TWO years ago the Garrard family – construction manager Martin and student service's officer Judy – moved from the hustle and bustle of the city to Kangarilla, attracted to its rural lifestyle.
With their teenage son Joshua extremely interested in agriculture they bought Wiltipoll ewes for him to manage, but also to "mow the grass".
They also traded wethers.
Joshua said his passion for agriculture came from an early age, when they visited family friend Peter Kuhlmann's farm at Mudamuckla, near Ceduna.
Peter was awarded Australian farmer of the year in 2012.
"Ever since I was little, I was really into animals," Joshua said.
"So I starting helping out when we visited Peter, and I was always trying to get more and more involved up there."
The visits helped to cultivate Joshua's dream of one day running a prime lamb stud and production enterprise.
Devastatingly, the dream was put on the backburner two years ago, when Joshua was diagnosed with hodgkin lymphoma – a cancer of the lymphatic system.
He had to undertake six months of intensive treatment at the Women's and Childrens Hospital, which included seven infusions of chemotherapy and week-long hospital visits.
"The chemo made me feel very sick and lethargic," he said.
"I then had to go home and rest, which meant I was bed-bound, and then when I started to feel better, I would have to go back into hospital for another round of chemo."
The treatment also meant that Joshua was unable to help out on the family property, tending his 32 Wiltipolls.
Joshua said being bed-bound gave him plenty of time to ponder his future.
"I was really struggling with not being able to get out on the property and do stuff, but it gave me a lot of time to sit down and plan," he said.
"It made me more determined to finish the job and make it (his sheep stud dream) happen."
Part of his planning included comparing breeds of sheep, and the traits that best suited his dream stud.
He settled on the Poll Dorset breed for their outstanding growth rates, muscling structure, lambing rate and fat scores.
He also had to look at the financial side of establishing a stud and decided on ways of raising money, including working on neighbouring farms, doing maintenance, and increasing the trading of wethers.
It was about this time that the Women's and Children's Hospital sent him a letter to apply for a $2000 Redkite Dare to Dream Scholarship. And he did, outlining ways cancer was holding him back from his dream.
The state and territory education and career scholarships, facilitated by Redkite and fully-funded by Coles, are open to Australians aged 15 to 24 who have, or have had cancer.
Redkite chief executive officer Jenni Seton said they were greatly inspired by the "ambition and talent of young cancer patients and survivors across Australia who were looking beyond cancer to exciting futures".
"For the second year we're proud to support them to focus on their dreams and goals and to advocate in the area of education and career support," she said.
"Joshua is an extraordinary young man whose positivity and ambition are an inspiration."
Joshua was volunteering at the Royal Adelaide Show Ag Learning Centre in September when he got the phone call to say he was one of the 47 scholarships recipients.
"My dream had been four years in the making and this scholarship made such a difference," he said.
"It was the dream head-start that I needed."
Joshua chose the Newbold stud at Gawler to base his flock on.
Newbold is one of the oldest Poll Dorset studs in Australia.
"So I emailed the stud principal, Bill Close, to see what would be available at his sale later that month," he said.
With the scholarship money he bought five ewes and one ram last September, starting a self-replacing Poll Dorset flock.
"Hopefully within five years I will have a good number of sheep, move onto my own property and have a small stud and lamb production," he said.