Plans!

So the AP system is crankinging along nicely, the wood oven is started, the chickens are laying away and hatching, the fruit trees are budding and spurring well, berries are in, wicking beds are slowly coming online...out backyard farm is progressing nicely. It is great to be able to pove to myself that on a small scale, this can be done. Not completely sustainable I know, but with the space we have I think we are doing pretty well. Hopefully this year we will be able to preserve more produce and space out our growing to allow for a prolonged harvest of a variety of produce. We have summer seeds in now and although it is way too early, when spring hits, we will put them out to get an early harvest, normal harvest and a late harvest (mainly looking at tomatoes). If I can find more varieties of apples then I will put them in to once again polong ou apple season. Many of the heritage apples have early, mid and late bearing. May even try and graft a 3 in 1.

So now to the future plans! Keep doing what we are doing here, add onto our sustainable suburban block, while looking for more land further afield. Ideally 20 acres, which would be enough for some livestock such as sheep and goats and possibly a couple of pigs, plenty of chickens, including egg layers and meat fowl, ducks (we love ducks), an extensive orchard of apples, pears, stone fruits, cherry trees, extensive vegie garden and of course one big mumma of an AP system! Ideally we would poduce enough for ourselves as well as farmers markets and local foodies. Would love to get bio-dynamic certification as well as organic certification. Build a strawbale house and have a couple of strawbale cottages as B&Bs as well as set up a school education program (can't get away from that teaching profession!).

Sounds all pie in the sky, but we will make it happen. It has been a dream for so long, we have proven that it can be done on a small scale (albeit very limited), it is what we love and is our passion, so "stop talking about it and do it!"