Budswell

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?

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

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?

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

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.