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You are here: Home / Archives for Nursery

February 8, 2018 by Desi Achilleos

NSCF February E-News

Every month we publish a free newsletter which lets people know what is happening at the farm.

To subscribe fill in your email HERE

To read February’s E-News CLICK HERE

 

 

Filed Under: eNews, Farming, Nursery, Organic Farmers Market, Permaculture Education Tagged With: NSCF, organic, permaculture

December 5, 2017 by Ronni Martin

Christmas menu and gift ideas

Northey Street Christmas Eve Markets
24 December 2017 from 6am to 11am

Our City Farm Nursery will also be open from 6am to 12pm to pick up any last minute gifts.

Embrace a sustainable and green festive season with Northey Street City Farm by supporting local farmers, makers and businesses.

The holiday season can take a toll on the environment. By shopping directly from local businesses and farmers markets, buying Australian-made and from local makers, and reducing waste, you can not only make the Christmas season more sustainable, but also save money and have a positive impact on your community.

Northey Street Organic Farmers Markets

Northey Street Organic Farmers Markets is the one stop shop for locally sourced, seasonal, organic and fair trade produce.  As well as having the best variety of organic fruit and veg, our stall holders also offer organic, locally sourced grains, eggs, oil, and dairy.

 

 

Your sustainable Christmas feast

  • Christmas Hams, also offering organic and ethical lamb, beef, chicken and pork, from Brisbane Certified Organic.
  • Beef and lamb – 100% certified organic and grassfed from Kialla Organic.
  • Blueberries – certified organic, naturally grown from Hampton Blue.
  • Mince pies – gorgeous spelt mince pies from Sol Breads.
  • Gingerbread houses – from Montrose Fine Biscuits.
  • Healthy drinks and sauerkraut – made in Brisbane, from Buchi Kombucha.

Ethical Gift Ideas

Shop local! Many gifts come from halfway around the world, and the impact of their transportation contributes to greenhouse emissions and global warming. Love having artists and craftspeople in your neighborhood? Reduce your emissions and support a sustainable local economy at the same time.

Check out some of the ethical gift ideas from our stallholders:

  • A-zumble-zay – one of a kind hand-crafted felt products. handmade hats, purses & bags, jewellery, scarves, soaps and toys are just some items available.
  • Lesley Hurley Ceramics – artisan tea wares and table wares. Porcelain and Stoneware.
  • Happy Flame Candles – candles! Beautiful, non-toxic, handcrafted and 100% local and made from organic beeswax. Paraffin candles are made from petroleum residue and are no good for your health or for the environment. Candles made from beeswax are eco-friendly because they biodegrade and are smoke-free.
  • Herbal Gardener – fresh, natural skin care. Made with calendula oil, 100% certified biodynamic Australia.
  • Ilo Organics – cold process soaps made with organic plant oils- chemical, colouring & fragrance free, organic essential oils blended for lifestyle support, mineral bath salts blended with premium BP graded ingredients & organic essential oils and 100% recycled sterling silver jewellery
  • Little Deer Studios – stationery with soul, handcrafted notebooks and unique eco-friendly gifts hand crafted in Australia from recycled and eco-friendly materials
  • Mamitas Fair Trade – one of a kind handmade pieces- woven with stories from faraway lands, modern bohemian, ethical and fair trade.
  • Miessence – products are certified organic skincare, personal care, home care and superfood products –  probiotics, protein powder etc.
  • My Heart Beats Green – funky organic cotton clothing for babies, kids, women and men, made in Brisbane.
  • Yaku Latin Goods – amazing chocolate! Yaku Latin Goods is a social entrepreneurial business that promotes ethical Latin American products in Australia, aiming to weave cultural bridges between both continents, while supporting social projects.
  • Rueby’s Workshop – furniture made of reclaimed timber by Brisbane based Reuben Schafer.
  • Bel Aqua Gardens – invite nature into your home with innovative vertical garden designs.

 

Sustainable Christmas ideas from City Farm Nursery

  • Christmas trees – a live potted tree is a terrific alternative to something commercially grown with chemicals, or mass produced and plastic. If you live in a small space, you can also create a Christmas tree alternative by decorating a potted plant.
  • Plants make the best presents. Giving plant gifts for Christmas has always brought joy – even before “green” was a trend. So, for this year’s holiday shopping, get back in touch with a time-honored tradition. City Farm Nursery features something for everyone on your list within any budget, whether it’s a succulent for a Secret Santa or a fruit tree for a loved one!
  • Table decorations – stunning and sustainable table centerpiece with succulents and herbs. Have you considered decorating your home with plants to create a magical indoor garden this Christmas?
  • The City Farm Tote Bag – environmentally friendly and fashionable! If only you used reusable bags over your lifetime that would remove more than 22,000 plastic bags from the environment!

