Fernglade Farm – Mid Spring (October) 2012 Update (Australia)
As a bit of background about the farm: It is located in the cool temperate mountainous region of South Eastern Australia at an altitude of about 700m above sea level. There are over 300 fruit trees within the two food forests. There are also 14 raised garden beds, plus berry beds and herb beds. Apart from the local wildlife which is an integral part of the food forest, I have a dozen chickens which provide eggs and fertiliser.
The fruit trees are split into two food forests which have different shading from the surrounding forest and the land aspect to the sun. This is because the growing seasons here can vary from quite wet to quite dry and you never really know in advance what the growing season will bring. Chaos seems to be the norm and I’ve seen snow, drought, floods and even a tornado. It is a challenging environment!
I hope that you enjoy the series.
Well-fed wombat cameo appearance – he’s thriving!
Great info Chris, it must be exciting living at your place as things come into season and begin to bear, it’s a great credit to you and the work you’ve put in! Love the wombat and the part it plays in the integrated permaculturing of your site :)
I wonder if the wombat could be trained. Think how much money you’d save on earthworks. LOL
Thanks for the comments. Ha! A trained wombat, that would be something to see. It is under the fruit trees as I write this, happily munching away. Regards. Chris
Hi Chris, it would be great to have an update from the food forest, what have you been picking? cherries, apricots, loquats? and what is still to come, apples and pears? How is the fruit season going? Did the dry spring affect the amount of fruit that set?
Carolyn Payne
Mudlark Permaculture
Hi Carolyn,
Hope Mudlark is seeing all the benefits of the water that you’ve captured in the earthworks during winter.
There’s still plenty of groundwater here, but the heatwave has been pretty extreme and unrelenting and reminds me of the 2008-2009 summer.
There’s an early summer update here:
https://www.permaculturenews.org/2012/12/06/fernglade-farm-early-summer-november-2012-update-australia/
I’m planning to put another update together in about a week. It should be interesting as I’ve been preparing for another long and painful drought and I’ll show the preparations for this. The weather is forcing some tough choices.
Regards
Chris