A visit to Birdsong Market Garden

Today our Simple Living Toowoomba group was given the opportunity to take a tour through Rick and Racheal Cameron's Birdsong Market Garden which is located at Cranley on the northern edge of Toowoomba. The weather was just beautiful and it was pleasant to take a walk around the property in the sunshine on such a stunning Autumn day.

Firstly we had a very yummy morning tea as Racheal had cooked kale fritters and other goodies and there was a huge plate of yellow flesh watermelon which the children got stuck into rather quickly.

Then Rick showed us his many trays of seedlings....

....before we headed up to have a look at the rows of veggies growing. On the way I said hello to the wildlife....

...which were very busy and quite impressive.

We passed some very industrious bees making some beautiful looking honey...

...and checked out the rows and rows of vegetables at various stages of growth.

Even though they are banned in Queensland rabbits are making a comeback so all veggie growers have to be vigilant these days so that their crops aren't ruined.

Rick showed us some of the equipment he uses to plant seeds...

...and seedlings which go into the Bazukka :-)

When I saw the flowers on this plant and the red stems I thought it was a Rosella plant but Rick said it was Okra. Apparently you can grow green or red Okra. I am not sure I have seen it before to be honest.

I thought I had a big pumpkin patch. This one is huge but thankfully the vines are not growing up trees like mine are...

...and the pumpkins will be much easier to pick. LOL!

We passed this huge heap of soil which has Palagonite added to it. Racheal explains what it is in this post Palagonite: The unusual local mineral for conditioning soil. As it says on the Birdsong Market Garden website 'The testing and replenishing of our soil to produce an optimum mineral balance is a top priority at Birdsong. We use the standards of William Albrecht , an expert in soil fertility and its relation to human health'.

It is so nice to see where one's vegetables are grown and to know that the soil is in excellent condition. If you live in the Toowoomba region and want to buy some quality organically grown vegetables and herbs then check out the opening times at Birdsong which is about five minutes from Wilsonton and you can email Racheal and ask to be put on her email list and get weekly updates about what is growing. Many thanks to Rick and Racheal for opening their home to our Simple Living Toowoomba group today.

Our next get-together will be held on the 26th May and will be a combined beeswax wraps and soapmaking workshop. Suanne from Green Dandelion will be demonstrating how to make the beeswax wraps and Racheal will show how to make soap using the room temperature method. It is sure to be a really popular workshop.

Have a great weekend everyone.