VastHarvestPermaculture

Time to harvest the turmeric

With 25 Acres of food forest this is not a small job.

We had the pleasure of hosting Michael from Cafe Locked Out for a couple of days. James and Michael went for a walk through the permaculture food forest and talked about fruit trees and bees.

Cafe Locked Out and James walk and talk about permaculture food forest and bees

There are heaps more trees in the nursery that still need to be planted. Here is a quick video of them.

Finally getting a couple of dragon fruits planted out. Heaps more to go.

First week back at work after the holidays was pretty busy. Next week will be even bigger. We’re doing a massive plant out of swales 17, 18, and 19. Stay tuned to see what we’re up to.

The sandpaper Fig tree leaves really are quite rough. This tree was planted not even 12 months ago as a small sapling and now it’s well over 1 meter tall.

Omg the flowers of the lemon Myrtle smell like lemon sherbet.

Inspecting the swales. No trees in these swales yet.

Bana grass is a fast growing perennial grass species that can be used for wind break, chop and drop mulch, living fence for poultry and fodder for most farm animals. Cutting were purchased from @limestone_permaculture @fruit_tree_fella and our friend Stephen last year. We popped some into water to grow roots and planted them out in rows here to create a wind break and an area where we will be able to propagate from. All the swales in the food forest have had bana grass planted in them. They’ll create a wind break and at some point we will just chop and drop.

Strawberry guavas are flowering. Should get a good crop of fruit.

Looks like this little guys pollen basket is pretty full. Globally there are more honey bees than other types of bee and pollinating insects, so it is the world’s most important pollinator of food crops. It is estimated that one third of the food that we consume each day relies on pollination mainly by bees, but also by other insects, birds and bats. Please look after the bees 🐝

Waiting for the storm to arrive.

The chestnuts are fruiting. These trees still all need to be planted into the nut grove.

Native Mulberry The fruits of the Native Mulberry are small and white, almost translucent in appearance. Like strawberries, they bear their seeds on the outside. They are soft and juicy, with a sweet and delicate flavour, though like conventional mulberries, can vary in taste and texture. The leaves, roots and sap have recorded usage in traditional medicine, while the bark was used for textiles and cordage. This is the only Native Mulberry tree we have on the farm. Looks like we may have to grab some more when they become available @daleysfruit. Watch this space for more photos as these guys ripen up.

Way too many roosters with these chickens. They’ll be going into the freezer soon.

Muscovy ducks in the yard. Babies are also growing up fast. These guys will soon go down into the food forest and get to work.

Morning bath for the ducks. They absolutely love it.

Mini foxy is wanting to go for a buggy ride.

Have you had enough rain yet?? The permaculture food forest is loving all the rain we’ve been getting. The swales are not overflowing or even full yet but they’re doing exactly what they were designed to do.

This holy basil just won’t stop growing.

After the storm the sun is setting. It’s so peaceful.

Swales are working well. With over 60mm of rain so far the swales are filling up nicely and doing their job well. . . . #swales #permaculture #permacultureaustralia #permaculturefoodforest #foodforest #selfsufficient #selfsufficientliving #growyourownfood #fruittrees #fruittreesinmybackyard #vastharvestpermaculture

Where we use permaculture principles. Main orchard trees like nectarines, plums, peaches and cherries are planted out and then we plant a variety of other edible plants between those trees. Here we have rhubarb, raspberries between the stone fruits. Herbs like holy basil, rosemary and lemongrass on front and back ends of the mounds and finally squash, pumpkins and watermelon in between as ground cover.