Food Forest Journey
Drake, NSW2022–2024 · no longer serviced
Three visits over eighteen months on granite country. Water infrastructure, a greywater trench, a herb spiral and a memorial rose. I no longer work here, and the garden has carried on without me — which is the whole point.
A fenced village garden on granite country inland from Lismore: raised beds, greenhouse, tanked water and a banana circle holding the centre. I no longer service this property, and three years on the food forest still stands, feeding itself.
3 entries, newest first.
This visit built a large herb spiral with bananas (Musa spp.) incorporated into the planting, adding a productive and distinctive feature to the garden. The remaining herb and companion species I have not been able to reconstruct from the record.
During the visit one of the family's pets was laid to rest in the garden, and a rose (Rosa spp.) was planted above the burial place as a living memorial. Gardens hold these things as well as food.
A return focused on soil building, water management and expanding the food forest. My notes have 19 December as the confirmed date, but the photographs run from the 11th, so the stay was longer than the single day on record.
I spread many cubic metres of mulch to cover exposed soil, hold moisture and add organic matter as it broke down, and dug additional swales to slow runoff through the planted areas.
The main piece of work was a large trench behind the house for a greywater system. Perforated agricultural pipe was laid in and buried, then the trench was filled in layers with gravel, compost and mulch, making a planted infiltration area that takes household greywater out into the landscape rather than wasting it.
Nothing deep-rooted went over the trench: a tree there would eventually find the pipe and wreck it. The planting through that area was bananas (Musa spp.), pumpkins (Cucurbita spp.) and flower seed. Trees went in elsewhere on the property during the same visit, but I can no longer recall which with confidence, so I have left them unrecorded rather than guess.
The first visit, arranged through a family connection. The focus was establishing essential water infrastructure and beginning the earthworks that would support the food forest.
The working area sat below the vegetable garden and beside the established banana clump (Musa spp.) — a good place to use swales to slow runoff, encourage infiltration and support future planting below the productive garden.
The water tanks were moved into position, establishing a key component of the site's water system, and digging began on the swales below the vegetable garden.
A practical consideration on this property: a substantial number of goats, which shape any decision about access, fencing and protecting young plantings.