Home

Menu

bff_slide1

Welcome to

Black Barn Farm

A biodiverse orchard, nursery & learning space.
Join us on the journey of regerenative orcharding, living simply,
following the seasons & beating to the drum of our small town.

bff_slide3

High-Quality

Products

The Black Barn Farm Shop is a collection of practical, beautiful and edible
items that reflect what we use, what we’ve grown and what we’ve created.

Visit Our Online Shop

bff_slide4

Book Pre-Order

Futuresteading

Futuresteading is a practical and inspirational guide to living in a way that values tomorrow:
a slower, simpler, steadier existence that is healthier for you, your home, and the environment.

Click Here To Pre Order

Hello and Welcome to

Black Barn Farm!

Black Barn Farm

A Quick Introduction

Black Barn Farm Updates

Our Instagram Feed

ENOUGH...what's your 'enough'? Light and warmth in

ENOUGH...what's your 'enough'?
Light and warmth in the place I call home has trumped big and swish for us.

I've talked about this before but while I'm sharing the before/during/after shots and actively celebrating our progress over the last six years here's a little commentary on the evolution of our old cold (and dark) house. When we bought it we had grand ideas for a big, new, fancy lounge/living/kitchen space on the north side of the house. We drew up plans, did a budget and were set to begin but couldn't find a builder (thankfully). A year ticked past, then two, I dreaded winter and I really struggled with lack of light. We didn't love our home as it was but we began to recalibrate what we wanted based on core needs and What we could actually afford (not what the bank was willing to lend us). We realised that we wanted home based lives with a small house that was warm and light more than we wanted a mortgage and a big, bold breathtaking new extension that meant both working off farm full time for longer. We redrew plans, quartered the price, used salvaged windows, beams and floor boards, painted it ourselves and settled happily with the compromises. We now have a sun drenched space that's easy to heat and clean, gives us views of the paddock that we've never had from the kitchen and we didn't have to borrow for it because we saved and progressed as we had the cash.

Good things take time x

INTENTIONALLY Going slow! Still on the theme that

INTENTIONALLY Going slow!
Still on the theme that good things take time are some more before and after images of our kitchen garden. This was actually our very first project when we first arrived six years ago. Having left a kitchen garden with an acre of food production and an ability to feed my family I deeply grieved the spaces I'd created from scratch and arriving to a property without a single edible plant or garden bed we prioritised the kitchen garden as much for my mental health as for the feasting rewards it offered. The area directly at our back door was a highly compacted gravel driveway but it is sun drenched and about 35m x 35m so it was the perfect location to set up the garden. We created raised beds using milled red gum, built fences from sticks we found in the bush and wire we salvaged from paddock fences and spent 5 years growing back to back green manure crops and adding compost and mulch. Today this space is used more than any other and it feeds not only the five of us but also wwoofers throughout the year. One big bed has been dedicated to perennials and one is now entirely overrun by mint and lemon balm but the rest are annuals. Even as late as last year there were still unproductive patches but with constant broad forking and work, it's now a thriving space.

Despite it being our earliest project, it's STILL evolving and improving. Good things take time

Good things are slow! I'm hoping you'll humor me

Good things are slow!

I'm hoping you'll humor me this week as I actively take time to reflect on the last six years of work to create our internationally slow futuresteading and u pick farm.
We always knew the start up phase would be about 10 years but secretly my impatient self thought it would happen faster... in some ways I was right but in some ways I was wrong. While we hit the ground running with our workshops, veggie garden and chicken set up, or orchard, berries and black barn have been much slower. Amazingly though, we took the advice you not hold our breath and instead just kept going one day at a time.

I've hunted out some pics from when we first arrived and I'll share them this week. Hope it eases other people's impatience and spurs you on to just keep going xx

Rhubarb season. Tucked away at one end of our kit

Rhubarb season.
Tucked away at one end of our kitchen garden is our perennial bed. In a climate with such a short growing season, this bed is our favorite because it pushes through its winter bed of straw and feeds us months ahead of our annual crops. Rhubarb is one of the first to make it to the table and right now it's making our morning porridge just that much better.
Asparagus is just beginning too...

