27 May – Cactus Killing Continues
Posted on 24 May, 2012 by Connecting Country
The first cactus control community field day for the year was held on Sunday 29 April. The day was launched by Maree Edwards, MP for Bendigo West. There was a big turnout and the event had a front page write up in the Tarrangower Times.
The next Field Day will be on 27 May starting at 10.30. It will be held at the same venue – off Waterson’s Road near Tarrengower School Road intersection and will be well signposted. Because of the Trial Bike World Championship competitions being held all weekend off Mount Back Road, the traffic along Waterson’s Road might be very busy. It may therefore be easier to access the site by going the long way around and entering Waterson’s Road from the Baringhup end.
See the attached notice for a map. Everyone is welcome.
17 May 2012 – Reminder about three events on this Thursday
Posted on 16 May, 2012 by Connecting Country
There are three local events on Thursday 17 May. The details of the first two have already been included on the Connecting Country site (follow the links below):
Consultation on the North Central CMA draft Regional Catchment Strategy to be held in the Campbells Creek Community Hall.
Elphinstone AGM where Ern Perkins, local flora expert, will speak on native and non-native grasses.
The third event is is through the Newstead Landcare Group. It is a presentation by Hedley Thomson of Ballarat Environment Network and Goldfields Weed Management on the topic of ‘Sensitive Area Weed Management’. Hedley will talk about the best ways to manage weeds in sensitive areas and how the use of herbicides can be minimised. He will also help us to understand what natural systems can be enlisted in controlling weeds to get the safest results. This promises to be not only a very interesting but also very useful evening. Hedley is well known as a passionate and engaging presenter. The talk starts at 8 pm at Newstead Community Centre. All are welcome to attend and gold coin donations would be appreciated. A brief (and optional) business meeting will follow. Contact Patrick Kavanagh of Newstead Landcare 5476 2755 for more details.
20 May 2012 – Cultural Awareness Day
Posted on 14 May, 2012 by Connecting Country
A Campaspe Cultural Awareness Day is being held on 20 May. This is a joint initiative of the North Central CMA, the Campaspe Grassy Woodlands Project and the Dja Dja Wurrung Clans Aboriginal Corporation (DDWCAC). Participants will be able to meet member of the DDWAC and learn about Traditional Ecological Knowledge, cultural heritage management and links to Landcare.
Places are limited and people interested must reserve their place by Wednesday 16 May. Click here to download a flyer with all the details.
17 May 2012 – ELMA AGM
Posted on 9 May, 2012 by Connecting Country
The Elphinstone Land Management Association (ELMA) is holding it’s AGM on 17 May. Local flora expert, Ern Perkins, will give the keynote talk on native and non-native grasses and everyone attending will receive a free copy of his newly released CD on identifying grasses in the Mount Alexander Shire. This is the first talk Ern has given in the region on his new CD. Click here for more details.
Consultations on the North Central CMA draft Regional Catchment Strategy
Posted on 8 May, 2012 by Connecting Country
The North Central Catchment Management Authority (CMA) is seeking input and feedback from the community on the draft 2012-2018 Regional Catchment Strategy. There will be ten community meetings in May and June to provide input and feedback on environmental priorities. In our region, the community feedback meeting will be held at Campbells Creek Community Centre on at 7 pm on Thursday 17 May. See this flyer for more details.
This is a wonderful opportunity to have input into the Regional Catchment Strategy – it is reviewed every 6 years or so and many things can change in that time. One of the most important assets in our area (after our rivers and creeks) is the natural environment and this is what we can highlight and promote with the North Central CMA. By including this in the bigger picture of the region’s assets it will encourage support for programs to protect, enhance and connect native fauna and flora – this could be through direct funding or through other resourcing.
What is needed now is detailed and accurate mapping of our natural biodiversity to ensure that everyone (local community, agencies, and levels of government) has an understanding of the value and importance of what we have here. There is also the continual need for community education and awareness raising especially as new people are choosing to settle here because of the natural environment and its attraction.
For a copy of the draft Regional Catchment Strategy or to have your say on-line, visit the North Central CMA website.
10 May 2012 – Talk by Paul Foreman on Southern Shepherd’s Purse
Posted on 4 May, 2012 by Connecting Country
Southern Shepherd's Purse (Ballantinia antipoda) by Norm Stimson (Enviro Images).
