OPEN FARM FIELD DAYS AT 'BORANING'
William and Kelly Newton-Wordsworth and their team at Williams River Produce an annual open farm field day normally held in October, at their farm "Boraning",
located 17 kms west of Williams on the Pinjarra Rd, just 2 hours drive
from Perth. The field day will focus on what they have created and learnt
from 35 years experience as biodynamic farmers operating a Demeter Certified
broadacre commercial farm specialising in beef cattle, mixed broadacre
horticulture and limited cropping. There are also other bio-dynamic
farmers in attendance to offer the benefit of their experience - including
broadacre cereal crop growers - and some bio-dynamic produce market stalls
and food tasting.
William and Kelly have attended slow foods expos
in Melbourne where they have presented on a beef panel and also showcased their
products, as well as attended the world wide slow foods
conference "Terra Madre" in Italy. They were one of 6 WA producers
chosen to attend this event, and they are looking forward to sharing their
experience with many other producers of "slow, traditional and healthy
food" from all over the world.
- Biodynamic farming methods - sure it is an enhanced organic method that came from the ideas of Rudolph Steiner, but what is it and how and why does it work? We look at the use of preparations to enliven the soil, creating soil structure, natural fertilisers, stock rotations… pasture, crops, cattle, sheep, orchards etc in bio-dynamic systems. Bob MacIntosh, who is the most experienced biodynamic farmer in the state and the convenor of the Biodynamic Agricultural Association of Australia in WA, will be a guest speaker, and will explain the practices in a simple and easy to understand way.
- Biodynamic/organic orcharding methods...demonstrations of orchard mowing machinery, irrigation methods and design suitable for bio-dynamic/organic systems... Useful info for anyone who wants to grow trees and not spray chemicals all around them!
-Focus on diversification, especially tree crops. Featuring pistachios (800 tree orchard), olives (oil and table varieties), figs, citrus, almonds, pecans, and other fruit. This is about what new tree crops we can grow in inland Australia.
-Water harvesting. An opportunity to see a creative system utilising interconnected dams and bores and illustrating the potential ability to water harvest and open up intensive farming options in new areas. It's all about seeing the potential water that can be gathered from right under our noses.
-Gardening in a biodynamic/organic and creative way
-Conservation and conscious creation of beauty
-Value adding of products - the Newton-Wordsworths' through their business ‘Williams River Produce’ produce and market olive oil, olives, pistachios and marmalade Australia wide and internationally as well as fresh fruit and beef in WA. As we believe that processing and value adding is one of the keys to rebuilding inland rural communities, this is an annual focus of our field day.
This is a field day which would be of interest to people
interested in biodynamics and organics, conservation, creative land use,
diversification, value adding, tree crops and real clean green agriculture.
We also welcome consumers and people who are interested in biodynamic/organic
food and want to see what happens on farm and find out how the food is
grown and why it is different from normal "shop food".
Saturday evening - If you would like to stay the night, we have a large modern 5 bedroom house with 3 toilets. This is where the field day is centred. It is a farmstay facility, so beds/bedrooms carry a charge (see accommodation page). You can also camp and use our facilities for $10. We will put on some food on Saturday night (stew…barbie…) and Sunday morning (porridge…), if you would like to stay please contact us so we can cater - the evening meal and breakfast will cost $15 per head.
We hope people will stay on after the field day to meet, discuss ideas, catch up, share some food …. And to have a good time. Please feel free to use this weekend to get away, relax and enjoy yourselves. We will have some music / singalong and a celebration on Saturday night.
Please be aware that Boraning is a no smoking zone. We also have a café and shop which will be open for light meals etc and Bio-dynamic and organic food.
Local Accomodation
There are local hotels and motels. Narrogin is approx half an hour away,
Williams is 15 minutes, and Quindanning is 15 minutes:
Williams Motel - Williams - ph 98851192
Narrogin Motel - Narrogin - ph 98811660
Quindanning Inne - Quindanning - 98857053
Other accommodation contact the Williams Tourism Office, phone 98851300.
Please phone William: +61 475 904 103 Vincent: +61 408 133 351 - RSVP required so we know numbers and can give further directions. Map can be emailed if requested. Cost and dates subject to annual notice. BYO own lunch to share. Come prepared to walk if you are physically able. Parents, please be aware that there is a dam and pond in close proximity to where the field day is centered.
See here for directions.