Petra Cram spreads the word about making organic compost for Canberra gardeners

It was a June Sunday morning: minus 5 at daybreak, 4 degrees at 10am but the sun still shone at noon for a gathering of gardeners, who had been hard at work in Rivett. This was the Canberra Biodynamic Gardeners' group to which Petra Cram belongs and it was in her back garden that the activity was taking place.

The group's participants (no formal membership) all have yards in Canberra. They take turns at building a biodynamic compost heap at one another's places, at a rate of about one per month.

The heaps are built in a specific way so they can be left unaltered for six months, then harvested. As they are building the compost heaps monthly around the year, they are also harvesting around the year and they share the harvested humus among all those who helped with the build. For the participants, this means a year-round apply of excellent biodynamic compost for their own garden.

Last December, a huge heap was built in the centre of Petra Cram's backyard and, on the day of our visit, that mature compost was being harvested and, an hour later, construction of the new heap began. Everyone is asked to bring vegie scraps from their kitchens for the new compost heap and, if lawns have been mown, grass as greens, and fallen leaves as the brown component.

The greeting in the street was cheerful as children from the toilers' families were being watched by one father as they climbed among the branches of a sturdy oak tree. Around the back, the action was inspiring. Men and women, both young and older, had filled a row of large white stockfeed bags with rich, black, sweet-smelling compost. Most of the families keep chooks so sacks formerly used for their feed are recycled.

There is a large area fenced off for the chooks in the Cram garden and the visiting children were invited in to pat the chooks which were held by Petra. There was also a table set on a sunny deck in front of a timber yurt in the garden. Backing the vegie garden, the structure was originally a cubby house built for the household's children by Petra's husband Darryl Cram. At the moment, a row of homegrown pumpkins are lined up on its roof as they cure in overnight frosts.

One of the group, Chris Boswell, of Duffy, a parent of students at Orana Steiner School in Weston, volunteers to support part of the class 3 students garden project with building a compost heap in May each year and harvesting it at the end of October/November. The kids bag it up and sell the compost at the school's spring fair.

Boswell introduced me to Shriram Kalaspurkar, a farmer from India who is living at the moment in his son's house in Curtin. Kalaspurkar told me that he had a natural interest in biodynamics and seed diversity and, when he noticed one of the compost mounds behind a neighbour's house in Curtin he made inquiries and joined the group.

Back in his village in India, he keeps 90 cows, all local breeds. He is collecting heritage and heirloom seeds from Australian companies like Diggers and The Lost Seed and is growing cauliflower, broccoli and garlic in Canberra during winter.

When the work was done, Petra took a bag of the mature harvested compost through a decorative iron gate into her vegetable garden. The beds have circular stepping stones and she threw the compost among her recent plantings of winter lettuce, spinach, a row of peas beside a trellis and a back row of broad beans. Large plants of Tuscan black kale and a generous area of strawberry plants were among established edibles in the vegie garden.

It demonstrated feeding the garden so the garden will feed you. Everyone contributed to lunch which was then served, a casserole, rice, and a vegetable frittata made with eggs from the Cram chooks.

Next week we will tell you about a magic brew made on the Crams' back deck and a lip-licking vegan dessert.

Backyard heroes

The Canberra Environment Centre will hold a free Sustainability Network event at the ANU Food Coop from 6-8pmon July 2 at The Food Co-op Store & Cafe, Kingsley St, Canberra City. Called "Backyard Heroes" it will celebrate the unsung environmental heroes who have dedicated part of their life to living sustainably. Costa Georgiadis from ABC's Gardening Australia will interview the guests including Rodger Gorey (Kitchen Garden compost king September 17, 2014) and facilitate discussion. Some food will be provided by the Co-op and there will be music and general mingling. Free entry, but RSVP essential to www.ecoaction.com.au, or call 6248 0885.

Susan Parsons is a Canberra writer.