ORGANIC TOURS AT PEACE FARM

PEACE farm is a beautiful permaculture farm in the Yarra Valley where we aim to grow our food, manage farm animals, work the land, and co-create a life where we can express, implement and support our own passions such as growing, teaching, yoga, building, craft, parenting, storytelling, sacred circles and healing.

We offer half day (3 hours) or full day (6 hours) organic tours which incorporate different options depending on your groups interests and what is available on the day. Lunch or dinner can be provided as optional extras. Smaller groups must choose the same activities however for groups of more than 15, we can split them between two activities concurrently. When booking please indicate your preferences. 

  

Half day - $45 per person

Full day - $85 per person

Minimum group size – 6   

Maximum group size – 30

Each half and full day includes: A tour of PEACE farm including an introduction to permaculture principles and systems, animals, seasonal considerations and observations, what’s growing in the garden, and composting etc (1 hour)

Plus choose 2 (half day) or 5 (full day) activities from the following options:

Tiny Home Tour

Green Technology Tour

Seasonal Planting (not available all year)

Propagation (not available all year)

Eco-printing

Yoga (Kundalini or Chi Yoga)

Massage club

Nature crafting

Edible Weed Walk

Shamanic Drum Journey

Campfire songs and stories

Food preserving (seasonal)

Farm to table – harvest, cooking and feast

Canoeing and swimming in the dam

Lunch/Dinner Options:

Wood-fired pizza $10 per person (1 pizza each)

Three course vegetarian feast $20 per person

For bookings/enquiries:  peacefarm.yarravalley@gmail.com or

Vicky 0417 985 713 or Cat 0403 334 808

Autumn Craft - Suncatchers

We have been having some lovely Autumn Farm Play days lately.  Farm Play is the playgroup I run at PEACE Farm on Wednesday mornings for preschoolers. Lately the children have enjoyed climbing the trees to see the leaves changing colours and collecting big piles to hide and play in.

We have also been doing some lovely Autumn crafts. I wanted to share a simple idea you can do at home which is easy even for young children.

You will need:  Baking paper, glue, scissors, autumn leaves, and other bits of wool or paper.

Cut a 40cm length of baking paper and fold in half lengthways.  Cut the corners to make a rounded edge. Collect autumn leaves of all shapes and sizes and colours.  Open the folded baking paper. Cover the inside of the baking paper with glue.  Stick on your autumn leaves, and wool/paper.  Re-fold and press to stick.  Leave to dry.  Stick on a window to make a beautiful suncatcher.

The Farmer video

My niece Taras recently asked me if she could interview me for a Media project about living at PEACE farm.  Here is the result..

Getting creative with Kale

My vegetable of the week this week is kale. Before living at PEACE farm I'm not sure I had ever tasted kale and now it's a staple that sees us right through winter time when most other veggies die back. My good friend Karina introduced me to kale curry a few years ago and since then I've adapted it slightly but the essence is there. But the simplest way to cook with kale is fry it up with whatever other veggies you need to use. So that will be tomorrow's recipe. Stay tuned.

Kale Curry

Veg oil or ghee

Garlic 

A large onion

2cm knob ginger, grated 

2ts garam masala

2ts cumin

1ts ground coriander

1ts turmeric 

1ts fennel seeds (or ground)

A large bunch of kale

A smaller bunch of silverbeet 

Small fresh chilli

2 Anchovies (optional)

2 cups vegetable stock

1tin coconut cream 

Method

Fry the diced onion, garlic, grated ginger and chilli with ghee or oil and spices for 5 minutes. Chop the kale (stems removed) and fry with onions and spices. Add stock, anchovies and coconut cream. Cook until kale is soft and dark (about 15 mins). Add silverbeet and cook for another 5 mins. Blend well until smooth. season to taste and serve with rice. I also topped mine with homemade fried paneer.

And the verdict?  Reika joined us for lunch and she said it was "Delicious and nutritious! I'm just so happy and satisfied after eating your kale curry."

What to do with Daikon

I have decided to set myself the challenge of trying to find creative ways of using up some of the more unusual items in our weekly veggie box. Last week I got a massive daikon in the box. At the end of the week I still had the massive daikon sitting untouched in the fridge. Time to google some daikon recipes. One thing you should know...I never follow a recipe exactly but rather use recipes as inspiration to create my own unique dishes from what I have on hand. For this reason I don't always measure the quantities accurately - it's more created by feel and taste. Try it - it's fun.

