Imago Forest - Musings from the Mandala

Imago - October 2011

2011-10-16T21:12:00.004+11:00

Well this is the first post in a very long time!

Headed up to the farm with Danielle, Persephone, Mum and Perra. It's a beautiful time of year to go up and it's the first time we've been up as a family for about five months!

It was a bit rainy to begin with but Danielle and I put out the fruit fly traps and the codling moth traps, as well as got the last (third) section of the electric fence removed. On Day 2 we uncovered the maple trees and protected them as well as the pomegranate, cherries, and maple trees. Danielle did a whole lot of weeding! Sussed out the irrigation situation to prepare for getting a trench digger. I'm wanting to install pipes between the dam, yurt, garden and yoilet. On Day 3 we ook it a bit easier and walked down to the picnic spot. I took Persephone for a swim in the dam... bit chilly! But she enjoyed it. And we put up a prototype of how we'll put the foil insulation up in the yurt. I also sprayed some seasol onto all the leaves of the trees. Mum spent a lot of time looking out for Persephone while all this was one... so great and helpful.

September 2011
Last month I headed up to the farm with Peter Hagerty. It was the first time in three months so I was a bit trepidatious as to what i'd find. Goodnews everything was pretty much in order.
And with Peter's help we got a good section of the electric fence pulled out. Slashed the whole mandala, put out the first codling moth trap, fixed the dam end of the siphon and tied down the second layer of the nashi. And importantly we put out lime, dolomite and chook pellet around each of th etrees.

Community Garden

2009-08-16T12:21:00.004+10:00

Saturday last week I went out to Tung Chung to visit Isabelle's friend May who has a couple of plots in a Community Garden. (Grandad's temple Lo Hon Ji overlooks Tung Chung) Isabelle also has a plot, which May will tend for her when they are established. Now everyone kept talking about the farm... but when i got there i realised that what they are talking about, we would call a community garden.
It was interesting to talk with the manager about what they would like to do in terms of organics as they are restricted by the funding and the presence of the school next door. One of the pictures shows the showcase room, which is netted against insects, concrete floor and everything is grown in boxes. Not exactly a natural system, but the funding body requires it. Then the soil outside is pretty poor and because of the school next door, they can't create their own compost, so they are getting topsoil (of which there is plenty) trucked in from a village nearby!
It was interesting to see that the sign out the front mentioned "social enterprise" and there is even a poster in the Metro that talks about social enterprise. We've got a bit of catching up to do on that front in Australia.
Afterwards we went back to May's house and had a great chat about organics with her friend from Taiwan who has been growing for the last 10 years.
I told them about the four most important things I had learnt from my growing experiences at Imago:
• Healthy plants don't get sick
• Feed the soil not the plant (difference between feeder and tap roots)
• Create a balanced soil (pH, Ca/Mg, biology etc)
• No-effort farming (self-sown)

Then we all went out to dinner at a seafood restaurant nearby, where we picked the seafood out of a dinghy. The restaurant was on an old wharf which had some of the original wooden fisher huts.. all soon to be removed by a potential bridge to china. People are protesting against the bridge because it may disturb the habitat of the rare white dolphin.

Cantonese Classes - Pt2

2009-08-16T12:10:00.002+10:00

To graduate, we just needed to pass a test, which we were given 25mins to do and whch we marked ourselves... that probably explained my experience with the highly variable competences in the very first class.
So all ready to start Intermediate 1.2 i was wondering how i would do it. Being the only student i would get only half the time. Arlyn has started at school and Emily was back off to Taiwan for a while.
Turns out that another student joined my class, he was also born in HK but is English/Japanese. He's in his late 20's, went to International School (and so doesn't speak much Cantonese) but is fluent in English and Japanese and can speak a lot of Mandarin. Very interesting bunches of people!
We got one of the same teachers as last session... yay! But got the dreaded May for the second hour. Bugger.
In fact I was so unhappy that i spoke to the first hour teacher about it as May teaches in a very different style to all the other three teachers that i have had at the school. Without going into details i think it is not a very effective style for any student as it doesn't actually challenge the student to the work.
May had spoken to this teacher as she could sense something was up... so we'll see what happens next week.
I said (to the other teacher) that it wasn't personal with May and that if May were willing to change some aspects of her teaching style then I'd be happy. I pointed out that I'd come from Australia especially to do these classes and so it was very important to me that they be good classes.
Bit of a dilemma as I don't want to make anyone feel bad or rock the boat too much, but at the same time want to get the most out of the classes.

Cantonese Classes

2009-08-16T11:53:00.003+10:00

On the first day of class I turned up and found out that i was an hour late... bugger. And i joined the class and did fine. The class was seven people mostly from England and America with a couple of them pretty good and the rest looked like they were struggling to me. The teacher for this hour was "May" and I thought she was pretty terrible. Didn't wait for students to answer, jumping in and answering for them, concentrating on students that were good already, not getting students to practice but just asking if they understood and if they did or didn't answer then moving on (it's very easy to say you do understand, but unless you actually do it you don't really know).
So at the end of that lesson I asked if I could join a higher class, only to find out I was now an hour late for that one!
Well this class had a great teacher and only two other students. Arlyn who is 13 years old and from the Phillipines. She really really wants to go back to the Phillipines, but doesn't want to let her Dad know that. She's just about to join the International school here and is busy learning Cantonese in the meantime.. partly to be able to speak to her Dad. She used to communicate with him via her older brother who seems to enjoy making her life difficult!
The other student was Emily from Taiwan who has also grown up in America. She's in her mid/late twenties is my guess and can read and write mandarin, so the main thing for her is pronouncing the Cantonese words. She's living with her cousin in Hong Kong and seems to fill her days with shopping and domestic chores, but only because she doesn't really know other people here.
At the end I asked if they would mind if i stayed in their class and it was settled i could stay. I was really pleased as three students was so much better than seven and we had a lot of fun during class. A bit later Laurent joined us, he was 22 years old and is Swiss Vietnamese, about to go to Beijing to do a year's research in Physics and has a girlfriend from Shenzhen living in Hong Kong.
What a great bunch... we had a lot of fun and started having lunches and dinners together.

Wilson's Trail

2009-08-16T11:10:00.003+10:00

I was invited to go on a hike this week, and I was very pleased as it would be a great way to see a part of Hong Kong that I wouldn't normally see and to meet some new people. Little did I know what was in store for me!
I was told that we would be leaving at 11pm at night (too hot during the day), 11 people, 20km and we'd take about 7-8hours. Now I was thinking... hmmm how can a 20km walk take 7-8 hours?
I took with me 3L of water, a fold up umbrella, some dried mangoes and raisins and a torch all in a shopping bag. The others were a bit surprised when I turned up looking like i was off on a shopping trip.
Anyways off we went...
We walked up a mountain where we got some of the most incredible views over the New Territories, but for some reason we didn't stop to take in the scenery we just pointed and said wow and kept walking...?! Actually there wasn't much talking the whole trip, except perhaps to say "siu sum" meaning be careful as there were plenty of slippery bits.
After a few hours we got to the Hok Tau Resevoir and had our longest break the whole night...10mins. People even took their bags off! I was hoping for a swim but apparently you can't swim where there are no lifesavers.
So we set off on the next stage of the walk, straight up the mountainside again and here is where i found how a 20km trip could take all night. The terrain here is very steep and we went up and down up and down all night long. I was absolutely completely and utterly buggered by the end of the night. Meanwhile the others seemed to be doing fine. Much respect to Hong Kong hikers!
I've tried to give some perspective of the elevation using a Google Earth picture, however it looks like it is flat on top, which it certainly wasn't! We walked from sea level up to the top and back down and back up again. And up top there was plenty of ups and downs. Arrgghhh!

For more information and maps on the Wilson Trail see: http://www.hkwalkers.net/longtrail/eng/wtrai/wtrail.html

Guess how old I am...

2009-07-30T23:51:00.002+10:00

When going out in the Cross the other night, I got asked for ID. Now you would have thought that being twice the legal age that the bouncer may have over looked me, but no... he didn't bat an eyelid when he looked at my license. We figured that if he couldn't count that high that we could get in.
People rarely guess my age in Australia, however I would have thought that in Hong Kong that people wouldn't have the same difficulty. But to my surprise they have exactly the same difficulty, even relatives! So that puts pay to the cultural differences rationale.
Not such a bad problem to have really.

Things I didn't realise I don't know how to do...

2009-07-30T19:46:00.004+10:00

Being in HK with all these relatives around, with perhaps a little bit of fussing going on... I've discovered that in all these years I do not yet know how to:
• eat soup
• use a fan
• turn on an air-conditioner

Come back regularly to see what else i have yet to learn how to use!

Swine Flu

2009-07-29T23:08:00.002+10:00

Lots of people wearing masks over here, but the most noticeable thing in relation to swine flu is that the buttons in the lift have a plastic cover taped over them and a sign above them saying they are cleaned regularly.

Errant Trousers

2009-07-29T10:52:00.006+10:00

The apartment that Aunt Esther and Uncle Michael live in have a swimming pool. Now I imagined that being HK, that this would be a small little indoor pool. But as it turns out it is quite a large one with an egyptian theme, outdoors up against the hillside covered in jungle. The Egyptian theme means that there are water spouts and some misters giving atmosphere.

Each day Esther and I go down and have a swim. There are regulation hours and of course two life guards in case anybody gets in trouble in the pool which is 1.2m at it's deepest.

This morning at the pool side, Aunty Esther came to me and said she had something very serious to talk to me about and that she felt very upset. My mind was whirling, but then I thought being HK that it was probably not that bad...

Esther came to me to admit that my trousers had blown off the line on the verandah and were caught halfway down the building. Much relieved we had a laugh as we looked up at them flapping in the breeze.

Funnily enough they were trousers that i'd got last time i was in HK, so they'll be very easy to replace.

Hong Kong

2009-07-28T23:35:00.003+10:00

Well, it's been a little while since i've posted, but i thought that seeing as i'm in Hong Kong on a holiday, it might be a good opportunity to start blogging again. Not farm related i know, but hopefully interesting!

The trip over was a breeze, but without air conditioning, it can be pretty hot here... it's probably just that i've gone from winter in Sydney to summer over here. Love it!

But the daily reality is that even after a swim in the pool i come out sweating as the water is 33'C would you believe.

Today, I made the terribly strenuous decision to start at beginners level 3 instead of intermediate 1 and certainly wasn't going to go with the assessors suggestion of beginner level 1... bah!

Eating like mad over here, non-stop eat-a-holics it would seem, however i think that will settle down as the new visitor status wears off.

Fencing!

2009-05-28T10:52:00.002+10:00

Wow, exciting news! A fence is being put up around the mandala garden to help keep the wallabies out. This will be a wooden post and wire mesh fence. Combined with the electric fence that we'll put at "jumping" distance should hopefully deter the wallabies that don't mind the electric fence.
The plan will be to grow some pretty (and maybe edible) vines through the fence so that it serves a few functions.

Quiet Garlic

2009-05-28T10:51:00.002+10:00

A quiet week on the farm... we've finished planting garlic and are seeing the shoots emerge.

Ecovillage

2009-05-28T10:48:00.003+10:00

Some good thought has gone into the establishment of an ecovillage in the Hunter this week. The dream is to create an association of people that work together to reclaim our basic abilities to feed and house ourselves and to connect deeply with each other.

Imago Forest is one potential location, but we are not being rigid about this.

Imago Forest is on 173 acres, most of which is forested with beautiful tall Eucalypts. There are several cleared spots between 1-5 acres in size. The plan is to have hamlets in each of the clearings. The hamlets would be made up of 3-10 separately owned cottages placed around the outer edge of the clearing. Each cottage would be private and have it's own garden. In the centre of each clearing would be common land eg. Mandala Garden, Pastures etc.

Each hamlet would have its own individual characteristics determined by the people living in the hamlet.

