It’s a Catalan Christmas at Milkwood Farm this year. Which means that, in pride of place, sits Caga Tió. Caga Tió is a happy ‘uncle’ who is actually a log. You feed him fruit for 2 weeks leading up to Christmas and, on the appointed day, he poos out presents of nougat. And you sing to…
DetailsWhat better soundtrack for Christmas than combining two essential ingredients for a good life: permaculture, and ukulele. Permaculture: A Rhymer’s manual is a set of songs based on David Holmgren’s 12 permaculture principles, created with the idea that education and learning resources come in many forms, so why not. We love em. This week at…
DetailsThis week marked a big step for us at Milkwood Farm, as we got the chance to follow-through on the stewardship of our pastured pigs by taking them all the way to the plate. In the spirit of honoring both life and death, we wanted to make the most of our pigs, and learn how…
DetailsI am pleased to announce that we have, 4 months after moving in, finally spend a whole weekend at the Tiny House. And it was beautiful. Stand by for pics (I’ve tried to offset their normality by framing them as best i could) of children, dogs, swims, potato prints and all the things a proper…
DetailsAs promised, here is Rose’s nitrate-free, home made way of making bacon from scratch. I say ‘way’ rather than ‘recipe’ because it’s still in development in terms of quantities. But if you too are a tinkerer rather than a straight-up recipe follower, then come on down and join us in the glorious land of home…
DetailsLast spring the Milkwood interns cooked up a design to tackle the erosion on a degraded hillside next to the woolshed, and then implemented and planted it all out. This design was done collaboratively and realised with simple tools and natural materials. One year on, it’s working a treat. The parameters for this design had…
DetailsAfter a crazy, wonderful and challenging spring, we’ve finally hosted the last Milkwood event till after New Years. Wow. Since the farm opened in September we’ve taught and hosted courses in forest gardening, permaculture design, mushroom cultivation, market gardening and beekeeping and polished it off with big open days. Alongside all that, we’ve been establishing…
DetailsReciprocating roof roundhouses are pretty darn cool. They look gorgeous and they are a very good way to quickly make a strong structure with simple, available materials, the right knowledge and a bunch of willing hands. We’ve been researching reciprocating roof structures, but hadn’t as yet had a chance to build one. Luckily Harris has…
DetailsWe’ve just finished up our Spring Permaculture Design Certificate here at Milkwood Farm, and I thought I’d share some of the (yet again) truly impressive design work that came out of it. Some great permaculture designs for both urban and rural systems. One of the Spring PDC students described their new understanding of permaculture as:…
DetailsSo we’re into year 2 of community-scale tomato production. Last year the tomato yield was respectable, hailstorms and fruit fly notwithstanding. This year, we’re trying to hone our technique a little in terms of infrastructure, as well as planning to preserve the harvest while preserving our sanity.
DetailsYes, I do realise that is a big call, because potato salads can get pretty good. Whether it was the combo of 100% home-grown veggies or the home-made ricotta on top, i don’t care. This is the most rocking potato salad I’ve tasted. And created by Rose Newberry, who we’re lucky enough to have at…
DetailsFollowing on from designing a microforest garden recently, it was time to realise the design! Harris led the charge, helped by forest garden interns Minoru and Kelly, as well as all the students of the forest garden design course. This micro forest garden was to be established on a very compacted piece of ground that…
DetailsIn the spirit of using small and slow solutions (with large effects on gross colony happiness), Tim Malfroy has recently modified his design for quilt boxes on his Warré hives, and I’m liking his latest update. The quilt box on a Warré hive is a simple aspect that makes a big difference to the hive’s…
DetailsThe 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…