What are your really crops?

Seasonal Shelf Share! So many beautiful books to g

Seasonal Shelf Share!
So many beautiful books to get enthralled by that I almost need to move this sharing exercise to monthly not seasonally.
On my shelf at the moment:

1. Low tox life - food by @_alexxstuart . This is her follow up book to @lowtoxlife and it's focus on food growing, production methods, supply chains, waste minimising and cooking which speaks to my every cell. It's fresh, easily absorbed and practical. You should be super proud of this nuggety gem Alexx x

2. The good life by Hannah Maloney @goodlife_permaculture. I feel like this book is my books sister companion as they nestle perfectly together and look at life through the same lens but share different knowledge and build slightly different skills. She writes the way she speaks so if you love her 'how to' vids then you'll love this.

3. Egg of the universe by Bryony and Harry lancaster @eggoftheuniverse. If you love yoga and you love wholefoods then this just might be your new bible. I've found it a nourishing gentle and inspiring read which is filled with beautiful simple whole food recipes and I've made room for it to have a permanent spot on my frequently used kitchen shelf.

4. Everything I love to cook by @chefneilperry . How aptly named this book is. It is a tome of pure brilliance and it's not just quantity, it's quality too. From explanations about how to season correctly right through the pregnantly full chapters on meat, seafood, veg and dessert. The pics are beautiful and the recipes are suited to everyone who eats not just gourmet foodies

Of course my book is still in the pile because while the media interviews have slowed, the events are gearing up again so this tattered dog eared copy is my constant companion for the odd quote or recipe reference.

I'm at @ardor.albury on Saturday for an intimate 'in conversation' if you'd like to spend an afternoon chatting about how futuresteading might look in your life xx

SPRING DAYS. You know those quintessential spring

SPRING DAYS.
You know those quintessential spring days! Sunshine, eggs, newly grafted tree planting, potting up of nursery trees, pricking out tomatoes seedlings and revelling in the outside.

Happy Friday y'all hope you managed some sun on your back and hands in the dirt too.

We have a roof!!! Foundation stone work will be f

We have a roof!!!
Foundation stone work will be finished next week when the scaffolding goes and the insulation, internal lining, electrics and doors/windows are the week after. We're on track for the building to be completed by the beginning of November and the landscaping can begin. I've been multiplying cuttings for the last two years and am ready to empty the hoop house out into the surroundings of this lovely post and beam lady. There's plans for more stick fencing, a dedicated nursery area, more kitchen gardens, and a bridge timber pergola all tucked inside espalier and stone walls.
It's been a six year dream to create this space, council still think we're going to live in it as they can't beleive we'd go to all this effort for a farm gate and u-pick but they've got it all wrong... in just a few months this space will be open to the public and will be used for our workshops, schools programs, farm gate and nursery... is it so strange to create a beautiful space.

This guys mug doesn't appear on these squares all

Yesterday we FEASTED. Not only on the incredible f

Yesterday we FEASTED. Not only on the incredible food by @dumuweekends but on the juicy concept of collaboration, community, multi generational knowledge, tears of vulnerability and solidarity and belly laughs. We remembered the fires, celebrated the spring and committed to being awake through observation and intentionally slow living. It felt good... really good... to be in the company of amazing humans in the gorgeous alpine village of bright where the perfect collaboration between @dumu_balcony_cafe and @brightfoodco hosted a futuresteading morning tea and lunch gathering. It filled our cups. Thanks so much! X

We got babies happenin'! Squigs this week, chics

We got babies happenin'!

Squigs this week, chics next week and goslings after that. Oh spring!!

Off to the drying rack. This smiling burst of but

Off to the drying rack.
This smiling burst of butter yellow is planted in our hoop house as a companion plant but we dry the blooms to use in tea and oil. Calendula is a soothing and calming anti inflammatory used topically or ingested. This is the first batch in preparation for our 'black barn brews' range which will fill the shelves in our farm gate come January.
Happy place!

