First Anniversary!

Wow, we’ve been farmers for a year now! Yet it is such an integral part of our lives that it is difficult to remember what life was like before the property settled one year ago!

It has been a great experience. I never tire of heading up to the plateau on a Saturday arvo and looking at the view – you can feel the stress of the week melt away. Its a pity at how poorly a small pic on a screen conveys the feeling of actually being there!

Part of the amazing view from the plateau

When I stop and think about what we’ve learnt and done in this time, its hard to believe it has only been one year. Here’s what comes to mind:

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Winter Crop Update

Sowing of this winters crop began mid April, with the no-till seeder. That activity spread out over quite a few weeks, and I wrote about it a little in this blog post (that post contains a list of species planted).

Last weekend I took a series of photos, showing growth over the 2 – 3.5 months since it was sown. Overall, it has not gone as well as I would like. Growth has been best in the Eastern Area, with some thick lush growth in a few areas, and good steady growth in most:

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Gully Erosion Control

I’ve spent time the last couple of weekends on erosion control. Reinforced a few small gully heads in the valley with hardwood, and a significant gully besides the main road with rocks. Also collapsed and evened out a tunnel in the western slope (still several more of them to go!).

Idea behind blocking up the erosion face is simply to stop progression of the head by providing some support to the existing face and any soil that collapses from it.

Propping up the gully head. Not really visible now, but there was a hole perhaps 600mm deep at the face.
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