What a glorious start to spring we are having here on beautiful Kaurna Yarta. Our Level 2 food growing courses are now in full swing, our potatoes have burst into growth, and we are getting ready for our first community event.
Seaford farm update
We are making ourselves at home at Seaford Wetlands, working on farm infrastructure and getting ready to grow more crops.
We now have two field blocks full of potatoes, with a third soon to be planted out, currently covered by a tarp — which has successfully killed all the grass and weeds except bindweed, which we’re frantically researching how to deal with.
We are getting to know this site and who we’re sharing it with as the season shifts, and feel a quiet joy every time we meet another amphibian friend.
Pobblebonk hanging out in our irrigation box
A big project this month has been getting our own toolshed. This involved a gumtree deal, an afternoon in someone’s backyard disassembling the thing, a dicey drive south and a couple of days putting it back together in its new home. It’s about 50 years old and needs a lick of paint but is just right for our needs.
Phoebe reliving her bike punk days with the angle grinder
(this time with much better PPE)
The fabulous Kat joined us for shed assembly — the first time all 3 JG employees have gotten to work together. Kat used to manage a 5-acre organic market garden (and has a very dreamy veggie patch at home), so we also took the opportunity to pick her brain about our field set-up, irrigation, soils and fertility.
Kat and Indi making our shed dreams happen
We’re currently working on our crop plan for the summer/autumn season at this site and looking forward to growing more than just potatoes!
Pick Your Own Potatoes event
We do love the potatoes though. And they are the centrepiece of Just Ground’s first community event, a Pick Your Own Potatoes day on 5 December for Onkaparinga residents.
White Star potatoes looking lush
This will be a free event, welcoming locals onto the farm to get their hands dirty, take home some potatoes, and learn more about how they are grown.
There are two one-hour picking sessions, kids are welcome and registration required.
We also need a few volunteers to help out on the day with set-up, harvesting, weighing/ documenting and participant support. Please reply to this email if you’d like to help.
Bed makeover at SA Composters
Our demonstration patch at SA Composters in Lonsdale has gotten a spring makeover. As this garden has expanded over time, the existing beds were in a pretty random configuration and we wanted to standardise their shape and orientation, as well as cramming in as many as we could to maximise production.
Using a timber bed former that Indi whipped up, we got to work hauling compost and mulch (thanks Lisa for helping out!) and direct seeding some root crops.
Celebrating the joy of a well-formed bed
We had to pull out all the previous crops and sacrifice the harvest for a few weeks, but we’re about to go on a planting blitz and look forward to sharing more produce than ever with the SA Composters staff and customers this summer.