Drone Footage of Fernmount Food Forest

This food forest/home orchard has beauty, privacy and productivity. 

Fantastic drone footage by Peter Hardinge

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Land Title aerial view with approximate boundaries

End of June, Winter 2019

Winter Sunshine

 Winter and Autumn are my two preferred times of the year on our subtropical-warm temperate coast....

...but after four days of rain and cold winds it is a delight to see some winter sunshine and blue sky. 





Some local rainfall reportedly reached 100ml.

Ripening Bananas

 The heavy rain brought down some banana trees but here are two banana bunches ripening in our shed.

Abundant Chaya Spinach Tree in our Food Forest

Our 3m high Chaya Spinach Tree

Chaya Tree Spinach (Cnidiscolus chayamansa) is a fantastic and abundant food. Chaya leaves do need some cooking preparation as do Cassava leaves and Warrigal Greens. Wikipedia states up to 5 raw leaves a day can be eaten but other sources are more cautious. Although blending and drying also seems to remove the toxic hydrocyanic acid substances, boiling for 20 minutes is recommended. The leaves survive the boiling still looking green and attractive. The broth that is left can also be consumed as the toxic substances have been destroyed by the heat.

Cooking in aluminum cookware can result in a toxic broth, causing diarrhea.^[13]

What's there to see in May in the Fernmount Food Forest?

With her stunning photography Bobbi Marchini has captured beautifully this Spinebill in our food forest

May 19, 2019 Its a warm Autumn

Orange leaved deciduous Fuyu Persimmon

Miracle Fruit

It's Autumn, Ignore the not so attractive Australian Sweet Lime, ripened off the tree, but check out the Miracle Fruit berries. Miracle Fruit (Synsepalum dulcificum) so called for its ability to make sour fruit taste sweet after chewing. 

I almost missed this first crop of berries on our 2m bush. 

Why pay $50 for the dried fruit in capsule form when you can grow your own in a food forest.

Why the Fernmount Food Forest can look overgrown at times.

The percentage of nursery and soil improving trees and shrubs can be as high as 95% when a food forest is first established, gradually reducing as food bearing trees and plants mature. This excellent, recent video clearly describes the layers of planting: canopy; understory, bushes and shrubs; herbaceous; and root layers.

Kwai Muk

The Kwai Muk, is related to Jack Fruit. It has a pleasingly acidic taste. We love the tartness. These fruit were discovered on the leaf-carpeted ground. In the picture, smaller fruit are still to ripen. Perhaps they will ripen off the tree although I read fruit ripens best on the tree.

Kwai Muk

 The ten year old tree is now about 8m high with a spreading canopy. I will dwarf the tree by cincturing the trunk as explained in the video link above.

Hand pollination of Dragon Fruit brings success.

White fleshed Dragon Fruit (Pitaya)

And aren't they luscious. The fruit developed surprisingly quickly. Excess shade wasn't the problem. A lack of natural pollinators was.

Ornamentals are the icing on top of the cake. Making a food forest attractive to work in.

There is no reason why a food forest based on permaculture principles cannot be attractive. Flowers and foliage attract the pollinating insects and birds and make it a pleasant spot for us to visit and work, .... it works for us anyway. The actual time taken to care for many ornamentals can be minimal.

Bougainvillea - Wikipedia