Purple Pear Farm

Purple Pear Farm is run by a lovely couple, Kate and Mark, who Shawn had met during his 2010 internship. He had stayed in touch with Mark on Facebook. The farm was not currently accepting WWOOFers, but because they knew Shawn, and we were willing to camp, we were welcomed. We arrived on Wednesday afternoon, May 2, and were directed to a lovely little meadow to set up our tent.

Home at Purple Pear 

The 'normal' arrangement when WWOOFing is that you do whatever farm work is needed, in exchange for meals and lodging. In Australia, that often includes morning and afternoon tea, in addition to the regular 3 meals. In that way, Purple Pear was similar to Zaytuna, but that's about where the similarities end. Purple Pear is a working farm first, and a teaching facility second. The bulk of the daily work as well as steady income, comes from CSA (community supported agriculture) boxes that subscribers receive weekly. All of the produce is raised on the farm's Mandala beds, a series of  35 (I think) round garden beds interspersed with winding walking paths. There is hardly a straight line to be found in the garden, but it does not have a feeling of chaos; rather it is an amazingly beautiful and peaceful place.

Not the best pic of the mandala garden

Our first days' work was not to be in the Mandalas, however. Sunday May 6 was International Permaculture Day and would be a day of the farm being open to the public. So Shawn and I were given the task on Thursday of getting the small area beside the house, the "sub-tropical area" ready and up to snuff. This included weeding around the rocks surrounding an old banana circle that we would then replant with new banana trees, and weeding a bed near the gates that had been badly overgrown with weeds and running grasses, as well as general cleanup. It was fun to be able to work together on a small contained project, where we could figure things out with little risk of making mistakes, and easily see the results of our efforts.

banana circle

On Friday our job was to tidy up the backyard gardens. These beds had once been used for food production, but were mainly for pretty since most production had moved out to the mandalas. Though there was still an herb spiral near the kitchen door. (The herb spiral is one of my favorite garden icons.) The irregular-shaped beds were edged by bricks, and lovely glass and gravel paths wound around them. There was a chicken pen at the back (one of many distributed around the farm.) The paths, edges and beds had become overgrown, mostly with what was supposed to be there. There was a plum tree that had sent out an amazing number of suckers all over the beds, and those would need to be removed. Shawn and I again got to work together, decide how to best do things, and see our results quickly. I discovered yet another 'favorite' garden tool, the stirrup hoe. We moved plants to the bed in the tropical area, trimmed, weeded and cleaned up the beds, and I got to clean up and plant a couple new things in the herb spiral. The blisters we got today were certainly worth it.

Backyard and the pesky Plum tree

Beds and paths

Herb Spiral! 

More of the beautiful paths

Ordinarily, meals and tea were had on the veranda, dinner was usually in the dining room of Mark and Kate's house. Friday evening, however, we accompanied them to a Soup Dinner at the local Steiner School. There was a music program and dancing and many delicious homemade soups. We met some lovely people, and I learned that drinking fountains were called BUBBLERS at least in some parts of Australia! (Those of you from the WI hinterlands will understand my glee.)

Saturday was a major "get ready" day in anticipation of nobody-knew-how-many visitors. One of the tasks Shawn and I were charged with was making a sign for the main table. We had some thin plywood form a packing carton, various tools including a skill saw, and some leftover paints and brushes. We decided to make the sign in the shape of a pear, and I drew several free hand until I came up with a shape that said "pear" instead of "kidney bean" or "failed circle." Shawn did the cutting and attaching of the stand/bracing and I was in charge of the painting and lettering. It came out pretty good I think!

Sunday was the big day, and though nobody knew what to expect, things turned out well. Kate had baked goodies and made a huge pot of coffee and hot water for tea. There was also a big pot of pumpkin soup for lunch. Visitors came at a regular pace and the "self guided tour" that Mark had made (signs labeling the various permaculture features of the farm) was great. (I took it myself!) A nice highlight was a visit from a couple who had taken the PDC at Zaytuna with me-- Kirrilee and Mike. I remembered that they lived near Newcastle, and had wondered if they would come by. It was nice to see some familiar faces, and the feeling that the World was a little bit smaller was welcome.

The weekend also saw the big Super Moon, that was, due to perigee and fullness, supposed to be 30% brighter than a "regular" moon. It *was* incredibly bright-- so bright that we were able to take some pics using just the tripod and a longer exposure. Note the stars in the background!

Monday and Tuesday morning, we worked in the mandala gardens...clearing, weeding, planting, and moving one of the Chook Domes that they used to allow the chickens to prepare beds for planting. It was peaceful and pleasant work...except for getting bitten by Green Ants-- Shawn disturbed a nest of them, and they got into his pants and bit his legs. I don't know how he dealt with that, as when I got chomped by ONE< ont he palm of my hand, it felt like an ice pick was rammed through my hand for about 2 hours, I kid you not. Yikes. By late morning Tuesday my lower back was aching so much I could not finish planting our assigned bed. I retired to the tent early and we started breaking camp a little while later. Early Tuesday afternoon we left Purple Pear behind, and embarked on the second leg of our amazing journey...