The eco-village is intended to be flexible so that you can own/lease and live there full/part-time. Within the context of the guidelines, being able to fit into everyone's lifestyle is important to us.

If you'd like to know more get in touch: ecovillage@imagoforest.com.au

Bokashi re-visited

2009-05-06T11:06:00.001+10:00

Bokashi is an amazing way to speed up the "composting" of food. Two weeks ago I buried a bucket of bokashi into a shallow hole in the ground. The next bokashi bucket was due to be buried and so I had a look at the previously buried bokashi... completely converted into nutritious soil!
So if you have two buckets it looks very likely that you will be able to fill the bucket over a period of about two weeks, rest it for two weeks then bury it. In the meantime you will be filling the second bucket. By the time you need another bucket the first will have been emptied and be ready for use. And the soil will be converted already so that you can bury the next bucket in the same spot. You won't need to find an ever expanding area of land to bury your bokashi.
Brilliant!
(This is an update on a piece I wrote on Bokashi at the end of March.)

Raw Food

2009-05-04T20:44:00.000+10:00

I had a very interesting experience over the weekend which completely debunked some of the preconceptions that I had about diet. I attended an "Awakening Warrior" workshop at Imago Forest and had some trepidation, not least because for two days we'd be following a raw vegan diet.
The diet meant raw fruit and raw vegetables only. Not only no meat, but no dairy, grains, nuts and no cooking!
As it turned out I felt so good that I kept going for another day, until vegetarians arrived at Imago and we started eating ... cooked food. I really noticed how the grains sat heavily in my stomach after the raw diet.
I think that I may have taken to the diet more easily because of the amount of fresh raw fruit and veg that I have available at Imago, but I'll still be reading a book recommended to me called "The 80/10/10 Diet" by Dr Douglas Graham. This will apparently give me the knowledge to know why humans thrive on a low fat diet of whole, fresh, ripe, raw, organic plant foods in simple combination.

Paul and Hannah return!

2009-04-30T09:50:00.001+10:00

So much has changed since we were last here with Julian at Imago Forest, firstly, everything seems to have grown and grown!
The fruit trees located throughout the Mandala garden are looking taller and wider, they’ll soon be providing more shade and some delicious fruit!
We’ve also been enjoying lots of healthy (and very tasty) leafy greens including Silverbeet, Tatsoi, Kale and Endive which are all popping up around the garden. It’s also nice to see tall bright-yellow sunflowers poking their heads up in the sunshine, the chooks are loving their seeds.
The next major change is the soil, there’s been a big improvement (it’s softer, moist and darker in colour), which makes bed preparation a lot easier. I’m sure the Italian Garlic we planted yesterday will do very well in such healthy conditions.
We were last here with Julian back in September/October 2007 and between then and now we’ve been busy WWOOFing up the coast towards Queensland and living with friends for 14 months down in Melbourne. Although we’re only here for a very short time (5 days), it’s wonderful to return to such positive sights and sounds around the farm.
Some of the other things we’ve noticed include:
• the dam is full to overflowing
• beds all look so much healthier after so much rain recently.
• Julian showed us the garlic he produced recently

Horn Manure

2009-04-30T09:20:00.003+10:00

It's that wonderful time of year again, when the earth is cooling down and the sun is getting lower in the sky. It's a time to rejuvenate the earth after the intense spring and summer growing season.
At Imago Forest we have been putting lime, certified organic fertiliser and biodynamic horn manure concentrate out each spring and autumn to improve the soil.
The amounts of lime and fertiliser have been carefully calculated to bring the soil up to horticultural standard over a period of around 3-4 years. This makes sure that we don't "shock" the soil and natural processes have a chance to increase in sync with our activities.
The horn manure we put out is a special biodynamic preparation that is used much like a homeopathic remedy to bolster the overall strength and energy.
This process has been seeing great results and each season we notice the beds become richer and easier to work.

Scrumpers Delight

2009-04-24T08:50:00.004+10:00

Years ago, I started to notice just how many fruit trees there are overhanging the streets of Sydney. I started marking them down so that each year I could go back eat some fruit and keep the streets clean at the same time!
Recently I realised that Google Maps could turn this into a joint community project, where anybody anywhere could place fruit trees onto the same map and allow anybody to find food in their area.
This is an untapped resource going to waste... by making the trees easily found we can help utilise the abundance that already exists in the community.
If you are interested, have a look at http://imagoforest.com.au/rs_ev.html

From just a seed...

2009-04-02T15:42:00.003+11:00

We've previously written about how the mandala garden makes some things easy. In this case we've got a picture of giant sunflowers that have gone completely to seed. Not only were they beautiful to look at, but now they will provide some welcome variety in the chooks diet. One thing that we didn't quite get around to was to also grow beans up the sunflower stalks as a natural bean pole.
Similarly, here is a picture of a carrot gone to seed. Carrots have been a bit recalcitrant until lately... i think the soil must finally be at a point to support carrots as some of them have been magnificent. What has been interesting to learn is just how huge the flower and resulting seed heads are from a single carrot. I'll be expecting many many carrots next year from this one plant!

Beautiful Borders

2009-04-02T15:38:00.003+11:00

Although it seems like an impossible task to keep the wallabies out of the garden, we're on a long-term mission to make it harder for them to see and get in. The concept is to plant a tall screen plant around the outside of the mandala. In the picture you can see baby arrowroot that have been propagated up from just three plants two years ago. In the second picture you can see that we have also planted comfrey. When large, both of these can be controlled by slashing down and will make great additions to a compost heap as well as providing an attractive screen.

Celebrity Citrus

2009-04-02T15:30:00.003+11:00

I've been very pleased wandering around the mandala lately to see that the citrus have really got a good flush of growth on them and some are even beginning to bear fruit after only two years in the ground.
Up at Mt Royal it can get pretty cold in winter, and the young citrus weren't faring very well. I thought that it was possible they may not make it through. However after a couple of years of settling in, they seem to be about to thrive and should weather the cold much more easily.

Besides being tasty and able to store longer than stone fruit, the citrus are evergreen and so are located in the southern most parts of the mandala. This prevents them from shading out the garden in winter.

Bokashi

2009-03-30T12:45:00.002+11:00

What is it? Well, bokashi is a great way of composting food, especially if you want to keep that bucket of compost in your kitchen from stinking.
You put your kitchen scraps into an air tight container and sprinkle some bran onto the scraps. The bran has had good microbes embedded into it which ferment the scraps. A couple of weeks after the container has been filled, you can dig the contents into the ground and they are well on their way to being broken down. This makes for a quick decomposition in the ground and a rich area in your garden.

Soil Preparation

2009-03-21T08:10:00.002+11:00

This week turned out to be a week of soil preparation (and not so much garlic planting).
Having started with pretty typical acidic Australia soil, I've been put a moderate amount of lime onto the beds each Spring and Autumn. This is gradually bringing the acidity levels down and thus making the soil better able to store and release nutrients.
Rather than adding a large amount in one go, I've been spinning it out over several seasons to allow the soil to adjust and develop more gradually. After this addition, i'm expecting that I'll only need to add a small "maintenance" amount each year. The difference in growth has been noticeable this year as we've crossed a threshold!
We also built a compost heap which we'll use in spring. According to biodynamic practices, the first six weeks, when the compost should get hot, is the break down stage. The following few months, which is often left out, is the building back up stage. It is during this second stage that additional goodies are developed in the compost heap.

Gorgeous Garlic

2009-03-13T22:25:00.003+11:00

It doesn't seem like long ago that we pulled up last season's garlic crop and now it's time to plant again. I saved 3kg of the best and juiciest garlic from the last crop to plant this year. We'll be planting on Tuesday, so if you'd like to be involved then get in touch... we'd love to have you there.
Cold weather seems to develop the flavour and texture of the garlic, which is just as well as we won't be harvesting this crop until November. And the garlic will see quite a few days of frost between now and then.
Hopefully the vampire population won't have built up too much before the end of the year.

Extreme Vagaries

2009-02-19T18:12:00.003+11:00

Drought, followed by flood, followed by locusts? After the scorching weather, the rain was extremely welcome, however 300mm later and even the zucchinis are refusing to grow bigger. You can see in the picture to the left that the leeches were having a field day! With a bit of sun this coming week, we're expecting to see some rapid growth, however there will be a bit of a reduction in Imago produce until this happens.

Weeds work again

2009-02-14T12:59:00.000+11:00

With all the hot and dry weather lately, it was really obvious to see what works well in retaining soil moisture. Beds that had lots of tall growth, including weeds, were growing thick and lushly.
Whereas where the plants were sparse, the sun had got to the ground and dried it out. So again, keeping weeds in the garden has filled a useful role. This is contrary to the usual thinking which says that weeds take water away from your crops.
Of course it now all a moot point as we've had 120mm of rain over 4 days! The dam is coming right up to the spill way again and we've got the fire going in the middle of summer to stay warm. Gotta go, the lasagna is almost ready.

Stunning

2009-01-31T20:36:00.002+11:00

It really is beautiful up here at the moment. Although it is very dry, the dam is holding up well and keeping the vegies going. Millo and Shelley are up at the farm and with fresh eyes they are eagerly picking the blackberries which can still be found here and there. Look out this week for fresh berries and jam!

Inside Please!

2009-01-25T08:27:00.005+11:00

It's been a long time coming, but some solid walls are about to go up for the wwoofers. There's a large open shed that was built many years ago, that Millo and I put some pavers down this week. After that we'll put up some walls and then the wwoofers will be able to move out of the tent and into the cottage!
It was a week of hard work as we dug the foundations, compacted the gravel and laid the pavers. Initially we were cutting the bricks by hand which was slow and resulted in many broken bricks. We then borrowed an angle grinder with a diamond head which allowed us to do the whole lot again, neater and in the same time it took us to do half the job by hand.
Thank you Millo and Simon!

Jumping for Joy

2009-01-17T22:20:00.000+11:00

What a joy it was to come back from Christmas holidays to find the garden jumping with green vibrancy. The Bok Choy, Zucchini, Salad Mix, Tatsoi and Sunflowers are really bursting out of the beds.

Robin’s Final Post

2008-12-05T11:06:00.003+11:00

Well, the time has finally come for me to wave goodbye to Imago Forest. I’ll be leaving shortly to continue my world tour (next stop Auckland) so, sadly, this will be my final post on the farm blog.

So how has it been living off the grid out in the bush, eeking out a living as a WWOOFer for the last three months? The highlight has to be seeing nature at work in all its beauty and ruthlessness. I’ve witnessed a few things that many Aussies never get to see, let alone Pommy backpackers: I’ve seen a snake devour a mouse; a huge swarm of bees descend on the farm in search of a new home; countless wallabies foraging for food (and trying to sneakily steal our crops); lizards sunning themselves here there and everywhere; and spiders the size of small dogs on the hunt for their dinner. I’ve also been rudely awakened in the middle of the night by a frog jumping up and down on my head, and been attacked by leeches and ticks countless times, but the less said about that the better.

Animals aside, Mother Nature has served up some spectacular weather for our delectation on this hilly outcrop. Being able to peer out over the mountains from the comfort of the yurt and witness some magnificent electrical storms has been a joy. Possibly the most impressive of nature’s feats to this city slicker however has simply been the rate at which our veggies have grown. I had no notion whatsoever of what went into cultivating those juicy veggies that are on offer in abundance at the supermarket, so seeing our crops go from seed to plate in a matter of weeks – powered by nothing but sunlight, rainwater, well-prepared soil and bit of good old fashioned hard work – has been fascinating.

Living the sustainable lifestyle out here in the bush has also been an experience and a half. In all honesty, I’m looking forward to getting back to the creature comforts of city living (such as not having to bury your own sewage every few months), but I’m going to make a renewed effort to cut down on wastefulness and keep an eye on the old carbon footprint. One things for sure, I’ll have a whole new appreciation of being able to take a hot plumbed-in shower, pick up supplies from a shop within walking distance and amble down to the local pub for a cool beer. Cheers! I’m off to sleep for a week.

