Robin’s Final Post

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.

Back on the farm : )

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.

Wild weather

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

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

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.

Bag of Bones

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.