April is the season for Harvest at Sassafras Nuts, the Salt Wellness Farm. Chestnuts and walnuts are falling out of the trees for us to harvest, and it is all hands on deck to collect and sell them through the farm gate, and Sydney markets. To celebrate the harvest, we are hosting the Sassafras Nuts Harvest Fair this Saturday 5th April, with music, activities for the kids, market stalls, lots of food, face painting and festivities. Come along and join us in the celebration. It's $5 entry, and kids under 12 are free. Alternatively, come and collect some nuts any other day (except Mondays) and experience first-hand the beauty of bringing in the harvest.

The seasons and weather become paramount when farming. The importance of the trees flowering in spring, setting nuts in summer, falling in autumn and resting in winter is all dependent on the seasons, and the weather cooperating with the season it is in. Sometimes storms brew and blow many of the nuts prematurely off their heavy-laden boughs or uproot trees entirely. Sometimes winter turns on a heat wave and all the trees pop out of hibernation before they are due. Sometimes the hard and difficult work of sowing does not always reap the reward expected. At other times the harvest is bountiful and a product of many years of sowing life into the ground.

One thing we do have control over is how much work we put into the foundations of the trees. The health of the soil requires us to input time, energy, and nourishment to ensure that the trees have every opportunity to grow healthy and strong.

Life can be like that. Sometimes we sow in tears and other times reap with joy. Don’t give up doing the unseen, difficult work of preparing and nourishing the soil. Sometimes the work can feel long and hard, and unrewarding.

The soil is where the life comes from.

The harvest is born in the soil.

Whether it is parenting, relationships, finance, work, health. Keep sowing.

Keep nourishing that soil. The harvest will come.

Much love,

Pete and Meg

Harvest is in full swing! We have 8 varieties of chestnuts and two varieties of walnuts this year - they range from early to late season. The combination of wind and rain has meant the nuts have fallen a little harder than they normally would.

We have been so very blessed to have Brendan (our Operations Manager) be hands on at the farm, together with Rod and Brad. We are always blessed by the faithful service Stu offers every Monday, and the days that Deb, Leah, Paul and Shane come to harvest and sort! These guys have worked hard to harvest this year!

The flower farm team have spent some time harvesting too, for this we are thankful! Thankyou also to the people who have volunteered to run the shop.

This year we made the decision to open our farm gate for Upick everyday except Mondays.

One of our most favorite things about harvest time is opening the gates to our community both near and far. We believe that the farm is Holy Ground, and as we welcome people in we are welcoming them into the presence of God! We are called in Hebrews 13:2 - Not to forget to show hospitality to strangers. We have welcomed clubs, schools and families into this space, and we are so very thankful for the support each has offered.

The Farm was bought not as a business, but as a Wellness Farm, we have ideas and thoughts about how that will happen, but we know God is doing something far greater than we can imagine as we come together to open our gates and harvest nuts.

Please keep praying for the farm, for the harvest, for the team, the volunteers and for our guests as so much more is happening in this space than a harvest of nuts, and we trust that HIS kingdom will come and HIS will will be done right here!

Bek

We have had an incredible time hosting schools at Salt to start the year.

Scots Glengarry campus and NAC are regulars at our Salt Store, helping to care for our community in amazing ways. We have also had the amazing opportunity to host 90 Year 5 NAC students (not all at the one time!) up at the farm for excursions where they collected chestnuts, learnt about the process of sorting nuts, making compost, and visited our chickens and flower farm. Everyone had a fabulous day!

We encourage schools to come along to Salt where there are so many opportunities

to learn and serve the local community.

If your school is interested please contact [email protected].

Meg

The flowers have been abundant this year…waratahs, dahlias, cosmos, strawflowers, sunflowers, Queen Anne lace, cornflowers, echinacea, fever few, sweet peas, hydrangea, scabiosa, just to name a few! We have provided beautiful bouquets at Hyper Hyper Coffee, Flour Water Salt, and Nowra Farmers market, not to mention stunning arrangements for a few very special weddings.

All proceeds that come through the flowers go straight back into the Salt Wellness Farm. Not only that, but the flower garden provides another opportunity for farm program participants to learn new skills around horticulture.

Due to the popularity of the bouquets, we have decided to expand the flower garden, and you can directly be a part of that by sponsoring the purchase of a protea for $30, that will be planted in the garden to provide year-round flowers for our bouquets. We aim to raise enough to plant 200 protea plants!

To sponsor a plant, click here.

We have been abundantly blessed at the Warehouse with a very large donation of foodstuffs, personal hygiene and cleaning products from a church in Sydney, which required a large B-Double semi trailer to make the delivery to Nowra. Needless to say that we were slightly overwhelmed with the quantity and the storage there of. It’s harvest time at the Farm at Sassafras and we feel like we too have had a harvest of goods. We are thankful to God and the many people involved to bring this about.

We have also been delighted with the support from the wider community who have provided us with lots of good quality furniture and white goods. This in turn means that we have been able to help dozens of individuals, couples and families to furnish the homes that they have recently been allocated through Salt Assisted Housing and other housing providers.

We continue to enjoy the assistance of a number of volunteers who show up at the warehouse each week and help us pick, pack and transport groceries and frozen goods to be converted into hampers for the Salt Store to distribute to those in need.

What a privilege to be a part of so many people’s journeys here in the Shoalhaven.

Peter, Cheryl & the Team.

The ‘I Said Yes’ campaign is all about giving a hand up to locals who are doing it tough. Across the Shoalhaven, many people are struggling - whether it's with homelessness, addiction, mental health, or simply making ends meet. We launched this campaign to provide much-needed resources and services to help these individuals get back on their feet.

What We’ve Achieved So Far:
- Over 5,000 locals have been supported since SALT opened its doors in 2012.
- We continue to provide assistance to people facing complex challenges, helping them regain stability and hope.

How You Can Help:
- Say Yes to Donating: Just $10 a week (the cost of 2 cups of coffee) can make a lasting difference.
- Say Yes to Volunteering: We’re always looking for passionate people to join our team and help change lives.

If you're in a position to give, please consider supporting this life-changing work. Every “Yes” counts!

Visit www.isaidyes.org.au to donate or learn more.

If you would like to partner with Salt by setting up a regular direct debit so that Salt can continue to do all the amazing work in our community that would be amazing.

Salt Care
BSB: 062 585
ACC: 10949687
* All donations to Salt Care are tax deductible 

Or you can donate directly using the button below.