When Marcelle and Carl decided to embrace sustainable living, they bought the family farm where Marcelle had grown up and set about showing their kids “the good life”: producing and preserving their own fruit, vegetables, eggs and meat.

The area is very windswept and the ornamental borders favour hardy succulents and perennials that can handle the harsh conditions. Most of the flowers are there to feed their bees.

Productive fruit trees include avocadoes, apples citrus, stonefruit, a hedge of macadamias, and pistachios. In hindsight she thinks espaliering the trees would have made them easier to net and manage.

The vegie beds are laid out in large squares and Marcelle says if she was doing it again she would make them long and thin, for easier access. Marcelle used to try

The chooks are excellent for their personalities as well as manure, weed control and egg production. There are also alpaca, sheep, cattle, guinea fowl and ducks.

Marcelle is dedicated to the process, but also refreshingly honest about the work it takes and the lessons they have learned: “Truly if it wasn’t for the kids, we wouldn’t have done it, it is lots of work. But there is nothing quite like knowing where your food comes from.”

Featured Plants:
Capsicum ‘Mini Sweet’ (Capsicum annuum cv.)
Juniper (Juniperus communis)

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