Organics in Hong Kong

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

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

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!

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?

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:

1. the farm is run as a sustainable ecosystem in itself
2. the use of biodynamic preparations which enhance the life forces on the farm
3. 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?

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

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. : )