What's happening at the farmstay!

 We are currently working on the out door area ...and when i say 'we'...it really means some great tradesmen and David . I have watched and told people when they are doing anything wrong and this is a very important job.
This is the outdoor area for farmstay visitors where they can sit and relax as their children play in the farmstay yard. There will also be a barbecue in this spot too.

Embarassingly so...this is the perpetual garden . The tradies have used it to dump their stuff in and I haven't been able to get near it. Any seedlings I have planted have gone into our own beds.
There is nothing more frustrating to a gardener than not being able to get to a new patch to plant.
David wants to put brick edging along here before I start preparing soil . I love his eye for detail and his ability to remain patient about things .

 This is the farmstay kitchen. One thing that has always been a priority for us when we are on holiday is a place to prepare food for our family . Even when we are holiday there is nothing like a homecooked meal. We also find the more food of our own we grow , that takeaway and restaurant salads just can not match it.
This little kitchen is in the sun room of the farmstay and to the right are the two bedrooms (mum and dad's room and kids room .)

 The tiles are in the bathrooms . Each room has its own bathroom. Room one has a spa bath and shower, room 2 has just a shower .

 This is a feature wall in one of the bedrooms. These bricks were sourced from a house that was demolished in Newcastle. When we got the bricks they were all stuck together or covered in mortar. Many hours were spent with a wire brush scrubbing them ready for the brickies....in fact one day I was out scrubbing while the house was being built and I was mistaken for one of the brickies labourers.

 Ah, here is the spa bath!!! It looks very nice but there is no motor installed yet - that's david's next job.

The pianola has been restored to the tower room ready for some families to stand around it and sing along. If you have any songs you want to sing along to let us know..... I just bought 'Brown Eyed Girl' and the kids just love getting out there and belting out a tune.David wants AC DC , but I don't think it really goes with a pianola.


Anyway , that's all the news for now. So, no I am no where near my challenge to get the perpetual garden ready for my first visitors , but I have plenty of time yet. Also every step we take on the farm is a step to being ready by Christmas.

let the sowing begin!!!

Well, it is sad to loose the mighty Masarap mob to this funky little challenge, however, its a bit like not eating your broadbeans or sweat potatoes for the first season, so that you have more to harvest the next. We wish you guys the very best in your new venture and are sure that you will reap a greater harvest in the seasons to come. The very best of luck to you all.

As for progress on our suburban front yard, we have had some trees removed allowing a great deal more light, and therefore, more growing space. the toilet rolls have been put into action, and the seeds have been sown for the summer harvest. we are going heirloom this year, with crookneck zuchinni's, all manner of old fashioned tomatoes, and golden midget watermelon to name a few. We also want to create a substantial tea garden with some peppermint and chamomile for home made teas. Lots of fun days ahead.

But most exciting of all, the CROP & SWAP (food swap) will kick off this November. we have hired a hall and tied up the public liability red tape matters so that we can legally meet other veggie growers in our neighbourhood and swap our fruit and veggies, just in case someone's head explodes at the sight of a bag of home grown tomatoes.

On a sadder note, I may need to seek professional help. I think I am addicted to buying horse manure. I purchased another 8 bags last week, and 2 weeks before that, 10 more. Now, whenever I drive past a paddock, I catch myself looking for "Poo for Sale" signs, my hands get all clammy, and my heart rate increases with silly daydreams of covering my entire front yard in horse manure. I look at myself in the rear vision mirror and think, "you've changed"... Any suggestions?

dinner plans have changed

so ... we were in for the all up day's worth of meals.

well ... that's gonna have to change now ... please bear with us.  you see ... our dream has come true.  my IT geek of a hubby has landed an exec IT job in rural NSW.  so we are moving far, far away ... to commence our bush life in absolute glory.  so dinner is gonna have to wait.

short term we'll live in a rental in Casino (hubby will be a sr lvl IT exec at Southern Cross Uni), until we find the land to buy and reclaim.  so it will be patio boxes and aquaponics till we get settled.

J&J ... you should drop over and have a yarn with hubby about aquaponics before you throw the baby out with the bath water.  he went to a DIY course and it all makes easy sense to him.  speaking of which ... i have some propogating stuff, pots n plants n compost ... willing to part with some if you are inclined!  just send me a private email.

we will stay very interested in this blog and continue to participate ... i'm just afraid it's not gonna happen as soon as we had anticipated!

our journey in earnest can be followed at http://www.backwardssimply.blogspot.com ....

