Garden visit to Misty Haven

A happy group of gardeners turned up to Stuart and Emily’s Seedsavers hosting this month. Good, soaking rain had fallen and in one day the smoky, dry season shifted into a new La Niña wet summer.

Stuart and Emily were especially happy because their jaboticaba tree was bearing a massive crop. They took us straight to it, we had a quick fruit pig-out, and then went over the rest of the 10-acre property.

The block is split down the middle by a moderately sloped ridge, with steep flanks. Soil here is mostly poor, shallow shale, with some odd spots lower down with the better deep, red clay loams. The land was once entirely clear and in twenty-five years, Stuart and Emily have planted hundreds of trees and thousands of other plants, for food or ornament.

There are extensive vegie gardens - netted, fenced and irrigated, which at full capacity will easily oversupply a family of seven. There is a large home orchard plus an extra fifty pecan trees and a bonus blueberry tunnel. They originally planted three hundred olive trees, but the crops consistently failed and were replaced.

Water is stored in diverse ways, including several large rainwater tanks, a high dam, a lower spring fed dam (which never runs dry) and many small garden ponds.

Gardeners are happy with good rain and even happier with good food, and there was plenty of it. Emily laid on an extraordinary spread, washed down with jaboticaba wine and ginger tea, and bulked up with notable contributions from Omshree, Shunyam, Jeff H and others. Thanks to all contributors, thanks especially to Emily and Stuart for an awesome day on an amazing farm and thanks to Jeff A. and Leela who organised the day, but gifted their spots to others on this limited numbers event.