I am now fully convinced of the glory of gabions. Not only can they create leaky weirs in dryland gullies, they can also liberate courtyards. Like ours, for example. After years (yes, literally) of trying to figure how best to create a low-cost, low footprint, 2m high retaining wall in our courtyard, we discovered the…
DetailsRecently I watched Tim Malfroy open and inspect a Warré hive that he installed in Sydney. Over 20 people looked on (it was part of a natural beekeeping workshop) as Tim lifted up boxes, pulled out combs full of honey and brood, and generally checked that all was well in the hive. What did the…
DetailsA couple of months ago we had the opportunity to build an earthbag dome at Milkwood Farm, and run a workshop while we built it. We jumped at the chance. We’d always wanted to try earthbag building, but where do you start with such a venture? And so it was that over six days, Neil…
DetailsAt the end of this week we will be closing the gates of Milkwood Farm until next Spring. It’s been a massive year of building, growing, learning and doing. But now we’re about to go into winter mode here at the farm. We’re farewell-ing our Autumn interns, packing up the woolshed and slowing things down…
DetailsEaster on Sunday. Check. Our Araucana chickens already lay blue eggs, so that’s those sorted. Now all we need is a rabbit or two, and we’re ready for an upside-down Easter. Actually, at Milkwood it makes sense to celebrate both rabbits and eggs at this time of year: we’re cherishing the last of the eggs…
DetailsSchool gardens have incredible potential to provide experiential learning. But what’s the best way to go about setting one up? I’ve been wondering this for a while. Recently I’ve been asking around amongst my esteemed permaculture colleges as to what they thought were the best school garden models they’d seen or heard of. Aaron Sorensen’s…
DetailsWendell Berry once said if you eat, you’re involved. He was talking about agriculture, but if you ask me, he really meant humanure. Getting your outputs sorted is a big and necessary task. For us, that meant designing and implementing a composting toilet system based on wheelie bins. I thought I’d better give out the…
DetailsThe third winter workshop we’re running in Sydney is about how to get your garden’s nutrient cycles pumping, and it’s called Feed Your Garden.
I desperately want to be Annemarie and Graham Brookman. Not right away – maybe about 30 years from now. By that time I want to be sitting back and recounting our successful adventure of transforming our land from an exposed and rocky ridge into a kick-ass permaculture farm. Just like the Brookmans. Annemarie and Graham…
Details
Rocket stoves have become a part of our lives at Milkwood Farm. They’re hyper energy efficient, can be built out of rubbish and result in more usable heat that any other wood-burning system we’ve come across. Big love. It doesn’t take long to be besotted – everyone who needs a wash at our farm heats…
DetailsNext up in our Seasonal Workshop series is a short workshop in something we all should know how to do (but probably don’t): Grafting.
Last year on May 1st we hopped down to Sydney to see what delights National Permaculture Day had to offer – and there were many! We devised a plan that covered a range of projects and we spent the day whizzing through a selection of open gardens and talks, and even helped dig up some…
Details
At the end of a weirdly unseasonal summer, we have more green tomatoes than we can count. Especially the little ones. This is definitely the easiest way i’ve discovered to make the most of them for winter and beyond – pickling them whole! All you need is some big jars, many little green tomatoes, water,…
Details