No Vampires Here

2008-11-30T13:16:00.003+11:00

The garlic harvesting and plaiting was a great success! Earlier in the month Robin and I pulled the garlic from the ground. It was very satisfying to see 18kg of garlic come from only 3kg planted.

To develop the flavours fully and ensure the garlic keeps well, the bulbs with stems were laid out in the sun on the ground. Of course with all the rain we've been having up here, this meant moving them in and out of shelter between showers.

As the stems dry out, they turn into a raffia which will use to braid them together.

But before we can do this, we cleaned the garlic up by cutting the roots off and peeling off the outermost layers of dirty skin, revealing the beautiful clean stems and lovely variegated purple heads.

Finally, we sized them up, took eleven each and plaited them up. After much trial and error, we got them into neat double rows. And with 18kg of garlic, we won't be seeing the vampires around here for a while!

Back on the farm : )

2008-11-22T19:13:00.003+11:00

Coming back to the farm was a very pleasant experience, with the tremendous job Robin had done in looking after it.
Compared to a mere three weeks ago, the farm looked like a tropical jungle! The warmth and rain has certainly made a difference.
It was a great pleasure to be able to pick Strawberries, Bok Choy, Tatsoi, and Imago Mixed Salad as well as our regular eggs to have for you at the shop last week. And right now the zucchini and cabbage are working hard on their development too!
And of course we've just pulled up all the garlic in readiness for the field day next weekend.
Hope to see you there,

Julian.

Slow Food

2008-11-15T18:37:00.001+11:00

Terra Madre (Earth Mother) is an event run by Slow Food. An international organisation devoted to promoting good, clean and fair food. Terra Madre brings together producers, chefs, students, and academics from around the world to discuss these issues. It aims to provide a counter-point to the Fast Food culture.
Overall the event was amazing. There were representatives (7000 in total) from 153 different countries (there were only a handful that weren't here) and the event was run UN style with everybody wearing headsets and speakers being translated into 8 different languages. It was held in a huge venue and there were many representatives that had set up stalls in the central room to sell products from their country and many people were wearing traditional costume. We wondered what we as Australians should be wearing... Perhaps Drizabone coats and hats?
In attending workshops we quickly realised that all the challenges we face in Australia are mirrored in every part of the world. There may be individual nuances, but it was a real eye opener to see how much similarity there was. A sense of global solidarity grew in me. Similarly it was interesting to hear that there wasn't too much new under the sun and that all around the world we are working on similar solutions. I guess the main difference being that in Australia we have easy access to information and so these ideas are readily available to us. Perhaps people from other countries may have been hearing of the solutions/interventions being tried out in various countries for the first time.
For many of us the workshops were quite disappointing. The topics were very interesting, however in reality the speakers rarely stayed on topic and the moderators did nothing to address this, and in fact waded in by providing long winded personal opinions... there were many people moving between workshops to try and find one that they was going to be productive as a result.
Some cultural observations: ministers, officials, NGO leaders, almost anyone that would be considered 'important and expert' had very little of practical interest to say. Preferring to talk to fluff their feathers.
Italian speakers are incredibly waffly and never stick to the topic being discussed.
Producers/farmers from around the world talk about the practical side of things, although some are more to the point and articulate than others.
People from African countries quite understandably use the forum as a way to vocalise the very difficult situation many of them are in. Unfortunately as this was rarely on topic, their comments were rarely addressed by the next speaker and I was left feeling a bit sad and miffed with the event for not being able to address real issues and to utilise the collective expertise.
The most inspiring talk and workshop i attended was by the US youth. Youth is a new category at Terra Madre this year and is aimed at including the next generation into the conversation. At the opening ceremony, Sam a 14 year old, told us of how he and his mates established a great school food garden that is incorporated into the curriculum and the canteen and is now being asked to help in setting them up far afield. later on a workshop that covered practical ways in addressing the difficulty for new farmers to access land and to get internships on farms was very interesting and practical. Great counterpoint to the waffly older 'important and knowledgable' speakers previously mentioned!
The best thing about the event however was the opportunity to network with other people and make personal connections. In particular for me i will get in touch with the young americans that are doing some great things in the States.
There are projects all over the place there that connect people together in innovative ways and act against the things we dislike about the current depersonalised, commodified culture.
Australia looks set to really mushroom on similar projects, so it's great to see how they have done it before so the wheel isn't being reinvented. I think a trip to the States is the next step. hee hee.
Presidia
The event was incredibly colourful with many people connecting with many others. In particular Slow Food helps artisanal producers maintain their traditional products. in one hall was about 200 tradtional producers with the most amazing foods. And of course we got to sample many of the delights. You'll have to come to experience it, but i'll just leave you with a high light which was a sausage made from a pig that is covered by curly wool and really looks like a sheep-pigù1
Salone del Gusto
This was even bigger and was open to the public. Imagine an olympic sized hall with literally one thousand stalls selling and displaying their produce from all over the world, but particularly Italy. You can imagine the popular stalls with people hovering around the ones giving out samples. We felt like pigeons picking up morsels here and there.

Plain Old Farm Hand

2008-11-07T16:06:00.001+11:00

Today marks the end of almost three weeks of flying solo here at Imago Forest, while Julian's been away at the Slow Food Conference in Italy. What I've learnt is that trying to keep the garden under control while running the shop once a week is absolutely exhausting. The satisfaction that comes with looking back on the garden as the shadows lengthen and reflecting on a good day's work is quickly tempered by the realisation that there's still a big list of jobs still to do. I guess that's just the way it works: You can spend all day mowing the lawn, but there'll still be plenty of weeding and pruning waiting for you tomorrow, and then there's the fertilising to be done and a few more beds to be planted... But on the plus side, the reason that the garden's been a bit overwhelming is that there's plenty of growth going on. We've got bok choy coming out of our ears, the silverbeet and lettuce are coming along, the potatoes, pumpkins and zucchini's are steadily improving and we've even got some small fruit developing on the trees. I'm off for a well-deserved weekend break to Sydney, but am looking forward to hanging up my farm sitter hat when I get back, and getting stuck into work as a plain old farm hand again.

Post rain

2008-11-03T02:11:00.000+11:00

How things can change in a week. This week my prayers were answered when the cold, wet and miserable weather was finally replaced by glorious sunshine (apart from on shop day, when it always rains). The garden seems to have got a bit confused with all this meteorological changeability, with some beds bearing big juicy greens, while others house vegetables that are insisting on going to seed. So this week I've been doing battle on two fronts; trimming down the seeding crops to try to persuade them to grow into something edible, and pulling up those stubborn weeds who have been gatecrashing our veggie beds in ever-increasing numbers. Yesterday, In a break from the trimming and weeding, I began turning over the soil in one of the beds in preparation for planting, and disrupted a whole network of field mice burrows - including a nest of tiny baby mice. I'm not sure if they're good for the garden or not but, feeling a bit guilty about unearthing their home and scaring their parents away, I'm going to try to keep the babies alive while working on the other beds. I've got no idea what to feed them, but I hear mice are keen on peanut butter, so might give that a try - provided our resident red-bellied black snake doesn't get to them first...

Wild weather

2008-10-23T18:28:00.001+11:00

Today I write to you from a cold, wet and windy Imago Forest, where it seems that somebody has forgotten to tell Mother Nature that Spring has sprung. It almost reminds me of home. Needless to say, my grand plans for a couple of weeks of pottering around in a garden bathed in glorious sunshine while Julian's away on assignment in Italy have been well and truly scuppered. Instead, my gardening stints have been punctuated by numerous trips back to the yurt for a cuppa and to warm my hands by the fire. I'm beginning to gain an appreciation for how much the unpredictable wild weather can play havoc with the Aussie farmer's plans. On a lighter note, it was nice to meet you all at this week's shop. It was my first solo effort, so I hope the service was up to scratch. The bok choy was fresh from the garden this week, so I hope that it goes down well with those of you who took a bunch home. There's plenty more where that came from, as well as a few other leafy greens that are just a few weeks away from hitting the shop table. Other veggies that have been showing good progress this week include zucchini, potato and pumpkin. Now it's my job for the next two weeks to make sure that they continue to thrive in Julian's absence, as well as planting a few more beds to keep the garden ticking over. I just hope that the Sun decides to make an appearance sometime soon.

Slow Food

2008-10-16T19:28:00.002+11:00

Well, I’m almost half way through my three-month stint at Imago Forest, and I feel that my contributions over the last six weeks are beginning to pay off, most notably at this week’s shop where the lettuce and bok choy on offer were fresh from the garden. Granted, I wasn’t involved in planting those particular crops, but there’s plenty more where they came from, so hopefully it won’t be too long before I’ll be seeing a few veggies on the table that I’ve helped to nurture all the way from seed to shop.
On the subject of the shop, Julian’s off to the Slow Food Conference in Italy next week, leaving me in charge of the farm and shop for the next two and a half weeks. My main priorities during this period will be not to kill anything on the farm (animal, mineral or vegetable), and successfully negotiate the next three shop days single-handedly.
In other news we now have 150 tiny new silver perch in the dam. Sadly I’ll be long gone by the time they reach maturity, but Julian’s promised me a fish barbecue next summer if I come back to visit. I’ll be sure to bring my fishing rod.

Abundance

2008-10-12T19:08:00.002+11:00

This week we returned from a long weekend in the city to find a farm that had been pelted with 42mm of rain in the space of a few days. The good news was that the blooming garden clearly loved having a good drink. The bad news was that my now collapsed tent resembled a small swimming pool. But back to the good news, as we now have plenty of new shoots making their way out of the soil, with our salad mix of rocket, mizuna, mustard and other tasty leaves making an appearance. In the more mature beds it’s silverbeet galore, with bok choy, cos lettuce and coriander also thriving. These gorgeous locally grown greens will be coming to the extras table at the weekly shop, so keep an eye out for them. There’s plenty more planting to be done while we’re waiting for those crops to reach a sellable size, and of course there’s also the weed battle to keep us busy in the meantime.

Dirty Work...

2008-10-04T07:11:00.000+10:00

This week’s been largely dominated by digging. We’ve done so much of it that I’m a little disappointed not to have unearthed a few fossils. Thankfully, with the help of our now exhausted Italian WWOOFer Jacopo, we’ve come on leaps and bounds in the space of a few days. Sadly he could only stay with us for a week before heading back to the real world in search of paid employment (and a few days’ rest), but with four more beds sown, two more well on the way, a batch of pumpkins and potatoes planted, two chook domes moved and the wallaby defences shored up, he should be more than satisfied with his contribution. Grazie infinite!

Hold your breath

2008-09-28T10:02:00.003+10:00

This week we welcome Jacopo to our team. He’s a first time WWOOFer from Italy, which makes me feel like something of an old hand. I do have three whole weeks of farm work under my belt after all. My grand discovery this week is that herbicide-free organic farming means there’s a lot of weeding to be done. A lot. The garlic beds have been looking pretty crowded, so Jacopo and I have been hard at work pulling up all of that unwelcome greenery to give our garlic crops a little breathing space. Several hours later and, while my hands feel like they’ve seen a lifetime’s worth of weed-pulling, the garlic’s looking happy, healthy and all set to be dug up by your good selves at the Imago Forest field day at the end of November.

Bag of Bones

2008-09-20T17:15:00.000+10:00

By Robin:
It’s hard work this farming business. I’ve been here for two weeks and every muscle, bone and sinew in my body aches, a lot. But enough of my whingeing, the good news is that all the hard work we’ve been putting in preparing those beds with pitchfork, mattock, rake and trowel is already starting to bear fruit (well, vegetable to be precise). The Bok Choy’s already sprouting, the Silverbeet’s thriving, and it won’t be long before the rest of the crops start to show signs of life. In fact, the garden’s looking so tasty that the chooks have staged not one, but two, jailbreaks this week. Fortunately, with a little gentle persuasion, we convinced them that they’re better off with the chicken feed back in the chook domes than they are with the garden’s sprouting greens. All we need to do now is persuade those pesky wallabies that the veg in our garden isn’t for them either - with a little help from a new electric fence.