Do you think we should keep her??????

busterly bummers... its really windy

After a quick dash to the front yard to heard the chooks back to their pen, in the wild and relentless winds, I noted a few garden tragedies on my travels. Our little green house has copped a beating from the breezes, after having just mended it 2 weeks ago. And worse still, the main patch of broadbeans have also suffered heavy casualties in the wind.

Be gone wild weather!

On the upside, I went for a poo run yesterday, down toward the Windsor/Richmond district and picked up 10 bags of horse manure for just $10. Squashing them into the back of the hyundai, I sped off feeling like I had just made the biggest poo heist of the century. We mulched it in under most of our fruit trees, and still have 5 bags left to dig into the patches where we will grow our pumpkins and tomatoes in spring.

We are also another step closer to starting a local food swap in our neighbourhood, powowing with the the local council to confirm a meeting place. We hope to begin the foodswap around October/November.

j&j

an update .... of sorts!

i really had hoped that i would have a bigger yield from my veg patch by now.  things are coming up .... but nothing is ready.  the only thing i am harvesting is parsley and oregano .... and heaps of that mind you!

the broad beans are blooming .... both my crimson and white.  so check .... beans are coming!
asparagus is bedded in well .... but nothing there until spring
peas are looking great.... both the front patch and the back patch .... but no blooms yet.
same with the snow peas .... they look amazing .... but no flowers yet
garlic is coming up nicely .... thinking about a last minute additional plant there.
kipfler potatos are in ... waiting for a second batch which should come shortly.
lots of seedlings coming up well .... celeriac, beets, cabbage, cauliflower, herbs galore, comfrey, leeks, onions
i even have some early season borlotti beans seeding  ....

but alas .... nothing is ready to eat.  all that can mean is that spring is gonna be bountiful!

hubby went to a DIY aquaponics course last weekend through Milkwood.  had a blast and learned heaps.  has already purchased his first bathtub off ebay for $20 (brand new).  the beauty of the course was that the guy teaches how to make it out of what you have and what you can source, vs. "i have a kit and make it from this."  so hubby is happy and itchin to get going .... just a few more keyhole beds and things to build for me first <g> ....... and of course i am off to a mushroom workshop this weekend through the same mob .... can't wait!
maggie
backwardssimply.blogspot.com

Birth of A Perpetual Garden and Goings on In the Vege Patch

I am a dreadful procrastinator...and one of my favourite sayings is of course, 'yes, I am going to do it...' while all evidence is that I have got sidetracked onto something else.
Perpetual farmstay garden is  doing nothing but sitting there.With a great big pile of building materials around it. It is cold and the fire is so inviting to sit near instead of going outside .I need to get out there and do something.
Solution is to go and plant the seedlings for it!! Now I have to by the end of  the long weekend , have the bed ready.

I have some different types of brassicas to plant and

winter lettuces as well. They will need have at least two weeks growing time and then in they will go. This will give the new bed time to settle and be ready for planting too.

The perpetual garden will be different from my other beds as it is really a traditional garden bed . I normally use raised beds or chicken tractor beds. It is important for us to have lots of different gardening styles going here because different styles suit different people. The aim is to get as many people gardening as we can.

 This is the chicken tractor that David built for me. I might be a marvel in the garden, but this is the reason... I am married to this incredible person who can basically build anything and is happy to do it.
This chicken tractor is 'mark 3 ' of david's designs , since he always has to improve on things. It is really great , but it is also really heavy. He is thinking about doing a dome design in a lightweight aluminium frame (many years ago we did try poly pipe but it gets pretty windy on our hill and it just kept blowing away much to the consternation of the chickens ) . The bed shown here is just ready for planting.... these chickens are my best scratchers ever, but I am finding they are going faster than I can grow seedlings in the preparation of beds.

This is my other chicken tractor (mark 1 of david's designs) . It is the easiest to move but not quite the standard of  mark 2. . We have a very old breed of bantam in this one. ....silver duckwing  leghorn bantams ( bred in the 1800s ) . We bought them just to keep an old breed going..just have to find a duck wing rooster now.Also want lots of eggs to feed farmstay guests and make pasta!
They are at point of lay at the moment. We check for eggs everyday.