On 10 May there will be a presentation by Paul Forman on Southern Shepherd’s Purse Ballantinia antipoda at 7.30 at the ANA Hall in Harcourt. The Harcourt Valley Landcare Group who have organised this event are actively involved in the recovery of this endangered herb. Information on the National Recovery Plan for Ballantinia antipoda can be found here.
For further information, contact Robyn Miller on 0467 670 271.
8 May 2012 – Revegetating the Future
Posted on 2 May, 2012 by Connecting Country
Professor Ary Hoffmann - Director of Centre for Environmental Stress and Adaptation Research, Department of Genetics and Zoology
The final evening talk in the Connecting Country Education Program for 2012 will be held at Sutton Grange Community Hall on Tuesday 8 May from 6.30pm. In the face of environmental degradation, Professor Ary Hoffman from the University of Melbourne Bio21 Institute, will discuss the concept of building evolutionary resilience in vegetation and how it can be included in conservation and landscape planning strategies.
This event will be useful to the industry practitioner and the active Landcare group member alike, as well as all other community members. It will get you thinking in more depth about aspects of revegetation such as tube stock provenance, parent tree selection, seed collection and species selection. Considerable time will be available for the audience to discuss these concepts with Professor Hoffmann, Connecting Country staff and members of the Sutton Grange Landcare group. Additional information for further reading will also be available on the night to take home.
The free evening event commences at 6.30pm with a pre-talk supper. The event is fully catered by CAKE (Castlemaine Abundance Kitchen Enterprise) with food sourced from locally grown ingredients – the food and drinks are free, but gold coin donations to the Sutton Grange Landcare group are encouraged.
For more information and to RSVP please contact bryan@connectingcountry.org.au or call the Connecting Country office on 5472 1594. RSVPs are not essential but are preferred for catering purposes. Full details of the program and a registration form can be found at the Connecting Country website: www.connectingcountry.org.au/2012-education-program.
3 May 2012 – New Opportunities in Carbon Farming
Posted on 30 April, 2012 by Connecting Country
Are you interested in getting paid to farm carbon? Considering alternative incomes on your property?
Ben Keogh, Managing Director of Australian Carbon Traders, will discuss the practicalities and realities of carbon farming at a free evening forum in Castlemaine on 3 May. This flyer has more information about the event that is being hosted by the North Central Catchment Management Authority.
Cactus Killing Season Begins
Posted on 24 April, 2012 by Connecting Country
The Tarrangower Cactus Control Committee and Parks Victoria will hold their first Community Field Day on Sunday 29 April starting at 10.30 am. Local State MP, Maree Edwards, has agreed to launch our season and get us off to a flying start.
The venue for next Sunday is a property on Watersons Road between Treloars Road and Tarrengower School Road. See the attached notice for a map. As usual the day will finish with a sausage sizzle and a cuppa.
For more details phone Cheryl and Tony Kane on (03) 5475 2073.
29 April 2012 – Golden Point Landcare Planting Day
Posted on 18 April, 2012 by Connecting Country
As part of the North Central CMA/Golden Point Landcare Weeds on Private Land Project, project officer Fritz Hammersley will be conducting a community planting day on the Photography Studies College property, Golden Point at 10:30 am on Sunday April the 29th. This property occurs on on the corner of Commissioner’s Gully Rd and Golden Point Rd. All interested members of the public are invited to attend to plant and discuss how the planting and future plantings fit into the weed control strategy for the property. Fritz is very interested in hearing other people’s weed control problems and strategies.
Equipment will be provided save for gloves, so bring a good pair of gardening gloves in your kit. A BBQ lunch will be provided at the log cabin near the site. Parking is available near the site or on Golden Point Road. For catering purposes, please let Fritz (0411566987 fritzham@bigpond.com) or Jennifer (Golden Point Landcare scretary – j.pryce@bigpond.com) know if you are coming.
Participants at recent a planting day.
18 April 2012 – Can I get paid to farm nature?
Posted on 17 April, 2012 by Connecting Country
This Wednesday evening, April 18, Connecting Country will host a Panel discussion on the theme ‘Can I get paid to farm nature?’. Panellists will include Tim Read from Trust for Nature, Peter Johnson from Land for Wildlife, Nick Lewis from ES Link Services, Paul Dettmann from Greenhouse Balanced and Chris Timewell from Connecting Country. Each representative will have 15 minutes to promote their services and to discuss the support mechanisms they have to assist landholders with land management. The panel will then look at a number of farm-based scenarios and suggest ways in which the landholder can manage the land to gain environmentally, economically and socially. The Panel discussion will be held at the Campbells Creek Community Centre (Elizabeth St) and commence at 6:30pm. The event is free for all members of the public and is fully catered. Feel free to turn up on the night, although RSVPS are preferred for catering purposes (contact us on 5472 1594 or bryan@connectingcountry.org.au).
