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Yarnauwi Farm

~ Fleurieu Peninsula, South Australia

Yarnauwi Farm

Tag Archives: events

Time and change: revegetation inspiration

10 Monday Jul 2017

Posted by nopalito in ecology, regeneration, trees

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before and after, ecology, events, Fleurieu Coast, kangaroos, planning, revegetation, seasons, southwestern Fleurieu, trees, winter

Impatient as we are, we’ve become slightly obsessive about “before-and-after” photos in an effort to stay inspired about the possibilities for landscape transformation. About 15 minutes down the road from Yarnauwi, our friends David and Gillian have been gradually revegetating a former grazing property in the hills above Cape Jervis. Perhaps because of its steepness, the property has retained a good number of big old pink gums, together with the occasional ancient sheoak, offering the beginnings of a canopy for regeneration. Seven years ago we helped out with one of their first planting weekends, and I recently unearthed some photos taken at that time. With David, we recently walked around the property to admire the last seven years of growth.

View 1: 2010

View 1: 2017

David and Gillian have been philosophical about kangaroo grazing, with plants getting no more protection than korflute guards. Some plants have been repeatedly mowed down, reaching no higher than the tree guard after seven years, while others have finally stretched above mouth height and are now heading skywards. David notes that no plants were about adult should height for the first five years – something we can relate to at Yarnauwi. Continue reading →

A tour, a shed-warming and four years of change on the farm

03 Wednesday May 2017

Posted by nopalito in building, events, planning

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

art, design, events, farm, fencing, Fleurieu Coast, map, permaculture, photography, picnics, revegetation, seasons, shed, soil, southwestern Fleurieu, tour, water

Guests take a tour of one of the revegetation areas, inspecting the growth of four years of planting. Photo by Jeff Catchlove.

On a balmy autumn afternoon, we celebrated the new shed with sixty of Yarnauwi Farm’s friends and supporters. Following a tour of the farm, we settled into a shared dinner and drinks by the campfire.

To mark the occasion we also produced a self-guided tour map of important developments and points of interest on the property, hard copies of which were gifted to our guests to be stuck on fridges and toilet doors.

Yarnauwi Farm Self-Guided Map. (Click for a printable A3 version).

The changes that have occurred at Yarnauwi over the last four-and-a-half-years have only been possible through the encouragement, support and labour of our community of friends, neighbours and family. We hope that this celebration went some way towards expressing how grateful we are.

Continue reading →

Lamb and mutton from Yarnauwi Farm

18 Sunday Sep 2016

Posted by nopalito in food, livestock

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events, farm, Fleurieu Coast, food, livestock, permaculture, sheep, southwestern Fleurieu

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After a year or two building up our experimental flock of climate-resilient sheep, it’s time for another meat harvest. This October, we’ll be offering cuts from a selection of one-year-old lamb and hogget, together with some mouth-watering mutton. (For those of you who need convincing on the delights of mutton, look no further than Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall who describes mutton as the beef of the sheep world, or fellow foodie Sophie Grigson who gushes that mutton is “beautifully tender, firm-grained, and with a rich but not aggressive flavour,” offering, in comparison to lamb, “more depth of flavour, a more complex rounded taste, more ‘umami’, if you like.”)

All of our sheep are born, raised, grazed, and slaughtered on the Fleurieu Peninsula, and this year will be butchered by the team at Normanville Meat and Seafood. Each cut ordered will be vacuum-packed and delivered in refrigerated luxury to your door at the end of October (assuming you live in Adelaide or surrounds).

In an effort to utilise as much of the beast as possible, once again, we’ll also be enlisting Tony Scott of Southern Tanners, Port Elliot, to tan their delicately mottled hides. These hides will be available later in the year for all your home decor or artisanal urges. Stay tuned.

If you’d like to put in an order, drop us an email at yarnauwi[at]gmail.com, and we’ll send you all the details!

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Hides available later in 2016

Waterway restoration at Yarnauwi

20 Wednesday Apr 2016

Posted by nopalito in ecology, events, regeneration, waterways

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

ecology, erosion, events, farm, Fleurieu Coast, picnics, recycling, southwestern Fleurieu, waste, water, waterways

In April, we belatedly participated in Clean Up Australia Day, focussing our attentions on the final lode of rubbish in the gullies and constructing erosion control structures in areas of active erosion. Kitted out in dust-masks and gloves, our amazing team of volunteers completed in an hour what it would take us weeks to do alone, and by day’s end had removed six trailer-loads of steel, and about 20 sacks of rubbish, together with miscellaneous sun umbrellas, fitness treadmills and bmx frames. (See our Curated Junk page for similar treasures – undoubtedly there are more to come!)