The daily loaf! It's a habit that's been enhanced

The daily loaf!
It's a habit that's been enhanced by the magic fingers of @nu.yoga.space who is living and wwoofing with us at the moment. It'll be a sorry day when she leaves and we revert to the loaves I turn out... but I'm excited to have learnt a thing or two and am looking forward to embedding a tweak or two into my technique. FIngers crossed the trend continues with a high rise daily loaf....it smells incredible.

The lure of sunshine is so flakey in spring. One

The lure of sunshine is so flakey in spring. One day it beams at you and the next it's pouring with rain, drowning your tulips and washing away the blossom. It's the season for being led by what's presented and making the most of the windows that appear. Yesterday we mulched with warmth on our back and straw in our socks today we head indoors to graft by the fire in the shed

Sunflowers, pumpkin, zinnia, watermelon and corn

Sunflowers, pumpkin, zinnia, watermelon and corn. All getting planted right now en masse in the orchard rows between the apple trees so come late summer they'll be ready for picking by visitors to the farm. Our black barn will be finished, the boys dough bro stand will be firing again and autumn days will be the stuff of memory making goodness.... providing we can all move around again?! We're planting seeds assuming things will have found a new balance and can't wait to open our farm gate for visitors.

Hangin in the hoop house! We are asked about our

Hangin in the hoop house!
We are asked about our hoophouse more than just about any other thing. It's definitely not a must have for everyone but in order to grow as much food as we need and with such a short window to grow it's a definite must have for us. We bought it second hand for $1800 & it took us 2 years to get it up + another two years of green manure crops before she was flying. It extends our growing season from 5 months to 9 months and is both a propagation and production space. It's 30 metres x 7 metres with 3 x 25 metre beds at the back and 5 metres worth of shelving at the front for seed raising. We rotate crops seasonally and alternate green manure crops each year (there's one in here on the lhs at the moment). We've used old honey drums painted black and filled with water along one side for thermal mass and the walls can be raised up and down depending on temp desire.
It's located near our chook pens so we can clean out the deep litter and use in the hoophouse easily. All the beds are set up with an automatic dripper and there's a pull out hose at one end for top up watering.
She's a beauty!

Spring stills. Time to wake up...

Spring stills. Time to wake up...

And the winner is.... @littlepaddockfarmhouse + he

And the winner is.... @littlepaddockfarmhouse + her friend @gillianbellcake

What a HUGE response you legends! Thanks so much for your support folks, it seems the book is still selling like hot cakes and really soon it'll be available in the UK, USA and Germany... what a wild wild this is! Thanks for joining me on this futuresteading jaunt 💋

SATURDAY SPRING GIVEAWAY It's sunny and showery

SATURDAY SPRING GIVEAWAY

It's sunny and showery all at once today and our first wwoofers for the season are due to arrive so I'm filling vases of spring flowers in their little loft and moving boxes of books feeling cheery. I thought it might be fun to share a little cheer with you.

I'm giving away TWO books today to both you AND a friend who you think will love it. I will post to anywhere in the world!

Its simple to enter:
1. Like this page + the @futuresteading page
2. Tag a friend who must like this page too
3. Enter as many times as you like by tagging seperate friends in seperate comments

I will select a winner at random on Monday 20th at midday.

BONUS ENTRY: if you already have the book and write a review below, I'll add your name to the draw x 5 more times

Happy spring x

Barn build update With all the boards now burnt,

Barn build update
With all the boards now burnt, the external walls are almost up and today the roofing materials arrive. The electrics have been roughed in with decisions made a little on the fly which is hard to imagine given the years this has been in progress. We've been lucky to have glorious weather this week so progress is steady. We will oil the external cladding next week, finish the external lighting and begin on the insulation and internal lining...

Such a beautiful time of year! These soft pink co

Such a beautiful time of year!
These soft pink colors of the awakening offer a reward for managing months of hibernation and nod their approval to derobe, dust off, let the fire die out and get outside from dawn till dusk.
On Saturday we celebrated the joy of having no fire lit in the house during the day (it's the first since the 10th of May), it won't be the new reality every day but at least the phase out has begun.
What marks the awakening for you?

Load More… Follow on Instagram

X