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Yarnauwi Farm

~ Fleurieu Peninsula, South Australia

Yarnauwi Farm

Tag Archives: Kaurna calendar

Towards a seasonal calendar

01 Thursday Oct 2020

Posted by sophie in ecology, planning

≈ 8 Comments

Tags

calendar, ecology, Kaurna calendar, planning, seasons, summer, winter

Observing…

As anyone who lives on the Fleurieu would have observed, our seasons do not really match the classic four seasons of the European calendar. Our hot “Summer” weather lasts well into mid-Autumn, our “Winters” are mild and snow-free, our “Spring” flowers often blossom in August, and prevailing winds change direction at different times of the year.

The Kaurna Seasonal Calendar, from the Bureau of Meteorology Indigenous Weather Knowledge project.

It makes sense that bioregions need their own calendar, and in our region, the Kaurna seasonal calendar provides an insight into the patterns of our landscape. In contrast to the fixed three-month quarters of the European calendar, the Kaurna calendar instead is responsive to a critical mass of natural phenomena being reached: the life stage of certain plants, the movements of animals, as well as the prevailing winds and weather patterns. Some seasons may not occur at all in some years. Such a calendar indicates a breathtaking depth of landscape knowledge. The Kaurna seasons are described by Scott Heyes in his thesis, with versions also published in Adelaide: Nature of a City, and Adelaide: Water of a City, available at your local library! Artist James Tylor has also written a fantastic summary of the seasons and associated wild foods. The calendar is also documented in the Bureau of Meteorology’s Indigenous Weather Knowledge project.

The four main Kaurna seasons are:

Warltati – approx Jan-March – Hot season
Parnati – approx April-June – Windy season
Kudlila – approx July-September – Wet season
Wirltuti – approx October-December – Mild warm season

The complexity and depth of Kaurna knowledge of landscape and seasons is astonishing. As recalled by one colonial observer “WGR” on the Fleurieu, during the gold rush, many white men on the Fleurieu left for the gold rush in Victoria. This saw a period when Aboriginal people assumed much of the work on settler properties throughout the region. WGR describes how, “The youngsters went hunting and fishing with the natives, and learnt a lot of things unknown to the average white about birds, animals and fish. Shoals of mullet visited the coast at times. Dick [an Aboriginal worker] promised to let us know when they were coming. One night he roused me up … Off we went, and sure enough there were great numbers passing along the sandy beach going south. Asked how he knew it, he pointed to a particular star in the south-east. “Yes, but how about this?” “Well, my father tell me.” It is remarkable that more than 60 years afterwards an aboriginal gave the same reply regarding the movements of another variety of fish.”

Inspired by the depth of Aboriginal seasonal knowledge, we came across the ‘Seasonal Signpost Calendar’ concept by artist Sofia Sabbagh. She describes it as “a means to track and cultivate the noticing of our environment; native and non-native species, and to link our personal lives with the cycles of our environment”. To support this, Sofia suggests a series of questions:

  • What is changing in my local environment?
  • How is the soil?
  • How is the creek?
  • Which birds are appearing?
  • How might this environmental change affect another plant or animal? What is the flow on effect?
  • Which plants/animals do I notice?
  • Which plants/animals appear in significant times of my life?
  • Which plants/animals do I most obviously affect?
  • Which plants/animals most obviously affect me?

Inspired by Sofia’s calendar, for the past 12 months we have been observing and recording all the changes we notice in soil, moisture, weather conditions, fungi, plant and animal life.

The Yarnauwi Seasonal Calendar, now in its second year.

Now we are into our second year of the calendar, patterns are starting to emerge. For example, it turns out that the pair of Adelaide Rosellas which we thought we saw sporadically actually consistently stay on the property from May-August and we see them every visit, and then they go somewhere else. And we start worrying about the Wedge-tailed Eagles when we don’t see them for awhile, but it turns out that summer is more commonly when they soar above us, whereas the Nankeen Kestrel is year round. And all our various species of Acacia/wattle started flowering in the same week this year as they did last year, despite the fact that we had a wetter year.  

The climate and landscape-responsive Kaurna seasons provide a central touchstone for our own observations.

We are really interested to see where this calendar takes us, especially as we start to get an understanding of what environmental phenomena trigger other environmental phenomena. This will help us plan when we need to do work tasks (planting at the best possible time, slashing turnip weed before seed set, collecting native seed, making sure our bees have enough pollen and nectar options etc), but more importantly help us develop that deeper connection with the land. We really want to know how the ecosystem all fits together and how everything is synchronised so we can work with the land not against it.

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From where we'd rather be...actually there's nowhere we'd rather be! Big thumbs up for the kids' new hammock under the old gums. So glad to finally be here at last! Happy 2023 all 🌿
First fig of the season. A monster Black Genoa, organically grown in our little windswept orchard.
As proof of the recent confusing weather patterns, these Amanita mushrooms came up a few days ago! We've never seen mushrooms here in November, they're usually all finished by August, and we've never seen this species or anything like it here before! Amanitas are mycorrhizal (they form a partnership with a tree/plant to help feed and nourish it in exchange for sugars) and these ones were growing only 1m or so from a Eucalypt we planted about 7 years ago which has always grown really well. I just wonder if this species has been there all along, waiting for perfect conditions of 45mm in one day in Nov to be able to fruit! And now it can reproduce and spread to other parts of the farm. It makes me wonder what else is out there ready to take advantage of crazy climactic conditions!
As long time admirers of @thegreenhorns we're thrilled that Joel's comic about weeds will be published in Vol. VI of "The New Farmer's Almanac". It all releases this January and pre-orders are available now through @chelseagreenbooks
Frog spawn! 🐸 We've never seen this before at Yarnauwi but with the best rains in years our dam is filling up, the air is full of the calls of the Spotted Grass Frog and the Common Froglet, and we seem to be providing enough grassy water habitat for these eggs to be laid with enough shelter for them to grow into the little black tadpoles you can see inside! Lying next to the dam listening to frog calls definitely takes us to our happy place and makes it all so very worthwhile 💚
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.

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