Chef Sean Carter asked me: Merri Bee , what are you on about?

Bee and Stewart (Merri Bee Organic Farm) recently leapt at the  invitation to join fabulous chef Sean Carter, Muster Bar & Grill, on the From Paddock to Plate stage at the Nannup Flower & Garden Festival 2014, with favorite  radio personality Louise Fitzroy (now engaged in promoting fresh produce with her  Paddock to Plate initiative).

Bee will appear on Friday 15 August, 11:35am – 12:20pm. Sean will be cooking a shoulder of  pastured pork  and some scrumptious herbs and veges straight from Merri Bee Organic Farm  .His idea for the dish sounds amazing: "a fennel & black pepper rubbed rolled pork shoulder with confit fennel, wilted kale and thyme infused roasted shallots" And a pork jus! And we all get a taste at the end!
Stew will be serving up  meals all weekend, maybe not so fancy but it is hard to go wrong with ingredients straight from nature, so look out for the  yellow Organic food van.
 Says Bee "Sean asked us what we are up to . As I often wonder just what I am doing in life I  had to think about our mission. So here it is:
Merri Bee Organic farm  honours the living systems of planet Earth. We want to rebuild the soil and  provide  families with real, natural, healthy food, We want to teach people how to do this in their yards and grow a lot more of their own food. We can't afford to suffer  the green-washed, health-washed,  toxic, low taste- and- nutrient ”food” in piles of gaily coloured  packaging from a health or environmental  aspect and lets face facts, all processed food contains GMOs and it only comes to us via the dwindling supply of fossil fuel.

 It is agribusiness which has largely  brought about the  mass extinction event currently taking place on Earth.   This is the 6^th in our planet's 4.5 billion year history, and this time it is not caused by volcanic activity  or meteor impact , but by humans eating.
 Frankly, many farmers are brainwashed by chemical companies to believe synthetic fertilizer and chemical inputs are essential.  Tons of toxins are entering the landscape  causing  of not only massive biodiversity loss, but also CC (climate change) as eve soil microbes are killed. Farmers are both the unwitting perpetrators  and the first  victims of  CC. Farmer suicides in Australia numbered one every 4 days in 2009. In the past 5 years 4,000 of Western Australia’s 10,000 farmers have walked off their land . In addition, the “food” from conventional systems  is the cause of  unprecedented malaise and apathy in the human population.

the pigs are in here,  really

 How amazing then that farmers turn out to be THE ones who could single handedly save our Earth!  Farmers control vast areas of land and as such control our climate. By fostering instead of killing soil microbes, farmers alone can sequester  our carbon emissions  back to the Earth. Farmers  teaming with microbes are our only hope:  http://rodaleinstitute.org/our-work/farming-systems-trial/

A curly tail means a happy pig. 

 For further info on the power of soil to soak up atmospheric carbon and methane see
http://merribeeorganicfarm.blogspot.com.au/2014/01/why-i-am-not-vegan.html
and

http://merribeeorganicfarm.blogspot.com.au/2014/05/nourishing-soil.html

We believe Permaculture can heal the ecosystems which drive climate  and our health .  Our dream is to help increase this  eco-literacy in the community.

We  teach the skills and techniques of permaculture and supply seeds to grow  food forests which will re-cloth the earth with green plants ASAP .

 That organics becomes mainstream is a matter of survival now. But real food doesn't come cheap, and we have become accustomed to spending  less on food and more on doctors and hospitals than ever before.

Grown in super rich compost, Merri Bee Organic plants ( and the animals who eat those plants)  contain every known and unknown nutrient, and come complete with an array of  beneficial microbes so essential but missing from modern agricultural soils and produce.  The same sets of beneficial  organisms  populate the soil and our intestines when we eat these plants.  They out-compete pathogens and protect us from disease. Just as a healthy plant does not put out the stress signals  which attract pest and disease, (making   pesticides  obselete),so pharmacueticals become obselete for organic gardeners and consumers.

