Buxom Hills Farm | Agricultural cooperative

Buxom Hills Farm

Phone: +61 457 292 446

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25.01.2022 Funky beats and edible weeds!

24.01.2022 Our magical eagles flying over the Stewart's Ponds Creek. These majestic birds live across a wide range and rely on land relatively undisturbed by people and traffic to hunt and live in peace. They are truly awe-inspiring to see in person. #Bunjil #Eagle #Wedgetail #Wildlife

24.01.2022 Beautiful sandstones coming out of the clay horizon of our soil... Planting a new nectarine for the house orchard we are loosening the soil into the clay layer about 40cm deep, removing all of the stone floaters and adding gypsum (to break clay and improve texture), blood and bone (to support the development of microbes and healthy soil biology), and a good quality organic planting mix to integrate more organic matter into the soil. The tree and hole should be just in time for watering by heavy rains tonight and over the next few days.

22.01.2022 It feels like we have had two spring-summer cycles this year. The grass, and the pollinating insects, seem to think so too.

22.01.2022 Spring is in the air...

22.01.2022 This is part of our revegetation planting in the along the Stewart’s Ponds Creek. This area is already shady remnant forest which supports a diverse range of rainforest plants that wouldn’t always grow in our area. This one is Prostanthera lasianthos, also known as Coranderrk or Victorian Christmas Bush. This is one of the native mints and has an amazing spicy scent. This is a really significant Indigenous plant with many uses.

21.01.2022 When you are in the garden enjoying the fruits of your labour (or perhaps not ). Yummy just sampled was a lovingly planted parsley seedling with many other seven dwarf-like named fellow parsley friends in the same pot like Sleepy, Happy and Tasty. [Our vege garden which used to be a paddock, and then a hill of soil until very recently, is a work in progress. The permanent design of this new space really getting in place (though lots and lots still to do including installing rabbit proof fences) but the plants are taking a bit of back seat at the moment.]

21.01.2022 Hello winter we didnt expect you for a few more days.... 3 degrees at 9.30am. Beautiful warm sunshine doing its best to start the day.

19.01.2022 Making holes for the vicious/beautiful foxproof rose surround for our house orchard. Hopefully just in time for a big downpour this afternoon to pre-moisten everything. A combination of rich fertile soil, clay, red sandstones, and hard quartz coming out of the holes.

19.01.2022 That unfortunate moment when you realise someone else has been building inside your building... (They can stay until they fledge but hopefully next year they will find an outdoor spot to nest!)

18.01.2022 We do not consider our orchard run foxproof yet even with 1.8m fences, and a solid stone skirt. Chooks can only safely range in an area like this with supervision (or an attentive canine assistant). We have not had any fox attacks or suffered any losses here however to keep chickens safe its essential to be aware that foxes can scale wire fences, tear through chicken wire with their teeth (its essential to use heavy gauge wire), and dig under fences to reach into chicken ...houses or runs with great ease. Our orchard is of a really high standard but its still worth maintaining paranoia. We have: *a 35mm stone skirt inside and outside of the wire fencing *1.8 metre high heavy duty hex mesh. This is only used for the orchard and for our runs we use a heavy gauge square aviary mesh. A fox can decapitate a chicken through the hex/chicken mesh. The orchard is large enough that that will not happen. *Tightly packed gravel&fines at the base of the gates. This will be improved by either concreting or setting granite stone in place. Gates should also have a mesh to cover any openings.

18.01.2022 One of our resident wombats digging near the creek.

18.01.2022 Potting up bare root roses ready for a more leisurely planting outside the house orchard. These heavily scented, beautifully shaped and gorgeously coloured French roses make an excellent anti fox device to increase the safety of our poultry!

16.01.2022 Young Strawberry Gum Eucalyptus olida and Lemon myrtle Backhousia citriodora are our two of our establishing native tree crops. Both of these, originating further north in Australia, are thriving in spite of our winter frosts. Both have a powerful, delicious, almost confectionery scent, well worth scratch and sniff.

16.01.2022 Big things happening for us at the moment. Broke ground on our barn last week and today had this beautiful concrete pour. Although its only an outbuilding this is our first proper building construction. The barn will be the hub of our farm and houses the off grid infrastructure including solar power generation and rainwater collection (held in the tanks and gravity feeding our whole property including the house).

16.01.2022 Garlic planting These garlic cloves were chosen for planting because they had started to sprout a tiny bit of green. Our soil is fertile clay based soil. To support the growth they were just pushed in with 2cm of organic planting and potting medium placed over the top followed by a good layer of mulch. We use our own cut grass hay. Its exciting that this lovely growth is only 9 days old (these cloves planted 15 April and the photo taken on 24 April).

16.01.2022 A beautiful story about kids growing food at school.

14.01.2022 Hand weeding inside walnut tree guards today this little fellow objected to being disturbed... We dont use herbicides anywhere on the farm and support for wildlife like this is one of the reasons why. Cute but also a great little local pest manager.

14.01.2022 Some of our happiest plants from the 2017 Melbourne Water stream frontage program planting. These went in as tubes in winter 2017 and have grown extremely well. The gorgeously red veined and round juvenile leaves of candlebark (Eucalyptus rubida) first and second the fabulous flowering of spreading wattle (Acacia genistifolia), both indigenous to our area.

