Biodynamic treechange (homesteading)

Look. Up In The Sky. A Flying Fox. A Fruit Bat. A Possum With Wings.

One of the many joys that come from living in the country is the close contact you get to have with the surrounding wildlife.

And from time to time we get to 'share' the efforts of our labour with alot of them - birds eating seed and fruit, wallabies and hares eating grasses and vegetables, and these guys, flying foxes, eating fruit from the plum and peach trees.

As you can see, this guy got caught in the barb-wire fence right next to the orchard, which only goes to prove that unlike true bats, 'fruit bats' don't have radar / sonor to direct them away from such things.

We helped him out of his predicament, and he spent the rest of the day hanging in the tree recuperating.

Further information on these creatures can be found here at Wikipedia, here at Living Harbour and here at Flying Foxes in Australia.

And I still think they should be called possums with wings.

'Near River Produce' now coming to Sydney

We are very pleased to announce that we will be bringing our boxes of nourishing, chemical-free, hand grown vegetables to your door in Sydney from December 1st!

Each week a box of approximately seven vegetables will be personally delivered to you, containing produce that will have been harvested, field washed and packed the day before, ensuring that the nutrients and goodness are at their peak. And you'll be surprised how long the goods will retain their freshness.

Based on the Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) model that has proved so popular in Europe, America and Japan, when you join our CSA, you'll be purchasing a share in the harvest that comes from our market garden here in the Hastings Valley on the New South Wales Mid North Coast.

Further details can be found in our brochure, but in short you can sign up for the full 30 week season, or take out a month by month share. The box will contain enough for two adults and then some, so maybe you'd like to split your share with a friend or neighbour. Initially the quantity will be modest, quickly rising as the summer vegetables come on line, and maintain that quantity and variety through to the end of autumn with this year's season finishing at the end of June 2009.

Note that this is different to box systems that have existed for sometime now - through Community Supported Agriculture you will have a direct connection with the people who are growing your food, and know how it is grown and where it is coming from. Visits to the farm at 'Near River' will be welcomed, and annual subscriber 'harvest' events will be held.

This will also put you back in touch with the seasonality of food, and have you try some interesting types of 'new' vegetables, or different types of old standards.

Our predicted range of vegetables and herbs are listed in the brochure, and will expand over time.

Our December boxes are expected to contain:

Tomatoes (4 types) Zucchini Lettuce Rocket Beetroot Onion/Leek Carrots Fennel

and a range of herbs - Parsley Coriander Dill Basil

We anticipate delivering either late on Thursdays or throughout Friday, so you'll need a cool place for us to leave the goodies!

There are up to 25 'shares' available, so jump in quickly, and if this is not for you, pass this onto anyone you know who may be interested in having fresh, nutritious, chemical-free vegetables delivered to their door. Heck, it would even make a great Christmas gift!

We are sure that you'll have some questions, so please contact us after you've read our brochure, either by phone - 02 6587 6004 or 0412 995 256 - or by email andrew@nearriverproduce.com and we'll answer your concerns.

And remember, you are what you eat!

The Return of the Organic Maven!

Hi.

I stopped blogging for a month or so. And it wasn't intentional to be for any specific length of time. I just got that I was posting each day because I said that's what I would do, and the quality of the posts were suffering. So I stopped for a bit.

But now I'm back!

What's been happening in the meantime?

Well, ABC refused to air the Al Gore 'Repower America' advert (so much for freedom of speech!) and we've chosen to commence taking our produce to families and homes in Sydney!

And I spent a week or so 'under canvas' in the World Heritage listed Werrikimbe National Park, walking through some awesome cool temperate Antarctic Beech rainforests. Very inspiring and humbling stuff.

Over the next few months you'll see the posts on this site start to lean more towards food and nutrition, with a little less about the environment and climate change (well maybe not that much less!)

Anyway, for those of you who enquired where I'd gone or what had happened or how much you enjoy reading my writings, a BIG THANKS.

And as always your comments are more than welcome.

The images are from the rainforests of Werrikimbe.

Why You Need To Know How To Send A Submission To The Raw Milk Review

Do you believe it is your right to choose what you eat and drink? Then read on...

Food Standards for Australia and New Zealand (FSANZ) has commenced a review of the right to produce and sell raw milk products including milk and cheeses.

What is raw milk you ask? Put simply, it's milk straight from the cow (or goat or sheep or buffalo) without pasteurisation. There is a body of belief that this milk, full of beneficial bacteria and enzymes, is better than 'processed' milk, and before factory farming began, all the milk that humans consumed was 'raw'. In many parts of the world selling raw milk is illegal, which is currently the situation here in Australia. While it is permitted in 28 states in America, there has been a pitched battle in some sections of the community regarding this issue. My earlier post, The real deal with raw milk and the raw deal with unreal milk shed some light on this, and further information can be found here.

Proponents believe that beneficial components of milk are destroyed by pasteurisation, specifically immunoglobulins and the enzymes lipase and phosphatase, which are inactivated by heat. Raw milk contains vitamin B 6, but the heat treatment may cause as much as 20% of the vitamin to be lost. Pasteurisation also kills some of milk's naturally-occurring bacteria, such as Lactobacillus acidophilus, useful for the culturing of yogurt. Raw milk proponents point out that these "friendly" bacteria aid digestion and boost immunity.

We've Got Platypus! Plat-ee-what?

This is so good.

About six months ago down by the creek that forms the northern boundary of our property 'Near River', I thought I saw a Platypus (Ornithorhynchus anatinus) in the shallows. They are very timid creatures, usually more active at night, and given that I didn't get a clear view, I didn't think too much more about it.

That is until yesterday.

Whilst undertaking some natural area restoration work on an adjoining property, I watched two of these wonderful mammals swimming along the banks of our creek.

Need Inspiration to Propagate Australian Plants? Try These.

For many years I have yearned to grow plants from seed, but for one reason or another, haven't been willing to do what it would take to have that happen. I need to let you know though that it doesn't take much.

Now that we are at 'Near River' with space, a ready built shade house, and a few acres of natural bushland at our doorstep, there has been little stopping me.

Having studied Natural Area Restoration before leaving Sydney, and then spending six months with Bolwarra Bushland Services regenerating the Thone River around the Comboyne township, getting our own propagation area going has been relatively easy and enjoyable.

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.

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.

 

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.