SALLY Fisher has been living the dream for about 10 years now at her eight-hectare (20-acre) Millfield property, between Cessnock and Wollombi.
An escapee from Sydney, she has a background in bush regeneration, horticulture, and propagation, specialising in native plants.
She had established her own propagation nursery in Sydney, mostly servicing councils on the northern beaches, when she decided she needed the security of her own land.
The acreage at Millfield, with a 100-year-old weatherboard house on it, fitted the bill – which is to say it was very affordable compared to most other places she looked at.
At Millfield she has established her Hunter Valley Native Plants nursery, again propagating local seed and cuttings herself.
It has not been all beer and skittles though: Sally initially found less demand in the Lower Hunter for native plants, and it took time to discover precisely what plants were native to the area.
Newly available reference materials have taken care of that problem.
Besides the nursery – a full-time job in itself I would have thought, particularly with hand watering – Sally has quite an extensive edible garden.
Following permaculture principles to some extent, salad vegetables and herbs are close to the house for easy picking, as are edible weeds and flowers that find their way into most salads. (Sally is a fan of well-known herbalist Pat Collins, from Muswellbrook.)
A more extensive vegetable garden is further away, next to the main orchard.
The orchard (actually there are several) contains a good range of fruit, including apples, plums, pears, apricots, mulberries and figs. Less well-known types include feijoas, ugni (Chilean guava), and native raspberry.
Besides chooks, Sally has a passion for ducks, of which there were many types. She has them in a number of separate pens, all with little houses made from recycled materials.
Apparently there is a market for free-range duck eggs.
Then there are guinea fowl, famous for eating insects.
Completing the menagerie are three horses.
Well, not quite.
There are lots of frogs, thanks to the former in-ground swimming pool that has been turned into a rather large frog pond, complete with many aquatic plants.
Then there are the various lizards, accommodated by building rock walls with plenty of gaps for them to make their homes in.
Of course there is the occasional snake, ‘‘but only black ones’’.
At this point it should be said that Sally is a big fan of Peter Andrews (see opposite page).
Combine that with the fact that Sally’s property was essentially treeless and you have a recipe for a lot of tree planting.
Luckily, Sally usually has a few thousand seedlings to spare, so sourcing plant material has not been a problem.
The property now has a number of shelter belts (alleys of trees and shrubs forming windbreaks and privacy screens), resulting in a much more interesting and healthy environment.
Besides taming the wind, the trees provide cool microclimates, frost-free areas and homes for an increasing number of bird species.
Sally’s property will be open to the public on March 12 from noon as part of the Hunter Organic Growers Society field day schedule (see hunterorganicgrowerssociety.org.a u or phone 49976746 for field day information).
Sally is able to supply single plants to the public or orders for thousands. She is also available as a small-farm and land management consultant. Phone 4998 1475.
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