At last we have our breeding stock of Australorps working in the Mandala garden. We now have the best of the best of Australorps, koek koeks and Boschvelders.

Our lavender pecan bantams are now resident in the shade house and as the weather cools they are sneaking into the hothouse .No problem there as long as they stop overturning the comfrey pots.

The chicken domes that are being manufactured for the pastures are coming along well and should be operational by the end of this week.  I hope the Nguni cattle don’t decide to investigate too much as they are like a bunch of naughty toddlers .Yesterday when we moved the geese from the food forest into the cow pastures the cows thought they were put there for their entertainment. It looked like a comedy skit here with people trying to distract the cows while we went in and saved the geese.  The joy of animal farming ……….I love it

As we head towards our next PDC we look back on the previous courses and student feed back forms to see “what we could do better”, well one of the things we have decided to put together is the opening of the Intern Village. This village has been designed by past students and is an ongoing project. It is a place where students that have completed a Permaculture Design Certificate (here or at any other recognized Training School) can come and get further practical experience. It can be a bit daunting to spend twelve days in training and then to have to put it into practice if you do not have land .Here on the farm we will be not only covering all aspects of the PDC including building,dam making, food security, food forests and energy saving , we will be giving people the experience of what it takes to live on a  Farm(community or other) and the day to day running. Moving to the Country has been painted with a romantic brush in glossy magazines in the last decade and many people are disheartened when they move to the country to find it’s not all about sweet prancing lambs and cozy meals in the rambling Farm kitchen in front of the agar.

Our aim is to ensure people wanting to move to the Country first (through their PDC training) find the perfect farm and then design it in such a way to make their dreams of “the romantic lifestyle” a reality. I know it can be done because I have done it. I now have everything I could possible dream of, A beautiful “rustic home off the grid, an abundant supply of truly organic vegetables, meat and fish and best of all a partner who appreciates this lifestyle.

It just takes the first step………………. (more…)

Crossways Farm Village

2012 brings with it high expectations for the new eco village known as Crossways Farm Village, the new town is spectacularly located on the edge of the Van Staden’s River Gorge outside Port Elizabeth.  A start has been made with construction of South Africa’s first “green” town that in time is expected to operate largely independent of the national energy grid. It will also be the first rural town fully integrated with an existing agricultural component, in this case, a professionally run dairy farm. Future food security, has formed an important component of the overall planning.

At the completed sales office for the R3.4 billion project you will find Crossways  Country Kitchen.

A trendy casual eatery, where fresh produce is a huge priority of the chef Trevor. His partner Mika, took it upon herself to train as a Permaculture designer , and has designed a garden that will not only provide for the restaurant, but also for sale to the public.

The whole team from Permaculture South Africa were on board to give Mika a helping hand to implement phase one of her garden. A mandala garden was set up with one of the ten metre chicken domes which are manufactured in Port Elizabeth and are a luxury for the Bosvelder chickens that prepare the ground for Mika, who is also involved in the restaurant. She needed a design that in time will be self regulating.

The garden was fenced using local wattle, and water is pumped from the farm dam. Crossway Farm Village is a working dairy farm, so manure is abundant . We were able to make large compost heaps ,and double dig beds were dug and planted with an array of root vegetables. Tomatoes and basil are interspersed around the garden, and within a couple of weeks,Mika was able to harvest fresh lettuce, rocket, mizuna , radishes and herbs for the days menu.

We look forward seeing more from this dynamic couple…………………

Ready for Harvest

What can I say. When running an Intro to Permaculture course in Bulawayo ,Zimbabwe I knew that there would be a new insight to sustainable living and this week I received the following confirmation from a wonderful couple who are now making a living from their produce. Belinda and Steve it was an absolute pleasure to show you what we do here on Wild Olive Farm and that you could embrace the knowledge. I look forward to visiting again sometime in the future.

A Perfect Salad Bag

Hi Hazel
Its been a long time since we were last in coms with you but just wanted to give you an update on our little hobby which has now become a viable business in a little over a year (on a coarse I almost didn’t do) with you. We decided to specifically go into salad packs as it was a niche market that no one seemed to be doing. Currently we are supplying 5 different shops 30 packs a day and 70 on a friday. We had many moments we wanted to give up but when we look at our soil now we still remain amazed. We have had quite a number of people coming to see how it all works but there is still a lot we are learning. We still would love to come do the next course with you and spend some time on your farm. It will happen one of these days.
Thank you once again for coming out and sharing with us your knowledge.
Belinda and Steve Sparrow-Smith
Bulawayo

The Mandala Garden

I have found another piece of heaven!! I thought we had the perfect farm but last week I made my way to Cape Town for the first of, I hope, many Intro to Permaculture Courses. I was getting rather stressed when I approached the farm as one has to drive through a very built up over the top residential complex. Not up my street but once through this ostentatious complex I drove through two ancient gate pillars and entered Utopia. Never have I been to a farm where even the trees and shrubs seemed to welcome you. Nestled under massive oaks trees I arrived at our new venue for our course.

