Just received our greenhorns badges and kerchief (and about 100 stickers also)… yeah! The world needs more stickers championing us to fix nitrogen… Read More
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Category Archives: Small Farm Skills
The Greenhorns: New Book + Resources
July 12, 2012 – 6:00 am
The Greenhorns: 50 dispatches from the new farmers movement is a collection of 50 essays by beginner farmers, and sits as a companion to The Greenhorns documentary. I seriously enjoyed this book more than anything I’ve read in a long time.
The book is loosely divided into subjects: family, crops, tools, finances, animals, access to land, part-time farming etc. All 50 of these essays are short pieces written from the heart, with all the joy and tooth-exploding frustration that is learning to farm. But it was the subtlety of some of the insights that got me the most. Read More
DIY mushroom housing: research
June 22, 2012 – 6:00 am
At the moment we’re doing some serious research on how mushroom cultivation will best fit into the integrated systems at Milkwood Farm. We’re looking for options that are low-energy input, appropriate for our climate, use waste materials we have on-farm, and yield lots of yummy mushrooms!
It’s proving a little trickier than we thought. Our relatively exposed site and low humidity may not suit a more conventional mushroom house, so we’re looking at the margins of existing systems and structures to begin with… Read More
Aquaponics Workshops in Sydney: aiming to truly close the loop
June 18, 2012 – 6:00 am
Just a quick note that we’ve scheduled some spring Aquaponics Workshops in Sydney, which are 2 days of intensive aquaponics how-to and why-to with Charlie Bacon (Ecolicious) + Nick Ritar (Milkwood).
While the basics of Aquaponics can be quite simple, there’s a lot of ways to do it in a way that enhances growing conditions for both fish and plants while still adhering to permaculture principles, which ensures you don’t end up with an input-heavy system disguised as a closed-loop one. Which is the kind of knowledge that this workshop is all about… Read More
Celebrating the Summer that was, and the Winter to come
April 20, 2012 – 6:00 am
The first frost has arrived and the last tomatoes and capsicums harvested. The last course has been hosted and the cups all put away. Tis officially the end of the year for our seasonal courses and crew at Milkwood Farm.
At this time of year our focus shifts from welcoming many students, woofers and friends to the farm on a weekly basis over to clearing things up and bedding the farm down for winter. The market garden is being planted in green manures, and the shelves of preserves are groaning. What an incredible year! Read More
Milkwood Easter: first of the carrots, last of the eggs
April 7, 2012 – 6:00 am
Carrots! Purple ones, orange ones, cream ones, yellow ones… they all make for rainbow salads, just at the point when the summer of colors coming out of the market garden is starting to wind down for winter…
So while we have a kind of anti-spring festival here in the southern hemisphere every Easter, we do have one thing that supposedly goes with bunnies, even if the hens have all decided to wrap it up for the year and stop laying…
Generosity as a strategy for survival
April 5, 2012 – 6:00 am
‘On The Anatomy Of Thrift: Harvest Day‘ is a video by Farmrun and Farmstead Meatsmith about honoring the the pig, the whole pig, and everything inside the pig. This is the next generation of charcuterie, done with respect for the animal and unashamed enthusiasm for the results.
This is also previous generations of charcuterie – the coming together of people to process preserved meat for winter and to eat what cannot be kept very long, employing generosity as a strategy for survival… Read More
Learning the way of the mycelium
February 3, 2012 – 6:00 am
So it turns out that mushroom cultivation is really easy – once you wrap your head around all the intricacies, that is. And setting aside all the ‘wow’ moments you’ll have as you begin to delve into the wonderful world of fungi. But apart from that, it’s simple!
We just hosted a mushroom propagation course at Milkwood Farm, and it was a full-on two days. So much awesomeness! So many possibilities! Why don’t we all learn mushroom propagation in kindergarten? It’s a total fit. Read More
Why Joel Salatin is so excited by Pasture Cropping
October 6, 2011 – 6:00 am
Why was Joel Salatin so excited when we took him to visit Col Seis’s pasture cropping farm last year? I think it had to do with Joel wanting to close the loop on his regenerative farming enterprise by plugging one of the biggest holes Polyface Farm has: grain inputs for animals.
The idea of truly regenerative grain cropping within a mixed-farming system is really exciting. So we’re working with Col Seis to deliver a course on it:
>> Pasture Cropping Workshop: 15th October, Winona, Gulgong NSW.
It’s a chance to learn how to design and integrate regenerative cropping into a small farming enterprise that can produce grain for animals and/or people, while using the same paddocks for grazing, and building topsoil to boot. Read More
DIY remote area internet
July 8, 2011 – 6:00 am
They say that one of the many blessings of country life is that you appreciate the little things. Like clean air, water and food. And I do. I also VERY much appreciate our internet connection, now that we’ve finally got it (kind of) sorted.
Our hidden valley is questionably blessed with being devoid of mobile reception. That means no mobile broadband internet. An ADSL connection is also un-doable. Hmmm. Which leaves dial-up internet (please somebody kill me), or figure a system out for ourselves. Surely it can’t be that hard. Read More
