Experience the sustainable farming revolution at Alison's strawberry farm, where chemical-free methods produce remarkably large, sweet berries that have transformed the local food scene.
Natural Growing Excellence
Discover how sustainable farming practices can yield extraordinary results. Alison's 3,000-plant strawberry farm in Borenore demonstrates that organic methods produce berries of exceptional size and flavor.
Her transition to chemical-free cultivation reveals how strawberry farming can thrive naturally without conventional pesticides or synthetic fertilizers. The farm's fresh strawberries have become a testament to the power of working with nature rather than against it.
Ecosystem Balance & Plant Partnerships
Alison's garden planning involves strategic companion planting throughout her strawberry fields. This natural approach has attracted beneficial insects including native blue-banded bees and yellow ladybeetles that contribute to the farm's ecological balance.
Learn the crucial tip about never planting strawberries where tomatoes have grown due to shared soil-borne diseases – vital knowledge for successful berry cultivation. Her farm demonstrates how biodiversity enhances strawberry plant care naturally.
Market Garden Success Story
Every Saturday at the East Orange Producers Market, Alison's strawberries sell out within hours. The local market has become the perfect showcase for her farm fresh produce, with customers arriving early specifically for these sustainable, naturally-grown berries.
This direct farm-to-consumer connection has created an enthusiastic community that appreciates the difference in taste and quality that comes from organic farm methods.
Innovation in Natural Cultivation
Explore Alison's experimental patches that use different growing techniques including the no-dig method and paper-and-hay mulching. These innovative approaches have yielded sweeter berries with minimal irrigation, demonstrating how sustainable farming practices continue to evolve.
Her two-year rotation system maximizes land use while maintaining soil health on her modest 60m × 200m property in Orange NSW.
Witness how natural pest control and chemical-free farming creates strawberries that customers line up for every week. Follow "The Strawberry Lady at Borenore" for more insights into this remarkable approach to growing exceptional berries.
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Want to connect with a Sitter?
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Natural Growing Excellence
Discover how sustainable farming practices can yield extraordinary results. Alison's 3,000-plant strawberry farm in Borenore demonstrates that organic methods produce berries of exceptional size and flavor.
Her transition to chemical-free cultivation reveals how strawberry farming can thrive naturally without conventional pesticides or synthetic fertilizers. The farm's fresh strawberries have become a testament to the power of working with nature rather than against it.
Ecosystem Balance & Plant Partnerships
Alison's garden planning involves strategic companion planting throughout her strawberry fields. This natural approach has attracted beneficial insects including native blue-banded bees and yellow ladybeetles that contribute to the farm's ecological balance.
Learn the crucial tip about never planting strawberries where tomatoes have grown due to shared soil-borne diseases – vital knowledge for successful berry cultivation. Her farm demonstrates how biodiversity enhances strawberry plant care naturally.
Market Garden Success Story
Every Saturday at the East Orange Producers Market, Alison's strawberries sell out within hours. The local market has become the perfect showcase for her farm fresh produce, with customers arriving early specifically for these sustainable, naturally-grown berries.
This direct farm-to-consumer connection has created an enthusiastic community that appreciates the difference in taste and quality that comes from organic farm methods.
Innovation in Natural Cultivation
Explore Alison's experimental patches that use different growing techniques including the no-dig method and paper-and-hay mulching. These innovative approaches have yielded sweeter berries with minimal irrigation, demonstrating how sustainable farming practices continue to evolve.
Her two-year rotation system maximizes land use while maintaining soil health on her modest 60m × 200m property in Orange NSW.
Witness how natural pest control and chemical-free farming creates strawberries that customers line up for every week. Follow "The Strawberry Lady at Borenore" for more insights into this remarkable approach to growing exceptional berries.
---------------------------------------------------
Follow us on
🌐 Instagram www.instagram.com/lifewithnoacnhor/
🌐 Facebook www.facebook.com/lifewithnoacnhor
🌐 X (Twitter) www.x.com/LifeWifNoAnchor
Looking to become a Housesitter or a Petsitter?
Want to connect with a Sitter?
