The Mulloon Institute
“following nature – for the benefit of future generations”

Course & Event Details

What's Coming up...

Small Farm - Land Planning

When:  10,11,17,18 March, 2012, 10:00am - 4:00pm
 Where: Braidwood, Gunning & Bungendore (4 farms over 4 days)

Target Audience: Small Farm holders

Do you have a typical southern tablelands property: dry, shallow soil and plenty of thistles with erosion gullies and wind howling through?

This four day course is designed to give small landholders the tools to create a diverse, productive, re-hydrated and ecologically enhanced landscape in these very conditions. We’ll walk the landscape with the experienced owners of four very successful properties who have done just that, and learn the design science that will integrate and enhance both production and ecology for your land and your goals.

You will learn:

  • How to plan for and manage a rotational grazing system to enhance soil and pasture quality and animal health
  • Design of shelterbelts for protection of stock and improving pasture
  • The planning and planting of tree fodder species, to provide high protein supplements and drought fodder for cattle, sheep, goats and alpacas
  • Selection of tree crops that thrive in the Southern Tablelands conditions
  • How to increase your plant palette through clever design
  • Highly successful methods of tree establishment
  • Small-scale earthworks for slowing and infiltrating overland flow for the benefit of valuable tree crops
  • The creation of wetlands for landscape hydration and aquatic habitat
  • Low risk and human-scale approaches for erosion gully repair

Visit three of the best small farms in our area, and then learn the design science to tailor the successful elements to your land and your goals.

Register
Now

How to Register

The course fee is $880 per person, or $660 per person for multiple attendees from a single family. The includes morning and afternoon tea, lunch and workshop notes. All prices are GST inclusive.

About the Instructors

Martin Royds is from a long-time farming family, and is considered a leader in the field of biological agriculture. Drawing on the work of various pioneers, along with his own insights from several decades of farming, Martin has moved from an unprofitable conventional grazing approach to one that is profitable, resilient and ecologically enhanced.

As John Weatherstone looked out over his drought-ravaged property on a grim Christmas eve back in 1982, he realized the way he managed his land needed to change. And so it was that Lyndfield Park, a typical sheep farm in the NSW southern tablelands, began a long and sometimes lonely path towards a more sustainable future – a future based on trees and native vegetation, healthy soil and biodiversity. Lyndfield Park no longer grazes sheep but it’s still a commercial farm in every sense of the word. However, because John has invested in the natural health of the property, Lyndfield Park is now more productive, better protected from climatic extremes, a nicer place to live and work, and worth considerably more as an asset.

Peter & Kate Marshall have taken an eroded and degraded piece of old dairy country and turned it into a hydrated and forested landscape brimming with wetlands and wildlife. Browsing animals are an important part of the system, with trees designed to utilise the now drought-proof landscape for the benefit of stock. What they have accomplished with minimal labour and a minimal budget is truly inspiring.

Cam Wilson is an experienced permaculture teacher and designer who has worked in Asia, the Pacific and across Australia, and has now settled with his family at Mulloon Creek Natural Farms, designing and managing the Land Projects which include erosion repair, land rehydration, and the planting of thousands of trees for fodder, timber and crops. Cam offers experience and practical know-how of the design process behind integrating and maximising the efficiencies of the various elements of a successful farm, from building and hydrating soil to diversifying productivity for greater resilience.