There was movement at the station.....finally.

I know it’s been a while between posts, but we’ve been really busy with lots of activity here at ‘Near River’, the farm at 1466, and at the moment that keeps me away from the keyboard.

So a few Sundays ago, the neighbour we’d engaged what seems like months ago to slash and rake our front paddock, decided that finally the grass wasn’t too wet to work with, and after lunch, he went to it! This was so exciting! What started out four and a half months ago as knee high grass, had become shoulder high in places, and we were beginning to wonder if it would ever stop raining long enough for it to dry out so that the grass could get cut.

Why is this so exciting? At last we can see what the land is really like, and get a real feel for what will become the centre of our farming enterprise and food production business. Having the area slashed has enabled us to embark on our market garden set out (hooray!), start the long process of killing the kikuyu grass and other weeds that cover the paddock, and start planting our boundary barrier plantings and shelter belts.

Every spare moment has been directed to these tasks, and obviously we’ve still got a long way to go!

The paddock is approx 1 hectare (2.5 acres) in size, and while this is the desired final area of the market garden, initially we are concentrating on an area of 4,000m² (1 acre).  The aspect of the field is excellent, as it slopes from west to east, with a fall of about 6%. This is important for a number of reasons – the easterly aspect will ensure that the beds warm up quicker in the mornings than if the land was level or sloping to the west; being situated midway up the slope, frosts and cool air will move down the slope and not collect in the field; and as our water tank sits at the top of the area, the slope enables us to trickle irrigate thanks to gravity!

We are setting the vegetable garden beds out following the contour of the land, and basing the design on information sourced from an excellent resource for organic market gardeners and keen home growers – Eliot Coleman’s  book The New Organic Grower and website along with research in other books and websites. Another outstanding resource is tools and reference material from the Allsun Farm at Gundaroo in Australia – everything for the market gardener and home enthusiast.

Our aim is to have a small CSA operational by our (southern) spring, and we are researching that extensively. Community Supported Agriculture does not have a big following here in Australia yet, although we will be happy to lead the charge that alters that! Thankfully real produce has garnered huge support through the recent explosion of Farmer’s Markets over the last five years or so, and now virtually every town across the country has access to a local Farmer’s Market on a regular basis. We look forward to joining our local market scene from behind the stall soon.

Do you have any experience with Community Support Agriculture or a 'box system' as they are sometimes called? Let us know by posting a comment below.

Comments

[Ann T]

Hi Andrew

We participated in a 'box' system ourselves as buyers while living in Cape Town, which is how we came to deal with the owners of the organic farm, Esperance, once we'd moved to our rural 'retreat' of Swellendam and worked with them to establish a local distribution network. There were too few local buyers for it to be viable.

I still have my files of information about successful box systems in SA, supplemented since with information I continue to collect here about organic farms, markets etc.

So my direct experience is not extensive. but I would be very interested in being part of your business development, helping to promote/publicise and/or directly in distribution.

My husband's aunt and uncle have a small farm, Glendale Farm, about 4 hectares, just a couple of km from us. It was a commercial citrus orchard (not organic) for about 40 years and market garden (managed organically, but not certified) with farm stall, with some produce still sold, but now maintained more for extended family use. They have downsized with retirement and some health issues. I'm wondering if there's an opportunity to revitalise what they use the property for?... all just speculative...they do share my interests...we have a very good relationship.

I followed the link to Allsun Farms and have written to them about their school project. We resume my son's school's garden activities next week, and the Allsun lesson plan is very close to scope of activities that I've wanted to roll out with these students, teachers and volunteer parents. So thank you for this link.

Cheers for now.
Sunnyside Projects
soil...soul...society
http://www.sunnysideprojects.com.au