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Yarnauwi Farm

~ Fleurieu Peninsula, South Australia

Yarnauwi Farm

Tag Archives: picnics

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

03 Wednesday May 2017

Posted by Joel 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.

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Waterway restoration at Yarnauwi

20 Wednesday Apr 2016

Posted by Joel 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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Plastic-Free July: Making a feed-bag picnic rug

20 Monday Jul 2015

Posted by Joel in art & craft, diy, livestock

≈ 5 Comments

Tags

art, craft, farm, livestock, picnics, Plastic-free July, recycling, reuse, southwestern Fleurieu, waste

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Asher tests out the upcycled feed-bag picnic blanket

Over the last couple of years we’ve assembled an impressive collection of woven polypropylene sacks. Typically used as bags for stock feed or pasture seed, in the spirit of Plastic-Free July, I thought it was time to put these single-use plastics to use and upcycle them into a patchwork, water-proof picnic blanket.

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Asher demonstrates correct operating procedure, also showing the heavier backing.

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A new branch of the family tree

24 Friday Apr 2015

Posted by Joel 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.

Restoration Man: Resurrecting Junk

31 Sunday Aug 2014

Posted by Joel in diy

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Tags

farm, hack, picnics, recycling, reuse, waste

Restored!

Restored!

We’ve written a fair bit about our relationship with the decades of farm junk strewn across the property, including our page of curated finds. A couple of months ago, when clearing another trailerload of scrap metal from the gullies, Sophie’s cousin Andrew spotted some treasure amid the trash. It was corroded, missing legs and other bits, but still identifiably a spirit-burning, post-World War II camp stove. Continue reading →

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

10 Monday Mar 2014

Posted by Joel in diy, events, regeneration, waterways

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Tags

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 →

Block Party

10 Monday Dec 2012

Posted by Joel in events

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Tags

events, kangaroos, picnics, summer

Watching grebes on the dam

Watching grebes on the dam

In December 2012, we invited brave members of our families and friends to venture south to the block to walk the boundaries, share ideas and picnic under the trees with mugs of mead. Braving driving southerly winds the group scythed and machete’d through the thicket of thistles on the dam wall and started sorting and disposing of the rubbish under the gums.

RooSkull Guardian of the Gums Continue reading →

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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
"The best fertiliser is the farmer's footsteps," goes the old proverb, so we try and make a habit of walking and observing what's going on, whenever we can. Here's a few spring time happenings: Christmas beetles arrive, shinglebacks on the move, callistemons in a pollination frenzy, and roos chilling in the shade in small family groups. Observing helps us to understand what's working and inspires us to keep going.

What We’re Writing About

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