A follow-up excursion will be held on Sunday April 22 to a Sandon farm where we will hear the farmer (Malcolm Fyffe) and the conservationist (Geoff Park) discuss the realities of biodiversity management on economic landscapes. Buses and catering are supplied for this half day event and we will meet at the Ray Bradfield Room in Castlemaine for a 9am departure. This will be an interactive experience for participants and will be a great opportunity to flesh out ideas for personal land management situations. Due to limited bus spaces, RSVPs are preferred (phone 5472 1594 or email bryan@connectingcountry.org.au). There is a charge of $10 per participant for this event, which can be paid on the day.
For more information on these and future events click here. Also, please pass this reminder onto others who might be interested in coming along.
26 April 2012 – Landcare Workshop: Planning for Funding
Posted on 16 April, 2012 by Connecting Country
All community groups know that it’s hard to get much done without support from government grants and other sources of funding. Unfortunately, applying for grants is time-consuming, sometimes confusing and not guaranteed to be successful. Having a good plan is one way to make the process easier, and hopefully more robust.
This workshop will give you the chance to look at a diverse range of ‘plans’ that have been made by Landcare groups in the Mount Alexander area over recent years and see what has worked for them. They come in many shapes and sizes! The evening will include short presentations from three Landcare group members about their own plans. As well as those, there will be presentations by Beth Mellick (Norman Wettenhall Foundation) on the differences between the various funding sources and by Jodie Odgers (North Central CMA Landcare Coordinator) on applying for the upcoming 2012 Victorian Landcare Grants. The workshop will include time for informal discussion and browsing of example plans.
This will be a great opportunity to see how other groups in the Mount Alexander Region go about their work. If you think that your group is in need of some direction, or if you have been thinking about planning a project but haven’t got round to it, or if you are interested in applying for a 2012 Landcare Grant, then this workshop should be useful.
The workshop will be held between 6pm and 9pm on the 26th April at the Ray Bradfield room in Castlemaine. Dinner will be provided. Please RSVP to Max (max@connectingcountry.org.au) by the 20th April (for catering). For more information, please contact Max at the email address above or on 5472 1594.
18 April – Can I get paid to farm nature?
Posted on 11 April, 2012 by Connecting Country
On the evening of Wednesday 18 April at the Campbells Creek Community Centre, Connecting Country will host a facilitated panel discussion on the topic of ‘Can I get paid to farm nature?’. Participants will hear local industry experts present and debate the pros, cons and economic opportunities of managing biodiversity values on private land.
Peter Johnson from Land for Wildlife and Tim Read from Trust for Nature will discuss the benefits of land covenants. Chris Timewell from Connecting Country and Nick Lewis from ES Link Services will outline incentives available to land managers to include biodiversity in their business activity. Paul Dettmann from Greenhouse Balanced will discuss ways in which land managers can make the most of the emerging markets in biodiversity and carbon offsets. After the presentations, community members are encouraged to pose their own questions to the panel.
The free evening talk, the second of Connecting Country’s 2012 Education Program, commences at 6.30pm with a pre-talk supper. The event is fully catered by CAKE (Castlemaine Abundance Kitchen Enterprise) and the food will be sourced from locally grown ingredients – gold coin donations to the local Landcare group are welcomed.
Following this interactive evening, a field excursion will be held on Sunday 22 April where we will explore a farmer’s and a conservationist’s points of view within the context of an operational farm business. Geoff Park, North Central Catchment Management Authority’s (CMA) Knowledge Broker and operator of the Natural Newstead blog, together with Malcolm Fyffe, a Sandon sheep farmer, will discuss the ecological and agricultural values of soils, waterways, pastures and native vegetation. They will also explore notions of social equity, climate change and land-use planning. There are still places available for the field trip so register now to guarantee your place.
For more information and to RSVP please contact bryan@connectingcountry.org.au or call the Connecting Country office on 5472 1594. Full details of the education program and a registration form can be found here.
Those remnant trees in the back paddock may bring in some extra farm income – attend the Connecting Country panel discussion to find out how.