To get *25% off* your membership on Trusted Housesitters go to https://www.trustedhousesitters.com/refer/RAF582519/?utm_source=copy-link&utm_medium=refer-a-friend&utm_campaign=refer-a-friend
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LifestyleTranscript
00:00Off they go, bags in tow, Matt and Chrissie hit the road, maps unfold, stories...
00:07G'day, it's Matt here from Couple of Sitters. Chrissie's on the camera again doing a great job
00:11and I'm out here with Alison. You've got an amazing looking strawberry patch going on here.
00:15This is a second year of plants. There's 3,000 or close to 3,000 plants in this plot.
00:20A few deaths, give or take 20 or 30. I've also got blackberries in the background over there.
00:25And where the tarps are is where I'm going to put strawberries in May.
00:28And I've got raspberries but they've had a hard time because of all the rain we had.
00:32And have them heaped up and they've drowned.
00:34So I've got a small patch over on the dam wall which I will dig up in the winter and find another location.
00:39So I'm still looking because I'm only 60 metres wide and 200 metres long.
00:43So I'm still trying to find a place that's ultimate for them to go
00:46because they need enough sun to flower and fruit but not too much western sun.
00:51Everything gets too hot if they get too much western sun.
00:53So how long have you been growing the berries for?
00:55So this would be the end of the fourth season.
00:57So the first year I had 2,000 in for two years.
01:00And then what happens is you rotate them every two years.
01:02Some people rotate them every year.
01:04But here in the cooler climate we managed to get them out for two years.
01:07So these ones will come out this year.
01:09That's a really big job.
01:10Dig out the plastic.
01:11And I'm going to try a no-dig method.
01:13I'm just gathering my materials at the moment.
01:15Thinking about my location and how I'm going to build up the beds
01:18and what I'm going to put in them and how that's going to look.
01:20And then they'll turn up in May.
01:21The plants come from Victoria as little tiny fruit stock.
01:24And then we'll pop them in the ground.
01:25And then hopefully come October, November, they'll start sprouting and get some fruit.
01:30They'll be in for another two years and this patch will get rested.
01:33And then they'll go up there.
01:34So I'm going down to 2,000 because 3,000 is about 700 too many for me to manage on my own and pick.
01:39Wow.
01:40So I've decided I'll just cut it back a bit.
01:42So I will keep a few of these at the other end which are looking really healthy.
01:45And so I'll have, I don't know, maybe 2,300 or something.
01:48It's enough for one person a couple of days a week.
01:50It keeps you more than busy.
01:51It does.
01:52So we noticed this morning when we were down at the market that you'd already cleaned out of all of your stock.
01:57Yes.
01:58The table was empty.
01:59It was.
02:00That happens every week.
02:01Yeah.
02:02So look, if you're after decent strawberries and you're in orange and you're down at the market, get there early.
02:05Yes.
02:068 o'clock we start at 8, 8 and I'm usually there by 8 or sometimes quarter past if I haven't quite got everything picked off and there's a few.
02:12Because they seem to ripen overnight.
02:13So sometimes I'll pop down here at 6.30 in the morning and pick another row or just run up and down and pick anything else that's ripe.
02:19So that then maybe I'll have an extra half a kilo and someone who's desperate for some would come in and get some.
02:24But the market has been fabulous.
02:25It's a fabulous place to get fresh fruit and vegetables.
02:28And it's been, I've been going since November 22 when it started.
02:31People are coming in now and doing their groceries, which is the most amazing feeling.
02:34Because people bring their grocery bags, they buy their fruit and vegetables.
02:38They come in with intent to leave with some great fresh fruit and vegetables.
02:41And it's every Saturday which makes it easy for them to fit into their schedule and develop a routine around.
02:46Yes.
02:47It's a brilliant little setup.
02:48And so they can still do kids' sport because we're open from 8 till 1.
02:51Except the strawberries won't usually be there March past 10, 30.
02:54No, no.
02:55Even if I have 25 kilos, they're still gone really fast.
02:58That's great.
02:59It's really testament to the fact that you've got some great fruit.
03:02Yes.
03:03It works really well.
03:04The vibe is great.
03:05And there's some beautiful people coming in and sharing what they've done with them or how they've stored them.
