Wynlen House

Wynlen House started as a small enterprise following the age-old tradition of organic food production and growing food to be consumed locally. We grow vegetables and raise sheep, poultry and pigs for meat on our large suburban block in the village of Braidwood, NSW. Our passion for garlic growing is fulfilled with our garlic partner at Clarevale Farm, Braidwood where we grow early, mid and late season garlic with the aim of making sure our fellow garlic lovers never have to go without organically grown, fantastically tasty garlic. We sell out produce every Saturday morning in Braidwood's main street 

Our Philosophy

We grow a large range of produce, we grow our produce to be consumed locally. This is called Slow Food. This approach is based on a concept of food that is defined by three interconnected principles: good, clean and fair:

• GOOD: quality, flavoursome and healthy food
• CLEAN: production that does not harm the environment
• FAIR: accessible prices for consumers and fair conditions and pay for producers.

All aspects of food, its quality, its origins, its preparation, how it arrives at our plate needs to be thought about.  Every step in the process of growing food has an impact on our environment.  Producing food organically and locally minimises this impact. This is simple honest food of the highest quality and we believe you can taste the difference.  

There is nothing new about this.  It is really only in the last 60 years of the twentieth century that the growing of food in home gardens and in local regions was not the norm.  Prior to the introduction of chemical fertilizers in the early twentieth century, leading to large-scale broad acre farming, most food was produced locally and most people participated in some way in its production. We are part of this age old tradition.

In 2010 we reconsidered our farming practice and further explored organic & sustainable approaches for increased small farm, all year, cold climate production.

Market garden produce stall- Braidwood

Wynlen House sells vegetables, seasonal preserves and baked goods every Saturday from a small produce stall in the Courtyard of Provisions Deli & Grocery, 56 Wallace St Braidwood and at the Braidwood Farmers Market (1st & 3rd Saturday of the month at the National Theatre)

We sell whatever is ready from the garden (seasonal produce) We aim for a broad range of produce, focusing on a little of everything and a lot of a some things.  We always sell a seasonal stir fry mix and a seasonal Salad mix.

Food is picked and sold within 24 hours.

We also sell preserves and cakes made from seasonal produce and fruits.  Horseradish cream is very popular and garlic confit and garlic toum over winter.  Apple pie of course! and other sweet delights that take our fancy to make.
To ensure you get your fresh chemical free vegetables every week you can purchase a seasonal produce box.

Out of this research we pioneered the use of agricultural fabrics, cloche frames, and covered cropping into the small farm food production sector in our region.  At this time these products and practices were only accessible to large scale production in the Horticultural industry with little knowledge of covered cropping and fabrics available elsewhere. This research also led us to biointensive polyculture an organic agricultural system that focuses on achieving maximum yields from a minimum area of land, while simultaneously increasing biodiversity, and sustaining the fertility of the soil with a focus on soil biology.

Learning Centre

.After eating our delicious vegetables and organically grown poultry, pork and hogget our customers began asking how they too could successfully grow their own food in our region's harsh cool climate.  As we also believe it is important to share knowledge, we developed on-farm workshops including, How to Grow Vegetables All Year Round in a Cool Climate and How to Raise Small Farm Animals all without pesticides or herbicides.  More recently we have also included bio-intensive polyculture.

In 2017 we launched our Learning Centre with our first online course  "Garlic, How to Grow It".

This course grew from a wish to share our expertise as garlic growers, and conveners of the Braidwood Garlic Growers Group which was awarded the NSW  Landcare Champion award for Innovation and Farm Management in 2017. Garlic is a pleasure to grow and can be grown effectively on a small commercial basis.  Our latest short online courses are focused on making your own poultry feeds: How to Make Your Own Layer Feed  We also offer comprehensive Mini Growing Guides.  The first of these is a Mini Guide to growing Pumpkin and Squash and When is your Garlic ready to Harvest.  Our mini-guides and online course will roll out as we write them.

Growing food and raising farm animals offers opportunities to put meaning and productivity into your life. Working with the soil, helping it produce and practicing animal husbandry (raising animals) satisfies the human urge to keep in contact with the foundation of life. It provides focus and gives immense joy. Eating food that has been grown with passion, love and care is the best food in the world. It is food with soul and you can taste the difference.