WHEN the Fassifern Guardian arrives at Kerrie Mercel’s Tamborine property, she is in one of its many outdoor structures building bee boxes.
The 62-year-old is wearing a bright tie-dyed headband and looking every bit the free-spirited hippy she claims to be.
We are early and she’s camera shy.
“Let me put on some clean clothes before photographs are taken,” she says hammering a piece of wood into a neatly squared frame.
She says she is building boxes for people who want to keep bees.
“Bees are a vital part of the circle of life,” she says barely glancing up.
“I’m teaching people how to be sustainable, and bees provide more than just honey and pollination services.”
She points to a box built so it stands at an angle. There are temperature gauges on the outside and a plexiglass lid. Inside are old comb pieces and as the box heats up, excess wax melts and drips downwards into a second compartment.                                                                                                                                                                                                          “We collect the wax and use it to make wraps to hold our produce instead of using plastic,” she explains.
The ‘we’ she talks of is the community and this consists of far too many people to mention each one by name. Her tie dye headband is not for show, she is in every sense of the word, a hippy. Her property is a mish mash of random structures, sheds and contraptions. All manner of things are grown and cultivated. There are greenhouses and permaculture set ups, all created so life – here at least – can be lived in a self-sufficient and sustainable way.
Allow Love is the name of her property and the umbrella under which all she does falls.
“We are not a business, we are a community,” she says.
“We’re concerned about food supply, and I’m talking about a worldwide concern.
“Fertilisers are running out and we eat monoculture foods we can’t continue doing this because it’s killing the planet.”
What Ms Mercel is saying is raising single crops increases risk of disease and pest build ups, leading to food shortages.
A variety of crops are grown on her property including potatoes, carrots, onions, soya beans and myriad herbs, mushrooms and leafy greens.
“We grow for the community and not for profit,” she explains.
“We have plentiful water and space so folk plant and grow on our property.”
She also runs crop swap events where people are invited to bring tubs of anything they have in excess and trade it for something they need.
“People put their surplus produce onto one of the tables I have set up and enjoy some lemongrass, turmeric and ginger tea,” she says.
“Then they say ‘I’ve got a bunch of spinach, will you give me a dozen eggs for it’ and trades are done. No money changes hands, ever.
“It’s the most beautiful thing because you can bring in something you don’t need and leave with a basket full of fresh food. We are ‘service to others’, we’re not ‘service to self’.
“Our crop swaps get the community talking about how they can produce more food and what they’re doing wrong and how they can do things better.”
One large shed houses a hydroponic set up where plans are in place to plant herbs and shallots. The set up belongs to a couple who have a commercial interest in what they grow.      Ms Mercel says she allows them to use the space in return for surplus which she then shares with the community.
She says they are in the midst of creating an aquaponic set up and they certainly have the space. There are many outdoor structures on the farm, some have netting loosely draped over  steel frames bent in an arched framework. Others resemble sheds but all are filled with produce in varying stages of growth.
“We are in the beginnings of building a mushroom house,” she says, pointing upwards at multiple white tubs suspended by rope“We’ve had a rat problem so we’ve suspended them up there for now.”
She then pulls aside a plastic curtain to reveal several large buckets perched one on top of the other.
“Aah, this might be worth a picture,” she exclaims, “these are oyster mushrooms and they are just beautiful.
“They cost around $60 a kilogram in the shops because they are not easy to grow. We sell them to a vendor for $30 a kilo, and they can’t get enough.
“But we’re not a commercial organisation and we put anything we make back into what we grow here for the community.”
So far around 350 people are a part of the Allow Love community in one way or another.
“What I’ve done is I’ve given property to the community, when I’m no longer here I’d like everything to continue to serve others," she says.                                                                      "That is my commitment to the community and my legacy.”