It’s the pace of everything, that gets you most of all – everyone is busy – doing a task that needs to be done, right now, then walking purposefully to the next task, which also needs to be done. Joel Salatin often describes the interaction between his rotational beef grazing and egg mobile systems as ‘ballet of…
DetailsFood is politics is culture. Food is hot, and not just out of the oven – it’s a lens and a metaphor and a microcosm and an ethical battleground and… yeah, I know you know. It’s big. In the last short while I have found 3 rather mind-blowing publications about food which treats it with the enormity…
DetailsWe’re very excited to announce a new form of intensive organic market garden training at Milkwood Farm. Our new Applied Skills Placements are a one-of-a-kind opportunity to spend 10 weeks in the garden with Michael Hewins, and receive personalised tuition about starting a market garden enterprise. Michael has designed this new program as an intensive learning opportunity…
DetailsThe herdshare arrangement is one in which you own part of an animal or herd, along with others who hold shares in that animal or herd. Say, a cow, for example. As a part owner, you are entitled to part of the outputs of said animal. Including things like its milk. And because it’s technically…
DetailsFollowing up on to town, with a suitcase full of carrots, we thought you might like to see the video that was made about the TEDxSydney Crowd Farming project. This rather crazy project (though it doesn’t seem that crazy if you know Jess Miller) aimed to source as much of the catering food for TEDxSydney…
DetailsDovecotes are a great addition to any small farm (and possibly your backyard too). Keeping doves is like keeping chickens, in a way, except there’s minimal feeding involved if you take the traditional approach. The doves fly off every morning, forage within their natural radius, and come home each night to roost. And when they…
DetailsAfter a fabulous summer of yielding buckets apon buckets of organic veggies, our market garden needs a rest. This system is a cycle of give and take, and it is definitely time to go into a giving phase for our not-that-brilliant soils. Also, Michael’s been having ideas. It’s re-design time. We’re two seasons in from the start…
DetailsFollowing on from raising the walls of this roundhouse in four days, Floyd and Shane have been focussed on getting this little place finished before Winter. And yep, we’ve all noticed the speed at which things progress when you go from a crew of twenty four to a crew of two! Mind you, once the…
DetailsIt has become clear that without pikelets, we would be lost. They may be small, and innocuous, but they are the shield against the storm, around here. So you’ve worked all day and it’s now time to magically and quickly fabricate a wholesome dinner for 6 out of carrots, potatoes and carrots. So soup it…
Details
Just reporting back from the awesomeness that was SEED CIRCUS in Redfern yesterday… my goodness. Thank you to the 300+ folks who came from all over to learn and to swap and chat and help us eat through our glut of apples. Crikey there were a lot of you! I think my favorite part of…
DetailsRight! The workshops are up: seed saving, city foraging, tortilla making – yep, it’s all happening at our Seed Circus this Sunday at 107 Redfern St… And then, of course, there’s the ongoing swapmeet – a day of fearless barter of absolutely everything. What will you arrive with? What will you leave with? These are…
DetailsTwo good years. Two full Spring to Autumn seasons stacked with sourdough, rabbit ravioli and crazy beautiful desserts. And a quietly grounding presence for our entire farm crew, and for every student lucky enough to share a taste. Tragic (no, really) though it is, I must share with you that Rose, the permachef whom we…
Details
A guild, in permaculture terms, is usually used to define a harmonious assembly of species clustered around a central element (plant or animal) that acts in relation to this element to assist its health, aid our work in management, or buffer adverse environmental effects (Mollison, via Jacke). Dave Jacke has taken this concept further and identifies a…
Details