About

The farm is unofficially called Lavender Valley. One day, it might actually have some lavender on it, but right now, it’s just a 20 acre (8.1 hectare) rural-residential property in Burra, about 40 minutes east of Canberra (the national capital of Australia, for those overseas viewers who thought that Sydney was the capital).

The original owner of the farm thought that growing a lot of fruit and nut trees was the way to go. Unfortunately, there is too little water for that to be terribly successful. And the previous owners didn’t maintain the trees that survived. As a result, when we bought the property, there were dozens of dead trees, and dozens more that need a severe pruning. Slowly, gradually we are getting there, but there’s a long way to go yet.

One of the huge bonuses of the farm is that there is an established tennis court, which has an enormous chain link fence around it. It’s 36m x 18m, and the fence is 3.5m high. Perfect for keeping out the kangaroos, so we’ve established some green houses inside the court, and plan to make open garden beds, a hen house, a shade house, and an extensive garden shed, all inside the tennis court.

Outside the court there are a number of options, and one of those is to plant a lot of different sorts of lavender. So one day, it really might become Lavander Valley.

One of the features of the farm is the established pine trees, while in need of thinning out and pruning of lower branches, have create different pockets or zones. It’s impossible to tell from the overhead shot, but there are also terrain features which help this along. For example, the house sits on the highest point of the property, and the tennis court is downslope by about three metres. The dams (there are three) all sit at low points, of course. And over all, there is a north to south downslope to the entire property. The multiple zones on the farm mean that every area has its own character, making the farm much more interesting that it otherwise might be.

It’s a great place to spend time!