Merri Bee Organic Farm goes to the Nannup Food Bowl festival

Friday 25th of October was a good day for many students from South West schools when they visited the Nannup Food Bowl, and Merri Bee Organic farm was there, albeit on the fringe, with Giz Watson,  Greens MLC. We took our alpacas and 3 little pigs down to the town. As usual I forgot my…

Milking again. Hooray!

Well had a rough  calving season. The sad result  is  10 new cows  on a new property in Karridale became 8. Yes, and we were right there 4 out of 4 difficult calvings.  Seems like there may be too much grass leading to too big a calf? We have had 3 deceased calves,2 deceased cows…

Spring photos

Hi friends and Investors  in good health , As you can see Ms Jersey is bagging up so we are expecting a calf from her soon. A female jersey was born at Karridale on Friday August 31st to cow Maybeline (ear tag 9713), but 5 days later it died. Stewart was there all day on…

How safe is treated pine?

Having had sections of a new salvaged Jarrah post and rail fence fall over within a year thanks to termites, and seen a friends lovey painted but otherwise untreated pine pergola also disintegrate within a year , I would like to use treated pine for structures but hear conflicting stories as to its saftey. I was…

Wicking bed

Merri Bee Organic Farm  is creating a natural system of perennial abundance to satisfy human needs in food, shelter, energy , community and wilderness, whilst restoring a cleared and overgrazed piece of rural land. Our farm is designed as a ‘closed loop’ in which the yields and by-products of one system are used to satisfy…

Maarten Stapper’s talk at Permaculture Convergence

I just adore Maarten Stapper and here he is in full flight. Tune in for a great rundown on the best methods of soil improvement currently known to science. Maarten was once married to woman who, like him, worked at the CSIRO.  But unlike him, she was into genetic engineering. She remains on  a great…

Swales

Connect the dots: Signs of Global warming are being seen all over Earth •Sea level rise •Drying….Lakes have disappeared. Wells and springs drying •Heat waves •Cold snaps •Floods •Tornadoes and cyclones •Fires…intensity & frequency •Snow seasons failing •Glacial melt In the South West of Western Australia a drying climate is leading to noticeable lower productivity. The…

Raising seedlings

Seeds and seedlings  …Nursery Work for the time poor. Making compost is hardly ever a chore for me , I get so turned on by the process of putting together annoying and maybe stinky waste products to create something so valuable they call it black gold. However one tedious chore for me is pricking out…