Hannah Parsons

Hello from Mount Royal! My name is Hannah and I'm currently up here at Imago Farm, working with Julian through the WWOOF (Willing Workers on Organic Farms) programme. As a complete novice in the field of biodynamics I'm looking forward to learning about the various levels to the work Julian does here on the farm, from the day to day schedule through to the thought and theory behind the concept of the Mandala Garden. So for a few months I'll be helping plant, nurture and harvest the produce you receive...and I hope it's all to your satisfaction!

Each morning since arriving here on 2nd September, the first thing on the agenda has been to tend to the chooks. Day one Julian showed me how to feed, water and collect and clean eggs which has become my first small responsibility on the farm. It's been my first experience with chickens so I'm still getting used to getting pecked!

Day 2 the weather wasn't so good and we found ourselves concealed by a cloud being so high up. We put our minds to writing an operations flow chart (a work in progress) and I began to get a pretty good idea of all the work needed to run the farm each day of the week. As I hand made bread baked in the oven, I learnt some of the theory surrounding the Mandala garden, in particular guild planting and its advantages.

Wednesdays are delivery days so we awoke early to pack the fruit and vegetable boxes before the chance of any sun. We weighed each item according to the order sheet and arranged the fresh produce into labelled boxes ready to deliver. Julian explained how it can be useful to do a stock count of the remaining produce for help with our orders later in the week. Boxes packed and loaded onto the ute we set off to Singleton, amazing views to both the left and the right.

Day 4, Thursday and we take the opportunity in the finer weather to spread some lime and dolomite over the Mandala Garden to sweeten the soil. Julian teaches me about soil acidity and how using these two materials can improve the availability of nutrients and thus the growth of our fruit and veg...so hopefully the hard work has been worth it! We relax for a much needed lunch and then head out again to move my first chook dome. Again I learn more about soil preparation and how the chickens fertilise and scratch, partly cultivating the earth for us.

The day ends with the much anticipated sowing of a bed...first we do a little cultivation and Julian explains how he tries to cultivate shallowly to prevent soil compacting underneath. We then sow a nice mix of asian greens, zucchini, coriander and others, and I see guild planting in action as we sow in radishes between our other vegies which will be the the first to be ready. We should see our first shoots in about 2 weeks which will be extremely satisfying for me, and eventually I'll have seen my first cycle from sowing to harvesting and delivering to your door!