Biodynamic treechange (homesteading)

Goin' Up The Country - Our Treechange Story

Earlier in the year, I offered to write a guest post for the Aussie Blogger's site which was published in April. It's reproduced here for your reading pleasure.

 

 

 

Seven months ago now we pulled up stumps in Sydney, and relocated to hinterland of the Mid North Coast of New South Wales, on the eastern seaboard of Australia, to follow a very long held dream of owning a farm and producing organic foods.

So why would two otherwise intelligent forty-something’s go into partnership with another couple, choose to live with them under the same roof, have the husbands walk away from seemingly good employment with nothing firm to go to, with none of them having any previous farming experience save for a trained urban horticulturalist? This must be some mighty strong dream we’re following.

Free Rangin' Rhode Island Reds

One of the many delights of having some wide open space where we live is the opportunity it provides to run some poultry flocks, and the fun and wholesome produce that this provides.

The initial flock of ducks that we had for a short while chose to move to other surrounds, but since then, the chickens that we've been running in a couple of locations have been a great success.

In all we currently have 6 birds, and they are providing us with a great quantity of eggs, usually between 3 - 5 each day now that they are laying again. And I mean some of the richest coloured, best tasting, freshest eggs you've every had the joy to eat.

There's is a whole world of poultry out there to explore including a vast multitude of breeds, and egperts, with a range of web-sites and forums available as resources for information. My favourites include Feathersite, Organic Chickens, and the Organic Chickens Yahoo group. Australian publications include Alannah Moore's egcellent book "Backyard Poultry, Naturally", and Jackie French's "The Chook Book" - both are worthwhile obtaining.

What's the Hottest Stuff For Natural Pest Control?

Mustard!

Yep it seems that stuff we love to eat with hot dogs, is one of a few natural sources of Brassica plants that release compounds that suppress pests and pathogens.

At a recent Symposium, researchers, growers and Industry specialists from 22 countries shared the latest research into the use of Brassica species, such as mustard, radish, or rapeseed, to manage soil-borne pests and weeds – a technique known as biofumigation.

The conference convenor, Australian CSIRO’s Dr John Kirkegaard, says "The compounds, which most people would recognise as the ‘hot’ flavour in mustard or horseradish, are released in soil by green-manuring, soil-borne pests and pathogens can be suppressed and the yields of solanaceous vegetables such as potatoes, tomatoes and eggplants can be increased by up to 40 per cent in some cases.

National Tree Day

A quick post today, after all it is the weekend.

 

Tomorrow, Sunday July 27, is National Tree Day.

This provides you with an opportunity to go and get involved in a community activity in the local park or bush reserve, and plant a tree.

Do your bit for the environment.

 

Women Leading the Organic Charge

At the end of yesterday's post, I made reference to the 2008 Organic Expo being held in Sydney this Friday, Saturday and Sunday at the Darling Harbour Exhibition Centre.

If you have any interest in this industry, or the associated Green Show that is being run at the same time, I thoroughly suggest you go. Further details about the exhibitors, opening hours, parking and the like can be found here.

An annual event, the Organic Expo the leading marketing exhibition for the organics sector, and features producers, processors, distributors and marketers. It is certainly the place to be to find out how well the industry is fairing in the wider marketplace.

This year's Expo will see the release of a long awaited benchmark report, the Australian Organic Market Report 2008.

The Voyeur Green Issue and A Real Food Challenge - Trying to Eat Ethically for a Weekend

We are irregular air travellers, however when we do fly, we have Virgin Blue as our airline of choice. We do this for a number of reasons; we've always been fans of Sir Richard Branson and his cavalier and irreverent attitude to business; it's a long held Australian tradition to support the underdog, and as new entrants into the domestic air travel market here, they fit that bill; and recently Virgin Blue has commenced a regular service to our regional centre of Port Macquarie, finally giving rival Qantas some competition on this sector.

This last week my wife Therese flew from Port Macquarie to Melbourne and return on Virgin Blue, and in the process collected and read the current issue of the in-flight magazine, Voyeur, proudly published by specialist advertising/publishing house, Text Pacific. 

The July 2008 issue of Voyeur is a special Green Issue, and amongst other things, the issue allows advertisers to on-goingly offset carbon emissions associated with publishing their advertisements by way of payment of an additional fee that goes to purchasing certified carbon credits.We admire Virgin Blue and their associated business partners for the lead that they take in the green arena, and this initiative is to be applauded. The more of these type of triple bottom-line options that exist the better off we will all be. Virgin Blue have a similar program set up for when you purchase your air travel ticket with them, offsetting the greenhouse gas emissions that your travel will create. 