Robin's first week

2008-09-12T10:00:00.002+10:00

Hi, Robin here. I’m a Pom (sorry), and I’m Julian’s latest Wwoofer. For those of you who don’t know what that means, Wwoof stands for Willing Workers on Organic Farms. It’s a scheme that allows travellers to volunteer at organic farms across Australia in return for bed, board and a few new experiences.
I’ll be here for the next three months, and will be sharing some of my experiences with you through this blog. I’m new to life on the farm, so you’ll be getting my insights as a complete newcomer.
As an urbanite, this week has been something of a baptism of fire for me. Imago Forest is pretty remote, we live in a solar powered yurt, sleep in tents and shower under a hose (we’re hoping to get the new solar hot water system up and running shortly).
My first week here has been a real lesson in sustainable living. Virtually nothing is wasted. Food waste is fed to the chickens, weeds are pulled up and used as mulch for the trees and egg shells are crunched up and fed back to the chooks to improve egg quality. Meanwhile, us humans live off the grid on solar power and rain water.
The week’s been pretty hectic, what with having to deal with rain damage, trespassing cows and a huge delivery of gravel, but yesterday I managed to spend my first full day in the garden. We dug up a few of the vegetable beds, which are looking really healthy, and have planted zucchini, squash, silverbeet, broccoli cabbage carrots and plenty of flowers. Now the hard bit is waiting to see how they grow…

Putting famine behind us

2008-09-04T10:08:00.001+10:00

With the weather warming up and the spring flowers coming out, it's hard to believe that this was the time of year when famine would often strike home.
With modern expectations and busy lives, we often don't get to experience the seasonal cycles... and in many ways this is a good thing!
For those growing food, however, they'll know that early spring is probably one of the most difficult times of year. Vegetables that were planted in late autumn for winter harvesting have been collected. And the spring plantings are only just going in and will be a while yet before they can be harvested. Historically people relied on stored food to tide them through this gap.
Today, we can ship in food from other parts of the country or world. This can be a doubled-edged sword, but at least we won't be starving!

Bigger Better Pantry

2008-08-27T10:12:00.004+10:00

The soil test results are back and the good news is that the soil acidity is decreasing and the organic matter in the soil remains at a very healthy level. Unfortunately the available nutrients has not increased which I was surprised about as the CEC has increased.
The CEC is a measure of the soil's ability to store and exchange nutrients with plants. What this suggests to me is that the biodynamic practices are improving the soil such that it has become a larger potential store and more freely accessible store of nutrients, but that the nutrients are not there.
Or to put it another way, I've been making a bigger and better pantry, but now I've got to stock it up!
This is a relatively good position to be in, so I was inspired this morning to go out and transplant many of the small silverbeets and cabbages into newer beds and give them a good feeding. Previously I haven't been keen to do this as I thought the chook manure would be sufficient, but the soil tests indicate that a bit of extra feeding wouldn't go astray.
As the weather warms up, I'm expecting to bring to town some Spring greens.
Of course I'll have to keep the wallabies out! It only took a week for the wallabies to realise that the pup was no longer in the garden.

Soil Goodies

2008-08-21T10:59:00.002+10:00

This week we spent a bit of time focusing on the soil. We put out some of the special biodynamic preparations (horn manure and horn silica) which are stirred by hand for an hour and then put out over the whole paddock with a hand-made rye grass brush. It's a very pleasant job with plenty of time for contemplation, appreciating the progress so far and envisioning the changes to come.
At the other end of the scale, I took soil samples from the centre of each bed (that hasn't had the chooks on it within the last two months) and sent off an averaged sample to the laboratory for testing. I'll let you know of the results when they come back.

Skin Cream for Trees

2008-08-13T16:05:00.002+10:00

This week I got inspired to put out some Biodynamic Tree Paste. It's made of cow manure, clay and crusher dust, and it is smeared onto the trunks and stems of the trees. Ideally I would have put it on before the trees had started sprouting again, but better late than never.
Practically speaking the paste is good because it fills in cracks that insects and fungus can hide in. It provides some nutrition to the plants. And gets you to pay some up-close attention to each plant which is easy to let slip! In particular I noticed that one of the trees had been damaged by the high winds a while ago and so i taped it up and smeared some paste over to let it heal.

Economics of Farming

2008-07-31T16:57:00.017+10:00

I recently attended a Biodynamic Forum on the economics of farming. Christopher Houghton Budd was the guest speaker and he presented some great information on how (farm) economics could be structured to provide a social, environmental and financial win.
Some of the key concepts were:

Land has no monetary value
Separate accounts for farm and non-farm activities
True Pricing
Life's Work
Price Takers
Corporate structure as a reflection of human activity
Trim Tabs
Trusts vs Companies

Land has not monetary value
The concept here is that because land cannot be created, it is much like the sun, water, air and should have no monetary value. We can of course buy and sell the things we create from our own work, including things that result from working the land, just not the land itself.
This has an interesting consequence for farming, which is that farmers would not have to buy or rent land to grow their crops and so the cost of producing food would drop.
Following on from this was the idea that if land no longer changes ownership just because you are related to the previous owner or because you have more money that somebody else, then how should it change hands or more accurately custodianship.
One suggestion was that those best in the know ie knowledgable peers, are in the best position to allocate resources so that they are made best use of. In this case, farmers would choose who next to allocate a newly vacated piece of farm land. And that this farm land could never be sold off for the money value and then developed into something else.
This may sound idealistic, however I can imagine farmers, without a child willing to take on the farm, who might be willing to donate their land to a "trust" which would allocate the land to an up and coming farmer. Particularly if they have spent their life developing their farm, building the fertility of the soil, getting their herd just right. I'm sure they would rather see their farm continue to be worked and loved than have it sold off for the dollar value and developed.
And this can be started one farm at a time... I know that I will be!

Separate accounts for farm and non-farm activities
Typical farming activities were scrutinised for whether or not they truly were farming activities.

Anything that occurs off-farm is not farming eg. selling produce
Anything that is value adding is also not farming eg. making yoghurt from milk
Only the work involved in creating the primary product is farming eg. dairying for milk

It was recommended that farming and non-farming activities be accounted for separately in order to fully understand the economies of each. And in better understanding these activities, to be in a better position to make good decisions. Often by combining the accounts, it is not obvious that the non-farming activities are subsidising the farming activities.

True Price
The true price for something is the price required to stay in business until the item can be sold again. Therefore the true price for food is the amount that allows the farmer to stay in business until they are able to grow more food (without harming the environment).
It is also more likely that if people knew that the true price was being charged that the practice of shopping around and price cutting might be eliminated as that would mean that the customer were not paying enough to cover the costs of the food. Over charging would also be eliminated as this would be unnecessarily taking from somebody else. This obviously depends on mutual trust and respect and a recognition that each person is doing their Life's Work.

Life's Work
Imagine if you were given the money you need to live upfront each year and then allowed to decide whatever it is you wanted to do for that year.... no pressure. After spending a few weeks on the beach (!) what would you do... you can do anything you want. Now imagine if everyone were doing exactly what it is they wanted to do -- their Life's Work. What would the world be like? Also, would you want to undercut somebody if you knew that what they were offering was part of their Life's Work? Would you overcharge somebody for something when you know that what you are offering is really an expression of what you wanted to do anyway?

Price Takers
At the NSW Farmers Association meeting, it was very evident that most farmers are bowed under the pressure of being "price takers". This means that they cannot set their own prices but must accept what the market will offer them, usually far too low. Farmers often receive less than 10% of the price that we pay in the shops, but they have borne all the risk in producing it. This is a long way from the concept of the True Price.
Unfortunately because most farmers sell through central markets or through the major supermarket chains they are locked into being price takers. It is only when they can connect directly with the people who will eat their food that they have a chance of setting a true price, which mean they are neither a price taker or giver.

Company Structure
The company structure is just a mirror for our own development. As such the excesses of the capitalist system are not inherent in the system but a reflection of where we are at as a society. In some ways these excesses are necessary to go through, just as a teenager needs to rebel before coming back to a sustainable position. However this unsustainable period does need to end and it is time for us and as a reflection of us, the capitalist system, to grow up!
The company structure has come under a lot of scrutiny and criticism by many that are unhappy with the obvious harm that arises because Directors and shareholders are able to dodge responsibility behind the limited liability.
Companies however are a very effective way of linking people with initiative or ideas and little or no capital to people with capital or the means to put the ideas into reality, but no initiative.
In the talks over the weekend it was discussed how the company structure could be modified with Trim Tabs to make it function equitably while still retaining all the positives that come with it.

Trim Tabs
Two main trim tabs were discussed. The first was to disassociate fully the ability for shareholders to vote. Therefore full responsibility for ensuring the development of the idea into reality is down to the Directors.
Another way of achieving this is that an associate organisation that is certified under the Associative Economic Guarantee Mark is created that has majority votes. It is there simply to ratify agreements between directors and shareholders, but not to set direction itself. This changes the typically competitive relationship between the directors and shareholders into a collaborative one.
A third trim tab discussed in Chris' book "The Right On Corporation" was that while shareholders are limited in their liability (hence limited liability company) they are not currently limited in the profits they receive.

Trusts vs Companies
There was talk about the role of Trusts in holding land for common good and the like. My understanding of Christopher's view point is that although Trusts are often set up in perpetuity, there are many precedents for the charter being overridden. Further people can easily become complacent in Trusts and so the management and running of Trusts can become ineffective.
A company on the other hand is explicit in saying that nothing can be taken for granted and that the values and goals will only be achieved by constant reappraisal and action towards them. Also, because a company has at least some profit motive, the impetus to keep the management and running effective is much greater. Finally, if the Trim Tabs described above are used, this makes the company a very effective tool for collaboration rather than competition.

Some of the discussions were quite challenging, and the summary I've given probably doesn't do it justice, but if you'd like to ask me about it, I'd be happy to go into more detail with you. You can also try their website: http://www.ae-institute.com/

NSW Farmers AGM

2008-07-31T16:45:00.002+10:00

This week has been an exciting week off the farm! Firstly however, apologies for the change in date this week, we really appreciate your understanding here.
I’ve been down in Sydney to attend the NSW Farmers Association AGM. I’ve written previously about the Association and so it was with some trepidation that I came.
It has been a very interesting experience seeing how such a large and influential state-wide organisation runs, especially when it has to run through a book’s worth of motions in only three days and with several hundred passionate people there to debate the issues!
There was a lot of debate on climate change and it was great to hear the involved discussion on it, with farmers arguing all sides, which was different to my previous expectations. On the issues of representation, the Association is still lagging, with even the horticulture members complaining that the broadacre members are over represented!
On the Tuesday night there was a Food Fair with fresh produce made up into delicious treats for everybody to sample. Of particular interest was a stall that had orange and fig curd with biscotti… which was from a member that is organic! Yippee.
I spent the day networking with various members, the CEO and General Manager and gained expressions of interest for establishing a committee within the Association to discuss the issue of organic farming. At this stage it looks possible, so my trip to Sydney feels very worthwhile.
Thank you again for supporting Imago Forest, together we’ll make a difference!

Sowing oats

2008-07-27T18:20:00.002+10:00

To start preparing for spring, we're now busy planting oats into the vegetable beds. The aim is to grow them as a green manure for the chooks to eat and convert into manure or to be dug straight back into the ground.
The idea behind a green manure is to provide green matter to build the organic levels in the soil. It can also help to clean the soil and is a less intensive crop to give the soil a rest.
Green manuring is an important element of organic farming.

