Instalment six looks at the method of propagating seedling to ensure we have a continuation of planting. People wishing to use the systm are welcome to apply for a licence with Tulipwood who lives in Mandala Town (when she is not galavanting all over the place. The photos and notes are available by clicking on this rather long link.
Fruit trees are a very important part of the mandala garden, providing shelter and shade in the summer and a place to grow herbs all year round. We have tried to set out the trees in a sequence that complements the rotation of the domes ans the planting of the beds but it has proven difficult as the domes are moved erratically due to climate and other factors. The fruit trees have been left to their own devices so far, while we concentrate on the vegetable production for our customers. They are now at a stage where a little more attention will make then productive to provide not only for us but for the customers in the CSA as well and it will be great to have the extras for the weekly boxes. Although the photos do not show it well enough, a feature of the trees is the understory/guild that surrounds each tree and provides for benificials along with the pond at the centre of each mandala. Habitat is provided by way of lengths of pipe in the mulch and places for lizards to sun themselves. more can be seen of the fruit trees on the photo blog
We grow much of our chook food - though we do buy some grain. The sunflower is a great source of oil and nutrient for the chickens and beautiful at this time of the year. I have posted some shots of the sunflowers in my photoblog Garlic and onions are now harvested and photos should be ready soon. The harvest was not as great as expected which shows you should not expect more than you can deliver. The onions are either too large or too small for the most part but customers should get two good sized onions a week for most of the new year and we will improve next season. Garlic has come through an extended damp and humid period while in the process of drying and some of the corms are soft - one day I will set up a forced draft drying room or may be not - the suns energy is best and usually works well.
What brand of sunflower are you growing. I only get one flower head with mine. Yours look a bit different too. And very beautiful. I need to do some more research on growing chook food. But right now i've got enough on my plate i think.
The one near the mandala is into the compost I laid pretty heavily for the tomatoes and the others are ones we picked up at an open day or something several years ago. I'll get some seeds to you when they come through.
We are in need of rain, here at Purple Pear. It may seem strange to many in Australia, where floods are prevalent at the moment. We are today getting showers and have had about 10 mm in the last day or so. Strange it is that a great start to the summer, with good rains has dwindled over the Christmas break. Having said that, we are in good shape if we do get the followup as we have plenty of the summer crops in and doing well. It has taken about half of my reserves of water but the tomatoes and capsicum and zucchini are producing well. Sweet corn is slow as was the tomatoes for sometime. I am hopeful for corn soon but it will perhaps be a short season this year. Eggplants are doing better than they have in the past years too and should be supplying in the next week. Self seeded and planted greens are prolific too and leeks and shallots are fine. Cabbages we planted late have been hit hard by the cabbage white butterfly which is starting to get into the bok choi and other asian brassicas but picked young they are doing ok. Speaking on zucchini, the blog post this week and a thread in "planting etc" looks at the poison we got from one of the plants. Research shows that it is a rare throwback of some sort. If you click here it will take you to the photo blog with pictures of the bad zucchini and also pics of 28 spot lady beetles on nightshade - leaving the zucchini alone - very interesting.
Don't tell Monsanto or they'll be wanting to take your zucchini genes and use them in something to stop bugs eating them!
It's been some time since the last report. In that time there have been devastating floods and catastrophic weather all around the Hunter Valley and we have been experiencing drought and blistering hot days. Most of the water stored has been used in keeping the plants alive and customers are sure we will never again supply the fabulous lettuce that we have become known for round here. It is a poor day when a problem can not be turned to a solution and in the photo blog we see a tyre based island we constructed in the centre of the duck pond whilst the water faded. You can view the pictures here.
As i said in the blog, I am so very impressed and even excited by this design. I want one. Is it your own idea? Or where did you get this idea from? I wonder if it would work here. Though i were to make such a thing, i would not want my ducks making a big mess in it all the time. I might keep it for the birds and let the ducks have their barrow sized pond only. They only seem to use it once a day for a bath anyway.
It came form the father Bill Mollison via Canada Dave who saw it (as did Kate) in the "Introduction to Permaculture".
But i love the calmness and the peace available there on farms . And i love working in that calm and silent environment .
Aamir this is your first post and it makes no sense whatsoever. You must be a spammer. Mods are you watching?
Dear Aamir - I concur with your observation that the peace on purple pear farm is paramount. I am glad you see it too. Welcome to the forum. i hope you prove to be the asset to the board as you make yourself better known to us. It is hard not to be calm when you are up to your waist in muck - laughin to keep from cryin?
not yet dear mischief but we wait - with baited breath. In the last long dry I tried worring but it did no good so I decided not to try that this time. We won't starve but we may loose customers perhaps. Oh well.
The Tocal small farms field day asked us to put a display garden for backyard food production and this is what we came up with. The block actually faces west but we tried to show zones and sectors as well as elements working together. Feedback was great and the three days went well. see more on my photoblog. We have had some good rain here at Purple Pear and food production is going well. We still await the rain that will fill our dams and get us clear, but for the moment showers are keeping production happening.