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Continue reading →

A new branch of the family tree

24 Friday Apr 2015

Posted by nopalito in events

≈ 8 Comments

Tags

events, farm, kangaroos, picnics, trees

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That’s Annika, asleep on Sophie’s lap.

We recently welcomed new daughter Annika into the world, and she had her first tour of the property at less than 2 weeks old. Despite the barrage of new sensations, big skies and brisk breezes, she snoozed for the duration! We greatly value the knowledge, experience, wonder and curiosity that can be cultivated through a relationship with a particular place, and we’re delighted that we’ll be able to nurture this with Annika at the farm.

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Annika, appropriately bundled and enjoying feeling windswept. 

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Meanwhile, the kangaroos are family-minded at the moment too, with up to 90 individuals converging back on the block for their annual jamboree.

Year of the Sheep: Introducing Pecorino

15 Sunday Feb 2015

Posted by nopalito in livestock

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

alpacas, events, farm, livestock, photography, sheep, southwestern Fleurieu, summer

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Despite his noble bearing, thus far Pecorino has demonstrated a rather sheepish personality.

With the Year of the Sheep just around the corner on the Chinese calendar, it’s fitting that we’re celebrating the arrival of Pecorino. Pecorino is a Dorper-Damara cross ram, adopted from our friends Stefan and Amanda from their property at Inman Valley. Although our Wiltshire Horn-Dorper lambs have been pretty unfazed by the blinding summer heat, their Wiltshire Horn mothers have not fared so well. Enter Pecorino and his robust African desert-survival genetics and fat-tailed energy-storing mystique. Continue reading →

The Farm Year in Review: 2014

18 Thursday Dec 2014

Posted by nopalito in events, livestock, planning, regeneration

≈ 6 Comments

Tags

design, ecology, events, farm, fencing, food, hiking, livestock, permaculture, planning, propagation, revegetation, seasons, sheep, southwestern Fleurieu, summer, tractor, water, winter, zones

2014 was a year where the dry season came early and stayed late. It seemed as if the rain barely had a chance to soften the ground and throw up some soursobs before our clay soils began to crack again and the pasture browned off. Despite this, after two years observing the rhythms of this patch of ground, I feel like we’re becoming more resilient and optimistic: where previously we despaired at every lost seedling, now we celebrate every survivor.

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Summer: a shingleback lizard soaks up some sunshine.

In the spirit of permaculture, this year also marks a transition from our observational period towards beginning to implement infrastructure for a sustainable farming enterprise. With fencing and water infrastructure for livestock, our appreciation of the need for water only deepens, and despite its challenges, we’ve learnt to stop worrying and love winter.

Continue reading →

Help get Village Greens growing!

24 Monday Nov 2014

Posted by nopalito in events, food

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design, events, farm, Fleurieu, logo, market garden, permaculture, seeds, soil, vegetables, Village Greens

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I’ve recently been working with Village Greens, a dream-team of young growers and permaculturalists, developing their logo and crowd-funding video. They’re establishing a sustainable, human-scale market garden in Aldinga, on the southern rim of Adelaide, and the northern expanse of the Fleurieu Peninsula. One of the ring leaders, Nat Wiseman, is a great friend of our farm, and has hauled junk or scythed thistles on more than one occasion!

The Village Greens team have negotiated access to an acre of land in the Aldinga Arts EcoVillage, and with their wealth of experience and enthusiasm are poised to transform it into a thriving market garden. Their crowd-funding campaign has kicked off and they’re currently seeking support to meet one-off infrastructure costs so they can get growing. Check out how you can support them here. Continue reading →

The Second Annual TBC Tree-planting Extravaganza

19 Saturday Jul 2014

Posted by nopalito in ecology, events, regeneration, trees

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

ecology, erosion, events, farm, kangaroos, planning, revegetation, southwestern Fleurieu, trees, waterways, winter, zones

The 'before' photo: 800 new plants in position. Stay tuned over the next 20 years for the 'after' shot.

The ‘before’ photo: 800 new plants in position. Stay tuned over the next 20 years for the ‘after’ shot.

