Food Forest Journey

The journal · the record

Every visit, written down.

Every installation and stewardship visit along the east-coast route, recorded garden by garden: what the site was, what went in the ground, and what it became. Real gardens only, including the parts that did not work.

The gardens

Tidied banana clump and freshly mulched bed at the Parramatta backyard Parramatta, NSW · first planting, October 2026 Parramatta Backyard Food Forest 2 entries Dam and surrounding country at the Rainbow Flat property Rainbow Flat, NSW · since September 2026 Where Two Climates Meet 2 entries The Banyula Zen food forest on a sloping subtropical block Doonan, QLD · established August 2026 Banyula Zen Food Forest 1 entry A young food forest on semi-arid country: mulched beds and small trees in guards, a tent and a caravan under eucalypts Wangan and Jagalingou Country, Central QLD · first planting, September 2025 Waddananggu 2 entries Rows of banana plants below rainforest ranges with low cloud, Mount Charlton Mount Charlton, QLD · worked and lived, 2024–2026 The Organic Banana Farm 2 entries The Glenview food forest on sandy Sunshine Coast soil Glenview, QLD · since December 2023 Glenview Food Forest 4 entries The Drake food forest on granite country inland from Lismore Drake, NSW · 2022–2024 · no longer serviced Drake Food Forest 3 entries Aerial view of the Calen house, market garden beds and surrounding bananas Calen, QLD · 2022–2024 · no longer serviced Calen House Food Forest 7 entries The Hurstbridge food forest in cool-temperate Victoria Hurstbridge, VIC · since March 2021 Hurstbridge Food Forest 4 entries

Everything, newest first

  1. A flower bed for a childcare centre Parramatta Backyard Food Forest · Flower bed
  2. Bananas in the ground, lotus in the dehydrator Where Two Climates Meet · Return visit · ongoing
  3. Thinning the bananas, planting the turmeric Parramatta Backyard Food Forest · Working visit
  4. Opening up the grapefruit Hurstbridge Food Forest · Working visit
  5. Reading the land first Where Two Climates Meet · Site discovery
  6. A food forest nucleus, and a mulch pile put to work Banyula Zen Food Forest · Installation
  7. A hard restorative prune Glenview Food Forest · Working visit
  8. Checking in on the way through Glenview Food Forest · Return visit
  9. Arrived in Floods, Fenced the Garden Waddananggu · Return visit
  10. Cultural Burning and Then Food Forest Later Waddananggu · First installation
  11. Eighteen months of nearly everything The Organic Banana Farm · Residence
  12. A market run, then a place to live The Organic Banana Farm · Arrival
  13. Worms, mulch and dried bananas Hurstbridge Food Forest · Return visit
  14. Letting it go Calen House Food Forest · Second stewardship
  15. Mapping the high point, digging the top swale Glenview Food Forest · Stewardship period
  16. A herb spiral, and a rose Drake Food Forest · Installation
  17. The framework goes in Hurstbridge Food Forest · Establishment
  18. Greywater into the landscape Drake Food Forest · Return visit
  19. First swales behind the bananas Glenview Food Forest · Installation
  20. One cutting, and then a forest Calen House Food Forest · One plant
  21. A herb spiral, in three stages Calen House Food Forest · Build
  22. Turmeric, planting to powder Calen House Food Forest · Full cycle
  23. Three days making char Calen House Food Forest · Biochar
  24. Four hours, and nothing left bare Calen House Food Forest · One bed, one morning
  25. Tanks into position, first swales begun Drake Food Forest · Site discovery
  26. A garden of my own to develop Calen House Food Forest · First stewardship
  27. Learning to grow food Hurstbridge Food Forest · Beginnings