Workshops

One day workshops – first Sunday every month

Food forest workshop with Tom Kendall

One day workshops run on the first Sunday of the month, taught by Tom Kendall. All workshops include a theoretical and a practical component. Workshops run from 9.30am – 4.30pm. BYO lunch, morning and afternoon tea will be provided from the property.
$95 per workshop.

Tom Kendall has over 40 years farming experience. In those years he has turned around a conventional 7000 acre broad acre farm in Western Australia with biodynamic techniques and a 34 acre ex-banana farm in sub-tropical Queensland with Permaculture techniques. The soil on both properties had become highly degraded through years of mis-management. Tom managed to turn both around into highly productive, fertile properties.
Due to Tom being away early July, the Biogas workshop will now run the first Sunday in August.

Workshop 5 August: Biogas

Everyone can make their own gas from organic materials like manure and kitchen scraps. Tom will show you the design of our biogas bio-digester here at Maungaraeeda and explain the principles behind it. He will also take you through the processes put into place to further compost the effluent coming out of the bio-digester, show you how we “feed” the bio-digester every day and go through plans for large and small bio-digesters to suit where you live.

Workshop 2 September: Composting methods

This one day workshop will run you through a variety of cold and hot composting, composting with the aid of biological resources, short term composts and longer term composts. Tom will show the composting systems on the property, humanure compost, chicken compost, bio-digester compost and much more. You will also make an 18 day hot compost on the day. The theory behind compost will be explained as well as the composition of a successful compost.

Workshop 7 October: Sustainable property management and Self Sufficiency

Tom will show you ways to run your property sustainably without large cash injections. He will explain methods of setting up your property on a low budget and how to become self sufficient. Tom will touch on methods of animal and plant management, water, energy and soil management to improve your productivity.

Workshop 4 November: Soil management and improvement

Tom has worked with a number of properties with extremely difficult soil, and was able to improve soil quality significantly in all instances. He will explain about soil and soil structures and methods of improving and building soil. Composting, compost teas, inoculants, ferments, natural pest controls and the reasons behind pests and much more.

Workshop 2 December: Swales, earthworks and water management

Water management is an extremely important area, especially in drier countries. Erosion can happen anywhere though, and proper water management can prevent and even fix erosion issues. Swales are a common Permaculture method of water management. The swale principle will be explained in detail and you will see many practical applications on the property. You will also see the construction of a swale in action, and management of exposed soil post earthworks will be discussed and shown.

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