The Horror!

2008-07-10T15:30:00.003+10:00

Unbelievable, I woke up to howling winds and three chicken domes at the bottom of the paddock. After the double take, I saw that they really had leapt out of the mandala garden, dodged the fruit trees and ended up in the forest at the bottom. So just as i'm feeling pleased about keeping the wallabies out, I'm having troubles keeping the chicken domes in! Not only that, but the chooks had a good few hours of pecking and scratching up the garden.
After several hours of repairing them and maneuvering them back into place, then finally chasing the chooks to put them back in I got to have breakfast... Ahh.... who'd be a farmer?!

Irish Enthusiasm!

2008-07-10T15:04:00.003+10:00

Rhoda and Fiona came last week and were fantastic help! While they were here we got 10 beds prepared ready for a winter planting. The backlog arose because of the weeks of rain where we couldn't plant. When it's too wet, digging the ground just ruins the structure. Thankfully there'd been a week of no rain before they came so that while they were here we could get stuck into it!
(left: planting spring bulbs)

Perra the saviour

2008-07-03T20:36:00.003+10:00

Well this is looking very positive for you and me, but not for Perra. Having the "fearsome" dog sleeping in the garden has made all the difference. Vegetable are getting taller than 10cm tall without being eaten. And last week we had the first evidence of this with bunches of fresh Coriander and Baby Bok Choy available on the extras table. I'm looking forward to bringing down Butter Chard in a few weeks time. : )
I was thinking that maybe I should move the tipi into the centre of the mandala. Not only would it be a beautiful place to wake up when the trees get established, but it would certainly put the wallabies on guard!

Bated Breath

2008-06-28T11:41:00.004+10:00

This week i'm waiting with bated breath (not baited traps mind you) to see if last weeks anti-wallaby methods are effective. If so, this might finally be the end of the wallaby saga and the beginning of a Wallaby Factsheet!

Wallabies revisited again!

2008-06-19T15:23:00.003+10:00

Previous wallaby measures have met with limited success, and of course, just as I'm about to harvest some vegies, they get munched.

The latest round of defense includes, a possum live trap (just in case, it's not wallabies), Perra in the garden over night for the next week, blood and bone sprinkled around the perimeter as well as hair. All of which are meant to be a bit pongy for the wallabies.

It's been suggested that I grow mint outside the garden as they love that, but I'm a bit worried the mint might go feral! So I'll just be slashing away from the garden to promote fresh grass for them.

Left: fierce wallaby guard on duty.

Things to consider when buying food

2008-06-14T11:51:00.003+10:00

I came across an interesting article about things to consider when buying food which I've extracted from and added to for this week's blog:
Is it local?
According to studies, if all food was consumed within 20km of where it was produced, costs associated with congestion and transport would be cut by 90%. If it hasn't travelled, as far it hasn't created as much greenhouse gases and is more likely to be fresh and nutritious. And of course you are supporting local business.
Is it in-season?
Food that is in-season, does not need to be packaged and refrigerated to the same degree to be appealing and tasty. As many of you have noticed, fresh and in-season produce lasts longer and so you are throwing out a lot less. It also uses less resources to consume produce that is in-season.
Is it highly packaged?
Because today's packaging is tomorrow's landfill, buying produce without all the layers is good for future generations and reduces the need for ugly tips.
Is it highly processed?
Highly processed or refined foods tend to use more energy and water in their production. Fresh, tasty produce retains more of the nutrition and doesn't require as much processing to be delicious!
Is it organic?
Organic farming focuses on the health of the soil and uses natural production methods rather than relying on synthetic chemicals. The upshot is that organic farms tend to be gentle on our native wildlife and produce less greenhouse pollution.
Food labelled "Certified Australian Organic" also means it is free of genetically modified organisms, and farm animals have been treated according to the strictest welfare standards.

No-effort transplants

2008-06-05T15:21:00.003+10:00

A visit to a friend's wonderful garden in Singleton resulted in another improvement in the no-effort farming method.

As you know, we let the vegetables go completely to seed, which results in very thick beds of seedlings the next cycle. We've been harvesting these small plants as greens for salad, and to make room for the remainder to grow to a large size.

However this visit made me realise that they could equally be an ample source of healthy seedlings for other beds.

So what we do now is, when a bed comes up thick with seedlings, we get a trowel and remove sections of them. These are teased apart and planted into bare spaces in other beds. This gives the seedlings more space to grow in the old beds and in the new beds. Best of all, it requires no work from us to create an abundant supply of happy and healthy seedlings.

Once again, the idea is to interfere less and let natural processes work to assist us.

No-effort Farming - a few weeks on

2008-05-29T07:35:00.003+10:00

I've had two very excellent people up here - Jim and Rob - and we've been powering through the bed planting. These are some of the first of many beds being planted out under the "new" no-effort method.
The beds at Imago Forest are all circular, so we've planted silverbeet, peas and spinach around the outside, broccoli inside that, and carrots and shallots in the very centre. Throughout the entire bed we've also lightly sown oats and spring flowers.
The reasons for this are to have a thick and varied bed to reduce weed and pest problems, to put often picked items around the outside, close to the path and to put infrequently and larger plants in the centre.
It's possible that the wallaby has been kept out so that all this hard work doesn't go to naught!

In the spirit of things

2008-05-22T16:52:00.004+10:00

Have you ever wondered what to do with a particular vegetable in your box? Well, send us an email and we'll produce a fact sheet with a simple and tasty recipe, including notes on how to grow it.

If you have a favourite recipe that you'd like to share with us, to be included in the fact sheets, then please send them along.

When we get enough fact sheets together, we'll put together a little booklet... A cook's guide to cooking or A grower's guide to cooking... especially for Friends of Imago Forest.

Let me know what you think, what vegies need to be in there and anything you'd like to contribute!

cheers,

Julian.

Chook Revelations

2008-05-16T13:19:00.002+10:00

Aha! was the thought that came to mind following a visit from the vet... It turns out that chickens aren't terribly adaptable when making new friends.
My chickens have good looking combs and wattles, which usually indicates a healthy chook. But they've been pecking each other's feathers out, which i've been told indicates everything from malnutrition to lice to boredom!
I've been conscientiously working away at all these possibilities -- I know it's not malnutrition as they get a premium certified organic feed, it's not lice as there aren't any on them and it's not boredom as they do all the normal things chooks are meant to do and every two weeks get a brand new paddock to play in.
So when the vet said that chooks can't re-establish a new hierarchy after they've established one pecking order, it all made sense.
So, chooks can establish one pecking order in their lifetime. But if they are mixed up after that, they can't establish another one and will constantly peck everybody else in their confusion. Unfortunately, short of killing them, there is nothing that can be done. However I thought it would be worth letting you know as I don't think this is a widely known fact.

Wallabies revisited

2008-05-08T20:45:00.004+10:00

With the ongoing devastation caused by the wallabies, I've put some serious thinking towards the problem... and realised the obvious, which is I need to make inside less attractive, getting in harder and outside more attractive.
So we pulled up the electric mesh fence and mowed the grass under it very short to reduce the amount of grass touching the wires and then put it back up straighter and taller. Just to make sure, I also set up a highly visible two-strand electric fence just in front of the other.
Then to provide more fresh young grass shoots outside the garden I slashed the paddock around the garden.
And finally, on days when i'm in town I leave Perra inside too.

A few days on, the number of wallaby droppings inside appears to have dropped and outside increased. And even better, the silverbeet seems to be growing whole, untouched leaves. Fingers crossed!

Shop Coordinator

2008-04-24T14:16:00.004+10:00

A big thank you to each of you during this transition period. Change can be a bit disconcerting, however it will allow us to continue to provide fresh and tasty, seasonal organic produce to you.

It has also allowed me to get help, and so it's confirmed, Chris Searle is the new Shop Coordinator. He can be contacted at imagoforest.singleton.orders at gmail.com. I trust you will enjoy his smiling face each week.

This in turn will mean that I can start to concentrate on the farm and increasing the amount of produce grown here and therefore appearing in your boxes.

This is just in the nick of time, as I was wrong in thinking that i'd managed to keep the wallaby out of the garden. In fact there's now two of them. So in addtion to doing some nightly patrols of the garden with Perra, I'm leaving Perra in the garden on days i'm away to guard it.

Although i'm resigned to the loss of the beans, tomatoes and silverbeet, I'm concerned about the future of the Apple trees as I think there can't be too many leaf buds left to keep the tree alive.

Better go patrol the garden...!

NSW Farmers Association

2008-04-18T10:30:00.003+10:00

I went to a NSW Farmers Association convention on Thursday and heard the President and various people speak about all sorts of things related to farmers and farming. The Association is very good at political representations and there is a lot to learn there. However it is on what the Association doesn't represent that I've been finding interesting over the last few years.
It is very clear that the Association does not represent or have part of its culture organic farming or non-Caucasian farmers. I find this "surprising" for a few reasons:
Organic Farming is the fastest growing agricultural sector all around the world. Not using chemicals makes sense environmentally and for farmer and consumer. I have yet to meet a farmer that enjoys either using or paying for chemicals. It makes sense to me then for the Association to have organic farming on it's agenda and to start including it in it's discussions.
There are over 2000 farms in the Sydney Basin and most of the farmers there are from a Non-English Speaking Background (NESB). It is reported that they contribute over $1billion/year to the economy! This is a huge missed opportunity for the Association in terms of membership and in terms of truly representing Australian farming. Be great to see a forward thinking and inclusive Association include in their corporate image pictures of non-caucasians
It's possible that I may be going to their Annual Conference, so we'll see what happens there!

No-effort Farming

2008-04-10T13:49:00.004+10:00

Fukuoka, a Japanese farmer coined the phrase, "No-Effort Farming". He noticed that rice seeds that germinated on their own and with little/no interference from people tended to grow best. By copying the conditions that these healthy rice plants required he developed a rice ball that he just threw around the paddock which then grew with no-effort.
I've noticed a similar effect in the mandala garden. Because the beds are cultivated by the chickens at most once every six months, the plants have plenty of time to set seed. What I've also noticed is that if I'm a bit late in cultivating then planting my own seeds, an incredible profusion of plants comes up from these dropped seeds already in the ground.
So putting two and two together, I'm going to see what happens if I consciously allow all the beds to go fully to seed, then let the chickens onto them, then not dig for a few weeks and see what comes up. The first couple of beds have produced some magnificent Bok Choy. And I'm excited about a bed of silverbeet on its way.
If it works well consistently, I'm going to have to identify exactly what non-intervention results in the best seed set and germination!

Frosty reception

2008-04-04T14:24:00.002+11:00

Only a few weeks ago I noticed that it was cooler and now we've had our first frost! I'd better get out there and pick the tomatoes that are left after the wallaby had it's feast!
I put Perra (my dog) to work for the first time in her life last week. While I was in town on Tuesday, she patrolled the inside of the mandala garden, or at least that was what she was meant to be doing. Either way, it seemed her presence helped to keep the wallaby out as it has obviously decided that the electric fence is worth braving for the goodies on the inside.
Today I got out the lawn mower to get the garden in some semblance of order in preparation for the field day in three weekends time. Unfortunately it won't be a scene of abundance following the wallaby, but at least it will be neat.
I hope you've been enjoying the flowers in your box, the picture is of a stunning flower that blossomed in time for me to see it when I got back from my travels.