 The products of a permaculture grow exponentially as the system matures. Although in its infancy at 30 years old, we have some exciting new food and drink discoveries from our permaculture to share with Sean, Louise and you all  on Friday August 15. Yours in  glowing health , happiness and hopes for a brighter future "

 Bee and Stew.

carob syrup ....discovery of the week

Do you ever fret that sugar is so energy intensive that we should not eat it, even if it was healthy? And we are  learning how very unhealthy is the high fructose corn syrup sweetener. This fructose is found in -well ,just about every processed food , especially fizzy drinks . The fructose corn stuff is GM,(  as is the soy that is also in every processed food) . High fructose corn syrup  is not recognized by the body as a food, but as  a toxin. Dr Robert Lustig , pediatric endocrinologist,  tells us this and many things in his speech "The bitter Truth about Sugar" which has had nearly 5 million views!! His latest offering "Fat Chance  Fructose 2.0"  is also very interesting
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ceFyF9px20Y

So I am pleased to report that we just made carob syrup for the first time, and  it is surprisingly nice!   The carob bean is something like 78 % sugar .Traditional recipes call for 5 kgs of carob beans and 4 kgs of sugar, but I am quite happy with the carob on its own. The tree is dioecious ( and here spell check can’t help me)  It means there are male and female trees. It takes about 20  years to find out who is who and the females to start bearing .The bad news  is, only one in 10 is a female. On the bright side they are all handsome evergreen trees and  wow, do the females  ever crank out the carob pods!  If you are a clever clogs you can successfully graft  most of your trees with female scions. Might give it a go one day with no expectation of success.

These trees can handle any  amount of heat and drought once established. Carob pods are very sweet and mineral rich and a great stock food, but for me they are a tad fibrous. I call them a fibrous mars bar.  But lo! Carob syrup  can be rendered out of the pods . It fits in wonderfully with Mediteranean permaculture, because the pods ripen in May and can be collected and stored easily. Come June you will probably have a wood stove going , burning the latest tree that fell down on a fence to heat the home and boost your solar hot water. You just break  up the carob pods in your hands while talking on the phone ( its not messy), then soak this in a pot  for a day, then boil for an hour or 2, strain out the juice and put it back on the stove. Reserve the dregs for the pigs  to cheer them up on a cold, miserable day. With the fire going   the juice  evaporates down  overnight to a yummy syrup.It doesnt seem to need stirring. 

If you put cream with it and some roasted nuts,  it is heavenly. I think a new  winter tradition has just begun at our place.  All ingredients could come from any half decent WA permaculture , so  being a locavore doesn’t have to mean being skinny . At our place chestnuts, macadamias, walnuts and pecans fall from the trees in late May. The fuerte avocado is on in June/July and could be mashed and mixed in to extend what I can only describe as  a super healthy version of “nutella”. 

If you are sad to be missing out on processed food because you don’t want to support GM corn and soy plantations, I salute you.  Smile now because  you can grow carobs , you can milk a jersey cow! We are going to be all right!

One of the 4 jersey heifers born this year on the farm.

 Local, organic,  superfood carob syrup is easily done and  no doubt can be bottled.  Now is the perfect  time to plant a heap of carob seeds and start a carob forest.  We can post you seeds for $3.50 a packet . http://merribeeorganicfarm.blogspot.com.au/search?q=seed+catalogue

Soils for Life! Compost and compost tea workshop MAy 20 to 22 inclusive.

Through photosynthesis, plants convert CO2 into sugars to power growth. 

Our planet Earth is perhaps named after the substance that all terrestrial life depends on, but that substance is being lost into the ocean at a rate of 75 billion tons per annum.

However a good soil doesn't readily blow or wash away, but then again it should never be ploughed and/ or exposed or it will loose microbes and therefore its quality. A quality soil  is dark and crumbly, full of the entire range of minerals in plant available form and in perfect balance. It has good tilth or structure which means air and water move in  deep and are available to the plant roots, which follow the ever deepening topsoil profile.When you learn that it is the activity of millions of tiny microscopic creatures (the members of the soil food web) that create healthy soil, and that they are killed by pesticides, clearing, ploughing and synthetic fertilizers, it is easy to understand why they are extinct over vast areas of farmland. Food plants are on artifical life support without their friends the microbes. Farmers  are left with disease, pests , weeds and mounting bills for poisonous inputs.  Acidification, aluminium toxicity and non wetting sands are the challenges faced in the wheat belt and many more areas are simialrly turning to desert. The biology's disappearance meanscarbon  has largely left the soil and entered the air. Deterioration in our climate and human health is the understated result . Good soil however produces healthy plants unaided by man, plants which naturally  resist pest attack and disease , and confer radiant health to the animals and people that eat them. The  resources of soil, oxygen,  precipitation and nourishing food are things  made by a diversity of plants in conjunction with a diversity of animals (from the microscopic to the large). "The Soil can Save Us " is the title of a brilliant book by Kirsten Ohlsen, but of course it is the ancient partnership between soil microbes, plants and animals which we need to foster to be saved.
 As
climate change , 6th  X  ( the sixth mass extinction event on Earth currently taking place  due to our use of toxins) peak oil , peak fish, peak phosphorus, peak everything approaches like a  perfect storm we now need to learn about soil. Knowledge of  biological systems, not  financial systems, is now required in earnest . After the oceans, the soil is the earth’s
largest carbon sink – but a plant pumps carbon from the air  into the ground ONLY WHEN it knows bacteria and fungi are there in the soil to trade with!
The activities of bacteria, fungi, protozoa, nematodes, microarthropods , and all the macro life they support,  enable excess carbon dioxide in the atmosphere to be combined
with soil minerals and made into stable humus, which locks the carbon  away in soil for likely  thousands of years. Desperately climbing CO2 level in the air is mirrored by diminishing carbon in soil. This situation  has led to the greenhouse effect and global warming, and it is quite terrible as most farmers recognize. From the pioneering work of a few we see that  lush green food forests can grow where once there were  dusty deserts.  Auroville India, Portugal's Tamera community, the restoration of the Loes Plateau in China, re-vegetation of Rwanda and Nigere, Geoff Lawton's greening of the desert near the Dead Sea and Allan Savory's work in Africa are all wonderful examples of what can happen when man applies soil health  principles to the land. 

