Nirvana Biodynamics

trees that fell like dominoes More trees down this morning which means 5 separate events have brought trees down from our neighbour’s scrub onto our chestnut orchard. The trees fell like dominos down the hill mostly roots and all falling on other trees creating a cascade of stringy barks piling on top of each other, spilling out and coming to rest into our orchard and some as far as the valley raspberries. more trees to clean up The weather has certainly been challenging with unusually strong winds and rain. This has come after 10 years of below average rainfall which saw our valley and springs dry up earlier this year for the first time in our 33 years here. Our Spring in March this year It was just mud In the last 48hours we have had another 39mm of rain and it’s still falling. This year’s rain fall figures Jan 73mm Feb 32mm March 57mm April 21mm May 190mm June: 228mm July:276mm August:121mm Sept:337mm . So far in October 181.5 mm in 18 days. While ou...

The wonderful aroma of roasting chestnuts can be experienced every weekend in Stirling in the Adelaide Hills. Between May and July and sometimes into August you can experience local produce , grown at Nirvana Farm just 3km down the road at Heathfield and expertly roasted by owner Quentin. And if you enjoy them roasted why not visit the farm to purchase some fresh ones to take home.  

For a good day out take the Stirling exit from the SE freeway to experience Autumn at her best in the quaint village of Stirling. The special autumn light shining through the richly coloured leaves and the aroma of roasting chestnuts.A scene reminiscent of the past that may transport you to another time and place.                  Autumn is hot roasted chestnut time and will be the twenty-fifth year that Quentin Jones will be setting up his colourful stall in Stirling village. It all started in 1986 at the Aldgate Autumn Leaves Festival. That first year was a big learning curve and the chestnuts were cooked very, very slowly in a kettle bbq. After a bit of practice the nuts were cooked and a legend was born. The current rotating cooking basket was developed in 1987 over a few beers in a neighbour's back yard. The basket is ideal because it can cook a lot of nuts in a short time. Over the years Quentin has received mu...

The summer has been long, hot and dry as well as and busy with harvests and keeping the water up to the trees. Preparations for a new covered orchard, mainly for our own use is underway but Autumn heralds our 30th  chestnut harvest. Every morning we start picking up the fallen chestnuts which are then graded and put into the cold room. After a short maturation, where the starches start turning to sugars, they are available direct from our farm shop and then to keep you warm , roasted in Stirling an weekends . Another very important event happens here in Autumn. Members of the Adelaide Hills Biodynamic Group   come together to make the preparations that underpin the Biodynamic method of farming and gardening. This is an important day as old hands share their wisdom with new members.The day started with the filling of the cow horns with manure to make horn manure or 500. The horns are then buried and spend winter underground while the earth is most active. By Spring the manur...

If you want top quality chestnuts then there no better place to purchase them direct from a grower. By about now in the supermarkets and fruit shop you’ll see plenty of dull, soft chestnuts – the price like most local produce is well below the cost of  production .DO  NOT BUY THEM they are rubbish. When p urchasing Chestnuts they should look shiny and feel firm and cool. Don't buy dull and crackly nuts because you will be disappointed. At Nirvana Farm we have been growing and selling chestnuts direct from our farm for 30 years as well as  roasting them in our local village , Stirling. Our chestnuts are hand harvested every day, graded and placed in our cold room at 0c,Each weekend during the season Quentin cooks them in Stirling. As well as tasting delicious they are our quality control. When you purchase fresh chestnuts from the farm they are fresher and younger than the batch that are being cooked. All nuts are logged and sold in order Chestnuts are fresh...

Sales direct to the public from the Nirvana Farm Shop 184 Longwood Road HEATHFIELD South Australia. Open 10am- 5pm daily Once the cooler weather arrives the chestnut roasting season begins in the Stirling village.This year the season will kick off with the Stirling Autumn Garden Festival on April 29th 10am to 4pmon. After that you can experience the great taste of roasted chestnuts on  Saturday mornings and Sunday afternoons. the season lasts  until we have sold all our nuts- usually late June-early July. .

The potentially devastating news that chestnut blight has been found in north eastern Victoria puts all chestnut growers on edge. In USA it wiped out the entire industry in 3 years! Chestnut blight is a fungus that enters through wounds in the bark. Which is a real worry for us as our trees are regularly smashed by the neighbour’s unmanaged Stringybark's.It grows underneath it causing a canker which will girdles and kills the branch above the infection point. The disease can kill the tree if the trunk is girdled by a large canker or several cankers growing together. The first signs of infection is often seen as wilting, yellowing and death of leaves and shoots.Yellow –brown to orange cankers on young smooth  barked trees or branches may also be early signs of infection. The fungus is spread by animals (especially humans in this global village) that come into contact with the cankers and through the air after rain. If you suspect anything  or need more information contact...

We have had a very busy time of late with the chestnut harvest,shed relocation and farm tours. Fortunately we had some excellent help from woofers', Emanuele and Federica from Northern Italy who where keen to learn about our farming methods and sustainable lifestyle. While they were able to experience our lifestyle and farming methods first hand we learned about chestnut forests in Northern Italy and their traditional foods, celebrations and way of life. The polenta and kangaroo is a merging of the two cultures. They were keen to experience food from paddock to plate .Here they are preparing birds for the table a valuable experience as they wanted to provide quality food for themselves in the future. A few new building skills never go astray. Emanuele also put 26 years of rainfall records on the computer (something I planned to do one day but never got around to.) Now its easy to see patterns and trends in our rainfall patterns. The busy patter...

The chestnut harvest is underway. It started with 30+C days which was hard on the hands as the burrs were dry and easily penetrated the leather gloves. But now the Autumn rains have arrived the burrs open easily. The quality this year is excellent. They seem to benefit from the doubling of the irrigation to try and counter the drought and lack of subsoil moisture. Each morning we harvest, then grade the nuts. Now that the rains have come this is an especially good experience, the smell of damp soil and the explosion of fungus popping up everywhere. It would be much better if they where the edible types. Once the chestnuts are picked and graded they are stored in the cold room. The coldroom maturation starts the process of the starches converting to sugars. Fresh chestnuts are sold direct to the public from our farm shop. The shop is opened daily.We can pick and complete other chores because we have a radio controlled pager to inform us that you need serving. Once the cooler we...

Get them while there fresh. Available direct from the farm 11am- 5pm daily. Fresh local produce drirect from farm to you. Hot roasted Chestnuts available on weekends in Stirling main street from 26th April. See you soon

That is the sound of footsteps in the orchard as I harvest the chestnuts. Everything as gone crispy under foot and in the air, a strange cracking sound came from an uphill chestnut, I looked up expecting to see a flock of Adelaide Rosella in the tree but no, it was the sound of dry leaves breaking from the tree and landing on the dry grass. Such as been March so far. The record heat wave has hit this valley hard, just at the time when we should Be riffling through damp leaves in the morning drizzle. Throughout the hills orchardist are facing this force as they try to harvest apples and pears. Since the beginning of March this is how our temperature reading has gone. 1 29 C Max 10C Min 2 33 & 10 3 35 & 15 4 37 & 18 5 38 & 19 6 37 & 19 7 38 & 22 8 40 & 23 9 39 & 24 10 38 & 17 11 36 & 16 12 38 & 28 13 39 & 24 14 37 & 19 15 37 & 22 16 38 & 23 Today’s temperature is predicted at 39 C. The March average temperatures 22.8...