They are a bit flighty  , perhaps something to do with the older breeding. We love watching them roost at night because there is always one chicken who MUST be at the very top of the roost ...and they flutter and fuss till the pecking order is all set out in roosting order.
Today we are going to let them run around ...this will be their first outing in the yard. We are going to do it close to sunset , so that their roosting instinct sets in and they are happy to go back in the pen. Considering how flighty they are, I hope they go back in okay. I can just see myself at dusk lifting roosting chickens out of the mulberry tree or something.
We believe it is important to let our chicken tractor chickens have time outside. We have found that with set routines you can train them to be herded back to the pen on sunset. But...we always have to supervise. There is nothing more tempting to a chicken than a freshly mulched garden bed with seedlings in it. It is worth the time to see them racing around the yard excitedly telling each other when they have found something delicious like a snail!

More Beds!

So ... i'm putting in three more beds this weekend.  <g>  more broad beans to be sure! i've got my diggers order ready to go .... can't believe it's about time to start thinking about the seedlings that need to get planted for the spring planting!  makes a heart hope!

anyone know much about bush tucker?  i'm thinking about dedicating a small area of my front yard to that ... it could be very fun, and a great learning experience for us and the kids!  let me know if you guys know anything about that!

to choko or no go?

Listening to a little jazz by the fire with a glass of vino, and the feel of dry sandpaper hands after a good day in the garden. Last week we had a family shin dig for Dad's 70th. Mike and Mandy drove down from the Nimbin Hinterland, bringing with them some lovely bohemian pumpkins, bell chillies and choko's a plenty. One of the choko's had sprouted a shoot with some leaves, so this week we decided to be frivolous and plant it by our front fence, despite chilling choko stories taking over peoples gardens and destroying their lives.

Surely they cant be that bad... right? Well I guess we are about to find out. If they are as rambunctious as rumoured, hopefully we will not be condemned and outcast by our neighbourhood. The kids and I chomped on one this evening, and we were all pleasantly surprised at their mild flavor and apple like crunch. Perhaps its the name....choko... if they were titled with something more exotic, like Brazilian bongo fruit, or the forbidden bobacko fruit of desire, perhaps they would not suffer such an unfair stigma.

With the successful planting of the community orchard in our nearby nature strip, we have been in the mood for planting a few more things in our own garden. this afternoon we purchased two Kiwi fruit vines (male and female), and some more rosemary for the front garden.

we also set about building a chook tractor, slash, possum force field, using chook wire and some conduit. We aim to finish it this weekend and hope to introduce the chooks to it by day, then use it to cover seedlings by night to ward off our "big fat eat everything and make your garden a barren wasteland" possums.

We too successfully grew sweet potatoes last season.. they are a very rewarding veg to grow. they are a great crop. no diseases, fast growing and easy on the eye. the heart shaped leaves are also edible.   this year we had less success, as we did not have them covered and the possums ate the leaves off every stem. consequently we are considering a walk in enclosure to cover the garden beds.

Very interested in the talk about Aquaponics. We are very keen to give it a try also. Maggie, please let us know how the course on fish (and fungi) goes. Sounds very exciting. Wouldn't it be great to hold a fishing and bbq party in your own backyard!

Enjoy the garden.

How To Grow Sweet Potatoes And Farmstay News

Maggie asked me about sweet potatoes. These are photos I took last Spring, but as we are currently harvesting the last of our sweet potatoes, I felt a bit nostalgic for spring...so will tell you a little bit about them.
Supermarket sweetpotatoes rarely sprout...I suspect they are sprayed with something . I bought my sweet potatoes from our local organic shop 'Organic Feast'(great shop!!) in Maitland.
I cut them up into pieces and placed them in the soil.

 There was little effort to it all. Although I did find at the end of season, the bigger pieces were the ones that did the best. I guess the plant had more to use as nutrients.

I used all sorts of pieces (orange, white and purple). I discovered the orange ones did the best and supplied the most produce. The purple were more slow growing and the white ones did not seem to like my climate at all. So, in a temperate climate, I would suggest the orange kumera to begin with.