On our farm we inherited in places the worst possible non wetting sand and on the steep slopes clay with topsoil removed but slowly our whole farm is being transformed from dust to chocolate mud cake soil. Samples of our improved soil were praised by Dr Maarten Stapper at a March 2015 soil Restoration  conference in Boyup Brook with 85 farmers in attendance.  

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Why you should come to   Merri Bee Organic Farmacy 's

"Soil for Life " workshop:

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This will be the distillation of all we've learned from Bill Mollison, Dr s Elaine Ingham, Maarten Stapper, Christine Jones, Walter Jehne and many more luminaries. We will draw also on our own discoveries  from  30 years of farming here in Nannup and many hours of looking down the microscope at soil. 
When I show groups the photos to the left of my friend Haydn who has used compost tea for a few more years than us, most people are dying to ask if Haydn  is a midget. I can assure you he is over 6 foot tall. His strawberry below is as big as a small apple.
 At our workshop lunch and drinks will be included in the price,  and will be just about fully organic  from our  farm.  We want you to taste the difference, feel the difference and leave  knowing  how to  make a difference on your farm or in your garden.

We promise   lots of hands on practical  activities and on farm examples of the soil health principals at work.

  We will focus on water harvesting and quality compost making , with the operative word being QUALITY.  Soils ain't soils, and compost can be mediocre or fantastic, it all depends on how you do it. 
 Learn all about compost tea.....taking a small amount of our quality compost and spreading the millions of beneficial life forms  over broad acres, plus explain the keys to keeping them alive and breeding.
You will  leave with a sample of fungal dominated  aerated compost  to inoculate your compost heap or worm farm. 

You will go home with our Nourishing Soil Manual which is jam packed with information: recipes and photos  of  everything covered , everything you need to do to improve your soil and  reap an ongoing  rich harvest. 
 Quality compost works! See the results of our corn experiment here

 Our ultimate goal is  to be reaching  broad acre farmers with this ecological, safe and cheap system of growing , so please spread the word as far  east as you can! Thanks to the South West Catchment Council NRM, farmers can receive a subsidy to attend . The  full price as follows:

The cost of this  catered 2.5 day intensive soil fertility course  is $314  . You may book by ringing Bee on 0897561408 ( night time best) whereupon bank details will be provided for a netbank transfer of registration cost  or by visting this page:https://www.eventbrite.com/e/soils-for-life-tickets-33881408204?aff=es2


Testimonials on our courses and produce can be found
here and here on our events page  where you can read what former students have said about this course.
We hope to see you at Soils For Life, May 20th  2017

Side by side trial.....The corn in front of Stew did not receive compost tea. The corn behind him did.

Please email  today and  register  to learn the powerful secrets of soil :  beewinfield@westnet.com.au 

Time to get the winter garden up and growing.

We just finished the Nannup Music Fest where we had a full on curry and smoothie stall, and what a great time it was.Caught up with lots of friends, flapped our gums for Steve Marsh, made some new friends and caught some wonderful talent on stage, was so nice to swing in the hammock and just listen during my siesta. Do  hope that was the last of the really hot weather though! However with our first cloudy day for what seems like forever I am reminded that soon the days will be short and cold.

Autumn is the busiest time on the farm, next to spring.

Now is a good time to get stuck into the garden, clear and compost the dieseased old tomato and zucchini plants and sow a lot of seeds. Some can be sown  in trays like the brassica family ( broccoli, cauli , cabbage , kale, bokchoy) lettuce, beetroot, parsley, celery. Direct sowing of carrots, parsnips, radish, corriander, peas  and fennel and silver beet would be good also. Up and till now many seeds would not have germinated due to high temperatures.

