My visit to Blackwattle Farm hosted by Kookaburra Organics

I was very excited to be invited to the Kitchen Garden workshop at Blackwattle Farm. The workshop from Backyard to Great Vegetables was hosted by Gary from Kookaburra Organics and he invited several other experts to share their knowledge, love and inspiration on growing healthy food.   

It was a gorgeous Winter day with the sun shining and the paddock at Blackwattle farm was a blank canvas about to be transformed. The paddock was sloping and had suffered from previous use. It needed love and lots of it. This is where the gardening gurus worked some amazing magic. Gary from Kookaburra Organics and Brendan from Eco Tasty provided expert education. Gary having many years of life and farming experience has collected a wealth of hands on knowledge. Brendan while not clocking as many years as Gary had a whack of scientific knowledge and a way of explaining that made sense. As a team they were able to answer any question comprehensively. 

Next was education on soil testing, the biological life of the soil and the benefits of fungi. What to plant to improve the soil and to take poisons out of the soil

The group then got a chance to get down and dirty. The patch of ground just like a strudel was layer upon layer, built up to create a sanctuary paradise for the edibles to grow. Layers of cardboard, paper, mushroom compost, mulch and straw. It really was a work of art and just like a cake when it was done it was air filled and bounced back when you touched it. 

We took a break for morning tea and had an entertaining talk by cookbook author Zane Hacker aka The Ice Chef. He introduced his gorgeous book Antarctic Sundays filled with delicious recipes and amazing photography from his year in Antarctica. The group was silent while we listened, not just because of the interesting stories but Zane had prepared two morning tea delights from his book, Nana Junes fruit slice that used apricot nectar and rehydrated dried fruit. This would make a perfect snack anytime of the day. It was a bit like a cross between a slice and a muesli bar. Then tiny little Ginger nut biscuits that you could not stop at just one. What a way to get a captive audience!

Back to the garden and time to talk planting. Gary spoke extensively about

• Crop rotation
• How to shade plants with other plants
• Micro climates
• What you should plant and when.
• How to select seeds
• Raising seedlings 
• Planting by the moon (Brendan's explanation of paramagnetism was very interesting) 

It was fascinating and the inner frugal in me almost jumped for joy that 4 Magic Beans planted in his branch teepee could yield 1.5kg of beans per week!! Now that is just smart. Healthy organic food at very minimal cost. Tomatoes, lettuce, herbs, ginger, galangal, turmeric, sweet potato, potatoes, lemongrass and many other edibles were then planted. The result was spectacular. In a previous workshop two large garden beds had been planted and you could just imagine how this patch that everyone worked so hard to create was going to spring to life. Blackwattle Farm will be taking time lapse photos so you can follow the progress of this inspiring project. 

The day was so comprehensive that it also included a talk on worm farming. These little wriggly beasts are a gardeners best friend. Emma and Mark, the owners of Blackwattle Farm, created a bathtub Eden for their gardening crew. An old bath, some salvaged iron, pretty ornamental feet found a new purpose. The result, an ecosystem that recycles the house and farm scraps into liquid gold fertiliser. This section of the workshop was very informative and once again highlighted the recycle, reuse and repurpose philosophy. The worm farm was such a success the original 1000 worms have repopulated to many thousand. 

The day finished off with a presentation by Queen Bee Paula from Adopt a Beehive. She explained the history of why we are facing a bee decline and the importance of seed pollination. Why it is important to let some of your plants go to seed and what we can do to save the heavy lifters of our food chain. 

For anyone inspired to grow quality food, save money, help the environment and have a lot of fun I highly recommend a workshop with Kookaburra Organics. The course is well planned, interactive and hands on. My own raised garden beds are going to be thriving when I put what I have learned into practice. A big thank you to all the presenters on the day it was a fantastic experience.