 

Sustainable Living Workshop Gift Vouchers

And from our Education Program – give a Sustainable Living Workshop Gift Voucher. The recipient can choose from our wide range of workshops – from beekeeping to basket weaving. See the current list here. Full-day or half-day workshops run on most Saturdays throughout the year.

Purchase workshop vouchers here.


Northey Street City Farm wishes all our members, volunteers, customers and supporters a happy, healthy and safe festive season.


 

Filed Under: Nursery, Organic Farmers Market, Permaculture Education Tagged With: City Farm Nursery, NSCF, Organic Markets, Sustainability, Workshops

November 23, 2017 by Ronni Martin

Vegepods at City Farm Nursery

We are  excited to welcome the addition of Vegepods to the City Farm Nursery! Vegepods make growing food as easy as it can be. They come equipped with a water-storing reservoir at the base and an adjustable shade (and possum) cover. The additional stands and trolleys make it easier to access and maintain your veggies. To welcome Vegepods to the nursery, we are running some exciting pre-Christmas specials. Until December 24th, Vegepods, stands and trolleys are discounted and our package deals including soil, plants, installation and more, are also discounted.

And with Christmas just a few weeks away the Nursery has been stocking up on ethical gifts. We have a great selection of books, permaculture calendars and gardening guides. NSCF organic cotton canvas carry bags and ONYA reusable produce bags are a great way to replace single-use plastic bags in 2018.

City Farm Nursery will be open as usual on Sunday 24th December and closed Monday 25th – Wednesday 3rd January. We will reopen in the New Year on Thursday 4th January and look forward to seeing you all then!

Filed Under: Nursery Tagged With: City Farm Nursery, Container Gardening, ethical gifts, NSCF

August 5, 2017 by Ronni Martin

Gardening with guilds

By Lydia Blocksidge, City Farm Nursery Co-ordinator

Have you heard the term garden guild or guilding before? If you have, it’s probably been used in the context of agro-forestry and forest gardening, as this is where the concept is most commonly applied. Guilding is a Permaculture technique that recognizes the relationships in nature, especially in a forest system, and applies it to productive garden and orchard spaces.

When I was living and working at Rancho Mastatal, a Sustainability Education Centre and operating permaculture farm in rural Costa Rica, we established and maintained planting guilds throughout our agro-forestry orchards. But don’t be mistaken, you don’t need acres of land to use guilding, it is an incredibly adaptive and useful tool to use anywhere, in any productive garden setting.

In simple terms, a planting guild or garden guild is a harmonious collection of plants comprising two things, primary crop species and secondary support species. The primary species are commonly the food producing plants and the secondary species have functions to support the healthy growth and abundance of the primary food crops. These functions can include pollinator and good bug attracting species such as marigolds and other flowering plants, nitrogen-fixing species such as pigeon pea and pinto peanut, fungal deterrent species such as turmeric and ginger, pest deterrent species such as citronella, erosion control such as vetiver grass and chop and drop species for mulching such as arrowroot.

Guilds can be established in two main ways, either by guilding each single plant in your garden or by guilding the garden as a whole. If guilding each plant individually the primary crop species is usually in the middle of a guilding circle or half circle, with the support species around it. At Rancho Mastatal this method was used in the orchards around young tropical fruit and nut trees. Many of these trees take 10-15 years to start producing food so a healthy start in life is crucial for them. This was a useful method of planting because not only did the guiding circles help to locate the tree seedlings, it was also easy to manage them, with all the materials for healthy growth in one place.

If the entire garden is established as a whole guild, primary crop species are planted throughout the space and support species are interspersed between them. This is a great way to plan the urban garden. Whichever method you choose, the main thing to remember when establishing a guild in your garden is that all you need to do is define two things, your primary crop species and then decide which secondary species are going to support your primary crop. If you have separate garden beds you could choose to grow different primary species in each and different secondary species to support them.


Below are a few examples of urban garden guilds you could use at home.

Primary crop species: Tomatoes

Support species: Beans, Corn and Nasturtium.

Why it works: Tomatoes are heavy nitrogen feeders and beans fix nitrogen in the soil. Nasturtiums attract bees and other beneficial insects and also add color to the garden, as well as creating a ground cover for the soil. And corn provides a natural, food-producing trellis system for the tomatoes and beans, as well as mulch from the husks.

 

 


Primary crop species: Leafy greens

Support species: Oregano, Marigolds, and Carrots

Why it works: Oregano has a strong scent that helps to deter garden pests. It also forms a thick ground cover for the soil. Marigolds provide color and attract pollinators and beneficial insects. And carrots aerate the soil and provide a root crop, utilizing the space more efficiently.