So the first recipe I attempted was ... 

Grated daikon, beetroot and carrot salad

A big chunk of Diakon

2 large carrots 

2 beetroots

Sesame oil

A small chunk of ginger, grated

Rice wine vinegar

Chilli garlic soy sauce

Lemon juice

Grate daikon, carrot and beetroot into a bowl. I used both golden and red beetroots. 

In a seperately bowl mix sesame oil, brown rice vinegar (or similar), grated ginger, and some chilli garlic soy (you could substitute this with whatever you have in the cupboard that would match). I put a bit too much of the chilli soy, so added some lemon juice. 

The verdict? Vicky says YUM! Next time I might add sesame seeds and some coriander or mint.

So after that was made there was still a large chunk of daikon left. So I decided to try roasting it with some other veggies.

 

Roast Diakon with other root veggies

Diakon 

Pumpkin 

Sweet potato

Garlic

Carrot

Potato

Olive oil

Salt

Chop all veggies. Coat with oil and salt. Place in a baking tray and bake at 200-220•C for about 30 mins or until golden. I mixed my roasties with couscous, chopped parsley and cubes of feta. 

So the last chunk of daikon was sliced and eaten raw and I even put some slices  on the pizza!

And the verdict... I say yum!

Springing into Spring

We had a beautiful sunny day on Saturday for the Spring Equinox. We split into men's and women's circles to explore the theme of balance.

We all agreed that balance is a tricky thing to hold on to, some likened it to a jellyfish, a wobbling raft on a stormy sea, and more of a pulse than anything static. We explored the feeling of balance in our bodies which led to lots of laughter and play.

The men then rejoined the women to present our own expressions of balance to eachother. 

And of course we found balance together in a group hug and 'whoosh' sending all this good energy into the universe.

Thanks to everyone who joined us for a beautiful celebration.

Lentil Shepherds Pie

This recipe is great for using up the end of the week's veggie box as really it doesn't matter what veggies you put in.  It was super popular with both the adults and the kids.

Lentil Shepherds Pie Ingredients

Topping
1 kg potatoes
1/2-1cup milk, salt, butter
Cheese, grated

 Filling
1 onion, diced
Veggies (I used carrots, broccoli, cauliflower, swede, turnip, kale, and pumpkin), diced
A can of lentils or 500g brown lentils (soaked)
400g Passata or a can of tomatoes
1 tbs Tomato paste
Fresh or dried herbs such as oregano, thyme, sage
Salt and pepper

Method
Chop potatoes and boil for 10-15 mins until soft
Drain excess water, add milk, salt and butter and mash.

While potatoes are boiling, fry the onion til soft, add the veggies (and lentils if not using canned). Cook for 5-10 mins. Add passata/canned tomatoes, herbs and tomato paste. Once veggies are cooked, season well. Add the canned lentils.

Put into baking dish and top with mashed potato and grated cheese.  Bake for approx 30 mins in moderate oven until top is golden brown.

YUM!

Celebrating Inbolc and the coming of Spring

Last week we celebrated Inbolc which marks the halfway point between the winter solstice and spring equinox.  It marks the coming of Spring.  I have felt a very real shift in the energy and weather at this time.  It has been a long cold winter but finally the days are lengthening, I am waking with the brightening sky, and the sun is breaking through the clouds to warm us during the day.

We celebrated Inbolc by making a circle of flowers.  We each added a flower to the circle and made a wish for what we wanted to grow and blossom this Spring. Anna read the story of Persephone being stolen into the underworld (which explains why we have winter every year). 

We all noticed all the new buds beginning on our fruit trees.  It is a beautiful hopeful time of year.  My springtime buds are loving family communication and fulfilling my creative inspirations.

-Cat

Cauliflower,parsnip and potato soup

This delicious thick and creamy soup is adapted from a thermomix recipe.  See those instructions at the end.  The parsnip adds a beautiful nutty flavour. 

Ingredients:

oil

1 medium onion

2 cloves garlic (optional)

3 potatoes

1 small or 1/2 large cauliflower (I used the beautiful romanesco pictured)

1 small parsnip or 1/2 large

approx 750ml water or stock

salt

20g butter

2 tbs flour (corn flour if gluten free)

Method: 

Dice onion and garlic and fry in oil in a large saucepan.  Chop potatoes, cauliflower and parsnip into bite size pieces. Add to the saucepan with water/stock and salt.  Cook for approximately 20 mins until vegetables soft.  Add butter and cook for a few more minutes.  Blend and serve with a spring onion garnish.

