The Cream of the Crop Competition invites students in NSW secondary and tertiary education institutions to create a PowerPoint or a video which can be published on the web and win $500. The competition ask the students to promote the importance of agriculture to their peers, to encourage a better understanding of agriculture as well as promote agricultural careers and rural life.

1. Growing Your Own
Just like me everyone can be a
farmer in their own small way.
Create you own Teeny Tiny
Farm!

2. Hi, I am Amber and
welcome to “Grow
your Own”. Part two of
my series will share
with you my journey to
grow food for my
family.
In this episode I am
going to show how
you can do it too!

3. What Makes a Teeny Tiny Farm?
A Teeny Tiny Farm can consist of
anything, from carrots to tomatoes,
spinach to lemons. It may have a
horse or a chicken, fruit or vegetable.
My Teeny Tiny Farm consists of
spinach, tomatoes, silverbeet,
lemons, nectarines, cherries, melons,
grapes, lettuces, potatoes, worms,
chickens and strawberries.
My Teeny Tiny Farm is teeny tiny, yet
I make good use of the space and
grow produce in different areas of
my backyard.

4. Lettuce
Parsley

5. Strawberries

6. V
C ele ry
Tomatoes

7. Chickens
Wor m s
Cow

8. What have I learnt?
What could you
learn? What could you Learn?
Growing your own produce teaches you
a lot about agriculture.
Growing fruit and vegetable often
persuades me to further research my
farm, finding extra information about
what I am consuming. Experimenting on
different substances, conditions and
species is very intriguing, and allows
me to observe the consequences of my
decisions.
A Teeny Tiny Farm has taught me about
soil nutrients, pests and diseases and
even different methods of farming
(using various tools and equipment),
which is preparing me for the country
life on a large-scale production farm.

9. Want to
know some
more about
Teeny Tiny
Farm
production?

10. Keys to Success
Success is easy… if your happy with the fruit and
vegies you produce than you are successful.
But success does not come without planning,
preparation, research or experimentation.
Research is very important (to learn about what
you are growing). Planning is essential to
produce optimum fruit and veg, by simply
knowing where everything is and even when to
harvest. Experimenting is a must on any farm…
learning what works best and what best suits
you.
The main key to success though is… enjoy it!!!

11. Preparing
Soil preparation is the most
important step in
maintaining your own Teeny
Tiny Farm.
It is vital for plant growth,
without it, plants will not
have access to the essential
nutrients needed for
optimum growth.

12. On my Teeny Tiny Farm I
prepare the soils by cultivating
through compost. Compost is
simply organic matter, which
assists in the soils ped
structure, drainage qualities
and quantities of nutrients.

13. Plants need to have
access to nutrients in the
form of ions in solution,
meaning that plants
cannot consume
nutrients that are solid
or atmospheric. Adding
compost also adds
macro and micro
nutrients and organisms
to the soil, benefiting
production.

14. Transplanting Transplanting seedlings
rather than sowing straight
into the soil, I found, is best
when starting off, as it
guarantees a better survival
rate for plants.
When seeds a sowed directly
into the soil, birds are able
access them, rain and wind
can wash the seeds away and
the survival rate of plants
drops.
At my Teeny Tiny Farm I
sow seeds into small pots for
a few weeks before
transplanting them into
nutrient-rich soils when the
weather is right.

15. Maintaining
Once the plants are transplanted into nutrient-rich, moist
soils, the farm must be maintained. Plants need access to
water constantly and need to be observed for pests,
disease, wilting, growth and production. Fertilisers,
pesticides and herbicides may be needed. Mulching is ideal
to hold in moisture. Adequate sunlight is essential for
photosynthesis to occur, so the plant is able to produce its
own food.

16. Worms
Along with fruit and vegetables,
my Teeny Tiny Farm has I love
worms.That’s right, a worm breaking
farm! Worms are fantastic for down all the
soils and compost. Worms nutrients for
decompose all my kitchen plants.
scraps into nutrient-rich
compost. They are so easy to
look after! I simply have a box of
compost and a handful of
worms, I keep it moist and dark
and everything else happens by
itself. After every few weeks the
compost and worms will go out
into the garden and provide the
fruit and vegies with even more
nutrients.

17. Chickens
A Teeny Tiny Farm is not just
fruit and vegetables, but animals
too.
My chickens are Isa Brown hens
who lay an egg each day. They
are free to wonder around my
Teeny Tiny Farm and are free to
use their natural instincts.
Now that I have my own hens, I
can say, free range eggs have
that extra flavour… and the
chickens are happy too!!!
They are great family pets! My
family of seven love the
chickens. They eat all our
kitchen scraps too!
Chickens are great producers
and family pets!

19. Great Companions!

20. My Experiment In 2011 I conducted a
school assignment
experiment on how urea (a
nitrogen fertiliser) effected
the growth of leafy plants
compared with pod plants.
Large quantities of urea
killed the majority of
plants, whilst small
amounts caused greenery
and health. No presence of
urea caused healthy, rapid
growing plants.

21. This experiment was a great
experience in agriculture,
learning how soils, plants and
bacteria react to one another in a
cycle of nature.
I learnt about:
processes such as Nitrogen
fixating using Rhizobium
Bacteria (converting
atmospheric Nitrogen into
accessible nutrients in the
soil for plants).
photosynthesis, respiration
and transpiration
systems on a farm using
models and information to
find weaknesses in my Teeny
Tiny Farm.
My Experiment

22. Everyone Where our food and fibre comes
from is an important
should have understanding every person
should have.
the We should be aware of the
ongoing efforts of farmers, the
opportunity content of our food, the
composition of our clothing and
our impact on future generations
to know of our country.
where their
food and
fibre comes
from

23. Food, Fibre and Environment
An education in Agriculture
shows just that.
I have learnt where my fibre
comes from (from the animal or
plant, to the factory and to me).
I have learnt the farm gate to
plate processes of meat, dairy,
vegetable and cosmetic
products, knowing where they
come from, the history, the
efforts of farmers, issues and
problems, processing,
transporting, marketing and
consuming.

24. Food, Fibre and Environment
I have learnt
the negatives and
positives of each
industry and
how we can help and
sustaining the future…
This is definitely
something I believe
every person should
understand

25. My Teeny Tiny Farm has
taught me so much about
Agriculture and has allowed
me to willingly observe the
processes in my own
backyard.
In the end many of the
vegetables grew healthy
and strong and made great
spinach rolls, salad
sandwiches and afternoon
snacks.

26. What if Everyone had
a Tiny Farm?
Just imagine if every
house in the world had a
Teeny Tiny Farm!
Our communities would
have a deeper
understanding of where
our food and fibre comes
from and a greater
appreciation of the
farmers who produce it.

27. So Go and Start Your Own
Today!
You’ll Love it!
Amber O`Neill - 2011 - Cream of the Crop

28. WOULD LIKE TO THANK THE SPONSORS OF THE
2011 CREAM OF THE CROP COMPETITION
PLATINUM GOLD SILVER
BRONZE