On Sunday 13th November we
visited our friend Charlies' beautiful tropical gardens and home
in Thora.
It is highly productive garden and Charlie very comfortably lives of
this land. His daughter sells a lot of his produce (turmeric, ginger,
nuts, fruit) at the markets in Newcastle to provide nourishment to the
city people and to generate income.
Charlie and Karin were fantastic hosts on this very warm
summers day. Charlie has lived here since the seventies and raised his
family here. His children have grown up and flown the coop, but his
garden and his impressive collections of productive and ornamental trees
and plants have kept on growing and keep on feeding his extended
family.
Charlie has created a series of
garden rooms and continues to expand. He uses permaculture and
biodynamic principles and does most of the work by hand. While walking
us through the garden he talked us through what tasks he was going to do
in the next few days… and it was a list so long that less driven and
enthusiastic people would take at least a month to get anywhere close.
It was an inspiring day in an inspiring garden.
We drank many cups of
tea and ate healthy and delicious food, as always we swapped plant
material and seeds and a lot of good growing advice. A great day, thank
you Charlie and Karin!
Report by Erik