It was so exciting seeing them all sprout.

And this is what we have been eating for the past few weeks. I haven't been near the grocery shop for 3 weeks now, these are just delicious!!

Of course , you can't grow them now...too cold. All the plants have just been zapped by frost. But the little tubers left in the soil untouched will shoot again in spring. So it is a great plant that you have to do little work for, and it just keeps providing -you must find a permanent designated area for it though.

In other news we are listening to builders hammer and drill as the new bathrooms go in the farmstay rooms. I can't get near the perpetual garden with all these utes parked up along the house. Still, it is a good sound, the sound of progress  .

I have both fires going today and am looking out on a very dry landscape, as the frost has burnt off the last of the kikiyu grass . There has been some rain today , and fingers crossed we will get some winter grasses coming through soon. ...just need a bit more rain. I have planted clover around my orchard to create a natural mulch and am attempting to never run out of broccoli (as it always seems to be the one thing that I have to dash to the supermarket to buy) by planting 17 plants and more to come.Also, as I snuggle up in front of the fire, I have created the farmstay blog :
http://thelittleblackcowblog.blogspot.com/  ....so feel free to visit whenever you like and tell alllllllllllllllllllll your friend  as well!
Can't wait to hear more about what has been happening in your garden Maggie.

Living In the Present ..... Living In The Future ....All At The Same Time.

 Whilst I said our challenge was building a tourist establishment by Christmas...the real challenge is making sure that everything is home made and self sufficient by the time our first guests arrive. We want to create a place with very few store bought goods and most things provided by the farm.
We often can go almost a week without shopping with our vegetable garden at the moment and most of our groceries consist of fruit , flour , sugar and eggs.But we do get tired sometimes and then out come the bought biscuits , etc . It is okay to do that too , because true self suffiency can be exhausting if you over do  it and it should always be fun.
For our farmstay guests , though we aim for a weekend of everything out of our oven or our garden for the time they are here. Just to get in touch with the idea of self suffiency and try it for themselves.
This weekend we bought a tangello tree, a blood orange tree , a navello orange tree and a emperor mandarine tree . We planted them in the back yard which is at the top of a hill. Our soil is good but the house area is over a rock and gravel shelf , so you can get caught with planting trees when the roots hit a rock shelf and go, 'hey there is no more dirt here!' and the tree up and dies.Every planting is a risk in the citrus area as no matter how deep you dig you wonder if there is a giant rock just under the tree. But it is okay to take risks, that is what life is all about. My back is sore though from pulling all these big rocks out  !
At the same time , it is best to follow permaculture principles where everything is planted centrally and you can keep an eye on your crops. Our garden is near the clothes line because it means you are visually connecting with the plants at least once a day. Although, sadly the clothes don't always get hung out on time if you are like me and get distracted by dropping the basket in the middle of the yard so that you can weed or plant!
We also considered planting an orchard down near the creek as that would make more sense waterwise and soil wise . We thought about our visitors though would be  mainly from urban areas, so decided to create something that will go in a backyard instead.Hopefully all we do would be doable in some way in a suburban backyard.

The citrus orchard now consists of eight trees, all of different types to stagger fruiting periods. They do well on this side of the yard and appreciate the gravelly texture of the soil to a point because it allows good drainage.
This is also where we have our chicken tractor . Chicken the rooster(scaredy cat rooster ) and his four wives create a new garden bed for me in the citrus area every 4-6 weeks . This is working well for crops that don't do well in my raised beds.I also let them out on afternoons when I am working in the yard ...in no way can they be trusted on their own though.

 Our lemon tree is full of fruit at the moment due to all this lovely rain.This Eureka lemon wasn't fruiting well previously until I realised that it simply wasn't getting enough water.

This was a lime tree and I have been telling everyone it is a lime tree. It is now a lemon tree....it used to be a lime tree but the graft got away on me and I didn't notice the other part died. I actually needed a lemon tree that fruits at a different time to the Eureka , so mistakes can often work out well.
Never be afraid of mistakes in the garden.

 Our raised beds are going well. There is nothing like the Autumn flush to get such lush growth.
It also fools gardeners into thinking they can get away with a summer crop going (which is why I planted corn last weekend just as an experiement ...crazy I know).