Organics in Hong Kong pt.2

2008-03-30T11:28:00.004+11:00

A few days after my visit to Apple and Jo's farm, I headed out to Produce Green which is an NGO that runs an organic farm, education centre and allotment system. Doris (left), who I met at the Hong Kong Flower Show, kindly took me out to her allotment and showed me around.
People in Hong Kong lease a patch of ground (Doris' two square metres costs $300/year) in which they can grow organic vegetables. Produce green provides them with tools, fertilisers, mentors, and watering for when you are not there. Seeds and seedlings are also for sale.
The really nice thing I noticed was how people knew each other - socialising and giving each other a hand. The "weekend" farmers would often bring their family and friends around and it would be a fun and educational day for all.
The picture (right) shows about 60 allotments!
Speaking with Doris and the resident farmer at Produce Green, I was impressed by the similarities between Australia and Hong Kong (air quality aside!).
People have the same concerns about food, health and the environment - there was talk of carbon footprinting, certification and stress... Farmers also work hard on crop rotation, getting good materials for organic composting, green manures and educating conventional customers into the world of organic produce.

For some reason I thought that things might be different, and although there may only be 70 organic farms in Hong Kong, the level of awareness is high and growing.

Organics in Hong Kong

2008-03-20T15:26:00.002+11:00

An important family event in Hong Kong has given me the chance to have a bit of time out and investigate organics in another setting.

In a place as polluted as Hong Kong (I haven't seen a blue sky once in the time i've been here, let alone the sun!), organics is gaining popularity quite quickly, and not just amongst the expatriate community.

There are around 70 organic farms in Hong Kong (mostly in the New Territories) and several organic farmers markets.

I was very pleased to be able to visit Apple Tsang, Jo and Allison (pic to come) at their farm Organic Soil. They showed us around and we were very impressed by the quality and quantity of the produce.

Interesting things we learnt were that:

Organic farming is well supported by the government through an NGO that provides education, training and subsidies for infrastructure and seedlings.
Organic food from mainland China is treated with caution.
Animals are not encouraged on organic farms.
The main inputs are vegetable scrap compost, blood and bone, lime, and crushed peanut shell.
The soil is low in organics, but neutral pH, so grows lots of food.
Winter is the main tomato growing season!
Farmers in HK face the same financial difficulties that Australian farmers do.

Tomorrow I'm off to another property which is run on an allotment system. People from inner Hong Kong travel out to their rented path and tend their vegies.

On a side note: apparently the chinese are taking steps to reduce pollution because it has gotten so bad that it is affecting business... in that it is getting harder to recruit staff from OS because of the abysmal air quality.

Passing of seasons

2008-03-07T13:27:00.003+11:00

Here I am looking proudly at all my tomato seedlings, thrilled that i've managed to get so many to grow at last, and now the season is over!
I've put as many in as possible, but I know from last year that up here February is the last chance to get them in the ground and have a hope of getting fruit from them before the cold stops them from growing.
Similarly I'll stop putting zucchinis in the ground.
So onto thinking about the winter vegetables... broccoli, onions, garlic, cabbage, turnips and leeks. hmmm, not all my most favourite things to eat, but good sturdy food none the less. And that much tastier than the shop bought ones!
Thankfully, I'll be able to continue with salads, greens and spinach for quite some time. And of course I look forward to pulling beautiful bunches of dutch carrots.
Enjoy the warmth while it's here!

A little bit scary

2008-02-29T08:46:00.002+11:00

OUCH! I've been out in the garden pruning back the fruit trees. It still seems very harsh to prune back the trees as much as recommended, however I realise it has to be done.

With the mandala garden, I'm pruning the fruit trees to a vase shape rather than a pyramid as this is said to maximise the fruit per tree. Whereas a pyramid maximises the fruit per hectare if the trees are close together.

It does mean though that in the early years I have to cut a lot of growth off to get the initial vase shape and that seems tough. But in I go hack, hack hack. And look back at the garden much like it's had a severed hair cut.

Looking forward to the fruit though!

(I've included a picture of the sunsetting on Mt Royal)

Animals everywhere!

2008-02-21T15:20:00.003+11:00

Coming home yesterday, I was surprised to find a brand new animal in the house... a bat. It was one of the very small ones and it had taken up residence in the kitchen. A bit alarmed at my intrusion, it flew around and around the yurt. My first thought was how was I going to let it out (other than leaving the doors and windows open) and my second was about how i was going to clean up the mess.

Thankfully after a few circuits of my round house, it hung upside from the roof and worked out its exit strategy. And also thankfully, unlike birds, it hadn't made a big mess of the house.

Living up here brings you in contact with a lot more Nature than I'm used to in the city and certainly more than i'd expect in the house including - snakes, lizards, frogs, leeches (but only when we bring them in) and now a bat!

What and Why Biodynamics?

2008-02-15T09:26:00.004+11:00

Biodynamics is not a simple thing to explain, but it is essentially a method of organic agriculture based on the work of Rudolph Steiner and has three key elements:

the farm is run as a sustainable ecosystem in itself
the use of biodynamic preparations which enhance the life forces on the farm
the importance of the soil, sun, moon, planets and constellations on living organisms

Some aspects of biodynamics may seem a bit far out, but I was convinced that I wanted to farm biodynamically when I visited some BD farms in the Hunter. You know when you visit some places and they have a special feel about them? Well the farms I visited had that special feel. And much like the inspiration I found in the mandala garden design, I thought to myself that if I were to farm, that I would like to create a farm that evoked a special feeling in those who visited. (And for those who work there!)

So that was that... I had the land, the opportunity and now I had the design concept and the agricultural practices. So in August 2006, I moved from Sydney to Imago Forest and started to mark out the beds and get the chooks into their domes!

We're very lucky in the Hunter to have one of the strongest BD groups in Australia (Hunter BD) and I would like to thank them for their support and help (especially Mark and Kate from Purple Pear Organics in Maitland).

For more information you can go to wikipedia or try the Biodynamic Association:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biodynamic_agriculture
http://www.biodynamics.net.au/what_is_biodynamics.htm

Why Mandalas?

2008-02-08T08:36:00.000+11:00

Having decided that I wanted to start a small organic farm, I had to work out how I was going to design it... no straight rows for me!

I'd toyed with ideas of having a large chook pen in the centre of concentric rows of beds. These would be divided into four so that the chickens could have access to each quarter, each season. This seemed interesting, but impractical.

Fortunately I remembered a book, "The Permaculture Home Garden" by Linda Woodrow in which she fully describes a mandala system. Re-reading it I was hooked.

I loved the way she integrated chickens, vegies, fruit, flowers and water into one very efficient and beautiful design.

I thought to myself, if I'm going to spend my days working on a farm, then this is the sort of farm I want to work in.

Besides being full of circles, and therefore interest and mystery, the main feature of the design is that it ensures that the wastes from one area of the garden becomes the food for another part. Not only that, but that they are right next to each other so there isn't much carting around of heavy items.

The other attraction to the design was that in full swing it should be able to feed at least 20 people, all their fruit, veg and eggs for the entire year!

Why I started Imago Forest

2008-02-01T08:02:00.000+11:00

People sometimes ask me how I got into market gardening... Well, I started Imago Forest with the intention to demonstrate that even in today's climate, small-scale organic farming can be financially viable, environmentally friendly and socially rewarding .

This desire came about after working with the market gardeners on the urban fringe of Sydney and organic farmers in the Hunter region and seeing serious challenges for both groups.

The market gardeners in Sydney are often successful financially, however they do not use organic or sustainable agricultural practices. While many of the organic farmers are environmentally sustainable, they are often financially stressed. Both groups work extraordinarily long and hard hours.

My goal is to try and combine the best practices of each of these groups into a workable whole! Besides, who wouldn't want to live somewhere with views like in the photo. : )

Road to Imago Forest

2008-01-25T15:51:00.000+11:00

Well Summer has certainly turned out different to Spring! It's been very wet -- 280mm in December and 200mm so far in january. So it's no wonder that the plants are growing like mad.
Even so plants like tomatoes and eggplant have only just started to produce fruit. I think the mountain climate means our warm season is about two months later than in the valley.
The biggest issue with all this rain however is that access to the farm has become problematic again. Mt Royal Rd to my gate is in good condition and until Christmas i'd fixed my road from the gate to the packing shed so that i can drive in and out with my road registered ute even if it was pouring. However all this rain has washed away a crucial section.
So, making the road 2WD access all the way to the mandala garden (and certainly to the packing shed!) has become number one priority.
Because of the amount of rain we've had, some parts of the drive are very sloshy and i'm going to fill them in with broken bricks, rubble etc. Then i'm going to order a large amount of gravel (semi-trailer probably!) and spread it out over the driveway. Then at last i should be able to relax... at least for a few months! I'm sure there'll be plenty of repair work needed to keep it maintained and keep the rain from gouging it out!
Ahhh, life on a property. Can't beat it!

Happy New Year!

2008-01-18T15:58:00.000+11:00

After a few weeks away from the farm, it was a wonderful sight to be greeted by a garden full of happy chooks (thank you to the chook sitters!) and abundant vegetables. The rain over the christmas period has made an incredible difference to the garden and i'm now wading through the vegetation to get to the beds.

On reflection, this lush growth is a great bonus compared to having bare earth paths, because it now provides extra vegetation when creating compost heaps or mulching a bed. A quick run over with the mower provides a large pile of organic material.

One thing i've noticed with having the beds on six month rotations, is that the plants get a chance to go to seed fully and i'm starting to see plants come up all of their own accord. These plants are very often happy and full looking plants as they have sprouted at exactly the right time for them and haven't had to be transplanted. I've also noticed that some of them are crossing with each other... so if you notice a vegie in your box that looks like a cross between a Bok Choy and a Tatsoi... that'll be the Imago special plant ... a Tats Choy!

This year I got the first of the fruit including nectarines, plums and peaches. They were exquisite... but unfortunately not yet abundant enough to make it past my belly and into your boxes. Look out next year though, as i'm sure there will be enough to go around then!

Behind the Curtains

2007-12-11T21:05:00.000+11:00

Well it's the end of an era... we'll all be missing Hannah's blog. And to avoid any comparisons, I thought I'd take a different tack altogether with my postings and write about some of the behind the scenes goings on.

The Christmas day last weekend reminded me of how far things have come since I moved here in August last year. The entire mandala is now in operation, and while the beds have a long way to go, there are distinct improvements, not the least that the blackberries are mostly absent! But more importantly it was good to reflect on the tremendous support that I've had in making Imago Forest a success.

I want to thank the organic farmers that have mentored me, my students that have provided me with income while developing the farm, past customers who supported me in the early days and current customers who support me right now!

At times the farm has felt extremely challenging, however when thinking of the number of people that have backed me, I regain the momentum to provide an alternative to the supermarkets and where people can have a direct connection with how their food is produced.

THANK YOU

Bumper Harvest to Farewell Hannah

2007-12-06T17:00:00.001+11:00

By Hannah Parson

Well, my last week on the farm and my last blog. I can hardly believe how quickly the last three months have gone…it doesn’t seem like five minutes ago Julian and I had just met at Morisset train station and we were on the mammoth drive up to Imago Forest…and now it’s my very last day. It’s sad that I’m leaving but I depart with lots of fantastic memories and, of course, an online blog to look back on!

This week has been a busy one, trying to tie up a few ends before I go. For weeks we had been discussing doing road signs and a mandala map and as you know from my last blog I’ve been spending a lot of time on completing these projects. The signs are finished and ready to be put up, hopefully in time for Julian’s Christmas party on Sunday, so everyone can find their way around! And the mandala map is outside, in view from the window I sit at, just waiting to have the pencil lines rubbed out…and then that’s finished too. I feel very pleased with how they have turned out…I hope lots of you will see them in use on the farm in the future!

One of the things about this week that really sticks in my mind was the harvest on Wednesday morning. We got up at 6:30am before the heat and harvested the most lettuce, kale, silverbeet, tatsoi and bok choy I’ve seen since I’ve been at Imago. It was so good to be involved with such a great harvest on my last week, and also to be involved in the packing of each individual box and their delivery to you at home. Delivery day is usually quite a long one, but it’s the day all our hard work on the farm comes together and we can show it off a bit! We hope you are enjoying what you received…

So, it looks like it’s goodbye from me and my blog. It’s been a pleasure helping Julian in the process of getting his food to you at home and meeting some of you along the way. It was great to hear that a few of you followed and enjoyed my blog…who knows, maybe I’ll come back to Imago Forest one day and add another excerpt! Watch this space :o)

Painting Prefered

2007-11-29T16:09:00.000+11:00

By Hannah Parsons

Following one hugely successful week came another week of change and growth down in the garden. Having had the weekend off, relaxing with a couple of Julian’s friends, swimming in the dam and eating far too much, come Monday the Mandala was once again like a new place. Frogs in the ponds, an array of lettuce and beans ready for harvest and our first sunflowers. Beautiful!

