Biodynamic treechange (homesteading)

New Farming Opportunity Now Open at Near River

Applications for our first Smallholding Internship at Near River Produce are open, and will be wide ranging in the scope of areas covered.

For three and a half months two interns will spend their days involved in all aspects of our operations here at Near River, allowing them to experience life on a smallholding.

Primarily focusing on fresh vegetable and limited fruit production, over the four months all facets of a range of crops will be covered, from soil preparation, seedling production and succession planting, harvesting and preparing for market. Irrigation, nutrient cycling, composting and compost teas will also be discussed in depth.

Other areas that are intrinsically vital to our livelihood will be shared including pastured egg production, our valued added preserve and condiment range, and the beginnings of our pastured pork operations. Obviously as garlic is our main crop, it will form a large part of the activities.

The marketing side of our business will also be able to be experienced, as each team member will be able to participate in farmers markets, farm gate sales and on-farm events. Online marketing and sales also play a large part in our business.

 

Ideally these internships are for people who are keenly interested in learning about life on a smallholding and how to have that life produce a sustaining income whilst producing nutrient dense food for our community, and heal the land at the same time.

Our first intake commences on September 7th and runs through until December 21st and each week will consist of a variety of tasks spread across five days, with two days off aside from minor chores.

A stipend of $200 per month will be paid for incidentals, and room and board within the main house at Near River will be provided. Participation in cooking and cleaning will be expected. Limited broadband internet will also be available.

A $500 tool bond will be required upon acceptance of the internship, which will occur after a three day trial.

Profit sharing in a crop that the team raises and markets whilst at Near River will be available at the completion of each internship.

 

Near River Produce is a 8.5 hectare property located 4.5 hours north of Sydney, 45 kms inland from Port Macquarie. Wauchope is the nearest town.

We farm organically and follow many of the principles of Eliot Coleman and Joel Salatin. Our produce supplies some of the region’s leading restaurants, and we participate in a weekly Sydney market.

 

Applicants will need to be physically fit – this is hard work, but you will eat some of the best food you’ve ever grown and tasted, and at the end of each day you will be very aware of what you have accomplished. And your knowledge bank will be expanded enormously.

 

Contact us at info@nearriverproduce.com for an application form, or phone us on 02 6587 6004 for further details. Visit our website at www.nearriverproduce.com

Applications close August 20th 2012.

Our last harvest from the old rhubarb bed

When we first arrived here at Near River, I was very keen to get some of the perennial vegetables planted as they can keep producing for many years. One of the best pieces of advice that we've been given is that for this enterprise to work you really need to grow what you love. Excellent - asparagus and rhubarb are two of my favourites, and while they can take some time to start producing, once they are settled, with the right care they'll keep giving for years. You can read about our asparagus escapades here and here, and see an earlier rhubarb story here.

We have a small range of preserves that we sell at markets, through a few key retailers in the Hastings and in Sydney, and at our online farmgate stall. Initially the idea was that we'd use excess production to provide the material for the preserve range, and that has more or less been the situation, until one of the preserves starts to sell quicker than you can grow it.

Such is the case of our delicious Rhubarb Lime + Ginger Compote.

Back in 2008, having created the first growing bed and planting a border row of lemongrass for protection, we planted our first rhubarb plants. Grown from seed in our polyhouse, it was pretty exciting nine months later to start 'pinching' some stems and using them in the kitchen for breakfasts and desserts. Not long after this, our good friend John Shelley from Red Hill at Telegraph Point offered us some excellent deep red rhubarb crowns - wild horses couldn't have kept me back. From memory, John gave us about 60 crowns, and for the last couple of years they've been providing us and our CSA customers with wonderful red rhubarb.

In the spring of 2010, we launched our Rhubarb Lime + Ginger Compote, which has gone extremely well, quickly gaining popularity here in the Hastings Valley, and farther afield thanks to our extensive network of agents (read family) and the joys of online marketing.

And then a happy dilemma - we need more plants, but we can't damage the production of our existing crop. Rhubarb is a plant that can be propogated very easily by division, indeed it's perfect for this form of reproduction as you end with identical 'offspring' from the parent plant, also ideal in our case of highly sort after red stem rhubarb. So to minimise the impact we chose to move and divide the existing crop in two sections.

The first 25 plants have been moved to the new, improved bed, giving us 125 plants - don't you like that math - and the remaining 50 plants were harvested last week, and will be moved over the coming few weeks. All up we should finish up with over 300 plants in the new bed, and that will keep us in rhubarb for a few years to come.

So with the red stems trimmed and washed, I headed into town and our chefs, Eric Robinson and Geoff at The Other Chef Fine Foods who produce all our preserves, and witnessed our fresh rhubarb, just harvested that morning, being processed, cooked and bottled. The following images say it all. Later this year, when the citrus trees reach the right age, we'll be using our limes and ginger too.

Add the rhubarb to the pot ...mix well ...simmer at 90 deg for 10 mins ...and presto!

