Biodynamic Gardening is a vital Element of Living …
… as the bee above shows us by enjoying a Biodynamic Blueberry flower in our Gladysdale garden.
Sustainable Gardening means that your garden is beneficial for the Environment, for People and for the Economy (personal and greater economy), it is ‘enduring’ with ‘ongoing’ benefits for all involved.
Biodynamics go a step further. The Biodynamic approach seeks to enhance and enrich the soil, landscape, atmosphere, wildlife and human and spiritual beings that are in relationship with the land. Of course it also aims to produce food of high nutritional value that enlivens human thinking and capacity.
Our Farm - Gladysdale
The farm is high up in the back of Gladysdale surrounded by forest. We are blessed to have a resident wombat, wallabies, lyrebirds, snakes (which we like), lizards and astounding, abundant birdlife. The land has a mixture of soil types and relatively high rainfall as we sit around 300m above sea level surrounded by wet schlerophyll forest. Our home is off grid and we have spring water.
We began caring for this land and environment in December 2023 when four people co-purchased the 10 acre block. Our farm does not yet have a name but it’s coming along. The existing garden and paddocks had been uncared for for a number of years and our first task was removing wild blackberrys, noxious and agricultural weeds by hand and hoe and deer proofing the garden. Our first plantings began within a couple of weeks and with this the first spraying of the Biodynamic 500 soil activating preparation.
The farm is still very much in development as we enliven soils, pull down and rebuild fences and renovate the dwellings.
Biodynamic production (uncertified) for sale began summer 2025 with heirloom zucchinis, cucumbers and tomatoes being sold at Wild Things (Brunswick) and local markets. Lisa has been selling Moondarra blueberry plants for a few years and now has blueberry cuttings in nursery beds and is preparing to plant a small blueberry orchard for production winter 2025.
Workshops
We are all passionate and committed to bringing the Biodynamic agricultural method to as many people as possible alongside the Anthroposophical approach from which Biodynamics was conceived. The Biodynamic approach to gardening and food production is applicable to both home gardeners and farmers - small to large scale. Our experience is with home gardening and small scale farming and we shall teach within this context.
Each workshop will contain Biodynamic content, gardening skills and perception/awareness exercises.
Our Teaching Team
Ronan O’Connor - Ronan trained in England as a horticulturist and established a biodynamic tree nursery as part of an anthroposophical land community in Ireland. On migration to Australia he co-founded a company specialising in tree production, farm planting, land/garden design and implementation. He has worked as an adult educator in the areas of Steiner teacher training, Addiction/Mental health, Participatory Leadership, Horticulture and Biodynamics.
Kelly Papas - Kelly is the Eurythmy teacher with Little Yarra Steiner School and performs with eurythmy with Aurora Australis.
Lisa Pearson/Ni Conchuir - Lisa has been growing biodynamic vegetables at home and has a particular passion for blueberry plants. She has worked in clinic with Traditional East Asian Medicine for over 10 years and provided adult education in Lifestyle medicine. She has trained in Sustainable Living, Horticulture and Biodynamics. Lisa looks forward to bringing awareness of the Spirit in Nature to the biodynamic workshops alongside her skills in Biodynamcs and Berry growing.
