Nundle local Rachel Webster is among a growing group of homesteaders forging stronger ties within their communities by bartering homemade goods and services.
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"We've been forced to evolve with the times off the back of COVID," Ms Webster said.
"People are starting to want to reconnect and learn some of the skills that we're teaching here.
"But also to just get back out into the community and find ways to save money in case anything happens again where we are at home and having to grow our own food."
Ms Webster co-owns Oakenville Farm Store in the heart of Nundle with her husband Jeff 'Gibbo' Gibson, where they also sell homemade goods and conduct workshops on 'off grid' living.
Every so often the family business holds a market at the front of their shop, trading goods and services with their friends and neighbours to keep the tight-knit fabric of their community strong.
"I trade with my friend who has cows and she gives me raw fresh milk in exchange for something else," Ms Webster said.
"So I might do a free maths tutoring session [for her children] or it could be something random like a songwriting lesson."
Most of the products, such as wild-foraged herbal teas, soaps, plants, herbal medicines or re-purposed furniture are sourced from their half hectare property about one kilometre walk away.
"I make all of my own herbal skincare, and some basic natural remedies for things like salves and ointments that your grandmother would have used," Ms Webster said.
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It has been almost a year since Ms Webster and her partner opened the quaint little store, popular with locals and travellers alike, and business has been booming.
Ms Webster moved to Nundle from Tamworth about seven years ago, where she had been teaching at the local TAFE college before the opportunity to live off the land arose.
"We wanted to make our farm a business," Ms Webster said of her family's plans to settle in Nundle.
"Not only to live off our farm but to be able to teach others and educate people about how they can go about doing that as well."
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