In 1980 armed with copies of Permaculture One and Two, my wife, I and family moved to country NSW to build our own house and live our dreams. But that is another story.
We came to our present house 30 years ago, It is a 3/4-acre block of south facing steep hillside. The block had been partly cultivated by previous owners. It had a 40ft olive tree, a grape vine, a persimmon, several guavas and every weed in captivity. We did not attempt to permaculture the block, but it did influence our activities. We installed 12 thousand litres of water tanks, and installed a drainage system around the house to provide water for the front garden,
We planted a citrus orchard, an avocado tree, bay tree and another olive tree in front of the house. We have carried out vegetable growing at the rear of the house over the years. My interest in permaculture was rekindled a year before covid and I joined the central coast permaculture association about 6 months before meetings ceased. When covid came I decided to establish a food forest in part of our garden. we have planted 17 assorted fruit and nut trees. The soil profile – poor topsoil, clay [several feet thick] and sandstone – prevented the use of swales. So, soil had to be moved from elsewhere on the block.
I have always made compost for the garden but establishing a food forest requires much more. I am attempting to become self-sufficient in compost production using resources from the garden and free resources. Also, I produce my own biochar and seaweed teas. I am now attempting to compost seagrass, not seaweed.
This is a young food forest. Because of the shade from the bush surrounding the rear of the garden we have a short growing season. Please come and have a look.
