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:
Continue readingI’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.
I finished sowing the 2021 winter crop this past weekend just gone. Only had one bin of seed left (about 40kg), which I was deliberately holding onto for several weeks, such that I can see the effect of seeding later in the season. It was sown 27/6 up on the main plateau, in a lantana affected area, alongside an earlier section shown in the photos late in this post.
Growth of the crop (earlier sowings) is varying significantly depending on location. The Eastern area has some of the best growth as seen in the photos below:
Continue readingFarmers typically plough or till the soil before seeding, as this provides a means to get good seed to soil contact. It also makes it easy to bury the seed a little (generally larger seed = deeper depth), and softens the soil for initial root growth. It also messes up the soil structure by breaking up macro aggregates, destroys fungal hyphae that the plants have a symbiotic relationship with, and is generally equivalent to smashing up the homes of billions of tiny beneficial microbes and critters.
No till seeding isn’t new – it has been around for many decades, gradually increasing in prevalence. There are a number of different sorts; I’ve chosen the route of a double disc opener to minimise soil disturbance. Though it really should be called minimal till, not no till….
Continue readingActivities on the farm the last couple of months have been busy with two main activities – sowing a winter seed mix, and spraying lantana whilst it is flowering.
Bare soil is the antithesis of regenerative farming. The sun beats down onto bare soil, drying it out, heating it up, and generally messing up soil microbiome processes. Rain also impacts the surface in a way that doesn’t occur on covered soil, and soil erosion is more likely to occur. Weeds take hold. The lack of living plants also means the soil microbiome isn’t being fed.
Anyone who has done biology would know about photosynthesis; it is via photosynthesis that plants produce energy to live and grow from light, CO2 and water.
Continue reading144 hectares (~355 acres) of lantana, scrub and pasture – its our little spot of paradise! The closest we could get to that anyway…. Located in QLD about 1 hour north of the major regional city Toowoomba, and 25 minutes north of the small town of Crows Nest.
Continue readingWhy is a city dwelling engineer and his family buying a farm?
Family and close friends will know that whilst I grew up in the suburbs, I was around the age of 5 when my parents purchased a farm that the family would travel to on weekends and holidays. We spent many days traipsing over the acres chasing cattle, pushing through lantana, dragging poly pipe up creeks, and swimming in some pretty nice waterholes!
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