Farm Raiser in Bellfield | Community organisation

Farm Raiser

Locality: Bellfield

Address: 230 Banksia street 3081 Bellfield, VIC, Australia

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• Community organisation
• Farm
• Urban Farm

24.01.2022 These beauties, along with our cucumbers zucchini, salad mix & kale were delivered this morning to @ceresfairfood to be packed into their weekly veggie boxes. It makes us so happy that our veggies are harvested one day and in peoples kitchens the next, thanks to @ceresfairfood for helping us do this!

22.01.2022 We had a blast at the The Social Food Project ‘s Farmer to Table dinner CERES Fair Food last Saturday night. Being able to meet and talk with new faces about sustainable agriculture, ethical food consumption and some cool new projects on the horizon makes us very optimistic about Melbourne’s food future. Thank you for having us and The Social Food Project and feeding our bellies and minds. Photocredit: Hello Hann We are headed to City of Melbourne EcoCity Storytellers Night this Thursday at Loop Project Space & Bar for more Farm Raiser/sustainable city chats. Anyone else going along?

22.01.2022 The average age of the Australian Farmer is now nearly 60. It is imperative that we work to pave the way for new farmers to access land and grow their passion for a more sustainable food system. One that supports rural communities, regenerates soils and shifts the way we consume nutritious food. Fortunately we have Young Farmers Connect coordinating grass roots change on a national scale. Be sure to follow their page if you’re keen to support new generations in Australian agr...iculture. Growing, linking, activating ... Young Farmers Connect. A national not for profit organisation helping our next generation of farmers towards successful agricultural ventures, food sovereignty & happy, healthy rural and urban communities. Join us today. . . . . #youngfarmersconnect #togetherwegrow #localfood #localfarm #smallscalefarming #marketgarden #community #communitysupportedagriculture #knowyourfarmer #youngfarmers #newfarmers #farming #aussiefarmers

21.01.2022 Pat, Charlotte and Kirsty would like to announce the safe arrival of their new BCS tractor.Born on 25.02.19, weighing 168kg. Welcome to the Farm Raiser family, Lil Clayton. We love you so much already A huge thanks to all of those who contributed to our crowdfunding campaign last year, it’s because of you that we have our very own two wheel tractor. Watching Lil Clayton getting wheeled off the trailer this morning reminded us about how lucky w...e are to have the support of friends, family and the wider community who want to see this project succeed. We are getting closer to putting Lil Clay to work and building our first plots. Exciting times! Thanks to uncle Kyle Prentice for naming the newest member of the fam. See more

21.01.2022 The three of us at Farm Raiser have had many conversations about the challenges of getting started when you’re an aspiring farmer. Thankfully, Farmer Incubator are working hard in this space to bridge the gap between dreams of working on the land and really making it happen. Yay. One way they are doing this is via their Pop Up Garlic Farmer program: From March to November 2019 you can take a crop of garlic right through from seed to harvest and market with a load of learning... experiences and farm tours across the year to teach you everything you'll need to know. Throughout the program, you'll meet experienced farmers, visit no less than 3 established small-scale farms, and hear from experts across a diverse range of fields. Each site will have a FI Site Manager to support you each step of the way and at least 3 other fellow Pop Up Garlic Farmers to share the experience!! They also have a new workshop on Co-farming and Accessing Land for Your Future Farm and a simple tool for planning your Crop Enterprise Budget If you’re keen to know more be sure to check out their insta page which links you to their info evening (16th Feb). https://www.facebook.com/events/2046943898731945/?ti=cl

19.01.2022 Groundbreaking! Today we broad-forked to break compaction, tilled to incorporate the organic matter and create a bed for the seeds, then sowed a selection of seeds that will further break up compaction, fix nitrogen and add organic matter to feed biology/microbes and improve soil structure. After all was done the rain fell down to settle the seeds and start germination. This was a pretty exciting day for team Farm Raiser and the project at Waratah Special Developmental School.... We have been burrowing away in the background for a year now working on all aspects of the project while dreaming of the part where we get our hands in the dirt. Smiles all round! @ Bellfield

19.01.2022 Post harvest, pre pack. We are working on getting our systems and processes in order. Getting better and fast each week.

14.01.2022 Exciting news! Farm Raiser has been selected by the Nelson Alexander Ivanhoe office to be the recipients of their professional fees from an auction as part for their annual Foundation Day on Saturday 25th May A huge thank you to Nelson Alexander and the Ivanhoe office for supporting Farm Raiser This money will go toward building a packing, processing and storage shed that enable us to wash, weigh, sort, pack and cool all of our produce being sent out to our wonderful local co...mmunity. Feeling very fortunate for all of the community support gathering behind this little urban farm. To learn more visit: http://bit.ly/NAFoundationDay2019 #NAFoundationDay #urbanfarm #localproduce #shedsofinstagram #foodproduction #melbournefood #ivanhoevictoria #banyule #community

13.01.2022 Our friends at Farmer Incubator are running a great event this Saturday! Get on down to what looks like a ripper day. Learn from a working co-farming model and explore ideas on how you can access land via alternative pathways through conversations with Harcourt Organic Farming Coop, Cultivate Farms and Farmer Incubator. The day includes a guided tour of the stacked enterprise farming cooperative in Harcourt Victoria featuring Ant at Tellurian Fruit Gardens, Mel and Sas from Gung Hoe growers Market garden, Tessa from Sellars Farmhouse Dairy, and Katie from Carr's Organic fruit tree nursery. Lunch provided. https://www.facebook.com/events/1043275695876134/

