When I first started blogging I joined in with Farm mamma with her weekly look around the farm ( or back yard) Since she stopped blogging I've really missed seeing what was going on for other people in their various parts of the world, and sharing what's going on for us. And so now I will be joining in with Rach at
Squiggly Rianbow for Thursday garden journal.....
There is a real change in the air......
There are blossoms on the pear tree and the nectarine
Spring is just around the corner. So here at Purple Pear Farm we are preparing for our busiest time.
Mark is putting out a liquid fertiliser made here on the farm using fish and weeds. The fish are carp caught during an annual carp eradication programme in the Upper Hunter. We fill a barrel ( and place the barrel a loooooong way from the house) with the fish and let them decompose. Biodynamic preparations are added and then the whole thing is aerated by a little solar powered pump. The weeds are treated in a similar way and then combined with the fish to make a very potent fertiliser.
Seedlings in the hardening off area waiting to be planted out later in the week. All seedlings are started on farm in our propagation house. A month or so ago we ran a propagation workshop and one of the participants, Michelle from Bellbirds and Pea Shoots posted about it
here. We are preparing to rev up seedling production and so Mark has started on an addition to our propagation house using a pre existing shelter and recycled building materials and a few on farm natural building products as well (more of that another day).....Here's a little peek..
And we've added a new tank stand, made from tyres. This tank catches the water from the propagation house and the water is used to water the seedlings.
Mark has been preparing beds for asparagus. Notice the short sleeves. It was such a beautiful day today.
The warmer weather over the last few weeks has prompted us to get a head on our summer vegies. We do this by using a heated pad that Mark made for us, but I'll leave that for another day.
Days are very busy for us here on the farm but there's always time to do some creating!
Thanks for visiting
Kate
A peach tree?! How lovely. Your liquid fertiliser sounds fab, although I can imagine it must get quite pongy! I wonder, can someone in a home garden setting make this kind of fertiliser? How long did you have to wait for the fish to decompose? Could you use any fish?
ReplyDeleteMark here Vanessa. I would recommend that you use a store bought fish emulsion as it is quite odorous even with the aeration. The weed tea you can do. I mainly use comfrey but a wide variety is good. Stir daily if you do not have an air pump. Any fish would work or even just off cuts like heads and entrails. Some BD farmers use road kill animals to make a tea but that seems a little gross.
DeleteAll sounds great, can't wait to hear about the heating pad.Those fruit tree blossoms look amazing closeup. I love hearing about your farm.
ReplyDeleteHow inspiring! You are not in Victoria are you? I can't recall it being sunny here! Apologies for my lack of journalling today - first week - eeep! xx
ReplyDeleteNo Rach, we are in The Hunter, NSW. No worries about your journaling. I know how it can be. Maybe next week?
DeleteIt's all looking and sounding great! This weather makes you want to go out and plant, that's for sure. Me being off the planet, health wise, meant we didn't get to prune any fruit trees and now there are blossoms everywhere. xxx
ReplyDeleteLOVING the tyre tank stand..pure genius, Kate! So nice to have a wander around your farm, your seedlings are looking fabulous!
ReplyDeleteI really miss farmama too.. her blog was so serene. Enjoy that crafting..is it an apron? A bib? The gingham and ric-rac are adorable, anyhow! :)