All about the farm. (and what to expect when you visit)
We farm on a piece of ground (172 aces/68 hectares) that was considered unusable by the local farmers. Fenced off and not developed. Most of it is native Aussie bush with about 35 acres of cleared and mostly cleared rough pasture that we are turning into lush fertile pasture a little at a time. The soils are old and depleted, rough, stony rotten granite, but like all poor soils the return for effort is rewarding. Our rainfall averages 600mm (24 inches) but varies from down pours and floods to drought and dust.
What we do here ...
We grow most of what we eat and enough to feed our guests, make as much as we can ourselves, repair our own machinery, water is solar/wood heated, we use wood for heating and most of our cooking (except during the hottest weeks in summer) and are very close to having an independent electricity supply. We like to teach others how this lifestyle works. Our long term aim is to have somewhere to teach all this to others and to build an alternative energy guest complex made from re purposed materials.
What you'll find if you come here ...
This is an alternative lifestyle farm/smallholding. The house is only partially finished, the surrounds are a building site, the piles of junk all over the place are waiting to be made into something. Yes it is messy, we are slowly tidying areas but it will take time and we aren't in a hurry. We need to get the farm working first, we'll worry about tidy later.
We make most things here from recycled materials, function is much more important than visual appeal to us at the moment.
A example is the chicken barn, this is cobbled together out of old commercial chicken shed panels, second hand roofing iron and garage roller doors, untidy but functional. At some point in the future it will have passionfruit vines growing all over it to give it some aesthetic appeal, until then it works.
Our surroundings.......
The bush here is typical dry Australian bushland full of wildflowers in late winter and spring. Just after Christmas the trees shed their bark and the trunks become a glorious glowing gold. We have a stunning view to the south. In spring it is a quilt of green and gold as the canola crops flower and the grain crops begin to seed, in summer it is a patchwork of dark green trees and dry pastures over rolling hills. We have been told we have some of the best sunsets in the world and the most star filled skies.
Our Animals.........
We keep pigs, sheep, cows, chickens, geese, ducks for eggs, milk and meat. We also have horses but they are not broken to ride. We have a lot of dogs, working dogs and livestock guardian dogs. Some are old and retired and pets the others are working dogs NOT PETS. We also have cats, they are farm cats and kept to keep the vermin under control, most love a cuddle but are not house pets.
We have a very basic way of life, making do with what we can find, make or grow. Our home is made up of nearly finished and not so nearly finished spaces. We love it here and find our lifestyle very rewarding, this is not a typical home or farm and very much a work in progress........
What we do here ...
We grow most of what we eat and enough to feed our guests, make as much as we can ourselves, repair our own machinery, water is solar/wood heated, we use wood for heating and most of our cooking (except during the hottest weeks in summer) and are very close to having an independent electricity supply. We like to teach others how this lifestyle works. Our long term aim is to have somewhere to teach all this to others and to build an alternative energy guest complex made from re purposed materials.
What you'll find if you come here ...
This is an alternative lifestyle farm/smallholding. The house is only partially finished, the surrounds are a building site, the piles of junk all over the place are waiting to be made into something. Yes it is messy, we are slowly tidying areas but it will take time and we aren't in a hurry. We need to get the farm working first, we'll worry about tidy later.
We make most things here from recycled materials, function is much more important than visual appeal to us at the moment.
A example is the chicken barn, this is cobbled together out of old commercial chicken shed panels, second hand roofing iron and garage roller doors, untidy but functional. At some point in the future it will have passionfruit vines growing all over it to give it some aesthetic appeal, until then it works.
Our surroundings.......
The bush here is typical dry Australian bushland full of wildflowers in late winter and spring. Just after Christmas the trees shed their bark and the trunks become a glorious glowing gold. We have a stunning view to the south. In spring it is a quilt of green and gold as the canola crops flower and the grain crops begin to seed, in summer it is a patchwork of dark green trees and dry pastures over rolling hills. We have been told we have some of the best sunsets in the world and the most star filled skies.
Our Animals.........
We keep pigs, sheep, cows, chickens, geese, ducks for eggs, milk and meat. We also have horses but they are not broken to ride. We have a lot of dogs, working dogs and livestock guardian dogs. Some are old and retired and pets the others are working dogs NOT PETS. We also have cats, they are farm cats and kept to keep the vermin under control, most love a cuddle but are not house pets.
We have a very basic way of life, making do with what we can find, make or grow. Our home is made up of nearly finished and not so nearly finished spaces. We love it here and find our lifestyle very rewarding, this is not a typical home or farm and very much a work in progress........