Ours is a garden on our rented property, a quarter acre surrounded by farmland, based on
permaculture principles with annual plants. Starting in 2018, and new to the area, we are
continually adding new ideas. Last summer we ran out of water, so over winter we added in
passive water harvesting swales. The current garden design is a work in progress as we
experiment with new techniques. Currently we are using a long garden bed row to grow
winter produce. Summer produce is grown in the swale's ditches. We keep bees naturally in
Kenyan Top Bar bee hives, that we make and sell. This year we added a bee flower meadow
to part of the sheep paddock. Our chickens live in a geodesic dome and also free range. We
use open pollinated plants so that we can save the seeds. We preserve our excess harvest
through drying, bottling and freezing, and when the sun comes out cook using our solar oven.
Visit The Bates' Homestead during Creative Harvest 2020. It's also part of the Saturday bus tour.
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