This week I’ve been working on my favourite project…road signs for around the property and a huge mandala map. Not having painted for quite a while I had forgotten how much I loved being creative…and getting paint all over me! I have spent as much time on them as humanly possible without neglecting all the other duties on the farm, as I’m pretty sure Julian wouldn’t be too pleased if I just spent time painting away when there were beds to cultivate and plant and propagation to be done!

So of course we’ve both been busy with many other tasks on the farm. Having fallen a little behind with bed planting due to rain last week we’ve been extra busy transplanting our seedlings into beds with our new system of mulching first, then making little holes for individual seedlings to be planted into. It seems to be working well, keeping down unwanted weeds and helping the soil retain some of its moisture in the heat.

We’ve transferred small apple grafts from the mandala down into the orchard, which seem to be getting bigger by the week, and propagated some daisy cuttings for Julian’s cottage garden, which will soon be starting to take shape at the front of the yurt. The only thing I wish is that I would be around to see even more changes take place, but as it’s my last week here next week I’m afraid that I won’t. Looks like I’m going to have to visit next year when everything’s blooming…Julian won’t get rid of me that easily!

So, I’ll finish writing and get back to some work…it’s raining outside…what a shame…that means I’ll have to do some more painting!

Tremendous transformations

2007-11-23T15:35:00.000+11:00

by Hannah Parsons

This week has been amazing…

Suddenly, almost as if by magic, the Mandala has become a mass of green. We’ve seen our first zucchini of the season with their beautiful orange flowers beaming to the sky. Our beans have gone haywire, spiralling skyward up their blue string trellis and popping out little baby beans left right and centre. The potatoes look so happy that they’re almost smiling and the nectarines and other fruits have plumped, reddened and look good enough to eat…I just want to pick them all now!

Sitting out in the garden yesterday I couldn’t believe the change. All the work we’ve been putting in over the last few weeks has really paid off. We’ve all spent so much time weeding then mulching the bare soil, transplanting our lovely little seedlings into beds and watering until it seemed we could water no more! But what’s most amazing to me is that all this prosperity in the garden has suddenly occurred following Julian spreading BD501 (horn silica) and seaweed solution over the mandala. Although I don’t know much about biodynamics, looking down into the garden I can see there is proof behind all the theory.

So with all this success under our belts (fingers crossed!) Julian and I have been out in the garden admiring our work and planning for the coming week. We have plans to plant a huge circle of sunflowers around the mandala which will create a border between the garden and the now flourishing orchard, and also look attractive we hope! With the mandala looking good we have plans to create a big map which can be used for tours of the farm, and also for our own personal record of how things are coming on down there. And in the lovely rain we’ve been getting, and expect to get for a few days (hooray for the vegies!), I have the exciting indoor project of painting signs to be placed on the property to direct our visitors.

I can’t wait!

Watery Work

2007-11-15T21:59:00.000+11:00

by Hannah Parsons

This week I return to sunshine at Imago Forest…a little brighter than all the rain of last week. Everyone’s had a relaxing weekend, so we’re ready for an action packed week.

Again work in the Mandala takes up most of our time, and we decide to weed all the beds and thickly mulch around existing plants to stop our soil drying out in the returning heat. Our seedlings have continued to grow in their little trays and we are able to plant some out into a new bed as well as to fill in some gaps in old beds where the lack of rain has stopped seeds from shooting. Having had little success with lettuce due to the heat and lack of water we make a new plan for growing seedlings, omitting lettuce and trying out some more herbs and flowers for in the Mandala.

Our ponds continue to take shape and this week we have three successes so far…we knew we’d get there eventually! We take pleasure in lining, then arranging old pieces of wood and rocks around the edges…we were going for the natural look, but they have ended up looking like something out of one of our English gardening programmes! We’re obviously still very proud indeed and can’t wait for the frogs to make their way over from the dam.

With the Mandala electric fence now around the orchard as well (little wallabies keep nibbling at the grafts!) we give it some attention and plant out some small grafts that have been growing in a pot near the yurt for some time. We carefully dig holes, treat the soil with lime, dolomite and phosphorous and transplant the little babies. After a big drink of water we mulch around each tree to stop evaporation. Good luck little apples and pears!

Imago Forest Family expands

2007-11-08T15:49:00.000+11:00

By Hannah Parsons

We jump straight into the week with more amazing pond action first thing Monday morning. Hannah, Paul and I manage to dig and line with plastic a pond in one of my mandalas, surrounding it with beautiful old pieces of wood and plants from the dam. I feel exceptionally proud of our efforts until the water line starts reducing! We realise we were hasty in our excitement and didn’t check the liner properly for holes…we all begin to wonder when we will complete a successful pond…one day we hope!

We continue our work in the Mandala, putting in some seating and planting a strong and sturdy ‘bean farm’ out of bamboo and string. We stagger the planting so we have a lasting crop and can’t wait to see the first shoots to trail onto their trellis. Julian has the task of mowing some of the long grass in the mandala, which is now starting to look almost park-like it’s so tidy! While I begin to rearrange my much used and rather unkempt seed box indoors, Hannah and Paul plant three special pumpkins in their own individual beds in the mandala. We end the day with news of a new Wwoofer, Michael, who will be arriving in a few days to join our ever-expanding Imago Forest family!

Wednesday Julian goes off on delivery duty while we three remain enveloped in a cloud at the farm. First thing, Paul and Hannah discover a very poorly chicken (one of the Barbarellas in dome 1) lying on the ground…she’s rushed inside by the newly formed chicken ambulance crew (Hannah and Paul) and nursed all day in the warmth of the yurt…we fear she won’t make it. It rains continuously, except for a break of 30 minutes when we rush out to dig yet another pond. We get it done and back inside to the warm fire just before the heavens open again! We bake bread, little rolls and carrot and orange soup for dinner. Julian arrives home at 7pm and we all tuck in…yum.

Thursday we seed clover, cowpea and alfalfa into beds for future chicken feed. We sow sunflowers in areas around the mandala and around the verandah at the yurt which will look stunning when they come up. We sow some more seedlings into trays as our recent success has been pretty good, and plant some of the older seedlings out into a pot to later decorate the mandala. With lunch on the stove Hannah, Paul and I sit and wait for Julian to return from the top gate with our new Wwoofer…how exciting!

Peeling Ponds

2007-11-02T16:05:00.000+11:00

By Hannah Parsons

The last few days here at Imago Forest have been extremely productive, and all of us feel pleased with ourselves as we approach the weekend. I sit inside, looking out into the cloud which envelopes our cosy yurt as I write this week’s blog…

Looking back, we’ve made a huge difference to the appearance of the Mandala garden and spent many hours out there in the sunshine pruning, mowing, planting strawberries which have already thrown up bright green leaves, and transplanting our beautiful little seedlings into a bed. Although through the rain I can’t see any of our achievements, I feel pleased that our garden is getting the watering it deserves.

Hannah, Paul and I dedicated a full morning to digging two ponds in the mandala and lining one with bentonite clay…an experiment which unfortunately went a bit wrong… we awoke the next morning to find the clay had peeled away from the edges and a good portion of water had escaped! We’re disappointed, but put it down to experience and look forward to our next pond being more of a success.

As usual the chooks have been up to mischief! This week we have been taking particular care of one chicken who has a sore and swollen eye, giving her eye salt water baths every morning and feeling sorry for her as she grumbles at us in discomfort. During the moving of chook domes we had several escapees who evaded us until later in the day and then got put back in the wrong domes, and we’ve spent a good portion of time catching the pecked hens to put Tiger Balm on their bare bits (a taste the chooks are supposed to hate)…a very unusual task!

So now the week’s work is complete we look forward to seeing friends and climbing Mount Royal tomorrow with our neighbours…

Glorious Rain!

2007-10-26T12:24:00.000+10:00

by Hannah Parsons

Well, what an eventful week we have to look back on! Our weekend was spent at Imago Forest with a gathering of friends, eating wonderful food, relaxing in the sun, trekking across Julian’s land, running from snakes, swimming in the dam and entertaining three very lively and excitable children! A fantastic period of leisure to prepare us for a busy week on the farm…

With Hannah and Paul in Sydney for a few days, Julian and I are on the farm just like old times. We spend Monday exchanging between outside work in the Mandala and inside work on the computer, typing up and modifying the instructions I have been working on for the past six weeks. We have decided to make them into an organised manual for future Wwoofers, so a little part of me will live on at Imago once I’m gone! Whilst on a stint in the garden I notice two of my poor chickens have runny bums and so I spend the best part of 45 minutes trying to catch them to administer castor oil, chasing them round in circles while they hide and run…I don’t think they like me that much anymore!

On Tuesday Julian and I have fun moving one of our chook domes to a new location as the rooster ‘Sunrah’ and a few of his ‘Spooky Kids’ decide it’s a good idea escape out into the garden! With all my catching practice from Monday it doesn’t take us long to scoop them back into the dome. We spend time completing a new observations and actions sheet for the Mandala, and have some ideas for future work and improvements. The afternoon consists of sowing some seedlings for transplant into the beds at a later date.

Wednesday is a quiet day with just me on the farm while Julian is in Singleton doing what seems like thousands of vital jobs. I do some maintenance on my chicken dome, heightening the roost which has dropped down of late, and replacing some bolts which have come loose. I re-seed some beans which haven’t grown in the recent heat, and make trellis for some that are desperate for something to climb…they look much happier when I’m finished.

I harvest some beans and peas and have a cheeky taste…delicious!

Evening comes round quickly and Hannah, Paul and Paul’s parents arrive back in the rain (which we’re obviously loving after weeks of pure sun!) and dark, welcomed at the yurt by a warm fire and a dinner of homemade soup and bread. Tomorrow will involve bed planting and work in the Mandala so we jump into our beds to get a good nights sleep before another busy day…

King Henry VIII, Sun Rah and Pratt

2007-10-19T09:32:00.000+10:00

With four of us now working in the garden, we've divvied up the mandalas between us. This means that we take responsibility for our particular beds and chooks. To make it more personal, Hannah Parsons has named her rooster and chooks King Henry VIII and his wives. Hannah Lawrence has named her rooster Sun Rah and the chooks are called The Spooky Kids. While Paul has called his rooster Pratt and the hens Barbarella 1-9.

Following on from last week's success with the hand sprinklers. Two movable micro-jet systems have been set up which allows us to put a decent amount of water onto the vegies, but in a gentle way.
So we're expecting some good growth out of the gardens now that we can keep the water up to the plants and have a system to do it regularly.

Wonderful Water

2007-10-11T21:14:00.000+10:00

Reflecting on the last twelve months at Imago Forest, we've learnt so much and grown more vegies than we thought would be possible without using irrigation. In particular salad mix and carrots are now possible, whereas previously they were not.
With the warmer weather we've been excited about all the crops that we could plant. However almost exactly in time with the warmer soils came the "Big Dry". All of five weeks of no rain. On a typical farm this would barely even register, we imagine, however at Imago Forest we've been looking anxiously to the skies, but have realised that as we are now growing crops that are much more water dependent, we must choose to start irrigating occasionally, or stop growing these extra crops.
As the carrots and salad mix have been popular, we thus began the investigation into how to irrigate... and it was looking like it would easily run into the thousands of dollars. So with a bit of initiative, Paul and Hannah took advantage of the dam being uphill from the mandala garden (part of the permaculture design) and pieces of hose around the farm and constructed a gravity feed pipe from the dam into barrels in the garden.
From the barrels we now hand water the beds as required. Fingers crossed that it will rain as predicted this week, however we now have an option to get by on.

