Designing the Warré honeybee apiary at Milkwood Farm has taken some protracted thought and planning. As well as designing for bee health, we’re also designing for educational access and best-practice Warré beekeeping, on a slightly tricky site. The site selected for the apiary is a good one for our climate – an E-N/E facing nook,…
DetailsSowing Winter green manure crops are a crucial part of Milkwood Farm’s organic vegetable growing regime – the green manures convert sunlight to nutrients, then get dug into the soil in early Spring, and become food for us all. Green manures in the veggie garden can also be used as a living understorey for growing…
DetailsThe Gravity Chicken Run is now entering its second winter as one of the gravity-powered (and chicken powered) composting experiments at Milkwood Farm. We’ve made some modifications since last winter, and things are looking good. As with all on-farm experiments, we’re learning as we go. But egg production is good and, as we continue to…
DetailsMarket Garden internship applications for Milkwood Farm for our upcoming season are open! And apps for the first internship close on 25th June. Please read and pass this info along to whoever you think might be up for the challenge. For the 2012-2013 season at Milkwood Farm, we’re offering a series of focused internships. These…
DetailsWhen I say ‘vermiponics’ to most people i get either a blank stare or a vague nod, mostly. But artist Amy Youngs has created a vermiponics (that’s aquaponics with added worms) system that is both whimsical and functional… art and aquaponics!
Hooray for the return of piggies to Milkwood Farm! Ahead of our illustrious plans for forested pig systems next season, we’re doing a micro-pig prepping job over winter. Pepper and George have arrived to help us prepare the suntrap for Spring planting. The suntrap is our former top dam, which nearly failed rather spectacularly a…
DetailsWelcome to Winter, everyone! Winter at Milkwood Farm is research time (in addition to winter farm chores) and currently we’re nutting out how to create super affordable, warm and not necessarily permanent housings for our crew come Springtime. We’ve been mulling over yurts primarily, but recently, the beauty and economy of reciprocating roof roundhouses are…
DetailsWilga Avenue in Sydney has moved their community out of their backyards and into their front yards. Squished between a busy road and a train line, it wouldn’t look very illustrious on a map, but once I got there I couldn’t wipe the smile off my face… a whole street of edible verge gardens! Yay!…
DetailsLast weekend we ran an Urban Forest Garden workshop in Sydney… it was a great weekend of design, thinking and planting…
Recently I re-discovered this fabulous diagram and accompanying notes by Paul Stamets. It’s basically an outline of how to deeply integrate mycology and edible mushroom propagation into a small permaculture farm system, point by point. Thank you, Mr Stamets. I first encountered this diagram in Paul Stamets’ most excellent book Growing Gourmet and Medicinal Mushrooms.…
DetailsEarthbags are a great idea for building raised garden bed surrounds because of their simplicity and their strength. Recently Nick led a community workshop to transform a townhouse patio into an edible landscape, with earthbag surrounds for a set of bathtub wicking beds…
DetailsYesterday Nick got interviewed about that viral image of Glass Gem Corn, and why the response has been so great: “When you first look at that photo it is beautiful, then there’s a realisation for people where it clicks: “That’s real.” This is a corn that’s been developed over thousands of years and there’s a…
DetailsThe latest batch of Milkwood permaculture design students are currently hard at it in Sydney, taking their Permaculture Design Certificate part-time with the fabulous Alexia Martinez. I thought I’d share some of their latest permaculture designs… These designs are all the student’s first full permaculture design, undertaken using a place they know well as the…
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…