Banded Bee Farm

Banded Bee Farm Banded Bee Farm is a regenerative agriculture project based on permaculture principles and design on 40 acres of farm land 12 km from Armidale, NSW.

Banded Bee Farm (BBF) is a regenerative agriculture project based on permaculture principles and design on 40 acres of farmland at Saumarez Ponds, 12 km west of Armidale. We hope to demonstrate an alternative to the destructive current mainstream agricultural practices and to explore how native plants can be incorporated into productive farms that also provide food and other useful crops for human

s. When we bought the 16 hectare farm in December 2014, it was mainly open paddock with approximately 1 km of creek frontage along Saumarez Creek. There were very few eucalypts or other native vegetation left on the property. Some mature eucalypts occur along the creek (Snow Gums, Mountain Gums) and numerous tea trees have reappeared there since stock were removed. We have 2 large old New England Peppermint trees as well. Many native flowers and grasses are also gradually appearing. Over time, we plan to put about half of the property back to native woodland as windbreaks, in the riparian zone and corridors to join it all up. So far we have planted about 2000 native plants. The remaining half of the property will be developed as different types of agroforestry. We have started planting a diverse orchard and a less formal food forest with more unusual plants included and eventually we hope to pplant the rest of the fields to allow us to run stock in a silvopastoral system. We also run a small, diverse market garden. In addition to producing food and restoring the ecological health of the farm, BBF are active in education. We are ran a Permaculture Design course in 2020, and often host group visits. We also welcome volunteers, either for occasional tree planting days or on most Wednesdays.

Address

192 DumareSquare Road
Saumarez Ponds, NSW
2350

Telephone

0413725386

Website

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Banded Bee Farm has 16 hectares of mainly open paddock with almost 1 km of creek frontage along Saumarez Creek. There were very few eucalypts or other native vegetation left on the property when we bought it in 2015, just a scattering of hawthorn and some willows along the creek. This area used to be prime agricultural land in the early days of white settlement but in recent years it has been used to raise beef cattle. We plan to develop agroforestry systems across the farm using permaculture design and regenerative agriculture techniques, including berries, fruit and nut orchards, an edible forest garden and stock in a silvopastoral system. Increasing biodiversity is one of our primary goals, as well as demonstrating that using trees can substantially improve the microclimate of an area and thereby increase the productivity of the farm.

Over time we plan to put about half of the property back to native woodland. Most of the eucalypts are along the creek and species are New England Peppermint (E. nova-anglica), Snow Gum (E. pauciflora) and Mountain Gum (E. dalrympleana). The riparian zone also has a few specimens of tea tree (Leptospermum polygalifolium). So the original vegetation type was probably New England Peppermint Grassy Woodlands. Our first priority is to put in native trees as windbreaks along fence lines as the farm is very exposed to winds. We also plan to fully fence the creek and plant out the riparian zone. In the last 2 summers (2019-20) we have started to see increasing numbers of native wildflowers and grasses appearing.