Visit Jennie 20 October 2019

On a cool October day with clouds, wind and rain our group had a wonderful time visiting Jennie and Russell's garden at Sandfly.

Jennie and Russell's Federation home is in the fork of two dirt roads. If there were a bush-fire it would come from the North, and that is why, when they moved here 30 years ago, they decided to have their native garden on the south-side of the house, and make their ornamental and food garden a fire barrier on the North side of the house. The property is 18 hectares in size.  Paddocks around the home-stead area add further protection against fires.

Everything on and around the property looked green and healthy, but Jennie pointed out that in the thirty years they have lived there, rain fall, that was once around 1000 millimetres per year, has gone down to now around 600 millimetres.

Below is a photo of the garden on the North-side, and you can see how that part of the garden would slow down a fire, if it came from the North towards the house.

On the left is a row of espaliered apple trees, in the foreground open veggie beds, and more veggie beds in the cage they built in recent years down the hill. There is a lot of wildlife around, and in hindsight Jennie and Russell wish they had built a cage much earlier.

The cage is robust enough to cope with a layer of snow on its roof, is covered in fine metal mesh (but the holes are big enough to let insects through).  It looks great, is very effective, and has a pleasant feeling when you are in it.

Here is how it looks on the inside (notice the paving throughout):

There is another interesting construction, a hot house, mostly built out of recycled materials and rocks, based on designs in The Solar Greenhouse Book by James McCullagh, a seminal work on passive green house design:

The book focuses on hot houses constructed to capture heat in really cold areas of the USA and Canada.  Whereas the Sandfly area is considerable warmer than that, it is around 200 metres above sea-level, cool enough for Jennie and Russell to only grow tomatoes in their hot house, not outside.

Notice the ventilation window next to the door, and (below) a hatch at the back of the hot house that can  be opened for ventilation.

Here is another photo inside the hot house:

The well-established row of espaliered apple trees on the north side of the veggie areas looks impressive:

Because they have Murray Grey cattle, Dorper sheep, two Jersey house cows, ducks and chooks there is plenty of manure that would contribute to every part of the gardens thriving.

We split in two groups and those interested in livestock got a great opportunity to find out from Russell how he manages his animals.

Jennie and Russell try to be as self-sufficient as possible.  They make cheese (see the fridge in the photo below) and barter with other gardeners to supplement what they don't make themselves.

A hill beyond the fields is also part of the property.  Jennie and Russell made it a wildlife corridor.

Some of us walked up the hill and visited their Jersey cows that are currently at the top of the hill.

All the commotion we people made on the day was observed with some apprehension by the Shrikethrush birdies that had returned to their nest in the shed just a few days earlier:

Many thanks to everyone for their morning tea and produce table contributions!

Last but not least a big 'thank you' to Jennie and Russell for showing us their property, their wonderful garden, and how they use it all towards self-sufficiency!