Tag Archives: trees

Our first wet winter

01 Sunday Sep 2013

Posted by in ecology, events, planning, regeneration

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Sheep figuring out the contour, near Sellicks.

I feel like I’ve never really understood winter until this year. When the first rains came, they came hard, revealing slippery, sticky mud and rivulets in unexpected places. The average June rainfall for Second Valley is around 90mm. This year the Bureau of Meteorology recorded over 200mm, and the nearby district of Parawa scored a record-breaking 266mm. Long-dormant erosion gullies were reawoken, creek banks slumped, and everywhere there was the sound of dripping. Now, the days are clearing, the sun has bite and already the kangaroos have joeys in pouch. Here’s some highlights from the wet season. Continue reading →

The trials of tree-planting: ideas for roo-proofing reveg

01 Sunday Sep 2013

Posted by in ecology, planning, regeneration, waterways

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Kangaroos: so cute, yet so merciless.

One of winter’s most exciting prospects was the chance to get some trees in the ground. Our strategy for revegetation has been to try to build islands of vegetation in the most vulnerable areas, with the view to expanding them outwards until they connect up. We were aware that the kangaroos would take an interest, but just how much of an interest we were unprepared for.
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After the rain: erosion control after 6 months

11 Tuesday Jun 2013

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A Juncus seed head on one of the ridgelines.

With a landscape scarred with a history of erosion, and soil associations that the CSIRO SoilMapp discusses in the most nervous of tones, we’d been apprehensive about this season’s heavy rains. After two days of constant downpours, the water sat on the surface, filled every hollow and started to run in strange new flow patterns along the most unexpected of ridgelines. Neighbours told us they hadn’t seen rain like that for some years, and that erosion headcuts had been reawakened all through the surrounding valleys.

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Zephyr Creek before and after: now with less car bodies and more trees!

It was a relief to see that our improvised erosion control strategies (use local materials; slow water flow with rock, fallen timber or mulch; always work on contour; get plants in the ground) had all worked to some degree. Indeed, areas where we had made an intervention, however minor, fared much better than areas without. After the dryness of summer it was unexpectedly thrilling to see water flow, vegetation spring up around the branches we stacked across drainage lines, and most of all, creek banks where we’d removed car bodies didn’t slump and be carried off into the neighbouring paddock.

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Trees, cheese and breeze

10 Monday Jun 2013

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Last weekend we got in the first of (hopefully) many rounds of tree plantings. The ground was soaked after a full two days of rain, the clay soft and pliable, perfect for slipping in the planned 250 trees in several exposed areas of the property where rubbish extraction has opened the now-cleared banks up to more erosion. A team of weather-trusting family and friends came along for the adventure, some planting trees for the first time, others professional tree planters. Continue reading →

The ethics of junk clearing and erosion control

26 Friday Apr 2013

Posted by in diy, regeneration, waterways

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We’re celebrating the clean-up of what we call Zephyr Creek, after the 1960s Ford that was wedged at the bottom of the gully. Through the work of a local metal removalist, and a bit of time scrabbling in the mud, most of the major rubbish from the creek has been extracted. Inspired by the amazing work on rainwater harvesting and riparian restoration of Brad Lancaster and organisations like the Quivera Coalition, we’ve implemented our own rustic brand of erosion control. It’s not too pretty, but it is inexpensive (free, in fact) to build and maintain, uses available resources and is easy to alter depending on its effectiveness.

IMG_2179IMG_2247IMG_2400– Going, going, gone!

After clearing the rubbish from the creek, we used an A-Frame to measure and mark the contours at two points in the steep bank. We hammered stakes at regular intervals, then built up leaky terraces using scrap construction timber from the gully itself and fallen tree branches. Some of the loose soil promptly settled behind the barriers, and in a few weeks will be planted out with indigenous plants to further stabilise the area.

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The first golden summer

02 Saturday Mar 2013

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Another hot dawn breaks

Another hot dawn breaks

While the sun still has some sting left in it, we’ve now completed our first official summer working with the block. When we settled the contract in late November, we began drafting a phased plan for actions to take over the 2012/13 period and beyond. We intended the first year (at least) to be primarily a process of observing and auditing the property, learning what we can about what is here, what has been and what is possible.

Golden afternoon light on the big red gum and the hills beyond

Golden afternoon light on the big red gum and the hills beyond

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Sheoak Geometry

18 Friday Jan 2013

Posted by in art & craft, diy

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SheoakPodThe Drooping Sheoak (Allocasuarina verticillata) is a cracker of a tree and is quickly becoming one of our favourites. It produces the favoured cone for nibbling by the iconic black cockatoo, its prodigious needle dropping is excellent for protecting the soil and contributing to erosion control. The name Sheoak was apparently once ‘Shee-oak’, the ‘Shee’ referring to the sound of the wind blowing through a sheoak grove. The oak of the name refers to the tree’s fine-grained timber, making it excellent for turning. According to Primary Industries and Resources SA, the sheoak is also the “Rolls Royce” of firewoods, burning hot and leaving little ash. We also love it because of its generosity with seed and its ready germination.

Drooping sheoak pods releasing their winged seed.

Drooping sheoak pods releasing their winged seed.

In the delirium of seed collection, I started sketching sheoak cones, a process that has now evolved into the designs below. I’ve tried to reference the colours of both the developing cones and the distinctive grey-green foliage in these designs. Perhaps one day they’ll evolve into textile or wallpaper prints, but for now, they’re available for free download below as iPad and iPhone wallpapers. Let me know which one you like best!

sheoakpatterns Continue reading →

A Beginner’s Guide to Native Seed Collection

17 Thursday Jan 2013

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Sorting seed from the pods of the Golden wattle (Acacia pycnantha)

Sorting seed from the pods of the Golden wattle (Acacia pycnantha)

This property has brought with it a learning curve steeper than its erosion gullies. For example, over the summer we’ve been attempting to learn how to gather and germinate local indigenous species to prepare for planting when the rains return. It’s a pleasure that has seen our botanical Latin go through the roof.

A couple of resources have been invaluable in helping us do this. Todd Berkinshaw’s Mangroves to Mallee has been outstanding in both its assembly of the species present in different plant associations in South Australia, as well as its detailed information on common individual species. Neville Bonney’s What Seed Is That? is the bible for the aspiring South Australian native seed collector and has detailed profiles on seed gathering of individual plants from across central southern Australia. Continue reading →

Planning for Regeneration

15 Tuesday Jan 2013

Posted by in planning

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IMG_2030Strangely, one of the things that attracted us to this particular patch of ground was its need for regeneration. With only three established trees on all 47 acres, one of our first projects is to plan revegetation in an attempt to return areas of the landscape to a reflection of the Pink Gum Woodland it likely was 180 years ago.

Imagining Pink Gum Woodland, based on local seeds we've gathered. (Illustration by Joel)

My imagined Pink Gum Woodland, based on local seeds we’ve gathered.

In the spirit of the permaculture principle of observation before action, we’ve been restraining our compulsion to do stuff to instead spend the first year or so primarily attempting to learn the patterns of the landscape, auditing what’s here and reflecting on possibilities before we start digging holes. Continue reading →