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A Visit to Telopea Mountain Permaculture & Nursery in Victoria, Australia

During my recent visit to Melbourne, I was kindly invited by Anthony of AusPots Permaculture to pay a visit to his permaculture mentor’s farm and nursery in Monbulk – Telopea Mountain Permaculture & Nursery, a 15 acre property. Formerly a cut-flower farm, it has been transformed into a biodynamic, permaculture farm and nursery by Peter and Silvia, who primarily run the space, and occasionally they have some helping hands for much needed assistance.

Peter manages the plants, while Silvia is in charge of animal husbandry. Telopea Mountain Permaculture & Nursery houses more than 1000 heritage fruit varieties, and has the largest private collection of apple varieties in Australia, they also sell rootstock and scion wood from organic and biodynamic fruit trees. They own rare breeds of animals, including poultry, which I got to admire from a distance. In addition, they conduct permaculture courses, cheese making classes, as well as heritage fruit tree classes, among others.

The nursery is open on Fridays but an appointment is necessary if you would like a farm tour. Anthony shared that he likes to drop by on this day to see Peter and Silvia and also to see which other permies are around for a chat.

Telopea Mountain Permaculture poultryTelopea Mountain Permaculture duck eggsTelopea Mountain Permaculture Orchard 1

Telopea Mountain Permaculture applesThese enclosures are netted to protect fruit from birds and possums. You would have also noticed the poultry, which help with mowing and pest control. Above, Anthony and another visitor to the nursery are discussing the duck eggs laid under the fruit trees.

Here’s their fruit tree nursery.  Telopea Mountain Permaculture Nursery

Here are some pregnant ewes having a feed. Also, I spotted some mushrooms growing in a tray under a tree, near the entrance of the premises.

Telopea Mountain Permaculture sheepTelopea Mountain Permaculture 3

They had some fruit for sale and I could not resist getting some persimmons. Something else I could not resist was their home made fruit liqueurs. I tried them all and I liked the persimmon liqueur the most.
Telopea Mountain Permaculture shoptelopea mountain permaculture 00

This is the classroom where they hold all their classes, including their Permaculture Design Certificate (PDC) course.Their PDC runs just over 3 months, over 12 sessions, to read the full description, see here. To view a list of all their workshops, see here.

Telopea Mountain Permaculture Telopea Mountain Permaculture 2

Telopea Mountain Permaculture & Nursery is located at 134 Invermay Road,  Monbulk, Victoria, to find out more, visit them at their website. While you are there, it is worth paying a visit to Cloudehill Gardens by The Digger’s Club, I have been a member of The Digger’s Club for a few years but have not yet visited any of their gardens. Next time I will make sure to visit and take lots of photos!

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