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Yarnauwi Farm

~ Fleurieu Peninsula, South Australia

Yarnauwi Farm

Tag Archives: seeds

The Fifth Annual Tree Planting Extravaganza

25 Sunday Jun 2017

Posted by Joel in ecology, events, propagation, regeneration, trees

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farm, Fleurieu Coast, permaculture, propagation, revegetation, seasons, seeds, southwestern Fleurieu, trees, winter

“Trees are the poems the earth writes upon the sky” said Kahlil Gibran. Pete, Shani and Sophie prepare to plant.

This year is our fifth on Yarnauwi, and this June saw our fifth annual tree-planting extravaganza. Over the last five years, our amazing community of tree planters and supporters have planted 5000 trees and other plants on Yarnauwi as we work to restore woodland, stabilise and repair erosion and plant trees for future timber, forage and food. Following the last four years of observation and experimentation, in 2017 our main focus was planting carefully selected species into some of the more challenging areas of the property. Each year we’ve propagated and planted trees sourced from both Trees for Life and our own seed collection. In addition to their generous labour and time, we’re honoured that Yarnauwi regulars Richard and Marg have now immortalised the annual tree-planting tradition in a musical saga, published below and sung to the tune of Loudon Wainwright’s The Swimming Song. The lyricists also pre-emptively apologise for any character assassination contained within.

Putting in soil-stabilising groundcovers around the shed.

A week or two following the tree-planting extravaganza, we were delighted to host the Permaculture Association of South Australia for a walking tour and lunch, sharing our property planning process and how we’ve approached the landscape restoration through a permaculture lens – of which these plantings are a central element. Thank you to Tree Team 2017: Anthony, Pete, Shani, Arlo, Freya, Jeremy, Claire, Innis, Sal, Mary, Branny, Richard, Marg, Nat, Jess, Oliver, Gillian, David, Geoff and Andrew.

One of the electives at this year’s tree-planting fiesta was making plaster casts of animal tracks. Here we have a collection of fox tracks from the dam’s edge.

Continue reading →

Matching trees to tricky spots

25 Saturday Jun 2016

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

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ecology, erosion, farm, Fleurieu Coast, permaculture, revegetation, seasons, seeds, soil, southwestern Fleurieu, trees, water

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Eucalyptus occidentalis, a hardy, salinity and waterlogging tolerant timber and bee forage WA species, putting on new growth despite a dry year.

For the first couple of years of tree planting, we adopted a pretty haphazard approach, planting a bit of everything everywhere, and waiting to see what would stick. It took only a couple of months to highlight which areas offered the conditions for revegetation at a respectable pace, and which did not. Some patches only appeared to support certain species, others seemed to support nothing at all. The challenge has been to work out why. For enthusiastic amateurs like us, the working out comes through plenty of observation, plenty of reading and plenty of research.

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One persistently hostile area of the farm offers saline, slaking, seasonally waterlogged clay with tunneling and cracks you could lose a child down.

For some areas on our farm, vegetation is a valuable indicator, plants like sea barley grass (Hordeum marinum) suggests mild salinity, and, in our case, seasonal waterlogging. In others, aspect and soil type present challenges. Three years of tree planting and walks through local bushland have also given us a sense of which local species might suit which locations. We keep trying new configurations in the same places, and also try to mimic the natural process of succession by planting hardy pioneers first, then waiting for them to establish shelter and canopy before adding others. As the balance of the landscape has changed through clearing, cultivation and the associated effects of erosion, shifting water tables and changes in nutrients and soil biology, many of the species that may have dominated a couple of centuries ago no longer tolerate certain areas of the block. Likewise, some areas that may have been conducive to vegetation when woodland was already present, once cleared, they seem to be hostile to its re-establishment: for example, a north-facing corridor of grey, cracking clay that has resisted our affections for two years now. Continue reading →

Planting for the future: exploring tree time

30 Sunday Aug 2015

Posted by Joel in ecology, propagation, regeneration, trees

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

ecology, farm, nursery, permaculture, propagation, seasons, seeds, soil, southwestern Fleurieu, trees, winter

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Present-day badlands, future cloud forest (?!): Sophie and Annika take a break from planting.

After three months, our tree planting activities are finally finished for 2015. The pattern is always the same. Sophie does her best to moderate my impulses, but when the opening rains come I always seem to get a rush of chlorophyll to the head and end up with boxes of seedlings more than we could ever reasonably plant. That said, with the support of our community of family and friends, this year we planted 1000-odd trees, shrubs and ground covers, 300 grasses propagated from seed collected on the property, and still had a few boxes to give to neighbours.

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Asher inspects a red gum seedling only a few months younger than him.

Continue reading →

From badlands to woodlands: The Third Annual Tree Planting Extravaganza

15 Monday Jun 2015

Posted by Joel in ecology, propagation, regeneration, trees

≈ 7 Comments

Tags

ecology, farm, kangaroos, propagation, revegetation, seasons, seeds, soil, southwestern Fleurieu, trees, winter

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The day one team, still smiling after 350 holes

In early June we hosted our third annual tree-planting fiesta. Through the generosity of our friends and family, we planted another 800-odd trees, forming shelterbelts and habitat corridors along the southern and western boundaries. As in previous years, the trees are mostly local provenance with some propagated through Trees for Life, and others from seed we’ve gathered. This year, we’re also experimenting with enhancing seedling resilience by inoculating them with beneficial fungi and mulching each planting, in addition to protection with roo-thwarting tree guards.

