Green Connect farm flourishes thanks to sustainable initiatives
New initiatives include an ornamental flower garden and a preschool farm-based play group run by nature play specialists. School holiday activities will also be trialled for school-age children.
Last week I was welcomed back to Green Connect in Warrawong by farm manager Emily Henderson and market garden co-ordinator Rod Logan, after I reported on the farm last spring.
The award-winning social enterprise is going from strength to strength and the farm is flourishing. New initiatives include an ornamental flower garden and a preschool farm-based play group run by nature play specialists. School holiday activities will also be trialled for school-age children.
The chicken coop, which was in development in spring, is almost finished, with a couple of runs still to come. Farm animals include five sheep, six pigs, two alpaca, six goats and about 120 chickens, who all lead a wonderful life of grazing and eating.
Free range pork is on offer a few times a year with the next supply scheduled for June, and sometimes lamb is available too. Eggs are available, subject to seasonal variation (egg production slows in the colder months). The hens are producing about 35 dozen eggs a week, but this will decrease through winter.
The team follows organic and permaculture principles at the farm. Rod tells me that there is a lot of crop planting happening now, including favourites like broccoli, cauliflower, lettuce, leeks, beetroot, beans, cabbage and bok choy. The local climate allows for all good veg production year-round, apart from the summer veg like eggplant, zucchini, tomatoes and cucumbers, which slow down over winter.
Emily, Rod and the farmhands are continually learning about the best methods of cropping. Short crops like lettuce and bok choy are planted together to allow for easy harvest. Beds are prepared using pegs and string-line in three rows. They tell me the new three-pronged rotary hoe has been a bonus for weeding between rows.
There are some fruit trees throughout the farm including banana, citrus and stone fruit that will require a bit of tending to produce, but this is in the pipeline.
Green Connect sells weekly fruit and vegetable boxes to the local community. Boxes are packed according to local availability and supplemented with organic produce from the Sydney markets.
Soon you will be able to pick your produce to make up your box.
