Sunday 4 October 2020
Group 1 – 11.00am to 1.00pm
Group 2 – 2.00pm to 4.00pm
Garden Insights
hosted by Permaculture Toowoomba Inc.
Presented by
Debbie & Brodie Bassingthwaighte
To ensure COVID-safe physical distancing can be maintained, we’re planning two separate groups to visit our garden with a maximum of 24 people attending at each time (plus organisers).
Bookings are Essential
Group 1 – 11.00am to 1.00 pm Book Here
Group 2 – 2.00 pm to 4.00 pm Book Here
What We’ll Do
We’ll start with a welcome and introduction.
Debbie will share her ever-evolving Permaculture Design for their property and will discuss what has been implemented in real life and their many future plans.
You’ll be able to see and explore the:
- kitchen garden
- holistic fruit orchard
- Asian plucking garden
- aromatic apothecary garden
- wildlife habitat garden
- native bushfoods garden
- integrated poultry systems
- native bee hives
- black soldier fly farm
- nursery and propagation area
- compost tea aerator
- rocket oven
- small swales to capture water from the road
- and more …
Cost
- Financial Members of Permaculture Toowoomba Inc. – Free
- First-time Visitors to a Permaculture Toowoomba Inc. Event – Free
- Non-Members – $10
- Children attending with parents – Free
The Story Behind our Garden-Farm
We live on a peaceful 5 acres at Postmans Ridge in the Lockyer Valley (about 10 minutes from Toowoomba), that experiences extremes in weather conditions including very dry, frosty winters, and very hot summers. We’ve been here for 18 years; however, most of the external infrastructure and the productive food plantings have been re-established in the last few years. The destructive January 2011 flood swept through our property, so almost everything has been repaired and replanted and the garden is immature and evolving.
What You’ll See
You’ll have the opportunity to see various vegetable, fruit and herb gardens, pots and wicking beds. There’s an integrated poultry and small orchard system (with heritage chickens, Muscovy ducks, geese, guinea fowl and a peacock), native beehives, a small propagation area, worm farm, and abundant birds and native wildlife along the seasonal creek.
We’re slowly retrofitting our house and living spaces. The house has grid-connected solar power and is independent of other external connections with a bio-septic system that recycles all waste, solar hot-water and 160,000 litres of rainwater storage (no town water). There’s also a bespoke home-made rocket-powered oven in the outside entertainment area.
