Propagating seeds can be so frustrating. We’ve struggled over the years, sometimes getting off to a flying start but often lamenting the slow and stunted growth of our seedlings that really makes the cheaper price of a packet of seeds over a punnet seem a false economy. You too? Well, this post is designed to …
You guessed it! Or maybe you didn’t… wait for it… bamboo! We planted a few spindly-looking whisps on our tiny farm a few years ago, primarily to block out the neighbours from overlooking our deck. Or better yet, block out the neighbours from seeing us sip Mai Thai’s while pretending we are in a tropical …
With our summer and autumn produce drawing to a close, we naturally have been wondering about how to cram even more into our small suburban block. We’ve been reading about permaculture for a while and the idea of creating an urban food forest in our front yard seems like something we almost have to do. …
Amidst the coronavirus pandemic, a movement towards practices of the past has begun. People are kneading bread and hoeing veggie patches as never before. The benefit of this for those already drawn to this lifestyle is the birth of a brand new community with which to share these joys and endeavours. We don’t even need …
For many years we’ve been preserving the tomato harvests from Our Tiny Farm using the Fowler’s method. So fun at the time and later rewarding to pop open a jar of home made passata. But there are limits to the productive capabilities of our little space… and with the increase in small hands that both …
The more the debate rages around the term “free range” with respect to egg-laying chickens, the more popular the backyard chook house has become. Many of our elderly neighbours are from migrant families for whom owning chickens, along with growing vegetables and making whole foods from scratch were simply the way things were done. From …
The lost art of bread making has been making something of a revival for the last decade or so. The movement goes beyond those trendiest of appliances, the electric bread maker. We now see bread making courses popping up alongside other artisanal classes including fermenting, pickling and brewing. The beauty I see in it is …
After around ten months of planning, pondering and purchasing, our tiny farm has finally welcomed our newest little residents! We picked up our nucleus hive yesterday morning and plonked it right next to our hive, which has been waiting months for our bee friends to join us. After a day to settle in (and because …
If you live in Melbourne you likely fall into one of two camps when it comes to tomato planting. There are those that swear by the Plant on Cup Day mantra, which sees those tomatoes going into the ground in early November. Then there are those who are either overcome with excitement at their team’s …
A few months ago I read a great blog by Leaf Root & Fruit who are conducting an experiment to see if a new treatment against citrus gall wasp is actually effective. Having seen my two year old lime tree infested on almost every branch, I had already followed the conventional “prune in June” wisdom …