Nirvana Biodynamics

Christmas day started off just like any other December day, picking raspberries- the difference being the pager would not beep.. Or would it- Yes someone had forgotten to pick up their order and turned up. Once the order was organized it was back to picking. As is usual my mind wanders down many paths while quietly picking those plump ripe berries, the background is filled with birds getting on and the occasional frog. December is a time when clouds of the common brow n butterflies fill the orchards. As I picked, I watched them flutter from tree to bush, stopping to feed on the flowers. Then my mind drifs and I wonder why the world is so artifical when there is so much beauty just outside the door. Soon its all picked ,time to pack and store as we will be opened again tomorrow. With all the berries picked it was time to relax. Lunch was easy to prepare, a simple affair, fresh greens from the garden including the first harvest of beans and cucumber, sprinkled with blackcurrants dressed ...

Friday’s mornings drizzle delayed raspberry picking so I was able to harvest the garlic. Our kitchen is never without strings of garlic, in fact there are still half a dozen strings from last years harvest & all as good as the day they where harvested. (I put this down to moon planting & harvesting) It’s a different feeling to harvest a whole crop as apposed to regular fresh harvests and very satisfying .Each year I grow enough for us, the dogs and chooks plus 1/3 is used for planting the next crop. The garlic now dries on the veranda until there is time to sort and plait it and then it’s stored in the kitchen. Probably get around to this sometime after Christmas when the berries are all harvested. Being busy with the berries means the veggie garden does not receive a lot of attention, but there is plenty happening with the selected plants forming seeds, a variety of new veggies developing from the regular plantings. Visits to the garden are generally to pick what is needed for...

or REAPING ENJOYMENT December is awash with red and green. In the shopping centres there is the holly and the ivy, down on the farm there is red of the ripening raspberries and the wonderful contrast of the radiant green leaves. Adding to our living garden are the cacophony of small birds flitting nervously amongst the trees which shade the fertile valley. Other berries are ripening too. Blackcurrants are colouring and the large green gooseberries look almost translucent and ready to burst. There are red currants and white currants under the curved canopy of protecting leaves. The last of the white shahtoot mulberries are ripening We are picking raspberries every day now and people are dropping in to the farm to buy raspberries. It is nice to stop picking for a few minutes and chat with regulars who enjoy buying directly from the producer. We receive direct feedback and the visitors take away high quality, fresh, biodynamic food. Our produce is available exclusively from here. On arriv...

The vegetable garden is springing to life as the October plantings are developing. Now it is time to plant the seeds of climbing and bush beans, lettuce, beetroot, carrots, celery, parsnips, potatoes, sweetcorn, silverbeet, pumpkin. For best results plant 2 days before the full moon and transplant seedlings of tomatoes, eggplant, pumpkin, capsicum, melons during the new moon phase in the afternoons. Check the compost heaps are not drying out. Treat them like a living plant - if you water your plants once a week then water the compost at the same time. DISPELLING THE ORGANIC MYTHS “Using raw manure on my garden makes me organic” Wrong! All animal manures regardless of age must be properly composted with other materials before adding to soil. When raw manure is used it harms the soil microbes and the worms and causes imbalances in the soil. Sure!, you get the lush quick green growth, just the same as adding urea or soluble Nitrogen. Animal manures have the potential to contain dangerous ...

Spring has reached it's crescendo in the hills with lots of growth ,colour and activity. The goslings (better known as "Tails up mowing ans fertiliser company") are are growing fast as they graze on the orchard pasture, while the chooks are busy discovering a host of goodies that live in the soil. Most of the fruit trees have flowered and set fruit and the hills and valleys are looking wonderfully productive. The bees are enjoying the vast array of flowers while the shahtoot mulberries are sort after by everyone . Today the air is full of chestnut essence as the catkins hang low with the extra weight. This also means the berries are ripening and my days are spent harvesting and selling these in a fleeting season that lasts until Christmas. For many of our customers fresh raspberries or currants are the highlight of their Christmas feast.

When I meet someone new and they find I’m a biodynamic gardener the first question I get is “Well how do you get rid of………? The average gardeners go into the garden not with the concept of LIFE but the concept of DEATH. They go out to get rid of things. In order to grow a crop everything else is removed. You only have to listen to the gardening programs to confirm this. WEEDS - THE USEFUL PLANTS . The importance of weeds to the gardener is that: • They tend to be stronger growing plants with more extensive root runs enabling them to gather nutrients at deeper levels of the soil. • Weeds can provide some protection for your desired plants from wind and rain. • They can provide alternative food source for problem pests. • They provide food and habitat for useful predators. • They can protect land not being currently used from erosion. WEEDS ASSIST SOIL BUILDING Volunteer plant (weeds) main job is colonising any bare patch to protect it from the elements. (Wind, rain, sun) This can be use...

To achieve a balanced biodynamic farm the “animal element” needs to be included, to move it towards the concept of “the farm as an individual living organism.” Nirvana is an orchard, so the logical the choice of animals is birds because birds go with trees & bushes. Both the domestic fowl & geese form an essential part of our orchard. They play an important part in composting, and producing vital ingredients to ensure dynamic recycling of nutrients. The geese have been chosen for their grazing ability, 3 geese = a sheep. Having webbed feet they can graze the damp valley without damage. Their grazing has reduced our mowing costs by one third. Our base flock is made up of 20 cross breed embden /touslouse. These birds are hardy & reliable breeders. They graze the orchards each day. They prefer fine grasses, clover and other grasses when they are short. In general they do not like broadleaf weeds. However they do search out and destroy any comfrey leaf or root. Other g...