03:09Some people ask me what to do with their own strawberries.
03:11So we just have a bit of a chat and then they come back and go, oh my gosh, they're flowering.
03:15They just needed a water.
03:16There you go.
03:17So not only are you giving great fruit, you're giving great advice as well.
03:20Well, it's sort of direction.
03:22We won't go with advice.
03:23We'll just say it's direction.
03:25This year, previously we've been spraying with the general fertilisers, insecticides,
03:33pesticides that most strawberry farmers use.
03:37In October last year, I decided that I would try this year without.
03:40I actually haven't used any insecticide on this property, on these strawberries this year, this season.
03:45They've had organic fertiliser through banana skins, worm castings.
03:50I'm just trying anything.
03:51The learning curve is rather steep.
03:52But look, they're still alive.
03:53So I figured if they're still alive since October with I'm trying all this and they still taste good, it's a really good journey.
03:59So strawberries are part of the dirty dozen.
04:01So when it rains, they fill with water.
04:03When you spray them, I'm assuming they fill with whatever you're being sprayed with.
04:06So that only occurred to me sort of in the last two years as we cut back and then I just went, forget it.
04:11I'm just not going to do it.
04:12Loads of interesting bugs in the patch now, like things that I've never seen down here.
04:17The other day I found a big yellow lady beetle that I, a really quite a big lady beetle.
04:22There are also lizards and I had a snake in there the other day, which was a little bit of a shock.
04:27Birds are down here.
04:28The magpies are in here.
04:29I've got a magpie.
04:30If you follow me on Facebook, the strawberry lady at Borinor.
04:32There's a magpie who comes down here and sits on one of these posts and just supervisors.
04:36So he's my supervisor.
04:38I guess it's, it's one of those things I use compostable packaging.
04:41I just really want to be aware of that.
04:43It's the same with the blackberries.
04:44They, they're just finished now, but they're packaging.
04:47They're not sprayed.
04:48They're only fertilized with organic fertilizer that's certified organic.
04:51So I'm not certified organic, but I don't want to use.
04:54Yeah.
04:55You're leaning towards the right side of things.
04:56Yes.
04:57Great.
04:58So working on the compost side now.
04:59So I've got spinach and beans growing in this aisle and there's some lettuce further down.
05:05There's marigolds, which are really good for companion planting and for bringing in bees.
05:10There's spinach over there as well.
05:12There's more beans up the top.
05:14Strawberries don't like tomatoes.
05:16Yeah.
05:17You mustn't grow strawberries after you've grown tomatoes.
05:20They have the same disease in the soil.
05:22That's a soil borne disease that just, I can't get rid of it.
05:26Some of them might be lacking some nutrients as well, but they were fertilized yesterday.
05:30So we'll just see what happens.
05:32But there's plenty more flowers coming up and a few bees in there.
05:35I have some blue banded bees up at the house in some, it's in salvia.
05:39So I really want to bring some salvia down there.
05:41Cause if I've got the natives bees coming in, I would love to have the native bees down here.
05:44So I've got a vegetable, a garden along there.
05:46That's the intended to make it a permanent flower bed to bring bees.
05:50I've got an experimental patch up the top.
05:51That's only been ever been under paper and hay.
05:55And they're actually different tastes.
05:57They're sweeter and they haven't been watered.
05:59I didn't have them in irrigation until about six weeks ago.
06:01I put them in irrigation.
06:02Prior to that they hadn't been and they were still really good.
06:04Hardly any bugs in them.
06:05So this is a nice healthy plant.
06:06See how all this stuff here, I've taken all that off and that's a new, new growth.
06:10I'd say flower.
06:11Then all this comes out just so that you get the air in amongst them.
06:14So on the odd occasion, look at the size of that.
06:17Wow.
06:18Someone's already had a munch.
06:19Yeah.
06:20That'd be just a slug or I've got a little black beetle, but that's a pretty decent sized strawberry.
06:25It is, that is.
06:26So this variety is a little bit different to the other variety.
06:28It's not quite as sweet.
06:29They're in the same space.
06:30They're just not as sweet as the other ones.
06:32So the other ones, they're sweeter.
06:34Thank you so much, Alison.