Gallifrey Forest Farm

Planting and planning

2022/08/15 deej 0

It’s been a busy few months. I know that this time of year always feels very hopeful, and by the middle of summer the heatwaves of desperation have set in, trying to keep everything alive.. but I do think it is getting better each year. Easier, maybe. I mean, we have actual winter pasture this year. Not much, yet, but the clover is properly established, and we’ve put out a pasture mix this time around so we should have ryegrass and more clover by spring. We’ve also got almost all of the trees in that are in the plan. Four […]

Permaculture Zones

2022/07/31 deej 0

So, last time I mentioned “permaculture zone 4 / 5”, and I realised that for anyone who hasn’t studied permaculture, that’s probably quite confusing. Even with the link I included. First off, you have to remember that permaculture is a set of design principles, not really a set of techniques. It’s almost more philosophical than practical, except that the philosophical part is taught via practical exercises. But because the fundamentals are philosophical and design concepts, each parctitioner must adapt them to their own context. Which is a long way of saying, there is no one true permaculture way. There are, […]

Rainy Days

2022/07/18 deej 0

It is raining right now. Sheets of chilly, clean water, falling from the sky, and it’s hard to watch it and also hold in my brain that this has been a very dry winter, statistically speaking. Obviously, that’s only in WA. The east coast has been inundated, again, and apparently we’re (the Bureau of Meteorology is) predicting another La Niña summer coming up. Our third in a row, which is, I am told, unprecedented in recorded history. La Niña years are wetter than average, for context; the east coast probably has more flooding to look forward to, and WA will […]

Lost Skills

2022/06/12 deej 0

A lot of the things I post here are about farming, more or less. Horticulture, agriculture, permaculture.. growing food (and fibre, and animal fodder). Which reflects the fact that the production of our base necessities is really important. Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs places basic physiological needs at the bottom for a reason, after all – they underpin everything else. But growing ingredients isn’t the only part of that picture which is important. Over the last year or two, I’ve been looking at various sort of ‘old fashioned’ skills, mostly just because I’m interested and I’m that sort of nerd. I […]

Belatedly

2022/05/19 deej 0

Well, it’s been a ..I want to say year, but in fact closer to four years since I updated this. In the meantime, we actually moved out and into town for 2 years because roadworks on the main road up here were making our commute to our on-premises, in-town day jobs miserable. Then there was Covid-19, and a few changes of job situation, and the roadworks finished (finally!), so we moved back in. The farm is still going, in spite of 2 years of not living on the property, and slowly, slowly, our plans are coming together. Not helped by […]