Page 15 - C.A.L.L. #23 - Spring 2004
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Living in the house of Wheels AUSTRALIA
Why on earth would any Food Living Together
suburban Adelaide household In summer they grow much of their The chores are shared on a
need 20 bikes? 9 buckets in the own food but in the other seasons roster as well as the shopping and
bathroom? An oven in the back they shop at the Central Markets. the finances are looked after by a
garden? To save the earth, that's They grow their plants organically different member of the household
why! which means using natural each month. The people there have
fertiliser, a compost heap, no found it much cheaper than living in
One Saturday Suzy, Isabel, Ewa pesticides, and lawn clippings for an average household. There are
mulch. They also have chooks in
many advantages living in a shared
and Anna visited an alternative their backyard, but these are the household apart from the cost.
household in the Adelaide suburb only pets they allow, because they Because there are many people
of Blackforest. We wanted to find are against keeping carnivorous living there, it is a very supportive
out about their more animals that are not native to environment. They have meetings
environmentally friendly way of Australia. They are also a every fortnight to discuss new
living. We easily recognized the vegetarian household but their ideas for the household and how
house due to the amount of dogs and cats eat meat. they are getting.
greenery surrounding it and the
rainbow painted on the fence! SELI HOO POPULATION: 7 adults & 2 children
31 Addison Rd SIZE: 0.1 ha
The house had a pleasant Black Forest VISITORS: Day visit by arrangement.
atmosphere and the people were S A 5035 No dogs or cats.
happy and friendly and made us
feel welcome. COMMUNITY AIMS: Co-operative living - one roof, one kitchen
table, but nine purses.
Green, cheap, relaxed lifestyle, car free, creative
The household consisted of 7 entertainment, no TV, instead we socialise, have games, read,
adults ( Annie, Sandor, Pat, Dana, go out, sing, have international nights. Organic gardening.
Helen, Peter and Ashley ) and a Vegetarian. part time work. Active in environmental, solidarity
and local community groups.
nine year old child ( Petra . Petra
)
has lived at the house part-time ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: Seli Hoo is an urban community
( her parents are separated since household which started in 1978. Our aims and the way we do
)
she was 2 and enjoys having many things are gradually changing as new people join, as we
supportive adults living with her. become more aware of issues and as good ideas come into our
The household is very close and heads.
the occupants live together
harmoniously.
Water As well as these meetings the
Energy For water they have a large people do much together so they
As a household that tries to use rainwater tank which they use for don't have to spend as much on
technologies that don't harm the most drinking water. To save water entertainment. The chores are
environment, we were interested in they recycle the washing water and shared equally regardless of sex
what sort of energy they rely on. shower water ( which is why there so there's a lot more sexual
are so many buckets in the equality than in most households.
They actually use a number of bathroom! ) . The recycled water is
used for flushing the toilet and
different kinds of energy for watering the garden in summer. The Future
different purposes. They use Our final question was regarding
electricity from solar cells which their plans for the future. They said
they have built on the roof for The household does not have a that one day they would like to
pumping water through the solar car because of the damage cars completely switch off the main
hot water system. They also have do to the environment. Instead they power and rely entirely on solar
mains electricity but use it as little use public transport and bikes. power and other alternative
as possible. Because they live near the city energy.
they can even ride in to do their
Gas they use for cooking and for shopping and they have developed Some friends of the household
their own special trolley that can
hot water, ( when there is not be joined to the end of a bike so might be moving in next door and
enough sunlight for the solar hot they don't need a car for the then they would be able to expand
water to function ) . They also use shopping. The household has 20 the household into a larger
solar power for cooking ( they bikes!!! commune with two shared
have an outdoor solar cooker environmentally friendly houses.
which they built themselves ) .
You can contact Sandor Horvath at Seli Hoo using the email address: sandor.horvath@unisa.edu.au
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