 The passionfruit vine and the sweetpotato vines are going well and it is prime time for picking our sweetpotatoes.
Every gardener has one thing they grow really really well for some reason. For us it seems to be sweet potato.
We went to Tocal field day on the weekend and bought some heritage Italian seeds. Planted Kale yesterday and some red lettuce which will look gorgeous in winter salads.

And lastly this half dead area here is the place for the perpetual farmstay garden.Oh dear, it doesn't look so good ! It doesn't look like much now,but it will . One thing about gardening is the promise for the future. You cannot not be sad when you look at a bare patch of soil like this and wonder' what work of art can I create with this?'

The perpetual garden is a garden purely for the farmstay guests. It is a place where each guest gives a future guest a gift by planting a punnet of lettuces , or kale or snow peas so that the following family can enjoy them. We will provide the seedlings , but for the guests it is a way of getting them to understand that growing your own food is about living in the present by holding the soil in your hands and enjoying the moment , and the  future at the same time ..knowing that planting corn now might result in a fun family barbecue with corn on the cob in a few months time.There will be a guest book for families to write in and each family will write what they planted . They will also be able to check online how their plants went when the farmstay blog starts.

Hopefully when I post next there will be some progress on the perpetual garden. There may also be a spa bath in the main farmstay bedroom fingers crossed!

leeks n things

have done a seedling tray of leeks.  have always been scared of them .... always fail.  but love them and the taste that they add to everything so have to give it another go.  did some research and when they are ready to transplant will put them in a broad bed where i can just leave them .... and forget them for a while in hopes that the ignoring will allow them to bloom where they are planted .... <g>.

on the other hand my snow peas, broad beans and potato's are coming up a treat right now.  comfrey is trying (for the compost) and the parsnips have shown their little heads now too.  and am about to plant out seedlings of cauliflower and brocolli.  looking forward to what stewy wintery soupy dishes i can put together with this stuff!

now if i could just get my husband to get his head around keeping chooks for eating as well as eggs .... then i could start thinking about completely home grown soups for dinner! <g>

The Challenge-Build A Tourist Establishment By Christmas !!!!

Last year I read about the funky frontyard farmer's friends challenge for themselve to survive a week on their own produce. While a week might seem a small time, it is not when it comes to producing all your own food! Of course the frontyard farmers succeeded , and in style ,by the looks of the photos. This family's journey appealed to me because they were doing something special, just changing the world a little at a time. They were also doing what I like calling  'throwing your hat over the fence' ... meaning that by throwing your hat over the fence  even though you can't walk any further , you push yourself to go further anyway because you must get to your hat.

For our family , we have set up our challenge over a course of many years, starting on our honeymoon 15 years ago where we said to each other , 'Let's have a bed and breakfast on our farm...' , we have been building ever since,with breaks when things like  babies were born and cattle prices were low. We never gave up though because we had published our decision in our hearts and it was all we ever talked about with family and friends as this dream developed.

 As time has gone on , our idea has changed as we have changed .Our 'bed and breakfast 'idea evolved to  become a place where people could learn to be self sufficient,where the stress of day to day living vanished, where children could find the joy in nature and maybe ,just maybe..... a  place to change the world a little bit at a time.

The thing is though , once you get to the finish line of something like this , it starts to get a little scary . You start wondering how it will go , will people like it , what if we  burn the breakfast etc...? We needed a challenge to get us to the homestretch . And now we have one , we have asked Jo and Joe to come and be our very first guests at 'The Little Black Cow Farmstay' in the beautiful Hunter Valley. So our challenge is to have our farmstay ready (we hope!! ) by the Christmas holidays and not burn their breakfast.

So in our posts over the rest of the year, you will see the last parts of the building, the creation of a perpetual vegetable garden , and little ideas that we might toss around and ask our funky frontyard farmer's friends to comment on to see if they would work. For instance , I keep telling my husband we should really get a duck....but he thinks 10 sheep,a pet cow, a goat, 2 ponies ,2 dogs ,4 chickens and a rooster and 2 rabbits are really enough for a farmstay.Don't you think we should get a duck???

From little things....

