38 replies to this topic

[Torsten]

wow, those pics are soooo old I almost couldn't work out where some of them are!

we've still got lots of animals, but no more minipigs. They are cute when young, but they utterly trashed our paddocks and fences as they got older. Even a small boar with big tusks is scary when he turns up inside the neigbours bathroom unannounced ;) We've got mini goats, minisheep [one of the rarest breeds of any farm animal in australia], mini donkeys, mini cattle, alpacas and a shitload of poultry.

By open day I wasn't referring just to the nursery. The nursery opening times are on the website. I was referring to opening up the whole property, including walks up the mountain [amazing views to byron bay and Mt Warning], guided walks through the plantings, playing with the animals, and some plant inspired catering. I am thinking of making it an annual event to allow people from further away to plan for it well in advance.

It was always planned to do these open days, but we wanted to wait till the plants were established. Now a lot of them are and it is certainly easy to spend several hours here if you're into plants. It was actually a recent visit by earth & fire erowid [and their comments as we tried to cram as much botanising as possible into the time they had] that made me realise just how much this place has grown and how awesome it has become. You kinda don't notice if you're in it every day ;)

[Bread Filter]

By open day I wasn't referring just to the nursery. The nursery opening times are on the website. I was referring to opening up the whole property, including walks up the mountain [amazing views to byron bay and Mt Warning], guided walks through the plantings, playing with the animals, and some plant inspired catering. I am thinking of making it an annual event to allow people from further away to plan for it well in advance.

That would be awesome. I have always wanted to check out NNSW.

[Alice]

I would definately make the trip up for that Torsten, given adequate notice. Never been to Byron either, so would find a little B&B and make a weekend of it. Will be easy to convince the wife too, as she's always nagging that we don't go away enough. He he he.

Edit: Well that was easy, I got the go ahead from Mrs so just name the date!

Edited by Alice, 19 June 2012 - 08:12 AM.

[Marcel]

September school holidays, please! I'll be up there then!

[Amazonian]

we've still got lots of animals, but no more minipigs. They are cute when young, but they utterly trashed our paddocks and fences as they got older. Even a small boar with big tusks is scary when he turns up inside the neigbours bathroom unannounced ;) We've got mini goats, minisheep [one of the rarest breeds of any farm animal in australia], mini donkeys, mini cattle, alpacas and a shitload of poultry.

I would love to see these 'mini' animals. You didn't mention mini' Shetland pony, now they are adorable.

I am hoping to be able to come to an open day. Can i bring my tent

[Alice]

That would be awesome Amz, I'd love to meet you and the other Victorians in person

[Ethos]

are the alpacas mini too?

[dionysus]

will part of the open day include putting on some foam pads and testing out the attack dogs? if not, im in lol

[Torsten]

dionysus - they are not 'attack dogs' but herd guardians. Look up maremma on wiki for details on their unique application.

marcel - Sorry but I think spetember is too early, it's still friggin cold at night and the plants aren't doing anything exciting yet. I was thinking more november or december - before the rain starts.

ethos - alpacas are actually mini llamas.

[Evil Genius]

Have alpacas in the neighborhood. They are doing great in the german climate. I like how they sound like mobile phones on vibration. Maybe i get me some for the garden. Work better than lawnmowers...

[shruman]

Open day sounds like a top idea, nice to hear you still have plans for some of those big ideas you used to have on your website.

"alpacas are actually mini llamas"

I think they changed that, they are more like big vicuna while llamas are like big guanaco?

Theres a farm near here with hundreds, maybe thousands? & almost in every second hobby farm & big back yard round here.

Edited by shruman, 20 June 2012 - 10:01 AM.

[DarkSpark]

any chance of more pics of this amazing place, or are we keeping it a secret?

Duuuude we have been there like 5 times !!

wow, those pics are soooo old I almost couldn't work out where some of them are!

we've still got lots of animals, but no more minipigs. They are cute when young, but they utterly trashed our paddocks and fences as they got older. Even a small boar with big tusks is scary when he turns up inside the neigbours bathroom unannounced ;) We've got mini goats, minisheep [one of the rarest breeds of any farm animal in australia], mini donkeys, mini cattle, alpacas and a shitload of poultry.

By open day I wasn't referring just to the nursery. The nursery opening times are on the website. I was referring to opening up the whole property, including walks up the mountain [amazing views to byron bay and Mt Warning], guided walks through the plantings, playing with the animals, and some plant inspired catering. I am thinking of making it an annual event to allow people from further away to plan for it well in advance.

It was always planned to do these open days, but we wanted to wait till the plants were established. Now a lot of them are and it is certainly easy to spend several hours here if you're into plants. It was actually a recent visit by earth & fire erowid [and their comments as we tried to cram as much botanising as possible into the time they had] that made me realise just how much this place has grown and how awesome it has become. You kinda don't notice if you're in it every day ;)

i think i just jizzed my pants thinking abuot walking up the mountain inspecting all the flora and fauna ! as well as some of you in the ground mothers etc.

I have only seen the nursery and had a bit of a stickybeak at the animals on the way past but just that was incredible. The whole property might be too much to take in in one day. may need to camp for a few nights xD

[etherealdrifter]

Have alpacas in the neighborhood. They are doing great in the german climate. I like how they sound like mobile phones on vibration. Maybe i get me some for the garden. Work better than lawnmowers...

archi wawa.....sounds like the eg is going to visit the sabMutterland
for t's open garden tour extravaganza.............no pressure here mun

[Torsten]

nice to hear you still have plans for some of those big ideas you used to have on your website.

Learnt a few lessons in reality since those early days ;)
we had seriously planned to put this property into trust as we get older to be managed by a board of dedicated people for the good of the community. we found that most of the people likely to want such a trust position are selfish and greedy which defeats the purpose of what we're trying to do. And those who would benefit the most from such a place generally lack the skills to run it. It's not an idea we have given up on completely yet, but I am not seeing a workable model at this stage. Still a few decades to go before we need to worry about that, but that means that in the meantime the whole project is run in a very different way than it was intended. eg, I don't want to feel obliged to make this a community project [unless I see a workable model] and hence we are also not accepting community help for it. This has maybe slowed things down a bit, although I often wonder if that's actually the case.


I think they changed that, they are more like big vicuna while llamas are like big guanaco?

as all 4 still interbreed it is probably just the latest theory and subject to revision ;)