During the Tree Crops Conference in 1999 we made a visit to Rainbow Valley Farm.

Trish Allan & Joe Polaischer now have up-to-date information on their web site.

Here is what we learned in 1999 -

Aims

Establishing a sustainable, self-sufficient, organic/biodynamic farm unit based on permaculture design.

Owners’ History

The 20 hectare block was purchased in 1988. They moved onto the land in a housetruck and lived initially without power or phone. Gradually buildings were built, garden and orchard established and a house completed in 1996.

Farm History

This land had been burnt off and cleared about 90 years ago and used to farm sheep and cattle. Kikuyu grass and gorse was introduced. About half the area is Native Bush secondary growth mixed with pine and macrocarpa.

Climate

Rainfall averages 1800mm annually with most falling in May to August.

During summer rainfall can vary from very little to almost every day and normally dry February to April. Mild frosts are possible from July to September.

Soil

Northland clay with little topsoil except on the valley floor. Fertility is low with a lack of trace elements

Water

A small creek runs through the farm and there are several springs (low levels in drought conditions). Gravity fed drinking water from the springs at the top end of the property near the entrance. There are eight duck and or fish ponds.

Buildings and Tools

The first macrocarpa building they built is now a barn, workshop, garage and a small living area for guests, students or WOOFers. Here we were served freshly squeezed apple juice or passionfruit juice and for the experimenters a mixture of both. Delicious!

The tools Joe uses are a joy in themselves and are usually made of recycled bits and pieces. An old mangle serves as a sugar cane crusher. Parts of a "find" are made into a hand turned mulcher – so quiet! Gorse is always mulched ‘too valuable to burn as great nitrogen fixer’ and manuka mulch helps prevent bugs in the chook house. And as for the wooden ladder. It was a treat to see Joe sitting comfortably on the top then show how he’d move along to the next place by using it like sideways operating stilts. All rounded edges too, the consequence of being hit on the head by a hard aluminium ladder. The foot pedal wood turning lathe has turned out many a chair leg.

Animals

Competition for attention was caused by a flock of assorted feathery friends discovering that some of these people were feeding out bits of sugar cane. Free ranging chooks, ducks, geese and guinea fowl entertained us while providing pest control and fertiliser for the property until later either being culled for the pot or a great organic start for a fruit tree. No Joe and Trish are not vegetarians but believe in the whole circle of life – but he thinks a lot more people would be vegetarian if they had to kill their own meat. The bantams make better mothers than ducks so we had to walk past one sitting placidly by the side of the path on a clutch of duck eggs while her beady eyes watched us cautiously. Also kept are 3 house cows and their calves and I think the Kune Kune was in the rice paddy area. The ducks nest on Mulberry Island at night making it a simple chore to collect the eggs in the morning. Also included are bees for pollination and their honey. No sprays to worry about here. The chickens heat the hot-house in their adjacent coop at night.

Trees & Plants

Where the soil used to get washed out to sea dams have been built and trees planted to prevent this so no soil leaves the property. I was particularly taken with the ‘learning circle’ of willows with seat around and mulch floor. Very peaceful and conducive to learning I am sure as groups come here to listen to what Joe has to teach and show by doing. The sheltered part of the valley grows about 600 mixed fruit and nut trees – many of them subtropical as adequate shelter is provided by hardier species such as Acacias, Tagasaste and Capulin Cherry. They also support some of the climbing vines of passionfruit and choko. Bananas are growing where the timber trees have been removed and the regrowth protects them from frost. Huge Abyssinian bananas Musa entete are magnificent to look at as well as beneficial as biomass production. Leaves can be 4 meters long and 80cm wide and can be made into a variety of toys – saw a neat outrigger, the original disposable plates and containers for food – no dishes to wash, just throw under a tree for mulch. These bananas are inedible for us, but great as animal fodder because of the large seeds (I do hope mine grow). Also brought home was a cutting of "Rainbow Valley" which was originally given to Joe from an old Tree Cropper on the outskirts of Tauranga so we thought it fitting that it should go the circle and I have it trying to grow. There were so many interesting trees and plants to enjoy that the time spent there was not nearly long enough. The vegie garden had plenty of meals in the raised beds. After seeing the puggy clay just below the topsoil that has been carefully created I am amazed that anything can grow – let alone this wonderland.

Composting Toilets

Three composting toilets take care of the physical needs and are carefully constructed to make the end result available for use on parts of the land. This ‘special fertiliser’ is a mixture of waste, sawdust, and compost worms.

Building with Nature – The House

A thirty year old dream led to the creation of this fascinating home with grass and other plants on the roof. Well sited to provide the best possible passive solar design, earth sheltered local non-toxic and low energy-use materials this home is people friendly, low maintenance, blends into nature with the least impact on the environment and was affordable.

The egg shaped house backs into the north-facing hill to shelter it from the cold southerly winds. The eaves are designed to allow sun into the rooms all day in winter and the passive solar energy is stored in the thermal mass of the terracotta tiled concrete floor and earth walls. Windows are double-glazed to retain the heat and reduce noise and condensation. Unsealed timber, earth walls and porous paint and cross ventilation help regulate the quality of the air. There is no metal used in the bedroom or any electrical appliances. A touch of whimsy is the ‘river of tiles’ which runs through the house made from discarded tile scraps from the nearby Pottery where Trish works.

The timber used is macrocarpa grown on the land as it doesn’t need chemical treatment. The tongue and groove and beams of the pitched ceiling are made of this and are the bed, the around the living room bench (which is covered with natural fabric stuffed with wool). There are some wondrous kauri beams 11 metres long (800 year old when felled about 120 years ago) survivors of a fire and now cleaned and oiled are a roof supporting feature. The dining table is made of swamp kauri from the area – about 10,000 years ago!

External walls are made of Greywacke, and plastered block and interior non-load bearing walls of puddled adobe block made from the clay excavated for the underground cellar. These walls are studded with interesting ‘souvenirs’.

An interesting free from type stove catches the eye in the living room. Lovely snug place to be in winter and the cool larder was stocked with Trish’s concoctions.

To top it all off is the roof that is so fascinating – an old design now gaining popularity because of the environmental aspects. Good insulation against cold heat and noise. It also improves the air and doesn’t heat up or contribute to flooding. The roof changes with the seasons - clover and annual grasses in winter, flowers in spring and succulents in summer when the grass dries off. On a hot day the temperature inside the house can be reduced about 4 degrees in an hour by turning on the roof sprinklers. Because part of the roof goes to ground level the farm birds forage up there it has developed into an edible landscape – producing not only honey, but eggs, herbs and strawberries.

Please refer to the Rainbow Valley web site for further information.

Back To Recent National Conference - Auckland 1999

http://www.nzero.co.nz/treecrop/feat99/RainbowVF.htm
Updated: 2004 September 06