Welcome to Little Tern Farm

Little Tern Farm, is located on Yaegl Country, in the Clarence Valley of NSW, Australia.

At Little Tern Farm we are dedicated not only to creating a regenerative sanctuary for our family but also to fostering a vibrant community that inspires and empowers each other.

Every detail of our sanctuary is designed with the future in mind, as we navigate the challenges of chronic health conditions and the joyful chaos of raising a young son. Guided by permaculture ethics and principles, we embrace the beauty of the seasons while welcoming families from all walks of life to join us in our journey.

Join us as we learn, grow, and inspire each other, making a difference one garden, one child, and one community at a time.

What is Permaculture?

Permaculture is a sustainable design system that integrates agricultural practices, ecological thinking, and community living to create resilient and self-sustaining environments, grounded in three core ethics: care for the earth, care for people, and fair share.

It is guided by principles such as observing and interacting with nature, utilising renewable resources, and designing for diversity, which collectively foster harmony between human systems and the natural world.

 

Some of the ways we apply the permaculture principles in our daily life…  

We spend time each day on the farm noticing seasonal changes, the presence of wildlife, benefical bugs, pests & the growth or decline of the plants. While we will water or pull out a weed or two during this time we try to just observe Mother Nature at work before we intervene. We have many ‘sit spots’ around the farm for observing & taking it all in.

Principle 1. Observe & Interact

Principle 2. Catch and store energy

  • Preserving & pickling

    We love learning different ways to preserve, pickle, jam and ferment our harvests. By doing so we catch and store our harvests for later on when fruits & vegetable may not be in season or not in abundance. This practice also increases our food security and builds our resilience

    Fermented turmeric

  • Our old Jayco camper

    Just as we catch & store energy in nature by harvesting rainwater & solar power, we can apply this wisdom to ourselves. We catch & store our personal energy by taking short camping trips away from the farm in our Jayco camper

    Jayco camper

Principle 3. Obtain a yield

  • Our permaculture-designed kitchen garden allows us to grow in abundance, harvest daily, nurture our seedlings and collect fresh eggs

  • We have two food forests planned; one is currently being planted out & the soil for the other is being prepared by our chickens. The plants for each food forest have been designed according to the amount of rainfall they collect

  • Our fedge holds a special place in our hearts. The first thing we ever designed and planted on the farm was our fedge, with the idea that it would 1. Be a living fence, 2. Provide privacy for our home, 3. Give back to our neighbors, with everything grown in our fedge being shared in our streetside stall for free

Principle 4. Apply self-regulation & accept feedback

  • Farm Tours

    Permaculture farm tours embody the principle of "apply self-regulation and accept feedback" by encouraging visitors to observe and engage with the ecosystem, fostering a conversation about sustainable practices, and encouraging us to reflect on participant insights and experiences.

  • Workshop sign

    Workshops

    Workshops are an interactive learning environment where we all learn new skills and connect while fostering a culture of growth and adaptability within the permaculture community.

Principle 5. Use and value renewable resources & services

Our chickens, ducks & guinea pigs are not just great cuddlers, they are an essential part of our sustainable ecosystem. Our chickens scratch up the soil and control pests in our kitchen garden and food forest, our ducks fertilise the top food forest, and the piggies eat our weeds & grass. Finally, they all add fertility to our soil with their rich manure.

Principle 6. Produce no waste

  • One person's trash is another persons treasure

    We love Facebook Marketplace, garage sales, Gumtree, Op shops & swaps for finding second-hand goodies. The tiles in our house & our gorgeous deck bathtub and freestanding tap were all FB marketplace bargins!

  • Christiaan and food tubs

    Community composting

    We collect food scraps and spent coffee from a number of local families, cafes and disability houses. We would love your food scraps too & in exchange we will give you compost for your garden! Our food scrap tubs are recycled icecream containers from Grafton prison

  • Reuse, repurpose & recycle

    Our fence posts are milled from a tree we had to cut down, our mulch is left overs from a local tree lopping company, our stepping stones recycled from other peoples garden makeovers. Before we buy anything we always opt to reuse, recycle, repurpose and upcycle first

Principle 7. Design from patterns to details

  • We consulted with Geoff Lawton (The guru of permaculture) to design our mainframe design which included the positioning of our 5 permaculture zones. Designing your property using the permaculture zones allows for accessibility, efficient energy use and integration.

  • Our kitchen garden, designed by Cas as part of her Permaculture Design Certificate is situated between the main house & the shed office. The dream has always been to pick salad for lunch & veggies for dinner as we walk from the office to the house. The kitchen garden is also perfectly situated for short computer break walks & hearing the chatter of the chickens while typing. Our pilates reformer also overlooks the beauty that is the kitchen garden.

  • Have you heard of a food forest? Food forests are a low-maintenance, sustainable, plant-based food production system. A food forest ultimately mimics nature by designing & planting fruit, nut, shrubs, herbs, vines and vegetables in the 7 layers that are naturally found in a forest. We have 3 food forests designed for the farm. Our ‘fedge’ (food forest hedge) is thriving & we are preparing the soil for the other two food forests. Everyone needs a food forest!

  • Our animals plays a huge part in creating our balanced sustainable ecosystem that is Little Tern Farm. Our 17 chickens help us to improve our soil, eat pests, process our food scraps, create compost for the farm & of course produce eggs. Our 4 guinea pigs eat the majority of our weeds and help to fertilise the kitchen garden soil. We are soon to introduce ducks on the farm who will also produce quality natural fertiliser for the fruit trees.

Principle 8. Integrate rather than segregate

Our purpose-built chicken coop borders our kitchen garden and food forest to allow for our chickens to free range, easy eggs collecting and composting of the girls deep litter

Principle 9. Use small & slow solutions.

  • Tiny house kitchen

    Kitchen

    Our little kitchen is equipped with everything we need, including a full sized oven, stovetop and fridge.

  • Master bedroom

    Master bedroom

    Our cozy bedroom fits our queen sized bed donned with flax linen, a bedside locker and two person wardrobe

  • Kids bedroom

    Our home might look small from the outside but inside it has two bedrooms

  • Bathroom

    Imagine showering under the stars, or with the sunshine shining down on you, our shower skylight was the best decision

  • Lounge

    Compact and cozy, our little lounge room is the centre of our home

  • Deck

    The deck adds a another room to our home, even equipped with a freestanding bathtub and large table for family meals

Principle 10. Use and value diversity

Diversity in what we read, learn, grow, and in our income streams and our community.