Thermomix instructions: Chop onion and garlic (3 sec speed 7) Add oil and fry (3 mins 100 deg speed 1). Add vegetables, water/stock and salt.  Cook (15 mins 100 deg speed 1).  Add butter and flour, cook (5 mins 100 deg speed 1) Blend (1 min going from speed 1-8).

Our weekend wwoofer - a win win situation

Since April this year we have had a wonderful wwoofer, Michael, coming up from Melbourne every Saturday to help us out on the farm.  We feed him a delicious lunch and he helps us with whatever projects are happening on the farm, such as planting, building, straw-baling, mixing compost and natural fertilisers, weeding, bed preparation, and propagation.

Michael found out about wwoofing from a friend from Chile and since he has always wanted to live in the country and perhaps own a farm one day he found PEACE Farm in the wwoofer guide and got in touch.

 "I thought, what a great idea.  I've always wanted to do something like this. I wish I had found out about it years ago." He was inspired by a friend who uses his spare time to follow his passion of standup comedy.

 Michael told me "You need to work to get money but your spare time is for following your passion and after going back to Wooloongong after years of living in the city it became my passion to re-connect with nature.  I returned to the city and felt uncomfortable, like I didn't want to be here anymore.  Then I thought if I learn how to live off the land then I don't have to depend on anyone else.  SO that was the primary motivation to start wwoofing on the weekend."

Having Michael come up every Saturday just for the day has really been a win-win situation. We get all the benefits of having an extra pair of hands (and those great muscles) and he learns about all aspects of running a permaculture farm.

Michael explained, "The highlights for me have been working with my hands in the earth, with shirt off and shoes off in the sun. Its the best feeling to get the city off me.  I go home feeling wonderful and I learn more each time I come.  And meeting like-minded people who are doing what I would like to do in the future. So that is the best highlight - knowing I am achieving what I set out to achieve."

Cape Gooseberries

I have never heard of Cape gooseberries before, let alone picked and eaten them, but they are currently my favourite thing to forage for and find in the PEACE Farm mandala gardens.  Perhaps its because the mandala gardens are looking pretty sparse these days, or perhaps its the way the golden fruit is hiding with a paperthin leafy shell, and when its really ripe this turns transparent revealing the gold fruit inside.

There is something lovely about removing it from this leafy shell and popping it into my mouth.  The taste is different, not too sweet, not too tart if ripe enough.  It tastes like what I think a Vitamin C tablet should taste like - vibrant and alive.

Today the little kids of the farm helped me harvest them. Many had fallen off the vine prematurely from the wind.  Hopefully they might ripen if I bring them inside.

 I just checked online and they are also known as Inca berries, Aztec berries, Golden berries, and ground berries.  They contain Vitamins A, C & B and are high in protein and iron. Yeah!   If I stop eating them I may even have enough to make a gooseberry jam, but the temptation to just pop them in is too great.

Celebrating Winter at PEACE Farm

So Winter has definitely arrived.  We have had some very wild, windy and rainy weather over the last few weeks so I was very happy for a bit of sunshine today.  I managed to get two loads of washing on the line, harvested some yummies from the garden, and gave the children some much needed outdoor play.

Thanks to everyone who braved the cold the weekend before last to come down to PEACE Farm for the Winter Solstice.  We were blessed with a respite from the rain and although it was cold, we actually had a starry sky.  The fire was blazing all night to keep us warm. When we first lit the fire as the sun went down we sang some solstice songs and the children circled the fire with their candle lanterns.  Then it was time for a warming soup, followed by chai and cakes.

None of us dared sit in the 'hot seat' but it was marvellous to watch the chair burn

We celebrated the longest night with a letting go ritual. We took it in turns to throw gum leaves into the fire.  I enjoyed this simple act of release and letting go, watching it burning away to ash.  We then joined with another to talk about and share what we wanted to grow with the coming of the light.

Em and Vicky serving the cakes which were delicious. 

