Sunday at the farm stall.

Bren's Mum asked me to do a post showing what produce we have in season at the moment, so I thought I'd take you on a tour of the farm stall today and show you.

We have basil,

rainbow carrots,

Rainbow chard/silver beet top left and rocket just in front of it.

We have pullet eggs, large eggs and extra large eggs.

We have turnips,

garlic,

red onions,

eshallots,

and four more varieties of onions.

Not in the photo but also available are beetroots and radishes.

Coming soon are potatoes, swedes and kale.

I hope you are having a great weekend.

School holiday fun!

Last Wednesday we hosted the local school holiday program for a day of farmyard fun.

We collected the eggs.

We dug for potatoes.

Bren taught them the chicken dance.

We dug for carrots.

Everyone was very excited to pull up bunches of multicoloured rainbow carrots.

Bren and Liam washed them.

And then we taste tested them.

A bit more digging.

This time we pulled up onions.

Some were more adventurous than others.

We finished the time here with some egg blowing and decorating but after they left us, the kids went back to the centre and made the best vegie soup ever.

We had such a great day.

Thanks for coming guys.

Onions, onions, onions, ducklings.

At this time of year, in Central Victoria we find ourselves with an interesting dilemma.

We have a hot house full of seedlings but the ground outside will not be ready for a month or so to be planted into.

The first issue is that the ground is too wet to get the tractor in to pull up the beds. Working wet ground ruins the soil structure.

The second issue is that it is still too cold here for the delicate little seedlings to survive and thrive.

And the third issue is that we have done trials and found that seedlings planted in the ground now do not reach maturity any sooner than those planted out in the middle of November.

The seedlings are getting too big for the seed trays we planted them in so it's time to prick them out and replant them into bigger pots.

We plant seeds into seed raising mix. Seed raising mix has virtually no nutrients as the seed contains everything it needs for germination.

For their next stage of growth the seedlings need a bit of help so I make a 50/50 mix of matured compost (above) and soil (below), potting mix.

I fill up the little pots with the potting mix.

I give the seed trays and the little pots a good soaking.

I like to use a chopstick to prick holes in the potting mix where the seedlings will go but anything roughly the size of a pencil will do.

Carefully loosen an onion seedling. Look how intricate that root system is already.

Put each seedling in a hole making sure that the whole root structure is covered with potting mix or else the plant will dry out and die. Press around each one to make sure there are no air pockets.

The onion seedlings will grow in these pots for the next month. We will water them often and fertilise them with fish and seaweed occasionally.

In mid November, we will tap them out of their pots and plant them as a bunch. As the onions mature and their bulbs swell they will push each other out of the way to make more room.

We grow many different varieties of onions that will reach maturity in the first few months of next year.

I thought I'd leave you with a photo I took of the ducklings waiting outside the door to the brooder when it was getting cold outside and time for them to go in to bed.

Bren will be at the Collingwood Childrens' Farm farmers' market tomorrow, why don't you go and say 'hi'.

Have a great weekend.

It's cold

It's freezing cold here and we are making soup from some of our produce.


First some onions,

some potatoes,

some garlic,

and for the final touch, some dried Lazy Housewife beans and Scarlet Runner beans.

Despite the weather, every time I turn around I see Barbie sitting around naked in her pool!