Sown now, seedings will get a bit of size before the very short days  of winter, whereupon nothing grows and plants may even get smaller due to slugs, slaters and snails.The brassica seedlings might get hit by cabbage butterfly ( its their green caterpillar babies that do the damage) so they may need to be protected by shade cloth or bird net or something. In the hopes of rain soon I will start winter gardens with the water we have left in tanks . I will spend the water on starting plants off because by the time the rain comes it is often too cold for anything to grow. Such is climate change. So sad . It use to be that early rains would bring up heaps of self sown lettuce and brassica veg which we could transplant later as the real rain set in. Now its a matter of pumping water, thankfully by solar power on the farm. And it takes a lot of water to rehydrate extremely dry ad hydrophobic soil. Employ furrows on contour and short bursts of irrigation to fill these with water, wait for it to soak in before re-filling. This may have to go on for days if the soil is low in carbon. The more compost the better to raise the mineral level. Mature compost , or humus, soaks up and holds  vast amounts of water .

 We will be trying to find time to  "dry seed" ( plant in dry soil ) oats, barley, wheat, lupins broad beans and flax in the coming weeks, because when the rain finally comes there is too much to plant all at once. 

Its a good time to make compost. About now  I like to clean the deep litter out of the chook houses  and get a BIG deep layer of new saw dust ,bamboo leaves, wood  chips and shavings into their houses and pens  which will last till next autumn.

Autumn is the time to load up the wood shed with dry wood and sticks for winter fires. Also we must collect and package and label the many seeds currently out there in the garden.
There are many fruits to pick and preserve about now: golden queen peaches, sugar plums, figs, apples , pears, perssimons, grapes,  limes and quinces.

Its last days for sun drying figs, grapes and prunes. Really why would we ever  need to buy sugar?  Have you tried a fig smoothie? Delicious , and a chocolate fig smoothie is extra nice. 

We put sheets of glass over these to keep dew off.

May you have a lovely Autumn with friends and family XXX Bee

Formidable Vegetable Sounds

Hi All,
Howz about you come on down to Nannup this long weekend for a funky good time? Been viewing the huge  line up of artists and Im so excited that not only my mate Ollie and his fabulous West African precussion band  TooBaBoo  will be playing but Charlie McGee and his formidable vegetable sound system will be performing on Saturday and Sunday. Permaculture is a  passion of both these bands.  Charlie  is busy  taking it to the world lately.   We will be cooking up some delicious curries from local grass fed beef  in the main concert venue down by the river. Would love to see you  down here in the forest this Friday and all weekend. Cheers, Bee
FORMIDABLE VEGETABLE

After packed dancefloors at Woodford and Glastonbury Festivals, Formidable Vegetable Sound System has returned home as the world’s most successful experiment in ecological electroswing ukulele. With energetic vintage-style live mashups of speakeasy electroswing-style wonk, glitch-ukulele quirk and horns, this high-energy, garden-obsessed group’s sole aim is to pound simple solutions for sustainability deep into your consciousness without requiring you to get dreadlocks or tiedie your shirt.

From an unexpected first show on the main stage at Eclipse2012 Festival in Australia, Formidable Vegetable Sound System (from Fremantle, Western Australia) has since chalked up an impressive backlog of shows including performances at Glastonbury Festival (UK), Shambhala (Canada), Symbiosis (USA), Rainbow Serpent (Australia) and Woodford Folk Festival (Australia).

“Spearheading a global cultural movement” – Harry Angus, The Cat Empire

Formidable Vegetable Sound System has performed alongside such legendary favourites as Fat Freddy’s Drop, The Dap Kings, JPOD, Spoonbill, Thom Yorke and The Rolling Stones (actually!)

A Taste of Permaculture tour

A taste of permaculture tour  Sun October 17th   2014

from 10 am  to 3.30 pm.  

Join Stew and Bee on Merri Bee Organic Farm,Sunday October 17th 2014 for an introduction to Permaculture . We will learn the principals of permaculture which make for a resilient comfortable life which cares for Earth and people. We will  take a wander through food forests, some 25 years old, visiting many friendly farm animals along the way. On this extensive guided tour you will see more than 90 different mature species of plants that provide fodder, fruit, timber, nuts craft materials or bee forage. Admire the happily grazing free range pigs, sheep, cows and ducks and marvel at the developing bamboo collection. See how nutrients are recycled in this thriving eco system. We may see a chick hatching or a lamb being born if we are very lucky.