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Jumping into the mulch pile

We hope the annual planting is becoming a tradition. Despite the aching muscles and brisk breezes, there’s great pleasure in working among friends beneath a big sky. For the brood of kids, there are gullies and mallow thicket cubbies to spend days leaping into. There is great pleasure too in the sense that this future, hoped-for woodland is an enduring legacy of the companionship and generosity of our community. Continue reading →

Help get Village Greens growing!

24 Monday Nov 2014

Posted by Joel 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 →

Fleurieu Foliage: Scented sundew (Drosera whittakeri)

21 Monday Jul 2014

Posted by Joel in ecology, exploring, propagation, regeneration

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

drosera, ecology, plants, propagation, seeds, southwestern Fleurieu, sundew, winter

This is the first instalment in an occasional series celebrating different plants of the Fleurieu, particularly those that we spot or try to reintroduce to the farm. It’s also a way for us to map and share our research and discoveries as we observe the regeneration of our property.

sundew

During our recent winter tree-planting extravaganza, Sean, one of our dedicated tree-planters, discovered a patch of Scented sundews (Drosera whittakeri), in the damp, mossy undergrowth around the gullies. With its distinctive white flowers, once we’d spotted one cluster, we discovered more in similar damp pockets. Continue reading →

Propagating Oaks 1: Germination

02 Wednesday Jul 2014

Posted by Joel in diy, livestock, planning, propagation, trees

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food, livestock, nursery, permaculture, planning, propagation, seeds, trees, winter

An English oak seedling (Quercus robur) reachers towards the winter sun.

An English oak seedling (Quercus robur) reaches towards the winter sun.

Back in autumn, we gathered freshly fallen acorns from the base of a row of massive old English oaks (Quercus robur). Inspired by the dehesa agroforestry systems of Spain and Portugal, we’ve often pondered how a livestock-grazed oak plantation could work on the property. Acorns for pigs, and perhaps even human consumption, timber for the use of our great-great-grandchildren, and in the meantime, a carpet of fallen leaves offering organic matter for composting and mulch. So, with some bags of acorns and few containers of the topsoil and leaf litter from around the parent oaks, we set to propagating them.

We mixed the leaf litter and gathered topsoil in with our potting medium, hoping to inoculate our own medium with beneficial fungi, and then planted the acorns. We planted some close to the surface, and others about an acorn-width deep. After about eight weeks of being kept damp and left in the late autumn-early winter sun, they began sending their first shoots upwards, red furry things with a cluster of jagged leaves at the top. The depth of the acorn doesn’t seem to have had any bearing on their readiness to propagate. Once they’ve all emerged and are about 8-10 cm tall, we’ll carefully thin them, planting out excess strong specimens to their own pots until we have one decent plant per pot.

Grow little seedling, grow!

Grow little seedling, grow!

Propagating feijoas

26 Thursday Jun 2014

Posted by Joel in diy, propagation, trees

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

food, nursery, permaculture, propagation, seeds, trees, winter

The take-away container propagation method. Place cleaned seed on a damp cloth, replace lid, and leave in a warm place.

The take-away container propagation method. Place cleaned seed on a damp cloth, replace lid, and leave in a warm place.

The feijoa (Acca sellowiana, aka. Feijoa sellowiana) is one of those underrated suburban fruit trees that is often (perhaps unwittingly) grown around Adelaide backyards and little eaten. The varieties I’ve come across most often have offered grey-green torpedoes with a sharp, pineapple tang and a somewhat gritty texture. In the height of feijoa season, we were given a paper bag full of a variety I’d not encountered before. The skin was thin enough to bite a chunk out of and the flesh silky(ish) and smooth. Continue reading →

Book Review: Embracing an arid future in “Growing Food in a Hotter, Drier Land”

19 Wednesday Mar 2014

Posted by Joel in ecology, planning, reviews

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bees, books, design, ecology, food, permaculture, planning, revegetation, seeds, soil, trees, water

Years before there was talk of locavores and 100-mile-diets and omnivore’s dilemmas, I came upon Gary Nabhan’s book Coming Home to Eat, a personal account of his experiences striving to solely eat food produced in his home bioregion of the US-Mexican borderlands in southern Arizona. His observations as renowned desert ecologist and ethno-botanist redefined how I thought about food and sustainability and accompanied me on my own sustainable food explorations for years after.

I get the feeling that his latest book, Growing Food in a Hotter, Drier Land: Lessons from Desert Farmers on Adapting to Climate Uncertainty (Chelsea Green, 2013), may be another companion for us in our adventures on the farm. While Growing Food is as practical as its title suggests, it is permeated by Nabhan’s respect for the insights of cultures deeply connected to the land, and his belief that communities connected to their bioregion are the most resilient in the face of environmental change. Continue reading →

Travels in Inter-Tussock Space: Planning for Woodland

10 Monday Mar 2014

Posted by Joel in ecology, planning, regeneration

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

design, ecology, erosion, kangaroos, permaculture, planning, revegetation, seeds, soil, southwestern Fleurieu, trees, waterways, zones

We’ve seeded our last 150 tubes in preparation for planting in a few months time. When the rains come, we’ll have over 1000 plants ready to go. Most are destined for the regeneration areas we’ve fenced around the waterways, but a few others are non-indigenous livestock fodder plants, timber trees and food plants we’ve raised from seed and cuttings to begin developing other zones around the farm.

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It’s a Pink Gum Woodland, it just doesn’t know it yet.

Late in 2013, along with a posy of other plant nerds, we attended a workshop with botanist Ann Prescott (author of It’s Blue with Five Petals) to explore ideas behind revegetation for habitat. We walked through remnant woodland in the hills above Yankalilla, and tried to imagine how our farm might have looked 180 years ago. Continue reading →

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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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