Hannah and Paul

2007-10-05T13:03:00.000+10:00

I arrive back at Imago Forest to be greeted by two new WWOOFers, Hannah (now there’s two of us which could get confusing!) and Paul. They are also from England, and are going to be helping me in the Mandala Garden as well as pursuing an exciting project of their own…building a small shelter on the property.

Julian, Hannah and Paul go off to Singleton for deliveries this Wednesday so I formulate a list of activities to keep me busy in their absence. In the cool of the early morning I paint wound dressing onto the grafts we planted in the orchard two weeks ago to stop them dehydrating in all the recent hot weather…I pray for success and a little bit of rain! Following this I bag up some grass cuttings that Paul has slashed over the weekend, and spend a few hours raking, sweltering, drinking gallons of water and applying copious amounts of sun block. Lunch time is a much needed rest in the shade of the yurt, safely away from the three brown snakes I’d encountered during the morning! The afternoon is spent in the shade writing and improving my farm instructions.

Thursday comes round quickly and we WWOOFers spend the morning out in the Mandala, pruning, tidying and getting to know each other. We talk about things we miss about England, and things we love about Australia. Julian does a farm tour with a family from Newcastle, and Perra looks on in amazement at all the unusual noise and activity. We sell some of our stock of eggs…the chooks have been extremely busy of late! After lunch we chill out briefly in the cool of the tipi where we chat about Hannah and Paul’s amazing building plans. They tell me stories of falling frogs and kangaroos outside at night and I wonder if I’d be brave enough to sleep out there! In the afternoon I lead in planting two more beds with help from Hannah and Paul. We plant summer vegies that are a little more drought resistant such as capsicum, eggplant and tomatoes, so our veg variety is increasing quite nicely. After a successful day we head inside for a movie and homemade pizza…heaven.

Fowl Tales

2007-09-21T11:09:00.000+10:00

I arrive back to Imago Forest to reports from Julian that the chooks have been letting standards slip a little in my absence and not so many eggs have been collected over the weekend. So Tuesday morning I head down to the domes to have a little chat to them and give them a bit of encouragement for the coming week….they weren’t being very attentive but I’m pretty sure they got the message! The rest of the day is spent in the vineyard planting another 31 fruit trees. This time we put in Nectarines, Peaches and Nashi (a delicious type of Japanese pear that I’ve never heard of before!) so now we have a good collection of different fruits.

Of course on Wednesday is delivery day again so we’re up early to harvest bok choy and pack the boxes. While in Singleton I get some much needed time at the library to continue on my ‘Farm Instructions’ for planting a bed and also moving chook domes…and I try to remember all the details. Lucky that the weather is beautiful as our car breaks down and we spend half an hour at the side of the road waiting for a kind neighbour to pick us up. When we eventually get home I go out to the chooks to find a total of 19 eggs…see, I told you they were listening!

Thursday we’re up early and talk about Mandala layout over a cup of tea. We identify an area to cultivate and get straight to it with the broad fork, loosening all the old roots from the ground (slightly back breaking I must confess!). As usual we add lime and dolomite and dig through, removing weeds as we go along. With the chooks watching from the nearby dome (shouldn’t they be hard at work laying those eggs?!), we finally get to plant our Asparagus, and all before lunch. Our afternoon is spent planting 2 more beds, making a grand total of 6 since I arrived just 3 weeks ago. Hopefully I’ll be quite the expert soon!

Champion chooks keep count

2007-09-14T10:44:00.000+10:00

Week two at Imago Forest and I’m really starting to settle in. The chooks are getting used to me and have stopped pecking me quite as much! This week they have laid fantastic amounts of eggs…and I feel quite proud!

Monday we collected Paul from Singleton who is coming to help us on the farm for a few days. We get stuck right in and sow a bed Monday afternoon and I’m pleased to find I remember enough from last week to be able to explain to Paul the reasoning behind the planting patterns we use in the Mandala Garden.

Tuesday the weather is perfect and we plan to plant 36 trees in the newly cleared orchard area. Morning is spent grafting several types of apple tree to root stock…Julian cuts and joins each piece in a clever fashion which will hopefully ensure successful grafting, while Paul and I use grafting tape to bind and label each new tree…Cox’s, James, Sauvages and Esopus etc all heritage varieties. After some hard digging by Paul and Julian, and once again the mixing in of lime and dolomite, the gentleman kindly allow me the best job of planting the trees! Our production line works well and we finish just in time to quickly admire our day’s work before dark falls.

Wednesday, Julian and Paul head off with the deliveries while I remain on the farm. Perra follows me around as I see to the chickens and collect the morning’s 15 eggs…that’s my girls! With some time to sit I add to and alter our farm operations flow chart as we keep having brainwaves on how to better it, and we can see how it’s developed in just one week. Following this I do my first small stock count in the Mandala Garden and realise I need a lot more practice at recognising what’s what! The cool of the afternoon is spent planting 2 more new beds, and this time I do one on my own…cant wait to see if it turns out well…I did put a lot of love into each and every seed!

Thursday arrives, not a cloud in the sky and another day ahead of us in the newly created orchard. We rake up all the grass from the clearing, put a good amount of manure around each tree leaving space around the trunk, and then cover the manure with straw for protection. A job well done, the orchard now looks like a mass of huge nests with sticks sticking up in the middle! After a day in the sun we shower, relax, read our books and look back over what we’ve achieved this week.

Hannah Parsons

2007-09-07T08:49:00.000+10:00

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!

Farm sitters

2007-08-30T19:56:00.000+10:00

Thank you to the wonderful farm sitters, who looked after the chickens and watered the seedlings while I was away! Without them I would not have been able to have my all too brief break from the farm. On my return I found the chickens in high spirits and the garden looking healthy after four inches of rain.

Unfortunately, the warmer weather has made most of the plants go to flower, reducing the harvest. However on the positive side, there are many self-sown baby bok choy coming up.

It's actually the most difficult time of year as it is not warm enough for most of the warm weather crops (tomatoes, eggplants, corn etc) to go in yet but the cool weather crops are bolting.

As Jackie French says, wait till you can sit comfortably on the ground with a bare bum before planting! In the meantime i'll be raising seedlings under cover.

Aotearoan magic

2007-08-24T18:32:00.000+10:00

Spending a fortnight in New Zealand has been a great experience -- personally and professionally. I visited NZ's most acclaimed organic farmer, Tony Mallard and got to chew his ear about how he farms. He now has 18 acres of deep, finely structured rich topsoil that looks good enough to eat and he puts it down to compost. So even in NZ where they have soil that we could only dream about, compost is still the key!

Painting with Poo

2007-08-09T15:14:00.000+10:00

Ha Haa!
My sister called me and asked what i was up to... quite truthfully i answered that i was painting poo on trees.

To explain, I was painting Biodynamic treepaste onto the trunks and branches of the recently pruned fruit trees. The tree paste is made up of fresh cow pats, sand or diatomaceous earth and potting clay or bentonite.

The idea behind it is to seal wounds from the previous year and from the pruning. It also provides a nourishing "cream" for the plant in this season's growth.

Rudolph Steiner said that "the trunk of a tree can be likened to an elongated mound of Earth, upon which plants (leaves) grow." So the tree paste carries out a similar function to compost spread on the ground.

Pruning the Fruit Trees

2007-08-05T11:26:00.000+10:00

Well, it was well and truly time to prune the fruit trees by the time we got out there with the secateurs. The peaches and nectarines had their leaves starting to show already... naughty naughty!

So we sharpened the secateurs, and went to each of the trees and cut it back to vase shape. It seems a bit drastic cutting off so much material, but the theory goes that you set the shape in the early years, and reap the benefits in the future. I'm after a vase shape here to maximise fruit on each tree. Whereas a central leader shape maximises fruit production per area (if you pack in lots of trees). Also a vase will work better with the domes that come in quite close.

Paul and I kept the "scion" wood that we cut in readiness for grafting it onto rootstock when it arrives.

Tipi

2007-08-05T10:38:00.000+10:00

In preparation for setting up the tipi, the poles which were cut from saplings in the forest, were sanded back and oiled up.

Then Paul and I set about creating a flat spot to put the tipi on. In a couple of days, we accomplished with great satisfaction what a bulldozer probably would have done in about ten minutes!

The tipi from Rainbow Tipis arrived a couple of days later and i couldn't help myself, but i had to unpack it all. After getting instructions over the phone, i raced over to the tipi site and set up the poles. It was hairy setting it up on my own as the poles are tall and quite heavy!

The next morning, i thought i could tie the poles better so i took it down and set it all up, including the skin in time for breakfast in the new tipi!

Of course it rained that same day so i got a chance to try out the rain shield.

Perra was a bit nervous of the whole thing, but i encouraged her in. I was going to sleep in their but didn't want to risk a bad night's sleep with a talk I was giving at the Healthy Living Expo the next day.

I did sit and admire it for a while from across the lake and saw the swallows flitting and soaring around it and just occasionally right into it.

Budswell

2007-07-28T19:11:00.000+10:00

It's amazing the flexibility of some plants. The Tatsoi (chinese leafy green) grow right through the year, the scorching heat of summer and even the severe cold and frosts of a mountain winter. What's great though is that the plant grows completely differently throughout the year. In summer its a vigorous upright vegie, while the winter versions are flat to the ground and very distinctively show off their rosette.

Not too long now though before we go back to the tall versions! The daffodils are poking their leaves up and the nectarine's leaves are starting to emerge from their buds. Better enjoy the cool weather now before it's gone!

Getting easier?

2007-07-22T11:03:00.000+10:00

The chook domes have finally done a full circuit of the mandala! This means each vegie bed has had a chook dome one it once for two weeks sometime in the last six months.

This is making getting the beds ready for planting much easier as most of the pasture grasses, bracken and blackberries have been dug out of the beds. It also means that the beds only need to be cultivated to just below the surface and therefore the soil structure is less disturbed... good for the worms and other soil life... and so make healthier vegies!

The intention is that after the next six month complete rotation, the soil should have improved to the point where transplants are put straight into fertile and friable soil -- a no-dig market garden!

Windy chooks and CSA's

2007-07-22T11:01:00.000+10:00

With all the winds that we've been having lately, a lot of work has gone into devising ways to stop the chicken domes from from being crushed flat. The solution so far is to wire in some light but sturdy bamboo poles, which the chooks have been chasing each other around!

With Farmer Mick's fruit and veg store closing down in town, the options for getting local and fresh produce (not to mention organic) are getting slimmer and slimmer. So once again, thank you for supporting small and local and keeping the options open!

What is a Mandala Garden?

2007-07-22T10:51:00.000+10:00

Imago Forest is set up using a mandala design, biodynamic methods, good business practices and a home delivery model to demonstrate that small-scale farms can be supply local communities in a viable, enjoyable and sustainable way.

Mandala Garden

Imago Forest is based on the mandala design developed by permaculturalist Linda Woodrow in her book "The Permaculture Home Garden".

It is a circular design that when fully operational will feed 20 people their fruit and vegetable needs throughout the year from only one sixth of a hectare. The mandala at Imago Forest contains:

42 vegetable beds (4m diam)
Three chook domes (10 chooks each)
31 different fruit trees
Seven ponds
Many compost piles
An increasing number of perennial plants such as lavender, rosemary, arrowroot, asparagus etc as a border.

Introduction

2007-07-21T11:43:00.000+10:00

Hello and welcome to Imago Forest's Blog or "Musings from the Mandala".

This will mainly be reflections on my experiences using the mandala design garden and biodynamic practices. However I will be adding other commments along the way.

Feel free to post your own comments too!

regards,

Julain.