Courses, workshops and field days are a very important part of what we do at Purple Pear Farm.
This weekend gives a snapshot of the Permaculture Design Course (PDC) and is a valuable launch pad for family sustainability.
You are introduced to the principles, ethics and techniques of permaculture and sustainable design for gardens, farms, homes and units and waste reuse. We inspect appropriately designed structures and growing systems on Purple Pear Farm and solve some design challenges.
Participants will create a group design and implement it as an element of the food forest at Purple Pear Farm.
This hands-on workshop will give practical instruction in aspects of canning and preserving techniques. We will look at drying and fermentation as well.
The weekend course will take participants through setting up and running a Mandala garden. The Purple Pear Farm Mandala garden was inspired by Linda Woodrow and her book The Permaculture Home Garden and serves to produce food for our Community Supported Agriculture scheme. It is adaptable to almost any situation and any scale of production from horticulture to backyard gardens.
A weekend of practical instruction in biodynamics. The farmer and the gardener will benefit from this course that looks at the process of biological enhancement introduced by Rudolf Steiner.
Participants will learn about the Horn Manure preparation (BD500) and Horn Silica preparation (BD501) as well as the compost preparations and practices used in biodynamics. We will build a cow pat pit or ‘Barrel Compost’ and will look at tree paste and fungal control too. Reading the Astro calendar is a popular part of this course.
This course will take you back to the Garden of Eden and the creation of life to bring the greatest of soil building practices to our gardens and farms. Successful compost creation relies on the ingredients and the method just as it does in making a cake.
We will give you the recipe for great compost on this full day course that shares a session on theory with practical exercises.
Growing plants from seed is rewarding, but a lack of success can be frustrating.
At Purple Pear Farm we raise our seedlings for the Community Supported Agriculture garden and will show you the things you need to do to successfully raise your own food and flowers from scratch. The course includes an introduction to moon planting.
This short course aims to give participants the skills to successfully keep compost worms. The ability of worms to recycle household waste into perfect plant food without any real fuss makes this a worthwhile endeavour for any urban setting.
We look at housing and feeding worms, how to use worm castings and worm tea in food production.
Learn about sourdough starters and processes of establishing the ‘mother’ plant that are crucial to making sourdough and other products using the sourdough method. Take home sourdough bread recipes and practice hands on bread making techniques of mixing, hand moulding and shaping.
A practical workshop on making cheese and yoghurt in your kitchen without fancy equipment.
Participants will share in the making of a hard cheese such as a Colby, a simple cheese such as Panir and a whey Ricotta from the whey of the hard cheese. We will talk about other cheeses and make yoghurt.
If you are interested in food gardening and you enjoy meeting others who do too, then you are going to love the monthly farm tour. We look at permaculture, organic growing, biodynamics, community supported agriculture, farm animals, sustainable energy, holistic farm management, water management, fruit and nut trees, mandala gardening and more.
We do this tour with emphasis on aspects most interesting to the group on the day.
Tours can still go ahead if it is raining. Please ensure you have appropriate outdoor clothing, gumboots and raincoats for wet weather and closed toe shoes, sunscreen and sun hats for hot weather.
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