A Sense of Humus

Term 4 excursions:

The class recently enjoyed their final two excursions for the year. They visited our College EAL, Hussam Saraf’s, garden where he showed them the huge variety of fruits and vegetable trees, bushes and seedlings, including many varieties of native Australian fruits and loads of different varieties of strawberries. Hussam also showed the students how to graft a branch from one tree onto another – he made it look so easy!

The following week the class visited the property of the Sutherland family at Cosgrove, to see how the landscape has changed in the three years since they have been farming regeneratively. The hosts, Monica and Chelsea, showed us their permaculture swales built along the contour of their hill to catch the water and prevent soil erosion, the multi-species cover crop, pollinator crop full of bees, butterflies and birds, Chelsea’s native tree nursery, the organic olive grove, various experiment areas where adding topsoil through hay deposits to grow veggies, were in full swing. We studied the soil tests of the native pasture, regenerative crop and wheat monoculture, noting significant differences in soil health between the three. A great morning out!!

Charlotte Drinnan

Teacher - A Sense of Humus