Our small urban farm plot of about 250m2 gross area and 160m2 bed area started just under 6 months ago in December 2018. Its now early June 2019, start of winter in our sub tropical climate. The organic and biodynamic methods we use to manage the garden and its design have all contributed to its […]
Continue reading
Growing strawberries organically is one of my favourite activities in the food garden. Strawberries are a wonderfully nutritious and sweet tasting fruiting vegetable. I enhance organic methods with biodynamic soil and plant preparations. One of my previous food gardens about 5 years ago had about 1000 strawberry plants. I am incorporating strawberries into our new […]
Continue reading
Organic garden design principles tend to relate to physical aspects of the garden such as: layout, size, orientation, drainage, materials used and how it is managed with a strong orientation to eliminating the chemicals of industrial agriculture. When the deeper meaning of beauty, goodness and truth permeate design and operation of the garden, you will […]
Continue reading
Urban agriculture economic aspects are an evolving area of thought and practice where much innovation is occurring globally. I had the good fortune in February 2019 to attend an international biodynamic agriculture conference at the Goetheanum in Switzerland. The conference subject was the economic aspects of agriculture. It focused on agricultural examples from around the […]
Continue reading
Establishing a small urban farm is a challenging and exciting task. We recently moved house to a bush land property only 35 minutes from Brisbane CBD. The 20 hec land is bordered by a creek and we live on a portion of the property. Our goal was to create a small urban farm that: Fitted […]
Continue reading
Regenerative urban agriculture works with regenerative agriculture principles within an urban and peri-urban context. Those principles are more commonly discussed around how to regenerate farming land and communities severely degraded by chemical farming and animal stocking rates totally unsuited to the land qualities. Regenerative agriculture principles are deceptively simple, using natures processes, guided by our […]
Continue reading
Inner gardening is a pathway to improving your well being and one of the best places to start this journey is in your food garden. Successful food growing in urban environments is a juggling act. There are so many factors to manage and its easy to think that growing food is purely about the materials […]
Continue reading
Vegetable garden paths are essential in your food garden. If designed correctly, they make the space more functional, beautiful, aid soil fertility and improve drainage. Getting the right vegetable garden paths is not as simple as it seems. My blog this month gives a number of suggestions and I think you will be surprised at […]
Continue reading
Sheet mulching is a common practice recommended in permaculture. It uses cardboard and paper to smother the earth from growing weeds and grass whilst you attempt to build healthy soil on top of the cardboard and paper. My blog this month examines alternatives to sheet mulching which I feel are much more efficient and truly […]
Continue reading
Organic gardening without chemicals. sounds pretty logical, but in our desire to be pure in this pursuit, many fuzzy lines exist. Let me demonstrate this fuzziness with two examples of common inputs for organic gardeners, chicken manure and newspapers. When I say without chemicals, I do mean without harmful and mostly synthetic chemicals, as I […]
Continue reading