Info & News – Page 4 – Gallifrey Forest Farm

Turning the rotaloo

2016/07/18 Danielle 0

A composting toilet has a lot of useful and awesome features (primarily the 20,000 or so L of water it saves us per year), but it does have to be actively managed. In theory, the six chambers should fill up over a year – so every 2 months you rotate the composting compartment to put a new, empty chamber under the toilet, and after a year you empty the chamber you started with (which, by then, will be full of harmless compost). In practice, it’s more like once a month than once every 2 months that we have to turn […]

June 28: tastes of the Blackwood

2016/06/28 Danielle 0

Last night we attended a Tastes of the Blackwood evening at Taste Budds cooking studio in Highgate, showcasing some of the produce of the Blackwood Ruver region in the South-West of WA. It was brilliant. Gorgeous food, talks from the producers, and a chance to ask questions both about their farms and farming practices and about their produce. The producers represented there were: The Cidery & Blackwood Valley Brewing Company, who brought along a soft cider (carbonated apple juice), a sweet cider, and a semi-dry cider, plus some bitters for us to try; Southern Forests Honey, who produce delicious varietal […]

June 26: belated weekend update

2016/06/27 Danielle 0

It was a busy weekend (although a good one!) so I’m a day late with this post. Saturday we attended the Less is More festival and I presented on keeping bees, then we had a mid-winter gathering at my mum’s place and caught up with friends and family there – and ate far too much delicious lamb tagine and roasted sweet potato. Sunday we headed out to the swan valley for breakfast at the Margaret River Chocolate Factory (which does a very nice breakfast), and then a day at the Swan Valley Cuddly Animal Farm. So many animals. Including Damara lambs, […]

June 25: Less is More 2016 (hosting a beehive)

2016/06/25 Danielle 0

Today I presented at the 2016 Less is More festival, on hosting a beehive in your back yard. Here are some of the points I covered, just in case you couldn’t make it to the talk, or need a little reminder of the content. 🙂 Why host a beehive? Well, it’s more a case of why wouldn’t you, really. It’s easy and safe, the bees will pollinate all your vegetables and your fruit trees, and produce honey as well. Plus, honeybees are under a lot of pressure from climate change, pollution, disease and the use of damaging pesticides such […]

June 21: the longest night of the year

2016/06/21 Danielle 0

It’s officially midwinter. Seasonally, my European ancestors would be celebrating the turning of the year now – Christmas and New Years, the rebirth of the sun-god from the snow and the darkness. There would be feasts, animals which couldn’t be kept and fed through the rest of winter and the spring would be slaughtered and eaten, along with pickles and beer and wine, and the cold-stored fruit and winter vegetables form the cellars. I’ve already held one midwinter celebration, and I’m attending another this weekend. But in the meantime in between, I think a little feasting is in order. […]