Forest Garden Course – Chestnut Farm, Invermay. January 2019

Saturday 5th, 1pm to Monday 7th 9am
Chestnut Farm is an 8 acre Permaculture Property
This course is for people who want a forest garden. There will still be plenty to read and research about after the course, but this weekend will give you the confidence, framework and direction to make it happen. It is about answering the practical questions and facing the real challenges of forest gardening, as well as being inspired and fired up to make it a reality!

After training with the best – Dave Jacke, Martin Crawford and Chris Evans – and having visited forest gardens in both the US and Europe on my forest garden quest, I’m keen to share what I’ve learned! This weekend will be a unique blend of the best of the courses I’ve attended, supplemented by my own experience and experiments as I build my forest gardens.

Here at Chestnut Farm, I’ve been putting the principles into practice. After the nine day Forest Garden Design intensive with Dave Jacke in 2013, I reworked my 26 m berry tunnel and massively increased species diversity by under-planting with herbs & ground covers. Whenever I plant a new area on the farm, I hear Dave’s challenge about ‘self-renewing fertility’ ringing in my ears. How can I design areas such that they become self-sustaining ecosystems that won’t require my ongoing input? When I had Dave return to Australia to run the 9 day course at Chestnut Farm in 2016, we planted a new forest garden adjacent to my duck pond. Lots went wrong when we had the wettest winter in 20 years but I’ve learned from that experience and will share that with you – learn from my mistakes!

In 2017, I spent 9 weeks in Europe, with 6 weeks in the UK including forest garden courses with Martin Crawford and Chris Evans and visits to forest gardens including Graeme Bells’ Garden Cottage in Coldstream where he has produced over a tonne of food from an area the size of two tennis courts. There are no forest gardens in Australia that have been established as long. We’re still in the exciting early stages of implementation here and have the great opportunity to identify successful strategies and avoid the mistakes made by others in earlier eras.

This course will focus on forest gardening in the cool temperate climates of South Eastern Australia. While the broad principles can be transferred to other climates, the plant-specific information you will learn is based on a cool-temperate climate. You’ll see my successes and failures with planting guilds, propagation from seed & cuttings, grafting, etc. and see models from comparable climates overseas.

One great outcome of the 9 day course in 2016 was that graduates are setting up forest gardens – we’re seeing new experiments here in Australia as people trial different patterns, play with native Nitrogen-fixing ground covers (who knew we had any?!) and find out how some of the guilds that work in the Northern hemisphere perform in Australian soil and weather conditions. Participating in this course plugs you into the alumni, as well as giving you the chance to network directly with your course co-participants. The course program is fully packed; there is no time to discuss your own property in class hours, but you are welcome to bring information about your place to share with other students during breaks and our pot-luck dinner on Saturday night.

To ensure a high quality learning experience, numbers are limited to just 18. Book early to ensure a place – plus get the early-bird discount.

When I attended Martin’s course in 2017, I was surprised to find that half the participants were from outside the UK (South Africa, Germany, Denmark, USA, Australia, Ireland). His courses are booked out months in advance and he only runs one or two a year. Come to sunny Invermay and save yourself an airfare! 🙂

Early Bird fee $410 (paid in full by 1 December 2018). Full course fee $465. A non-refundable deposit of $50 secures your registration and is deducted from the fees above. Further details on the registration form.

Go to http://chestnutfarm.net.au/forest-garden-course/
for more information and a link to the registration form.