It has been great to get to know Phil from Moonacres Farm over the last couple of weeks. Formerly working in finance, Phil began farming here at Fitzroy Falls in 2007, and what he has set up, and the certified organic produce he is growing – is very impressive.
It’s a big setup – 100 metre long rows, lovely big orchards, paddocks of pumpkins and sheds full of lots of big equipment – makes my setup look quite puny really! I was quick to point out to Phil that I was still on my “L” plates with my growing efforts, at which he was just as quick to retort that he was too. That was encouraging.
In fact, as Phil described the evolution of his learning about how to best grow different crops, I felt that my journey – albeit on a micro scale – was not too dissimilar. In fact, I know now you never finish learning how to grow anything well. Not only does every individual geographic site offer different challenges, but so does every season, every batch of seed, and every nudge of intuition that says to try ‘this’ or ‘that’.
It’s rained all night again. We have had soooo much rain since February. This has taught us which areas of our paddock drain well, and which areas a drenching downpour will prevent us from moving on for weeks to come. While we’re busy learning, it has been great to be able to offer our Jamberoo Pub markets customers supplementary, certified organic – jumping out of its skin with life – produce from Moonacres.
As we are busy setting up our Jamberoo stall each Saturday morning, Bill arrives to buy his kale, and other greens to juice. Yesterday he was telling me how until a couple of years ago, he was taking an enormous amount of medication for arthritis and other ills, but seeing the documentary film Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead, prompted him to drastically alter his diet. Raw vegies and green juices feature daily on his menu now, and he takes no medication, and says he has never been healthier. See, we all should never stop learning how to grow.













![IMG_2297[1]](http://localfeast.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/IMG_22971.jpg)
![Dinner plate toadstool IMG_2391[1]](http://localfeast.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/IMG_23911.jpg)
![Fairy toadstool IMG_2322[1]_opt](http://localfeast.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/IMG_23221_opt.jpg)























