Good ideas, I was going to say to consider Cumquats, Pomegranates or Blueberries. Passionfruits would be lovely if you don't mind a vine :)
Soil sounds good, with care you could grow all sorts of things.
Good luck, I think efficiency can be taken a little bit far myself, it's much simpler to expand. Lebensraum for my family!
Can these "fruit salad" trees produce plantable seeds?
For some reason I was under the impression that peanuts were from a bush of some kind.
No - wait - just did a quick search and it turns out this is a tree nicknamed "peanut tree" despite having no relation to peanuts.
I love the English language
Welcome Paul, down Warrnambool(?) way is a lovely area. I'm from the South-East myself, much less land to work as we're a bit more built up.
I think I remember seeing something about espalier trees on Gardening Australia, looked like a lot of work, worth it?
Good luck! Let us know if you find that you've saved $$ overall despite the larger up front costs.
What made you decide not to proceed with the batteries? To my knowledge, battery technology isn't great but the self-sufficiency of having one if the power cut out always appeals to me; I'm with...
Hey GKW, welcome to the community. Pretty helpful folks here from all walks of life and experience. Sure we can help you grow strawberries, but if you were in the market for a home-made bomb shelter we could advise too. Merry belated Christmas & a Happy New Year!
Hey mate, I reckon you really need to place size as the primary thing to consider, because there are options like the "root cellar" [LINK]. The size will affect how deep you go, structural supports, and to a certain extent water-proofing methods as well.
I'd also put "concealment" on the agenda...
Just my two-cents, I think it'd be smart for Mark to not allow any tom, dick and harry onto his property as the "prepper" community can be a bit odd... not dangerous of course just odd. Once people have your address, your families privacy is "gone". In my opinion you'd need to vett people before...
Always nice to save money on these things, so long as the quality is the same. I've recently adopted a mentality of "if it's better quality for more, consider it an investment".
RE the garden beds, I thought that they had to be open-bottomed to allow some drainage? Maybe the leak in yours is a...