I’ve started adding some tiny triangles to my collection of revegetation plots over our hills. Continue reading
fencing
MIGHTY MURRUMBIDGEE
Even in the dark I can tell when the river has started to flood. I love to hear the normal soft rushing sound at night, a little like distant traffic. This is more. It’s a freeway roar that means big standing waves crashing against the rocks. Big water on the move is magnificent.
Whole islands disappear, leaving just a set of scrambling waves, rushing to get past. Continue reading
RIPPING INTO OUR PROBLEM PADDOCK
Tree planting doesn’t always go as planned.
In 2011, before we actually moved back to Australia, I spoke to Graham Fifield at Greening Australia about being part of their WOPR (Whole Paddock Rehabilitation) program. That program is designed to revegetate an area of 10 hectares or more, using bands of trees and shrubs directly seeded on the contours. It uses existing paddocks, so doesn’t require the extra fencing that most tree-planting needs. After five years, the grazing animals are allowed back in, so it’s not taken out of production permanently.
Direct seeding equipment 2012.
I was interested in trying direct seeding, partly because the way I plant tube-stock trees (with deep drilled holes, plastic covers, mulch, heavy watering, fertilizer, more mulch) is pretty labour-intensive. If seeding worked, it could be an easy way out. I was feeling a little overwhelmed at the (643 hectare) size of the entire farm rehabilitation project, so doing 10 hectares at once seemed like it would be a big step forward. I counted my tree seedlings in the thousands well before they were germinated. Continue reading
SWINGING A SIXTIES GATE
I’m unreasonably excited that we’ve been able to make use of an old gate that has been sitting down near the woolshed for nearly fifty years.
When Mum bought the farm Adnamira in January 1967, there were strange items lying all over the place. The previous owner was a bit of a jackdaw who loved to go to auctions and buy the “job lots” at the end, the ones where they piled up everything that didn’t sell and persuaded someone to take it away.
There were three or four fridges, more stoves, a shopping trolley, a twisted no-parking sign and much much more. Continue reading