In his opening piece for this issue, Virgin Blue CEO Brett Godfrey claimed the reason for the issue was - "we are trying to do our bit for the environment, and we hope this special 'green' issue of Voyeur will encourage you to do the same".

However, it is clear that not all Text Pacific's journalistic staff were aligned with that initiative.

What's Organic About Organic - are there any easy answers?

After my recent post, Organic vs Local Food - does it really matter to you? and the question that I posed in the posts title, I came across a new documentary film that interestingly poses a similar question.

 

'What's Organic About Organic' tells the story of the organic farming sector through six individuals who are all involved in differing aspects of the organic community. Covering the story from farm fields to government meetings and industry trade shows , the film delves into the debates that have arisen as a grassroots agricultural movement evolves into a booming international market.

The first film by producer/director Shelley Rogers, 'What's Organic About Organic' looks at the complex world of organic farming, and the challenges that family farmers face in the global organic marketplace, and the often-confusing regulations that govern it all. 

Seeking to spark thought-provoking questions, it tries to show that there are no easy answers to such questions as: What is the true cost of our food?  and Which is better—local or organic?

You can watch the 1 minute trailer here.

 

Stewardship and community caring for the land

stewardship - the responsibility for taking good care of resources entrusted to one.

I'm a keen proponent of us collectively taking care of this planet, believing that one of the reasons that we are placed on this Earth is to leave it in better condition than when we arrived. Some of you might say that that's a very tall order, and there are times when an air of despondency and despair can begin to prevail, but that's not what this is about.

Landholders the world over, in particular farmers, have a huge responsibility to society as a whole, and in turn society owes those farmers and landholders a debt of gratitude. By default, we are charged with caring for this land; working with it to produce food for all, and at the same time, improving it so that future generations can do the same, all the while minimising our impact on the surrounding environment so that the native flora and fauna can continue to flourish. Hmmm .... you're right, that is a tall order!

Taking that on singularly is not really going to work that well, and thankfully the spirit of community is most certainly alive and well in rural and regional areas.

Organic vs Local Food - Does it really matter to you?

This is somewhat of a confession. You see we're in a bind.

Before we left Sydney to embark on this exciting and challenging adventure, we were clear about a few key matters:- we would definitely obtain organic certification; and we would sell to the Sydney market.

I must say that since then, our anecdotal evidence on the first issue of organic certification has us questioning the validity of that course of action, certainly in the immediate future. Sure we'll always adhere to biodynamic and organic practices - that's a given - but it seems the return on the time and effort required for certification has some other growers not taking up that opportunity. We'll continue to grapple with the certification matter, and report on it in a later post.

Then there's the subject of travel and transport to Sydney, our biggest market, and location of our families and many friends. It's exactly 410 km (250 miles) to the centre of the city from our farm gate, a 4.5 hour drive that is continually being shortened time-wise as the Pacific Highway is upgraded. And it's not the matter of the rising cost of fuel that is paramount in our concerns, although that will increasingly become a larger issue.

What the big stumbling point is the moral issue of food miles and localism.

Real Food Real Fast

Last week we spent some time in the Big Smoke, travelling 5 hours down the Pacific Highway to Sydney, the dazzling Emerald City, to catch up with family and friends, do some work and visit a few exhibitions that we wanted to see. If you are the slightest bit interested in Aboriginal painting, I can strongly recommend the Papunya Painting - Out Of The Desert exhibition at the Australian Museum - a great display with excellent paintings and great supporting information that goes a long way to describing the background of this wondrous art.

One of the downsides of road travel is the distinct lack of healthy, nutritious food retailers at accessible points along the highways. And this problem is only getting worse as the highway is rerouted to bypass towns as it journeys up the coast. So for us what usually happens is that out of shear frustration, we end up eating a Scottish hamburger (big mac) with fries and a Coke, regretting every mouthful, and then wondering why we feel like c#*p the rest of the trip.

Well thankfully Jason Gunn, a successful publisher who retired in his late 30's, who was also sick of the lack of decent food on the road, has opened the first two outlets in what is sure to be an international business. Oliver's Real Food provide a healthy, fresh alternative to a lot of the other options available, whilst still being a 'fast food'. Having a wife, Paula, as a qualified nutrionalist assisted with the development of the menu, particularly with people becoming more food conscious and understanding the value of fresh food. All food at both the Oliver's sites is prepared on the premises each day, using fresh local ingredients, and, where possible, organically grown.