Nirvana Biodynamics

Awoke to large piles of icy hail around the place , 43.5 mm  in the rain gauge for the past 24 hours and more rain,hail and wind on the way I headed to the polyhouse to get things done.Normally in winter polyhouse there are daily harvests of greens for us and the chooks. Our flock require a large basket  full of greens to be blended into their mash daily and the outside gardens never grow fast enough in winter to keep up.   This year has been quite different as I was out of action from Spring to Autumn with firstly with a broken leg (Thanks to neighbours goat, which is still managing to climb the fence to my vegies garden.) Then a new knee! Over this time the polyhouse became covered in lovegrass whose seeds latch on to your clothes and was proberly responsible for the invention of Velcro. To remove this weed required me to wear a polyester type bee suit,and long gumboots and still some seeds ended up on my socks.Once removed the beds where dug over to remove invadi...

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.  

The sun came out, we came out and this blue tongue lizard came to enjoy a little sunshine.

Having a self reliant garden is an important part of our overall aims at Nirvana.Everything is recycled in some way or other resulting in soils jumping with life and producing a top quality integrated environment where all life thrives. So when the Camilla a trees are in flower they are seen for their beauty  But also the usefulness of the fallen petals.The ones falling on the surrounding footpaths are raked up and used as mulch. All that fall around the tree are left to be turned ,with the help of biodynamic preparations into top quality humus. Over the 30 years we have been here the camellias have never needed fertilizer and have only been watered in times of extreme drought , mainly to prevent the house cracking!  The tree grows so well it needs pruning with a chainsaw to prevented it growing over, and crashing on the veranda.   This mulch usually known around here as ‘fairy carpet’ not only is valuable as it evolves into humus it looks great especially on a...

Its often hard to convince customers that eggs have a season as we all know there is always a plentiful supply in the shops all year.   But like all things in nature, when left to live as naturally as is possible while still being in the care of us humans, our humble chooks fit into the rhythm of the solar clock .   As the Autumn Equinox approaches (By the way that occurs on March 21or 22) The day length begins to shorten the birds lay fewer eggs or stop laying altogether and go into a moult. During the moult a hen will stop laying and shed its old feathers which are replaced by new feathers. After the Winter Solstice  (marking the shortest day)  The days start to lengthen and the hens start laying again. By Spring there are abundant eggs for all to share.   As the days lengthen a little more moving into September the hens start to look for nesting sites so they can secure a clutch of eggs to brood,  then  hatch chicks.