Allsun Farm’s market garden down at Gundaroo is like this little magic pocket of green in the middle of the scrub.
A secret garden you can eat, if you like.
This Spring we were down there for our Market Garden Masterclass, taught by Joyce Wilkie, Michael Plane and the All-star Allsun interns.
As usual, the Spring greens were pumping out of the polytunnels that extend their growing season with simple practicality.
It was three days of learning, digging, and pushing and pulling. The greenhouse, that is.
Part of the growing setup at Allsun Farm works off a series of movable greenhouses, based on an Eliot Coleman design.
The greenhouse’s movability allows Allsun to extend the growing season for more crops, as well as cleansing both the crops and soil with a good dose of sunlight at various times of the year.
At a pinch, they can be moved with a few people. But why not make it a whole-class affair?
So we did.
There’s new micro-enterprises happening here too, in the form of Allsun intern Lizzie, who’s starting up an enterprise growing good things to eat in the Allsun greenhouses.
Salad greens and veggie seedlings are Lizzie’s main outputs at this point. You can follow her adventure (and buy her cracking tomato seedlings) via CrickleCreek.com.au
We’ve had the good fortune to work with Joyce + Mike for some years now, ever since we some convinced them to mentor us through the process of setting up a small market garden at Milkwood Farm back in the spring of 2011.
And ever since then, it’s been one of my favourite pockets of the year each Spring + Autumn, to go to Allsun Farm to help run this course.
I love so many of the details of this farm.
The toolshed, the bookshelves, the tool shop (with it’s rather imposing elks) and the family home that Allsun is, as well as it’s role of being a hub of good food for the community.
It’s the way small farms should be, if they possibly can.
Big thanks to all the beautiful students who came from all over Australia for this course, and may all your growing projects bloom forth!
Our next Market Garden Masterclass will be held at Allsun Farm this Autumn.
In the meantime, you can check out all our market gardening posts + resources here – including a free download of the Allsun Planting Calendar to get you growing.
Big thanks to Joyce + Mike + their family for opening up Allsun Farm for another excellent learning experience, and also to Lizzie, Emily, Alison + Tessa. Go team.
