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Yarnauwi Farm

~ Fleurieu Peninsula, South Australia

Yarnauwi Farm

Tag Archives: holistic management

Kangaroo grazing and revegetation: looking for a way forward

01 Monday Jan 2018

Posted by Joel in ecology, livestock, planning, regeneration, trees

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

books, ecology, farm, future, holistic management, kangaroos, planning, revegetation, trees

IMG_8035

Western Grey Kangaroos fight it out in one of our revegetation habitat zones

One of the most persistent challenges in our work to revegetate areas of the farm has been managing kangaroos. Despite its previous status as woodland, for decades the farm has been an enforced grassland as hay paddock and pasture, the preferred environment of Western Grey Kangaroos. While early accounts of the region describe the southwestern Fleurieu as “kangaroo country”, land clearing, the elimination of predators such as dingoes, reduced hunting pressure, and in our case, the provision of year-round green pick in the form of a nearby irrigated golf course has contributed to a steady increase of kangaroo numbers.

We’ve observed that the kangaroos follow a seasonal rhythm of converging on our property in numbers during the cooler, wetter months, before dispersing into smaller family groups as the weather warms and dries. During this time, they typically move into the neighbouring golf course, and because of the constant availability of fresh feed it is rare to see a female kangaroo without a joey. While most species of kangaroos typically prefer grass, the Western Grey is also noted as a browser of shrubs and seedlings. Continue reading →

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2022 marks a decade since we started working to regenerate Yarnauwi. To celebrate Joel's been working on a little comic to acknowledge all the amazing folks in our community near and far who have supported us and this place over the last 10 years. Here's a sample, but the whole thing is on our blog - follow the link in our bio!
Thanks to everyone who came joined us on our farm tour as part of @historyfestival and @heritagefleurieucoastfestival - we really appreciate your interest and enthusiasm!
We're honoured to have this story pop up on @abcnews_au sharing some of the work we've been doing to regenerate our patch. Our deepest thanks to all the friends, neighbours and family who have helped transform the property over the last decade!
It's been a good year in our little orchard, with plenty of ripe figs for us - and others! Here's one we found, positioned just like this on top of a fence post. I'm looking for a raven with fig juice running down its chin.
It might have an Instagram-unfriendly level of detail, but here's a comic Joel's been working on about our relationship with a particular weed, and some of the people who have inspired us to rethink how we manage it. You can have a look at the whole thing on our blog.
For the last few years we've been planting acorns in our front paddock. They're for Holm oaks (Quercus ilex), adapted to a similar dryland Mediterranean climate as ours. They're evergreen, and in decades to come will offer shade, fire suppression and both stock and human feed throughout their acorns. They're slow growing at best, but we've been able to get them growing with mulch, complete organic fertiliser and occasional watering. We've sliced pickle barrels into rings and partially buried them to form a well to hold water in the root zone when watering. The difference between those with and without the wells is pronounced. This little one is perhaps 3 years old, direct seeded.
After a couple of years, our stone terrace garden is complete and freshly planted with a pomegranate, mulberry and loquat. Thanks to @anacotillasprings for the stone! The scraps of mesh and sheep panels will keep the kangaroos off while we establish the garden.
The nopal with a fighting spirit! 💪 For years this single old prickly pear pad sat in a metal bucket only half full of soil, repeatedly gnawed at and knocked over by roos and presumed to be long dead. A bit of heat and dose of summer rain and what a resurrection! With its delicious fruit and young pads, we are so lucky to have such tough plants in the world!🌵#opuntia #pricklypear
We have reached a major milestone with the arrival of a Superb Fairy-Wren family! This is one of the species we have most been trying to attract by planting plenty of dense bushes for cover. In the end they used chest-high brassica weeds to hop up from the Anacotilla creek valley, and have set up a nest in one of our Old Man Saltbushes. One blue male and two brown females/juveniles can now be heard merrily cheeping as they flit along our wildlife corridors from saltbush to saltbush to kangaroo thorn to feral fig tree - just goes to show weeds have their place in habitat creation! 🌿 (this image taken at a different location). #maluruscyaneus #superbfairywren #fleurieucoast

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