Gardens

Our intention over the next couple of years is to provide close to all of the vegetable and fruit requirements of the homestead. We garden organically using a mix of permaculture, biodynamic and Indigenous agriculture principles. 

 

There is a fully fenced kitchen garden to the rear of the community house that keeps the local deer and rabbit population from getting a share! In this garden we grow vegetables that we will mostly eat fresh, and the proximity to the kitchen means an easy passage for the cook to pop out and gather veggies as needed. This means the food going into the meals is super fresh and dripping with life-force! 

 

We are working on other protected garden areas where we plan to grow particular crops with a view to their long-term storage or preservation. Plus setting up a living apothecary garden to support our love of herbal medicine.

 

Other food production areas currently underway are a fully fenced citrus grove, and the beginnings of a one acre food forest. The previous owners had planted a comprehensive orchard area, but unfortunately the young trees were not protected in any way from the deer. Most of them made it through but were not in good shape, and we are now in the process of reviving them, protecting them, and adding in the other layers that will create a luxuriant, abundant food forest. Our objective is to plant a lot of native food and medicine plants within the food forest.

 

Outside of the food forest are several large established nut trees that do better out on their own with plenty of space, and are of the kind that can inhibit the growth of other plants around them. These trees are also magnificent shade and tree-climbing trees. It would be great to get a tree-house built up in one of them at some point for the kids.

 

There is a well-established ornamental garden around the community house, which we want to turn into more of a cottage-garden. We also plan to create more garden beds along the driveways and around the shedding. We want beneficial insect attracting natives to be pouring forth from these garden beds!

 

Other projects on our future wishlist:

• Growing the food that our livestock animals require, such as corn for chickens 

• A large hoop house to grow semi-tropical foods

• An olive grove

• Small-scale grain production

• Apple orchard

• Berry patch

If you can offer supports/skills/knowledge/equipment for any of these projects we'd love to hear from you!

 

As with the community house, the different areas of the garden are respected as beloved kin, as are the plants therein. We believe that there is an incredibly positive cycle of health and consciousness-raising that can take place when humans and plants dance together in a nourishing harmony, lifting the life-force energy higher and higher. We take inspiration from The Findhorn Foundation to respect and give honour and daily gratitude ritual to all the nature deities who care for the food plants and trees, flowers, insects and other creatures that weave their lives with ours to create our food.

 

We also practice Agni Hotra Homa here at Anam Cara - the powerful Vedic sunrise and sunset fire ceremonies. The ash from this practice holds great medicine, and this we also use in our garden to offer further potency to the plants.