Logo primary
Logo secondary
Fernglade Farm
Fernglade Farm
Details
Commenced:
01/01/2005
Submitted:
08/04/2011
Last updated:
16/02/2016
Location:
Cherokee, Victoria, AU
Climate zone:
Cool Temperate





My Projects

(projects i'm involved in)

Fernglade Farm

Fernglade Farm

Cherokee, AU


Followers
Abdullah Nugent Aileen Harrigan Alyssa Hays Andrew Sutton Ann Cantelow Anthony Cook Ari Dunphy Ben Rhodes Carolyn Payne-Gemmell Christine Bauer Clarity Jean Corey Schmidt Dimitrios Russo Dominique Chanovre Evan Young Jennie Vick John Lee Jonathon Coombes Kim BEST Laurie Branson Monique Miller Nathan Dow Samantha Lau Ute Bohnsack Wessel van Keulen WPN Admin

Back to Fernglade Farm

Burning Scones

Project: Fernglade Farm

Posted by Chris McLeod about 9 years ago

The 2008 Australian film "Kenny" was about Kenny the plumber who had possibly one of the most thankless and off-putting occupations imaginable: He specialised in delivering and maintaining portable toilets to well-populated events. The film title was also called Kenny, and you wouldn’t think that a film about a plumber would be funny, but it was highly amusing. Anyway, at one point in the film one of the characters delivers true words of wisdom: "You always burn your first batch of scones". And you know what? Every time I have to repair something or fix up something here at the farm, those words keep coming back to haunt me time and time again.

The weather has turned cooler and more autumn like this week, and this morning I spotted the first of what will be many frosts in the valley below. The farm is high up on the side of a mountain so it is generally frost free. The reason for this is because cold air is heavy and falls downhill overnight and collects in valleys. There can be quite a few degrees difference between the farm and the cooler valley below. This is an advantage as I can grow all sorts of unusual sub-tropical plants like avocadoes and citrus which grow quite well as long as they can withstand the occasional light frost. Anyway, the frost way down below is beautiful because it washes out all of the colours and the view has a sepia tone:

Frost in the valley below this morning

With the weather turning cooler, my thoughts have been drifting towards firewood and the wood heater. I’m not sure whether I’ve previously mentioned it, but the wood heater is the only source of heat in the house during the winter. It is an excellent unit as it has an oven for baking bread and other edible goodies, a stove top for cooking and a wet back for heating the hot water. It is a good unit and is a crucial bit of infrastructure here. However, after only four years of use, the wood heater is starting to break down and that is a real disappointment. The damage to the wood heater is like making your first batch of scones – they’re completely burnt and inedible! Check out the damage to the unit in the photos below:

For the rest of the entry click on: Fernglade Farm weekly blog

Frost below in the valley

Comments (0)

You must be logged in to comment.

Courses Taught Here!
Project Badges
Rural Residential
Administrators
Chris McLeod - Admin
Team Members

Report Fernglade Farm

Reason:

or cancel

Hide Fernglade Farm

Reason:

or cancel

Hide Burning Scones

Reason:

or cancel

Legend of Badges

Note: The various badges displayed in people profiles are largely honesty-based self-proclamations by the individuals themselves. There are reporting functions users can use if they know of blatant misrepresentation (for both people and projects). Legitimacy, competency and reputation for all people and projects can be evidenced and/or developed through their providing regular updates on permaculture work they’re involved in, before/after photographs, etc. A spirit of objective nurturing of both people and projects through knowledge/encouragement/inspiration/resource sharing is the aim of the Worldwide Permaculture Network.

Member

Member

A member is a permaculturist who has never taken a PDC course. These cannot become PDC teachers. Members may be novice or highly experienced permaculturists or anywhere in between. Watch their updates for evaluation.

Male memberFemale member

Permaculture Matchmaker

One of these badges will show if you select your gender and the "I'm single, looking for a permaculture partner" option in your profile.

unverified

PDC

People who claim to have taken a Permaculture Design Certificate (PDC) course somewhere in the world.

verified

PDC Verified

People who have entered an email address for the teacher of their PDC course, and have had their PDC status verified by that teacher. Watch their updates for evaluation.

pri_verified

PRI PDC

People who’ve taken a Permaculture Research Institute PDC somewhere in the world.

pdc_teacher

PDC Teacher

People who claim to teach some version of PDC somewhere in the world.

pri_teacher

PRI Teacher

With the exception of the ‘Member’ who has never taken a PDC, all of the above can apply to become a PRI PDC Teacher. PRI PDC Teachers are those who the PRI recognise, through a vetting board, as determined and competent to teach the full 72-hour course as developed by Permaculture founder Bill Mollison – covering all the topics of The Designers’ Manual as well as possible (i.e. not cherry picking only aspects the teacher feels most interested or competent in). Such teachers also commit to focussing on the design science, and not including subjective spiritual/metaphysical elements. The reason these items are not included in the PDC curriculum is because they are “belief” based. Permaculture Design education concerns itself with teaching good design based on strategies and techniques which are scientifically provable.

PRI PDC Teachers may be given teaching and/or consultancy offerings as they become available as the network grows.

pri_teacher

Aid Worker

The individual with this badge is indicating they are, have, or would like to be involved in permaculture aid work. As such, the individual may or may not have permaculture aid worker experience. Watch their updates for evaluation.

pri_teacher

Consultant

The individual with this badge is indicating they are, have, or would like to do paid permaculture design consultancy work. As such, the individual may or may not have permaculture consultancy experience. Watch their updates for evaluation.

community

Community Project

Community projects are projects that help develop sustainable community interaction and increase localised resiliency.

Report Burning Scones

Reason:

or cancel