Keen to try some of this for yourself? A couple of local cafes have it on their menu - Bent on Food in Wingham and Beetroot'd in Kendall - and the following stores have it on their shelves - in Port Macquarie head to Essential Ingredients, About Food, or The Visitor Info Centre at The Glasshouse, and in Coffs Harbour Essential Ingredients have it there too. Otherwise order it online at the Near River Farm Gate or come and see us this Saturday and every second Saturday of the month at the Port Macquarie Farmers Markets in WestPort; every fourth Saturday at the Wauchope Farmers Markets at the Showground; and each third Sunday at the Laurieton Riverside Walk Markets.

Stuck for how to use it? I love it with museli or stirred through yoghurt for breakfast, dolloped on banana bread with cream, or chocolate cake with mascapone, or best of all, simply partnered with ice cream. We've heard of customers using it with pork and duck dishes too!

Say NO to GMO 20.01.11

I can stay quiet no longer.

Two really important matters have come to light recently that warrant your attention.

The first is an application by Monsanto to FSANZ (Food Safety Australia New Zealand) to amend the Food Standard to permit the sale and use of food derived from soybean line MON87769. This is a new variety of soybean that is genetically modified (GM) to produce stearidonic acid (SDA), an omega-3 fatty acid, in the seeds of the plant.

FSANZ is calling for comments which close on Jan 25th.

The spin is that it is high in Omega 3. The best sources of Omega 3 is from grass fed meat, organic flax, organic Near River eggs, purslane and fish. In other words real food produced with care and respect.

To see the submission and lodge a comment, go here soon!

The second issue involves an organic farmer in WA who has had his crop 'polluted' by a neighbouring farmer growing GM canola. The organic farmer, David Kibble, has lost his certification and his crop. As you might expect this is turning into a debacle with WA farmers wanting their Minister for Agriculture to resign, legislation to protect non-GM farmers, and a full audit of GM farms and their neighbours. Behind all this are the deep pockets of Monsanto. To hear an interview with David and the Food Fight team from radio 3CR, click here

You can expect to see a continuing flurry of these types of posts - after all, earlier this month Monsanto was voted Most Evil Corporation of the Year by 51% of respondents to an online poll.

Guess the other 49% don't care about what they eat!

Rapping the virtues of organic food

Is this how to market organic produce?

Do you think it's fabulous or worrying? I can't decide.

 

What I do know though is that Yeo Valley have hit the mark so much better than this lame attempt by Woolworths.

 

But then what can you expect from a company that believes it's claim to sell fresh food is accurate.

Near River's first preserve release wins fine food award!

About eighteen months ago we sat down with well known local chef Eric Robinson of The Other Chef Fine Foods to see what we could create with a great crop of beetroot that we had grown at the time. Over the course of the next couple of weeks Eric worked out a recipe that became the first release in our preserve range ....

Near River Produce Beetroot Relish 

... and we're very pleased with what he did and continues to do.

The relish has been a hit with friends and customers both here in the Hastings Valley and further afield. In August this year we entered our Beetroot Relish in a few food shows including the Mudgee Fine Food Show. We did this as aside from any recognition an award gives each entrant, it allows our produce to be judged against its peers. And yes it's very competitive!

So we were very pleased when the Silver Award arrived.

Wow .. We must be doing something right!

And it is a great relish, with many uses - best served with goats cheese as a canapé, with ham and other cold cuts on sandwiches, as a accompaniment with gamey meat, particularly duck, rabbit or kangaroo, and lastly as an Aussie substitute to cranberry sauce with turkey at Thanksgiving and Christmas.

For a real treat, we serve it on Raging River Wagyu burgers topped with blue cheese - a gourmet take on the classic Aussie hamburger where beetroot is a must.

If you live in the Hastings Valley Near River Beetroot Relish can be purchased at many outlets, such as About Food, Beetroot'd, Essential Ingredients (Port Mac and Coff's Harbour) and the Port Macquarie Visitor Info Centre.

In Sydney, you'll need to visit Essential Ingredient in Rozeiie, or check out our new and  improved online Farm Gate Store!

The perfect gift for that foodie friend or someone who has everything

Say 'NO' to GMO today

This came through from GM Watch earlier today. It's pretty important and easy to act on.

The Economist has a GM debate sponsored by BASF: "This house believes that biotechnology and sustainable agriculture are complementary, not contradictory." 

We're currently losing and the debate rounds up in the next 48 hours. 

Please vote now a nd vote NO - and tell everyone you know to do the same.

The following is from Phil Chandler.

Please - show the GM industry what you think of them with just one click - no signup, name or email needed - just go here - http://tinyurl.com/3yk4xj6 and vote AGAINST the motion.

I suspect this has been worded in an attempt to ask a 'soft' question, which sounds harmless, so that people will be fooled into agreeing with it. But the fact is that GM and sustainable agriculture are NOT compatible, or complementary, as the very presence of GM in an open space means that organic and other non-GM crops will inevitably be contaminated. This is happening wherever GM crops are grown, and is well-documented. American farmers who were sold on GM ten years ago are now turning against it - listen to my podcast at http://biobees.libsyn.com for evidence of this.

Don't be fooled by industry propaganda: GM crops are TOTALLY INCOMPATIBLE with sustainable agriculture.