Over the weekend of the 12-13 July, around 30 dedicated volunteers descended on TBC for our annual tree-planting fiesta. Over two days, we managed to plant some 800 locally indigenous plants in the two ‘wilderness zones’, kick-starting their transition back to pink- and red-gum woodland. The first area was planted outwards from the former Bee House (currently tree-planter snack dispensary and rain shelter) with around 600 plants selected to address the water-logging in the area and to revegetate in and around erosion gullies. The second area saw the planting of around 200 plants, radiating from the existing remnant redgums. Once again these plants were selected to address water-logging and erosion as well as provide shelter to adjacent paddocks. Over the following week, we dodged thunderstorms and icy squalls to add another 150 or so plants, with about 200ish to go! Continue reading →

The Picnic at the End of the World: Farm Clean Up Day

10 Monday Mar 2014

Posted by nopalito in diy, events, regeneration, waterways

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erosion, events, history, picnics, reuse, seasons, southwestern Fleurieu, summer, waste, waterways, winter

Hauling junk is over-represented on this blog. Despite how often we allude to it, cleaning up piles of scrap has steadily been slipping down the list of ‘things-to-do’ in favour of the million other farm jobs. So this year, to keep motivated, we registered as an official Clean Up Australia Day site.

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The Picnic at the End of the World: Morning tea at Ground Zero

The day was windy, marking the shift back towards winter, and as we set to work, two Wedge-tailed Eagles circled above, one harassed by the resident family of magpies while the other lazily surfed the thermals. After the burst of heavy rain a couple of weeks ago, already fresh new grass is emerging. Continue reading →

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Beekeeping Barbie?! I don't know how I feel about this!
Got a bit hot in the shed this week. #summer #melt #candlelight #farm #southaustralia #heatwave @kispirits #ginspiration #gin #fleurieucoast #fleurieupeninsula #candle #offgrid
Curated junk rides again! It's been a while since we've shared some of the treasures unearthed on the farm, but cleaning up in the aftermath of our recent fire has revealed some wonders, waiting patiently on the roadside: 1. Extra tangy Solo can (1980s?) 2. Pre-loved cap, small amount of road metal fused with the brim 3. Safety glasses, can no longer vouch for protective qualities 4. Random melted lump of plastic 5. Vintage cola bottle, lightly soiled More farmy trash is on our website, under "Curated Junk", link in bio! #extratangy #curatedjunk #waste #rubbish #fire #junk #solo #safety #coke #vintage #treasure #farm #fleurieupeninsula #fleurieucoast #summer #bushfire #thirstcrusher #youcantbeatthefeeling
Not if, but when... Unfortunately a few nights ago a grass fire started at the road and spread through a couple of hectares of our farm. We're very grateful to the quick response from our fantastic neighbours, the CFS and SA Police that managed to promptly contain the blaze. Thankfully not much damage beyond scorched fenceposts, melted tree guards and the loss of some saplings. A good reminder for us to revisit our plans and think carefully for how we design for fire. #cfs #fleurieupeninsula #fire #summer #farm #notifbutwhen @sa_countryfireservice @sapolicenews
December means it's time for Fidel and Ernesto's annual manscaping and catch-up with other alpacas in the neighbourhood. Ernesto is especially fascinated by the experience and closely inspects the shearing of his pals. Their wool will be used in house insulation. #fleurieucoast #fleurieupeninsula #alpacas #alpacasofinstagram #alpaca #shearing #alpacino #2pac #summer #farm #yarnauwi
Delighted to discover this photo of Joel's grandma Lil picnicking among the yakkas and stringybarks near Cape Jervis in 1936. That's her on the left, and twin sister Pearl on the right. #fleurieupeninsula #fleurieucoast #fleurieucoastmadebynature #fleurieuliving #picnic #stringybark #xanthorrhoea #history #southaustralia #sahistory @fleurieucoastmadebynature #capejervis
First of the season. #shingleback #stumpytail #tiliquarugosa #bluetongue #kalta #fleurieucoast #fleurieupeninsula #madebynature #fleurieucoastmadebynature #farm #lizard #yarnauwi
It's amazing to see how even a modest melaleuca bush is a universe of its own. Now entering their sixth summer at #yarnauwi these plants are now abuzz with pollinators, including honeybees, ants and these native bees. We think they might be a resin bee (Megachile sp.), A furrow bee (Lasioglossum lanarium) and an inchneumon wasp (Netelia sp.), but welcome any corrections! #bee #australiannativebees #nativebees #sugarbag #bees #melaleuca #reveg #revegetation #fleurieupeninsula #fleurieucoast #melaleucadecussata
6 years ago this little corner of Yarnauwi was replete with a car body, dozens of tyres and other junk, so happy with the transformation!

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