14.01.2022 Online seed suppliers As promised a list of suppliers. Unfortunately this list is of less use than I hoped as the seed market has gone **crazy**! Before you read the slightly depressing list below I would like to start by saying that as of tonight (27 March) I saw a completely full seed rack at my local Bunnings store at closing time. Other retail stores may have also lined up their regular suppliers and have great stuff back in stock. ...Continue reading

12.01.2022 In spite of the gorgeous flowers this native crop is all about the incredible lemon lolly smell and taste. Our lemon myrtle are still establishing but happily they have flourished throughout the harsh conditions and extreme heat thrown at them this summer. We will very shortly be able to supply fresh lemon myrtle leaf with dry not far away in the future.

11.01.2022 More purple. Cornflowers, purple headed lettuce, purple sprouting brocolli, and purple potatoes. The huge brocolli leaves with just a touch of purple are just begging to be turned into an organic homegrown sauerkraut...

09.01.2022 Lovely ladies helping with set up of a floral pollination edge to our house orchard.

08.01.2022 A walk in the mist this morning. Just before the sun burnt it off.

07.01.2022 Flowering almond (Johnston Prolific) in our house orchard. We only grow almonds for our own use but have six different trees as we love them. This is the earliest flowering. Brandes Jordan is following not too far behind and Californian Papershell has some buds ready to burst. Our trees are all still young but the sight of the white,pink tinged, blossom on the otherwise naked trees is a beautiful late winter experience.

06.01.2022 This little cutie was a surprise arrival this week. Born on Monday his first night was the coldest of the year so far reaching somewhere around -4. First time Blonde dAquitaine mother MyRose is gentle and capable and both are doing brilliantly.

06.01.2022 Hello purple. Rosemary and purple sprouting broccoli.

05.01.2022 Dragonfly. We often get these helicoptering around, especially in long grass in the late spring months. There were quite a few around yesterday including this one that took a liking to the latch of the car boot. A bit of a dangerous spot for it so it was gently lifted to a new location .

04.01.2022 Out collecting old guards and stakes for some new planting yesterday came across this noisy scene... Lots and lots of frogs and a diver bird, perched in a stag tree.

03.01.2022 We had a little mishap with a visiting delivery truck yesterday. He strayed off our driveway and reversed into the pastured area, churning up the topsoil. The truck wheels gouged a deep track into the topsoil that he couldnt get out of until he was pulled out by a second crane truck. Although its always disappointing to have your ground wrecked, it was lovely to see the beautiful dark topsoil exposed. This soil is rich in organic material and microscopic plant life. It hol...ds water in the landscape beautifully protecting against drought and also preventing downslope and downstream flooding after heavy rains. This soil, with its clovers and pasture grasses still visible, is an absolute asset to nurture. By contrast in picture two - the light straw colour - is a photograph 20 metres from the truck mishap of where we have reused some subsoil from earthworks on our own property (known as cleanfill) to provide a solid laneway surface. By contrast this material is infertile and has a tight structure that quickly sheds rainwater downhill, staying dry for use by vehicles. Only weeds can survive in this and only in the best conditions. In this wet winter after excellent rains in 2020 and minimal traffic this laneway has some occasional capeweed patches.

03.01.2022 Growing without the use of chemicals and in a space with niches for little creatures (mulch, rocks, timber and dense vegetation) leads to habitat creation for beneficial predators. This little skink no doubt part of the reason the young seedlings in our vege garden are untouched by pests. *The black edge is a fire retardant shadecloth that provides critical sun protection to our poultry in their run on the other side of the fence during the extreme heat of the summer.

03.01.2022 Love the crystal clear water and plant life at the edges of this dam. We have had this paddock set aside long term. Recently its benefited from unseasonably good rains during January and early February.

02.01.2022 This is not beautiful but its an amazing view of the soil horizons alongside our creek. The creek was very eroded when we bought the farm. This view is today after soaking rain for several days and shows how easily the erosion can occur/grow. We have excluded livestock from this area for the last three years and are undertaking revegetation above and at the base of the bank. New plants will shade the soil, add vegetative material and stabilise the top bank with their roots. Its very tough for young plants in summer too, because its a northwest facing slope without any existing shade or shelter from drying winds (except one feral plum tree). The silver wattle in the fourth picture is only 2 years old but is one of a few plants (mostly acacias) that are able to thrive in these conditions.

01.01.2022 Out this morning to check walnuts and lemon myrtle before a predicted 38 degree day I spotted this beautiful bluebottle. Looks like a bull ant but its actually a parasitic wasp. It looked to be in search of cool and shade underground.

01.01.2022 Fabulous talk coming up this Wednesday "The Search for the Platypus". Very topical following recent concerns about the conservation status of the platypus in Australia. This talk will link in with potential works in the local waterways in our district. All welcome. 8PM at Arthurs Creek Mechanics hall Wednesday 12 February.

01.01.2022 We are living in challenging times. As of this week I am starting a regular upload of a basic or more detailed #austerity tip. These will relate to growing your own food, using your garden plants and edible weeds for meals, cooking & fermentation to transform limited basic ingredients into gourmet food (sometimes with a longer shelf life) and other things that might be helpful. The idea is to help cope in uncertain times by providing practical ideas to prepare for self rel...Continue reading