Buying Honeysuckle Farm

We're a family of five, with three children under 10. We're pretty much clueless on permaculture but we're about to start on an 8 acre farm!

We've had dreams of gardening and living off our own fruit and vegetable production and while living in Melbourne we started to establish that dream in our suburban backyard.

But then we took an opportunity to move to the US for work and ended up moving from rental to rental for 6 years. As that was coming to a close we realised our dreams for moving back were now bigger. We didn't just want to produce our own fruit and vegetables anymore... we also wanted to raise our own meat, and collect our own eggs and produce our own raw milk (given that that's the only way left to obtain it in Victoria!). We wanted our children to have access to country AND city life. To have the opportunity to be whatever they wanted, but to keep their childhood simple and healthy with access to clean air, clean water, clean food and an abundance of outdoor time on healthy soil.

So we started to look outside of Melbourne and eventually settled upon Woodend. We found a property with almost 8 acres, as close to town as possible for that size of land. Our priority was for the children to have easy access to downtown and the train so that they could still explore and have their freedom through their teens... but we could have the farm life too.

Argh! We bought a farm!

We decided to buy Honeysuckle Farm sight unseen while still in the US. From all the research we did, this isn't how you choose a permaculture property. And it's not even the most permaculture friendly location. It's flat and it's dry. But with so many other lifestyle factors to accommodate these became lesser priorities and we're looking forward to learning all about how to nurture the land on Honeysuckle Farm and help it be the best it can be, whatever that is.

What the farm does have is:

• 8 acres. With over half of that being pasture for our cow(s) and plenty of room to add many more trees to create our food forest and provide privacy and protection from the surrounding farms which may spray pesticides or subdivide and create a more suburban environment, less tolerant to farm animals.
• A home large enough for our family. Building an earthship would have been the dream, but the reality is we need a home to live in straight away. This home has a lot of need for renovation so our hope is to do those in an eco-friendly way and to grow the home within our vision.
• An established, old orchard.
• A water easement through the centre. While this doesn't appear to bring much water it does give us something to work with.
• Water tanks, chook pen, hay shed and fences.
• Walking/bike riding distance to the train, shops and schools.
• Access to well rated schools in the area.

Honeysuckle Farm from Google maps before and after rain

We have another 6 months till we move to be on the farm and for now the focus will be on gathering knowledge and saving resources to access once we're on the land and can start with the stage of observing and learning what it wants in order to thrive.