char. It's overwhelming how much is going on there, but in the best way, there are so many nooks and crannys across their properties I haven't stopped discovering things. My stay has been short but I have felt very at home here with everyone, the kind and generous nature of everyone here has been incredible, I can't thank them enough. John has been cooking me fantastic meals 3 times a day with a lot of variety and flavour using foods from the garden too!

We stayed at the connected garden for 11 days and can highly recommend this place. Joe, John, Andrew and Rosanne took us in with open arms and made us feel really welcome. During our stay we worked for 4-6 hours a day. It was good working hours and it was really nice work. We repotted plants, netted fruit trees, made jam, pruning and some weeding. Joe also wanted it to be focused on learning and not only working, which was great. We learned a lot about gardening, and tasted a lot of different fruits that was grown in the garden. The food made by John was great, actually some of the best we’ve had. John also was really helpful taking us around and took us to a really nice trip to a wild life sanctuary. Joe took us to a wine yard with great wines that we tasted, and a nursery so we could see how it worked. We also got invited to a barbecue, where we met a lot of people that was helping out in the garden and all was really friendly.The accommodation was nice, with a lot of space. The garden also has ducks and Andrews place have chickens and ducks+ducklings as well as two cute cats. We really recommend this place and would love to come back sometime. It was a really nice experience, and thank you again for having us. Best regards Sofie & Andreas 🙂

Response

It was lovely having you here with us and you are always welcome back. Our first time as hosts so good to know it all went well from your point of view. Rosanne