The vibrant colours of Food
Permaculture
Permaculture is a term created by David Holgrem in the 1980's when he developed a system of growing food in a replicated forest. There are 7 layers to a food forest and each layer depends upon and feeds into the whole system. From canopy trees providing shade, to vines and down to the herbage, everything you could possibly want to eat can be grown in this complete system.
Kelle ForrealKelle is the horticulturist creating the beautiful food gardens around Huntly. Kelle radiates good health, she is passionate in the garden and she has a vigilant eye for troubleshooting. Chooks are another of her specialties, breeding up and coming generations constantly. Kelle is such a joy to have here, the place is humming.
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WeruschcaWeruschca was a blessing from Patchamama when she came to stay for six weeks. She took us to new levels of the understanding of Permaculture and the commitment. Rush is on a mission to redesign and restore the precious earth.
Weruschca redesigned our garden & setup and changed the flow of energy around it. She introduced us to IMOs and EMOs, effective microbes we have in our soil and showed us how to multipy them. She introduced us to many things including the broad folk she is demonstrating. The passion and energy beaming from Rush is magnetic. Weruschca was a power house of inspiration and ideas. |
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In our growing food forest we have mangos, custard apples, peaches nectarines, apples, lots of mulberries, avocados, all types of citrus, pecan nuts and macadamias.
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Fishing April 2017 - caught 21 Barramundi
In 2016 we put in 500 barra fingerlings into Boil the Billy dam. Last Easter school holidays (2017), Sandy and the Yorkies, Fanny, Zaz, Mel and I thought we'd see how big they'd got.
It was an afternoon that makes all others insignificant. The scenery, the water, the mountains & the last radiant rays of sunshine and the fun. The fish were jumping out of the water to catch that bait. Sandy was so busy killing and gutting, and I got not a moments repreive from scaling. We decided to cap it at 20, but when Fanny had not yet caught one, Sandy presented her with the lucky lure and she too revelled in glory. Oh the fishing stories that night and we sat around the fire grilling them.
It was an afternoon that makes all others insignificant. The scenery, the water, the mountains & the last radiant rays of sunshine and the fun. The fish were jumping out of the water to catch that bait. Sandy was so busy killing and gutting, and I got not a moments repreive from scaling. We decided to cap it at 20, but when Fanny had not yet caught one, Sandy presented her with the lucky lure and she too revelled in glory. Oh the fishing stories that night and we sat around the fire grilling them.
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I love you from my head tomatoes 2017
Xavier had been working on a tomato farm in France and wanted to build a hot house on Huntly so we could grow tomatoes over the winter. I love tomatoes, you can never have too many, they are so versatile. Xavier was inspired and passionate. He germinated every tomato seed I had been saving for years and at night he would bring the small seedings inside to keep warm. We designed the framework for the hot house then Xavier embraced the smelly old welder and built a statute of productivity and grandeur.
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Fanny returned to Huntly this year with a passion. Her vibrant enthusiastic energy was catapulted with the company of Mel, her mate and Xavier, her love. Fanny and Mel shared a love of horses and were going to break in the indominable Della. Xavier and Fanny study at Ag Collage and both are passionate about growing food. Xavier was coming to visit for the month of April. All three were a blessing for me.
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After Xavier returned to France, the project was carried on passionately by Fanny and Mel. They coated the house with the slippery plastic, laid out the irrigation, installed the trellises, painted creative touches and planted out lovingly every tomato plant. All this was being supervised closely, electronically by Zaz, from the other side of the world! There were 50 plants and each one had a name. The first three were Xavier, Fanny and Mel. Names of mates, mates kids, kid mates and pets were always being dropped when they were actually only referring to the tomato bushes.
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At the end of June Fanny and Mel went on a road trip and I was bestowed the huge responsibility of caring for the tomatoes. Tomato fever had taken over as I dreamed of the salsas and sauces I was going to make. So I mulched and manured, watered and watched. They grew huge and prolific. Fanny returned before flying home to France and did a passionate prune and in August Mel came back for a month and went through them all thoroughly again.
Rodney was taking me camping with his mate Danny, up the WA coast and Mel was back to look after everything. I was worried the tomatoes were all going to ripen while I was away but 3 weeks later they were just ready for the first big harvest. Four bucket loads.
Tomato dreaming’s over, I’m in tomato heaven now! Thanks Xavier, Fanny and Mel!
September 2017
Rodney was taking me camping with his mate Danny, up the WA coast and Mel was back to look after everything. I was worried the tomatoes were all going to ripen while I was away but 3 weeks later they were just ready for the first big harvest. Four bucket loads.
Tomato dreaming’s over, I’m in tomato heaven now! Thanks Xavier, Fanny and Mel!
September 2017
