Such a great article written about us by Fran from the Uki Garden Club that we had to share……
A definite highlight of our visit to the Margaret River was a stop in at Fair Harvest. Fair Harvest is a permaculture farm located within Margaret River as mentioned in my Plot piece. Jodie and Do are passionate food growers who aim to inspire and enable people to grow their own produce. They host monthly swap meetings for locals and have recently renovated their old farm shed to provide an ideal venue for workshops and local events. On our arrival Jodie gave us a laminated card to read as we self-toured the farm. We started at the aquaponics bed and marvelled at the lush veges growing in it, and then moved onto the vege patch. Given that WA gets its rain in winter, the top 4 beds of the vege garden are irrigated in the summer while the rest of the garden is used for hardy perennials or winter annuals. The bathtubs dotted around the garden are home to hundreds of worms who work hard to convert the kitchen scraps into worm wee for fertilising the gardens. The citrus orchard is irrigated by the compost shower and is also home to the ducks, geese and chickens that do their bit by fertilising as they control the pests and mow the grass!
They also have a deciduous orchard with almonds, nectarines, apples, pears and other fruits which is netted to protect the fruit from the hungry parrots. I have never seen such healthy looking and laden apple and pear trees anywhere as I saw here.
Fair Harvest also offer B&B – with a difference – you get to stay in a wonderfully decked out tee pee set in amongst the gardens – complete with its own compost toilet and rainwater shower!
As we wandered back to the main area we passed the straw bale seating recently created during a workshop. Back inside we were lucky to enjoy freshly baked muffins with our coffee and have a yarn with Jodie and her family who had come for a visit to celebrate Jodie’s niece’s 3rd birthday. We left Fair Harvest inspired and reinvigorated, and thoroughly recommend a visit to anyone who is in the region. Find out more about Fair Harvest by visiting their website www.www.fairharvest.com.au.
Thanks Fran!