 

 

 


Primary crop species: Broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower and other brassicas

Support species: Land cress, thyme, and garlic

Why it works: Land cress is extremely attractive to common chewing garden pests but it’s also highly toxic to them. So it does two things, keeps chewing pests off your primary crop and naturally eradicates the pests from your garden. It’s also a delicious peppery addition in salads. Thyme attracts pollinators to your garden with its beautiful flowers and it’s a tasty culinary herb. And garlic produces a supplementary crop that uses minimal space while also helping to keep pests out of your garden with its scent.


Guilding your home garden is an extremely effective method to maximize your yield outputs and minimize your labor inputs. It is important to remember when establishing guilds which plants grow well together in terms of water, soil, sunlight and so on. Companion planting guides are a great place to start. From there, consider what you want your primary crop species to be and then decide what support species are going to benefit the primary species, and you, most efficiently.

I always use the permaculture principle every element has multiple functions to determine my support species. For example, nasturtium in example 1 above, provides ground cover for the soil, it attracts pollinators, it’s beautiful and it can be used in the kitchen. Land cress can be used in the kitchen, it eradicates chewing pests and it can form a ground cover over the soil. If you can come up with at least three uses/reasons why you’ve selected the support plants you have, then you’re on the right track!

So who’s ready to start their urban garden guild? The City Farm Nursery has everything to help get you started!

 

Filed Under: Farming, Nursery Tagged With: City Farm Nursery, Gardening, info, organic, permaculture, Useful Information

March 29, 2017 by Mel Marx

Turmeric A Wonder Root Plant

Turmeric, a member of the ginger family, is a yellow wonder root plant. Curcumin, the active ingredient in Turmeric, is a powerful antioxidant and has anti-inflammatory properties. Studies are still being conducted on this plant but preliminary research suggests that eating turmeric can help ward off dementia, inhibit the growth of tumors, lower cholesterol, reduce inflammation, improve digestion, lower blood sugar levels and fight infections.

To buy your Turmeric plant please visit our nursery.  For more information on what our nursery has to offer click here.


Wendy, one of the nursery’s key volunteers made this deliciously irresistible gluten free Turmeric and Orange cake and kindly shares the recipe with you all.

Wendy’s Gluten Free Turmeric and Orange Cake

Ingredients

250gm butter
250gm sugar
5 eggs
150gm thick yoghurt
25gm finely grated fresh turmeric
250gm almond meal
100gm fine polenta
1 tsp baking powder
2 large oranges – finely grated rind & juice

Icing:
¾ – 1 cup cultured cream or yoghurt (sweetened)
Finely grated orange rind

Method

  1. Pre-heat oven to 180’C. Line a 22cm round spring form tin with baking paper. Grease with butter and coat with ground almonds. In a mixing bowl cream the butter and sugar till pale. Add one egg at a time, mixing well after each one until combined. Stir in yoghurt and turmeric.
  2. In a separate bowl, combine the almond meal, polenta and baking powder. Fold together into cake mixture alternatively with the orange juice & rind mixture.
  3. Bake in the oven for approximately 1 hour. Turn out the cake after five to 10 minutes of cooling in the tin. When completely cool, spread on topping. Cover with berries if desired.

Share & enjoy!


Sian’s Golden Turmeric Milk

Ingredients

  • 2 cups plant – based milk (e.g. rice, almond, soy)
  • 3 Tbs finely grated fresh turmeric
  • 1 Tbs finely grated fresh ginger
  • 1 tsp coconut oil
  • 2 tsp honey
  • 1 tsp cinnamon, or 1 cinnamon stick
  • 1/2 tsp nutmeg
  • 1/2 tsp cardamom
  • 2 star anise
  • 1 pinch of black pepper

Method

  1. Combine all ingredients in a saucepan on low heat until bubbles start to form. Do not boil.
  2. Strain milk into mugs (to remove the solid parts).
  3. Optional: Top with star anise and cinnamon or nutmeg.

Note: If you would prefer to use full cream milk, the coconut oil can be left out due to the milk already containing fat. Follow instructions above, however wait until the milk is hot (above 70°C) before adding the ginger. Ginger juice contains a protease that can cause the milk to curdle at temperatures below 70°C, but is fine above 70°C.

Note 2: The health benefits of turmeric are increased if it is consumed with fat and black pepper (which contains a substance called piperine), which is why these ingredients are both incorporated into this recipe!

 


 

Filed Under: Nursery, Organic Farmers Market Tagged With: city nursery, hard to find plant nursery, inner city nursery, medicinal plants, Nursery, Organic Nursery, Recipes, turmeric

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