To run a course off site and out of my comfort zone I thought would be difficult but how wrong I was. On Saturday morning, hot scones and “proper “coffee were a welcoming sight for all the participants who had travelled from all over the Cape for the course. Each participant brought with them such interest and passion it was easy to make the transition. Paul our youngest participant was full of energy and only too willing to fetch and carry. He was so enthusiastic when collecting compost materials he collected copious amounts of perry winkle instead of the lupins but they did add a nice bit of colour to our heap. In fact I have to say that was one amazing heap you guys made. After the amazing lunch served with some of the wine from the family vineyards (that’s a first) we settled under massive oaks to sort through and design a new worm farm. This farm was like a treasure chest and we had a choice of lovely old enamel baths to house our new worms. We separated the vermi and we even collected the worm eggs to ensure the new worm farm got off to a good start.

When doing an Intro course we looked at the zones and sectors of the farm. Mrs Le Roux the master mind behind the exquisite gardens had laid out them out to work with all the elements on the farm. This was no coincidence, this is one very clever lady and apart from having to make allowances for the rampant visiting peacocks she has managed to create a piece of perfection.

I found it a privilege to work with everyone on the farm and I look forward to seeing how everyone brings in Permaculture to their lives, especially you Nick who knows exactly wants he wants and will go the extra mile to ensure he achieves his goals!!!!!!!!!

To the whole le Roux family and Emilia Smuts a big Thank you for all your hard work and making me feel part of the family which is a big Honour. I look forward to meeting you all again.

Must be the best fed chickens!!!!

This weekend saw the arrival of our course students from all over South Africa. What an amazing bunch of people. The weather was perfect and we managed to design a garden (theirs if they brought plans) using the permaculture principles, explore different ways to create soil , designing and companion planting a vegetable garden. They all realized that in each bed you can have up to fourteen companion plants growing. Their designing skills were put to task when they had to put what they had learnt into practice and plant up two mandala beds. Each and every person participated with such enthusiasm that I would have had them all re design and plant any garden of mine. We also took the seed to harvest and they all ended their course harvesting the produce which was then cooked and served as their “last meal” on the farm. I love to hear that they find that the food tastes very different from what they expected. Broad beans, not the most common vegetable was served sautéed with mint and a touch of feta. The fennel we steamed and all the root vegetables were roasted together with fresh herbs. For anyone who was liss for meat we had a chicken casserole. No, nobody had to slaughter their own chicken!!!!  

After a very active day we all relaxed around the pizza oven and chatted to a bunch of motor bike enthusiasts that had arrived for an over night stay on their way up the coast. Luckily they had been here before and knew we had a training course in progress otherwise they would have wondered why everyone disappeared to bed at 8.30. Fresh air , interesting like minded people and good food makes for a happy end to the day.  

When one of the students sent an email and photos to her fellow students saying  

“When you are down and you feel you are not
getting anywhere in your garden then pop in your CD and remind yourself of just how much fun we had.  

Friendships formed over just a couple of days really makes me feel warm inside as each person that comes into my life comes for a reason and I can only say that I am truly blessed to be able to share with such amazing people. Looking forward to seeing how they all progress !!!  

Its Midge season!!!Where the blitters come from who knows but they arrive here in their droves to hover in front of your face and I find I eat copious amount of them every time I open my mouth , which is often!! What is a midge you ask!! Well it is the name for any of numerous minute two winged fragile flies. The biting midges belong to the genus Culicoides of the family Ceratopogonidae; they are the smallest of the bloodsucking insects and are common. The adults have mouthparts that pierce and suck and inflict irritating bites on humans; and on poor helpless animals .Daisy our cow has found a unique way of avoiding these critters and that is to stand in my cottage .She would go right in I am sure but being 10 months pregnant her girth is far wider than the door frame.

The good news is that they are short stay visitors and whilst here are nutritious food for all the birds looking for that easy meal whilst creating nests for their ever fussy wives.

Blimmin flies

With Avice Hindmarch onboard we are delighted to be able offer a truly unique Permaculture design course. Over the last couple of years there has been such a shift of people wanting to move from the City and our mission is to ensure everyone has the knowledge to make the transition fun and of course successful. I have done it and through my journey I can save people a lot of heart ache and money by showing them how .Remember to fail to plan is to plan to fail. Have a great day.

For so many years I have wanted to have a website where I could blog on a daily basis without having to bring in the “techno junkies” and my dream happened thanks to technology and a bright son.
I have just done a webinar which, for the “mis informed” was a course done over the web with people from all over the world .The facilitators were based in Isle of Mann and Norway.They showed me step by step how to do my own site.Even better I got a download of the whole webinar so could replay it 1000 times without feeling stupid in front of others.
As the farm evolves through working with our permaculture principles I will share this as a diary/record for me but also if I can inspire just one person to try something new to enrich their land then mission accomplished.