Up here in the mountains things are pretty chilled out. The beautiful, crisp Autumn days are fresh and invigorating. Maple leaves are turning the most brilliant shades of orange and the nights are getting chilly. Tonight we are blogging by our deliciously warm fireplace and we are thrilled to see that all of you guys are taking up the challenge too in your neck of the woods.

In the garden we've been planting broadbeans, garlic, carrots, cabbages, 5 colour silverbeet, beetroot and shallots. Yesterday we also planted some Dragon's Tongue beans (very groovey purple and white stripes) as well.

One of our potentially more exciting ventures that continues to be an issue of debate between us is aquaponics (growing fish combined with hydroponics), there are a few aesthetic and safety concerns that need ironing out before we proceed. We are also preparing to launch a community orchard in the laneway besdie our house, which is exciting, now we just have to confirm what trees will be most possum proof.

 Maggie we have been totally slack on the pickiling side of things, we have dabbled in it...and jam making too, but 2011 is our year for this...we have been collecting recipes and jars...and we would love any recipes and advice.

Hope everyone has warm toes,
cheers, Joe and Jo


our Macadamia nuts have just started to fall this month



Taking up the Challenge

Hi Joe & Jo.

My Family; Dad (Chris), Mum (Claudia), and kids Liv (8) & Tom (1.5) are from the Hunter Valley, NSW. We read your blog all the time and find there are always lots of helpful tips and funny stories for our enjoyment. When we saw that you were issuing a challenge to your followers, we couldn't help but be intrigued. We are just starting out in the veggie patch business and of late our garden has become very sad looking. Not ones to back down from a challenge we have decided to start again! Hopefully, we can have some produce before the challenge ends. If all goes well with the new garden, we are hoping to complete challenge 1 - one meal! Wish us luck!

Back at It!

Well .... have been overseas for the past week and a bit .... so just resurfacing.  Ready to face the onslaughts of an autumn and winter garden!  So far i have cleared out most of the front patch .... gonna put in my pea's there as soon as my diggers order arrives.  And too, i put in some comfrey for the compost today as well as some spinach.  Next will be more broccoli and parsnips.  gotta get the broad beans in as well.  trying a different spot this time in hopes of keeping them smaller and more bountiful.  have two tomato plants left ... hope they give me something .... but not counting on it.  saw a great recipe to pickle your green tomato's on the milkwoodpermaculture.net web space ... so i am thinking about trying that.   preserving and pickling seem to be something that will assist in the development of the winter larder .... do you guys do it much?

We are the Masarap Mob!

This is great!  Thanks to Jo and Joe for issuing the challenge!  I hope heaps of folks take it up .... and recognise it's not just about one moment in time ... preparing "a" meal or set of meals .... but about the process of getting there and the experiences we have along the way! 

A bit about us.  We are Maggie (aka: mum), Scott (aka: Dad), and our three adorable children from the Philippines, Lea - 8, Raymie - 6 and JJ - 4.  Our team name Masarap, comes from the national language of the Philippines and means ,"yummy eat up!"  Mum has been veggie gardening with mixed success for 2 years.  The kids love to dig up potato's and eat the cherry tomato's .... oh yeah, and chase the chooks whenever possible.  So as long as gardening is fun .... they are on board.  Dad is very supportive of the whole endeavour and builds patches and clears area's .... but his main role is to provide the money so that we can do more!  LOL. 

Over the past 6 months we have become more and more convinced that we are actually closet "permies" ... or permaculture minded folks.  We need to leave this planet in a better state than we found it and we need to be re-using and re-cycling wherever possible.   

I am excited about this challenge .... it is something to focus on.  At first i thought i would just try and do challenge #1: one meal.  But what the heck .... in for a penny, in for a pound .... my goal is by the time winter ends .... i will have fed my family for a whole day on food from our yard! 

The funky frontyard farmers

Hi Gang, welcome to 'funkyfrontyardfarmersfriends', a place where we get to hear all about you and your garden challenge. We would love you to become co-authors on this blog but first you need to be up for a challenge.There are three 'funky' challenges for you to choose from. Get your gardening gang together, choose a team name and click on 'Choose your challenge'.
As the first team to register we will take on challenge 3, our team name is 'the funkies', we live in Springwood, N.S.W, Australia, and we are ready to get funky in the garden.

Looking forward to hearing from you all soon. Click on 'how to join this blog' for more details.