Damsons are a much-loved preserving variety of plum, and with good reason. They’re intensely beautiful with their indigo skins and pale bloom, and their astringency means that the jam they make is divine. I was at Allsun Farm this week hosting our autumn Organic Market Garden Masterclass, and the damson tree by the back door…
DetailsBiochar is a type of charcoal, made and used for specific purposes – most often as a soil amendment. To make Biochar, you burn biomass using pyrolysis – a low/no-oxygen burning environment that prevents combustion of the biomass material, and therefore produces charcoal. The attributes of biochar as a soil amendment seem pretty significant –…
DetailsGive me your tips. This wood fired family needs some love. So we’re about to embark on our first full Winter of cooking on a woodstove. In particular, a Rayburn Royal. It has hot spots, cold spots and an oven that cooks everything really well on the left side. I know there’s HEAPS to learn…
DetailsThis short documentary is about a weekend workshop hosted recently by Ampersand Sustainable Learning Center. Watershed Restoration: The Cutting Edge was taught by Brad Lancaster, Amanda Bramble, Jan-Willem Jansens, Steve Carson, and Craig Sponholtz. It focused on catching, sinking, storing, and using water where it falls. So good to see this knowledge gaining ground spreading…
DetailsRecently we welcomed a crew of budding market gardeners to Milkwood Farm to start learning the craft of organic market gardening. The crew was a mix of city folks dreaming of rooftop farms, enterprising suburban folks, small farm owners looking to diversify and keen-but-landless growers looking for opportunities. All of them left full of good…
DetailsSun Hives are a hive design coming out of Germany and now gathering interest in Britain. They’re part of the world-wide movement towards ‘apicentric’ beekeeping – beekeeping that prioritizes honeybees firstly as pollinators, with honey production being a secondary goal. The Sun Hive is modeled in part on the traditional European skep hive, and is…
DetailsNever underestimate the power of a simple, bush-pole structure. Our market garden shed might be rustic, in every sense of the word, but it is 100% pure awesomeness. It keeps tools and organic minerals dry, ordered and available, all in the center of the action. So this is about as simple as a shed gets,…
DetailsWe’re excited to announce that Milkwood Farm veggies will be available in Sydney from this afternoon at the Real Food Projects pop-up shop at 27 Enmore Road, Newtown, Sydney. The best corn, beans, eggplant and cucumbers you’ve ever tasted, grown with love, care and a great deal of compost at Milkwood Farm, by us! Available…
DetailsThe peaches growing out the back of the homestead are grown from cuttings of an ancient peach tree that Nick’s parents found when they bought Kirwin, the property next door to Milkwood Farm. So technically, these peaches could be said to be from a 120 year old tree. Whatever their vintage, they grow like no…
DetailsThis Summer has been downright weird, weather-wise. Which has meant all sorts of things, for all sorts of things. Including for the bees of Milkwood Farm, and the bees of eastern Australia in general. For the central west of NSW (Where Milkwood Farm is) it’s been a crazy dry Spring/Summer with short downpours, following on…
DetailsLast weekend Milkwood made the telly! Sydney Weekender to be exact… it was a bit of fun. Big thanks to everyone who helped pull the day of filming off, including our awesome crew and friends from afar…
Egg pies. They look remarkably like quiches, but can be eaten by everyone, even ‘real men’. They both taste great, especially when loaded with home made bacon, labneh (soft yoghurt cheese) and spinach, encased in a spelt crust. Once apon a time, a few years ago, Milkwood Farm ran our first course for 50 farmers…
DetailsStand by for exploding lettuce! It’s the nature of summer growing. One minute they’re tiny seedlings in trays, then they’re planted out, and then, in no time at all, kaBOOM. Beautiful, sweet lettuce. Everywhere.
The Milkwood newsletter is an occasional publication that’s a treasure trove of writings, free DIY guides, gardening tips, permaculture hacks, special newsletter-only posts and giveaways, and lots, lots more…