Firefly Corner farm

Business Type

Small/Non-commercial farm

Farming methods

Permaculture

Short Property Description

In 2024 Agnes and James left Sydney, buying a 25-hectare plot near Krambach, in the beautiful Mid North Coast region of NSW. Not long after, Claire, Agnes’ sister and agronomist joined, together with Olivier a compost enthusiast and passionate cook. Together with the help of regular visitors and friends we’re slowly bringing our patch back to life, restoring soil health, reintroducing native plants, and finding better ways to grow our food.
We are applying Syntropic farming, an innovative approach to regenerative agriculture, to our plot of land . Thinking holistically about regeneration including water sustainability (keyline design, creek restoration, maximise water retention in soil), energy sustainability leveraging solar and gravity, food self-sufficiency, maximise biodiversity and life, investing in the community and having fun !

Organic/Biological methods we use

Of the subtypes within permaculture were especially fans of the Syntropic method designed for regenerating soil in challenging climate. Its philosophy is to use families of plants that live well together because they protect and encourage each other to grow better. Just like people, plants thrive more when they’re growing in communities or consortia. Ground plants, low bushes and shrubs under the shadow of emergent trees together form an ecosystem, some shaded, some full sun, but all benefiting each other. This maximises photosynthesis per unit area, increases biomass and microbes, and leads to accelerated formation of soil rich in organic content. To make this happen we accumulate plants and their biomass in rows one metre wide, irrigated and laid along contour lines with swales and mounds to concentrate the water available underground.
We complement this with composting to accelerate microbial activity available as a kick-starter for new rows. We use Berkeley and Jonson composting methods and we gather manure from our friendly neighbouring farms – we don’t have animals of our own other than Indy our most useless but wonderful farm dog.
Agnes is a data and AI expert and we’re keen on making Firefly Corner as digital enabled as makes sense. We use FarmOS, an American designed open source platform to record our activities and measurements so we can track and document progress. Claire is a 30 year veteran agronomist who is making Firefly a regeneration research project, so data capture is an important addition to her intuitive knowledge of botany, biology and soil science. James is also a Geologist and avid earth scientist, so between us we’re always intrigued not just by what we see above ground but by what’s going on in the soil and why – we’re geek farmers doing our best to bring useful explanation and evidence to permaculture and organic practices.
The only chemicals we use are sodium bicarbonate, vinegar, and yes, reluctantly Glyphosate hand applied to the invasive Lantana, Privet, and Crofton weed we clear from the forest. We do this because its effect is isolated and clearing these plants is the only way to liberate native plants on the forest floor and regenerate an ecologically appropriate bush on the property.
Finally, we’re seeing wildlife flourish, especially insects, birds and life in the dams and creeks.

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