This is not a definitive survey, but it is run by The Economist and will be used by the media as 'evidence' one way or the other.

So please, if you care about keeping our food and our bees GM-free - VOTE AGAINST THIS MOTION - http://tinyurl.com/3yk4xj6 - they don't need your name or email address, and it only takes a second.

Thanks. Phil Chandler www.biobees.com 

Australian Organic garlic curing on racks

We have about a quarter of our garlic out of the ground, and we are racing against a large dump of rain due at the end of the week. The garlic that is still in the ground then may absorb too much of the water and split, making it usless for anything much aside from compost.

Today's photos show the harvested garlic laid out on our racks to allow it to dry and cure. Then comes the joyous task of topping and tailing each bulb and removing a couple of outer layers of the papery skin.

Be sure to head over to our online Farm Gate Shop and order some garlic now - we will be ready to start delivering by mid December.

 

 

Here comes this season's garlic

A quick post today, as it's been a long day, and the next few are likely to be the same. The images will tell the story.

A heap of rain is expected at the end of the week and we are doing our best to harvest as much of our garlic crop before the rain comes. If you'tre in the area and feel like a few hours work in the sunshine, by all means drop on by.

It is great to see this crop coming out of the ground, with many of the bulbs a very healthy size. Makes all our effort over the last 6 months really worthwhile.

 

The garlic bed                                                                                            One row done, eighteen to go

A selection from the crop

How to fix our food system

Every now and then, something comes along that brings a smile to your face, adds a glint to your eye, and a spring in your step for the rest of the day.

That’s what happened to me when I watched Birke Baehr on TEDx Next Generation recently.

This 11 year old has a real plan for sorting out the ills of our complex industrial food system, and deals with pesticides and GMO’s into the bargain.

And all in a little over 5 minutes.

Check it out.

With people like this guy around, the future might just be in good hands.

Oh and I can relate to Birke – I was 12 when I declared to my assembled family that I was going to be a farmer when I grew up!

This weeks issue of The Current from Near River - 21.5

Rain Rain Go Away ...

Once again I find myself writing with rain falling from the sky in vast quantities, and we're told the end is not in sight.

For the third time in two months, we have a low pressure system sitting almost stationary off the northern NSW coast that is driving moist air onto the coastline and adjoining ranges, and moist air is an understatement! Huey's really throwing it down.

I suppose it could be worse!

For us, the frustrating thing is not the day or two (or three) of inclement weather that means wearing raincoats and overpants, it's the following three or four days that we need to wait before we can move vehicles and trailers around the property, collecting piles of green waste, moving compost materials into place, spreading our made compost and leaf mulch around, and even working the soil in the plots.

At least the ducks and geese get to have some fun!

 

 

Our New Team Member
The most recent recruit, actually our first, young Angus Hawkens, started with us last Monday and has keenly jumped in to tasks that we've set for him. So far Angus has been shown first hand the finer points of garden bed clearing, compost heap building, and seedling planting. His first bed of planting was some leek seedlings, and whilst his effort was grand his execution was a little crooked!! He will deal with the error of his ways when it comes time to weed the rows with his hoe.

Angus will also be caring for our poultry whilst we're away from the farm delivering the produce down the coast and in Sydney.

We look forward to watching Angus develop his skills and interests through his studies and practical work with us.

Seed Collection

One aspect of what we are doing here at 'Near River' is to build up a collection of seeds from plants that we've grown here. We are doing this for a number of reasons. Firstly, by collecting seeds over a number of seasons from plants with desirable traits (large fruit, early fruit, slow to bolt to seed, etc) we can produce a strain that is specifically suited to this property. Secondly, it means we can vouch for the authenticity of the seeds organic origin; and lastly, it is a way of us participating in the preservation of heirloom varieties of vegetable species.

So far we've selected a good strain of silverbeet, coriander and pumpkin. Over time these and other varieties that we save seed from will develop attributes or even an affinity with the precise microclimate that exists here a 'Near River' that will enable them to perform really well.

Garlic

Many of you have been enjoying our fresh garlic, and yes garlic is meant to be juicy, not the dried, chlorine-bleached, methyl bromide fumigated imported Chinese stuff that the supermarkets pass off.

Given the success we've had with our initial planting last season, we intend to make this one of our core crops, and so have planted 3600 cloves in the last few weeks. They've jumped out of the ground, as the shot at right shows, so for now, this seasons crop is off to a good start.

2/3 of the planting (2400 bulbs) will be used as seed stock for the acre or two we intend to plant out next season, with the remainder being stored and distributed through the CSA.

This week's CSA Box

Oranges Navel 6
Lemon Meyer 1
Lettuce Cos 1
Rocket Cultivated    Bag
Pumpkin        Jap            400 gm
Garlic            Bulb            1
Chili            Med        2
Zucchini            1

Radish French 3
Parsley / Dill    Pak

To close this week, a shot of an egg from one of our Rhode Island Red bantams. (It's the one on the right). They have been off the lay for some time now, and this appeared yesterday. When you haven't seen something for awhile, you often forget the marvel that Mother Nature is.

Till next week, cheers.