Stewart and Bee have  provided most of their own meat, vegetables, fruit, nuts, herbs, condiments, bread and dairy produce for over 25 years and are keen to share permaculture design principals which have really worked with you. We decided years ago to withdraw our support from multinational agribusiness / pharmaceutical corporations by simply refusing to eat their GMOs, pesticides, food additives, nanno particles, hormones, irradiation, antibiotics , heavy metals ect. Industrial food corporations are serving these up to most of us every day adding huge toxic loads to our air, water and soil . But it doesn't have to be that way. Taste the forgotten flavours of compost grown fruit, nutrient dense veges and animal products. We find children really appreciate real food. 

See the passive solar human and animal housing, intensive gardens, nursery, /general plant propagation areas, poultry sheds and runs, compost production, worm farm, wicking bed, swales, mature rare fruit and nut trees, raspberries, wood lots and  lots more. Bring appropriate footwear and clothing for steep hiking in the fresh air of Nannup. Cost $75 .00 per adult and $15.00 per child, which includes lunch and teas   . Please note you are responsible for your childrens saftey on the farm but we will take all care as well. This workshop will assist those looking for  a property. 
We will focus on assessing a block's  potential for permaculture and  the principals of design.  Please email beewinfield@westnet.com.au  after  booking  your spot instructions  here . We look forward to meeting you .

Cheers, Bee

Marsh versus Baxter - GM contamination on trial

Stewart looked after the farm so I could be at the Perth Supreme court  to watch the first day of proceedings in the Marsh versus Baxter case on February 10th. I was interviewed by the BBC in London the following day, so the eyes of the world are definitely on Western Australia right now. This is a landmark case - the first time in the world a farmer has sued someone for loss of earnings due to GM contamination. It is a David and Goliath battle which challenges the farming regime brought about by corporate giant Monsanto.
We heard that Baxter (the defendent)  planted traditional canola in 4 paddocks in the middle of his farm (these were harvested by header) and GM canola in 2 paddocks adjoining Marsh farm. This crop was swathed, in what seems like a deliberate attempt to contaminate. As these allegations of negligence emerged Mr Marsh's barrister highlighted that Mr Baxter had  failed in his duty of care towards his neighbour. Hopefully this sends a message to farmers around the world . Hopefully freedom of choice for farmers and consumers will prevail.  If Monsanto have their way, there will be a greater tolerance for GM material in non-GM and organic crops. But consumers have spoken loud and clear that they want a choice to avoid GM food. Australian organic standards have a zero tolerance for GM. So does the ACCC (Australian competition and consumer commission) who insist that any food labelled as GM free is 100% FREE of GMOs. More than 98% of GM crops hide unlabelled in processed foods and livestock food. 
So how do you avoid GM food? Don't buy processed food or animal products unless they are certified organic or you personally  know the grower/maker as knowledgeable and dedicated to GM free food . Look for Non GM or GM free  labels. 
  Monsanto's takeover of seeds and the food supply is going on very much under the radar of most people as the major news outlets do not report it.

The result of this case will impact on every one of us who eats. It will affect the diet and therefore the health of our pets and livestock .The entire continent of Canada was contaminated with GM canola within 2 years of it being introduced, but  IMAGINE being a farmer who has  no choice of what to grow.   Canadians had to plant patented seeds belonging to Monsanto, there were no other varieties available. Here in WA last year , farmers were offered the "buy 2 and get the 3rd bag free" deal for canola seed ( which was GM but that was only mentioned in jargon in the fine print). There was great support for Marsh over the weekend and again at the court.People came out to say “ I want to eat natural food” like never before. They do not trust the safety claims of regulators who have previous employees of the biotech industry as their chiefs. Polls in Australia indicate that the vast majority of people want GM FREE food,   however proponents of this novel crop tell us that we can't expect a GM free diet, that it is impossible because "Nature doesn’t work that way" . Strange coming from genetic engineers who have no respect for (and no wish to know)  how nature works. In the incisive words of Janet Grogan " If Steve loses his case, food that consumers are demanding will be forcibly replaced" ..Health  ramifications are already huge. , we know 15 times more herbicide is used on these Round Up ready crops. We know from the Seralini studies that this an extremely potent biocide. Unbelievably, the recognised ‘safe limit’ for Round Up has actually been raised to accommodate the increased Round Up residues on GM foods. The dangers of Round Up are largely minimized and/or under-reported but in fact this herbicide is linked to  24 diseases.  Glyphosate disrupts our hormones and induces cancer , infertility, and birth defects .