Winter Solstice is one of the things I love about winter.  When I lived in the Northern Territory I missed this time of spiralling in towards the darkness. A time for inner reflection, sometimes a time of struggle, but ultimately a time of letting go and rebirth.   In winter time we, like the plants and trees, are mostly dormant, but its a perfect time to let go of our leaves and tend to our roots.  The solstice is like the new year.  Ideas can begin to be formed and germinated. And as the days start to get longer again and the sun returns bit by bit,  new buds can start to grow. By the time the Spring Equinox arrives, we can begin to see the blossoming of these ideas.  So Happy Solstice everyone, and I hope you are all tending your roots and growing wonderful new ideas to blossom in the Spring.

Ollie in the snow - first snow of the year at Mt Donna Buang

SO what else is there to celebrate about Winter...
The other things I love about winter are hot mulled wine, open fires, hot chocolate, and my possum-fur gloves and scarf.    But probably the best thing about winter around here is the snow.  We had a couple of days of snow last week so took the opportunity to take the kids up the mountain for a play.  There was just enough snow to go down the toboggan run.

 I think now its all melted.... until next time it snows.  Maybe see you up the mountain?

Marlowe and his snowman

Autumn Equinox celebration

As we say goodbye to summer and long days we welcome the dark back in to our lives and also celebrate the harvest. It has certainly been an amazing harvest this first summer at PEACE farm.

One of the many crates off to the shed. We have had the biggest harvest of tomatoes ever!

We decided to mark the occasion of the Autumn Equinox when the day and night are of equal length with a simple ritual and cake.  We walked around our mandala gardens and each collected something to recognise what we would like to let go of and something we wish to grow and nurture in our lives.

An autumn equinox cake, see recipe below

I baked a delicious chocolate hazelnut banana cake and we had one side with candles and the other with pine cones.  My symbol of letting go was a dying sunflower, I let go of the summer with gratitude for all it has given me. And my symbol of what I wish to create was some white sage, to bring rest, healing and the sacred into my life, and a strawberry to bring pleasure and succulence, and these combined are to bring more balance between full rest and full energy.

The children enjoyed the ritual and especially blowing out the candles and eating the cake.

Matt explains the Oxheart tomato symbolises his intention to live and communicate more from the heart.

Cat's chocolate hazelnut & banana cake

I used my thermomix to make this and so the thermomix instructions are in brackets but you can try just with a food processor if you don't have a thermomix.

Ingredients:

150g dark chocolate

100g almonds

150g hazelnuts

80g brown sugar

150g butter or oil

4 eggs

1 ripe banana

2ts baking powder

1ts cinnamon

2 tbs cocoa

Preheat oven to 180 degrees C. Grate or mill chocolate and set aside (6 secs, speed 8). Process almonds and hazelnuts to a course meal (6 secs, speed 6). Add to chocolate.  Place remaining ingredients in TM bowl or food processor and mix (20 secs, speed 7). Add choc and nut mix and continue to mix (30 secs, speed 6). Pour mixture into greased pan lined with baking paper.  Bake in preheated oven for approximately 45min-1 hour.

ENJOY!!! 

Happy hay baling day with no baling out

Last Saturday 18 Jan we finished off loading all the remaining hay bales from our back paddock with help from our wonderful wwoofers Sarah and John, and some dedicated Peace Farm members and friends, Carmen, Andrew, Maya, Kari and Steve.  We had been waiting since early December for the weather to clear for long enough to cut the grass, let it dry and then to be baled up.  This finally happened in the second week of Jan.

Matts team

Until Saturday John and Sarah were working tirelessly on their own to load and stack the 300 odd bales.  Thank goodness for reinforcements.  Two competing teams went down to the back paddock in Matt's and Murray's cars and tried to out-do how may bales could be stacked on.

Matts team were pretty happy with this load.

Maya kept swapping teams, here she is helping Muz's team

 Maya showed her excellent strength and endurance,  helping out both teams with their loads. Murray's team was slower than Matt's team but loaded an unbelievable 34 bales on his little car and trailer (this figure is according to Murray but may be in dispute by other team).  Matt's team was having too much fun and forgot to count, but perhaps only got around 32.

Kari ready to unload the bales

The shed is now completely full of bales

 After satisfactorily finishing the job in a matter of hours it was time for a swim in the dam to cool off and a delicious shared picnic lunch.

Thanks to everyone for helping us, and now help us by coming and buying the bales - $7 each.

Cheers,  Cat