13.01.2022 Need a little something to brighten your home over the next 5 days of lockdown? You can purchase our blooms at #alphingtonfm tomorrow -Sunday 14th Feb. We will be there thanks to our best buds @the.veggie.empire who are selling their veggie seedlings. A huge thanks to @melbournefarmersmarkets who work tirelessly to keep their farmers markets running through stage 4 lockdown- head over to their page to learn how you can attend the markets safely. Sending love to fellow Victorians. We got this

12.01.2022 A little PSA to let you all know we're still here; tapping away at emails, organising infrastructure, crop planning and sorting through the legal agreements to get this little urban farm off to the best possible start. We're still here feeling very thankful to everyone for your ongoing support, so thanks for sticking around! ~ 2020 has really been a doozie for getting anything done in a timely fashion, but we're finally overcoming some unexpected hurdles and getting close to ...kicking off the infrastructure phase once again which has us all VERY pumped! ~ We're looking forward to getting back to Waratah Special Developmental School once stage 4 lockdown is complete and sharing the progress of the farm build. Super excited to engage with our community once again- 2021 is the year of Farm Raiser! #urbanagriculture #melbournefood #farmraiser #localfood #sustainablemelbourne #regenerativeagriculture #regenerativefarming

12.01.2022 Cover crop germination success These little babies have begun the process of soil repair; harvesting the energy from the sun and converting it into carbohydrates and sugars through the process of photosynthesis. While much of this energy will be used by the plant to build new cells, to grow big and strong. Most of the energy is actually excreted out the plants roots (exudates) as carbohydrates to feed the microbiology and fungi in the soil. The plant trades this energy with... the biology and fungi for water and nutrients that the plant can’t access from the soil on its own. A nice ‘you scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours’ situation. The good biology and fungi will protect the plant from pest and disease in order to keep the plant alive. The biology and fungi can’t thrive without the plants, and plants won’t thrive without the biology and fungi. Our cover crop species have been selected due to their root architecture and their ability to form different biological and fungal associations that will help us to maximise the biodiversity in our soil. More biodiversity = improved soil health = improved plant health = improves human health. Nice. Community is everything!

10.01.2022 What a wonderful way to reduce waste while showcasing the the abundance and beauty of homegrown food

08.01.2022 Patty is always pretty smiley, but he is extra smiley this week because we are planting our first cover crop on Sunday We have chosen to make a mix of cover crop seed for ourselves based on our soil conditions and how we plan to bring this land into a state that will enable us to produce delicious, healthy food. We will be sharing some of our cover crop choices and some soil growing strategies over the next few weeks. Yay! We are lucky that this #urban soil is not contami...nated as so many urban soils are. We had soil tests done very early on which didn’t find any worrying heavy metals or dangerous substances. Some research tells us it’s only ever been a school yard and sports oval, a dairy farm and a flood plain prior to that. #urbanfarm #covercrop #healthysoil #organicmatter #melbournefood #urbanagriculture #localfood @ Bellfield

07.01.2022 We forgot to capture last weeks veggie boxes (they were full to the brim!) but we did remember to capture a few weekly highlights which included our first fennel harvest, our very pretty amaranth, a few of our fave farm visitors and the flower bouquets getting a makeover.

06.01.2022 COMMUNITY Feeling a bit like this tatsoi today. Yep, here comes a plant nerd metaphor Our community of farmers and mentors, friends, family, Waratah, Banyule City Council and local businesses are enabling Farm Raiser to grow in a way we didn’t quite imagine. A little like the way the microbes, fungi and soil are helping the plant to access nutrients to grow tall toward the sun. Looking forward to returning the gesture once we’re up and running ... Tomorrow is the big day for the @nelsonalexanderrealestate #nafoundationday charity auction. We will be at 31 Wilfred St, East Ivanhoe from 11:30am. Come on down and check out the action. @ Ivanhoe East, Victoria

03.01.2022 Three months ago to the date we helped friends, and massive Farm Raiser supporters Laura and Myles to build and plant a productive food garden in their urban courtyard. Today they kindly sent us a before and after. More tomatoes, chillis and herbs than we can deal with, sunflowers brightening all our meals (I have breakfast outside every morning!) AND corn, capsicums, eggplants, pumpkins and more on the way! Yay!!!! Nothing better than home grown food!

03.01.2022 If you’re wanting to get your hands on some of our produce but a weekly veggie box isn’t quite your thing, head on over the @harvestfoodstore in station street, Fairfield. The legendary Andrew is stocking a range of our salads and veggies each week.

01.01.2022 And just like that our little urban farm has beds. Plot number 1 that was tarped wayyy back in Feb had the cover crop mowed down, beds raised up and a second round of cover crop seeds put down so we can keep the soil covered before we put our first food crops in over the next two months Upon looking at the quality of soil under the more recently tarped sections of the farm (they look great!) we learned that putting the tarp down on plot 1 in the heat of summer with no d...rip line underneath caused the soil to collapse/lose structure and create a compaction layer at about 10cm. We had assumed that the compaction layer was from the previous uses at the site but we now know that we created it. It’s a tough lesson to learn but an incredibly valuable one and surely not the last. It’s going to be heaps of work to undo the damage we caused and our first seasons crops are likely to be affected. But that’s okay- we now know that moisture levels and the length of time that the tarp is down dramatically changes how the soil responds as the grass is dying and decomposing. Seems glaringly obvious at this point it time, but a mistake we surely won’t make again. We want to be transparent with all of our experiences on this farming journey - it’s the highs, lows and all the in between that put food on the table and into our bellies. Huge thanks to our supportive friends and farming mentors for their hard work, delicious food and farming guidance @ Bellfield