13 April – A Nature Photographers Delight
Posted on 10 April, 2012 by Connecting Country
The Castlemaine Field Naturalists Club are very excited to be hosting Carol Hall as the guest speaker at their monthly general meeting on Friday 13 April 2012. Carol is a member of Ballarat Camera Club, The Field Naturalists’ Club of Ballarat and is currently President of The Victorian Nature Photography Group. She has given illustrated talks to community groups in Ballarat and western Victoria, drawing on her professional background as well as her hobbies.
Carol will be showing slides and talking about her recent overseas adventures. “A Touch of Ice” will take the audience to Spitsbergen and Greenland for a look at the geography of the region, its climatic influences, glacial geomorphology and wildlife as seen from the deck of Aurora Expeditions’ ship “Polar Pioneer”, and walks on the tundra.
The free talks, as always, are open to both members and the general public. All are welcome and encouraged to attend. The meeting commences at 7.30pm, and is being held in the hall behind the Uniting Church in Lyttleton St, Castlemaine. Further information on the Castlemaine Field Naturalists is available from their website (click here).
28 April – A Focus on Frogs
Posted on 5 April, 2012 by Connecting Country
On Saturday 28 April the North Central CMA is conducting a free forum in Newstead on frogs. There will be a number of speakers who are frog experts. The event begins at 9am and finishes at 3.30. Lunch and morning and afternoon tea will be provided. Click here to find out more.
Identifying EVC’s: Connecting Country Field Day
Posted on 4 April, 2012 by Connecting Country
Who could have asked for more on Sunday March 25th when Connecting Country commenced its first field excursion as part of the 2012 education program? Two Mount Alexander Shire Community minibuses loaded with eager students, locally-sourced condiments and plenty of reference material took to the hills in the north-east of the shire on a warm sunny day to learn about Victoria’s native vegetation classification system – the EVC approach.
The first of three sites visited for the day was at crown land in Sedgwick. Local ecological consultant Paul Foreman started the group’s journey into vegetation classification by guiding a discussion on land form descriptions, environmental variables and the benefits and limitations of several native vegetation classification systems used in Victoria and across Australia, including the EVC system. Both Paul and Ian Higgins (from the North Central Catchment Management Authority) then led a further discussion on how EVCs can vary across the landscape and through time according to factors such as elevation, topography, land-use, soil formations, moisture and nutrient availability.
Participants are challenged by a discussion on vegetation classification from Paul Foreman under the shade of the Grey Box and Red Ironbark at site one of the tour.
Ian Higgins leads a guided walk designed to expose the group to the variables of EVCs and what they look like in real life situations.
5 April 2012 – Focus on Needle Grass
Posted on 3 April, 2012 by Connecting Country
Malmsbury Landcare Group will be hosting a public meeting this Thursday called ‘Focus on Texas Needle Grass’. The purpose of the meeting is to raise awareness of the threat this exotic grass poses to agricultural and public land in the area and to discuss how to respond to the threat. Representatives from the DPI and Shire council will be attending and speaking.
The meeting will be held at Malmsbury Town Hall on Thursday 5th April at 7:30pm. Anybody in our region concerned about the spread of exotic Needle Grasses is invited to attend.
Texas Needle Grass is almost identical to Chilean Needle Grass. If you are concerned about the existence of exotic Needle Grass in your area, or you are not sure how to identify them (they can look very similar to the native Spear Grass) there are good resources available to help. Our own region’s Chilean Needle Grass (Exotic Needle Grasses) Working Group has produced a comprehensive ‘Invasive Stipa [Needle Grass] Action Manual’, which can be accessed on the Chilean Needle Grass Working Group page on the Connecting Country Website (click here). Information on identification and management options can also be found on the DPI website (click here) and the Weeds Australia website (click here).
Chilean Needle Grass. Photo by Karen Stewart
5 May 2012 – “Understanding your Soil Test” workshop
Posted on 2 April, 2012 by Connecting Country
“You are what you eat!” may be true of humans and the food they eat, but it could also be said that your crops will reflect the soil that they grow in. Strong healthy, pest- and disease-resistant crops are likely to be growing in well-structured soils with a wide range of nutrients readily available to the plants. It is hard to imagine why all landholders wouldn’t wish to improve their soils, but many, especially those new to agriculture, often lack the know-how.
One of the best ways of finding out what your soil needs is to have a soil test done. But sometimes reading the results can be an exercise in frustration. The names of the chemicals; their interaction with each other and the cost of the whole exercise can be quite daunting.
Baynton Sidonia Landcare group is offering a workshop to assist people to understand soil tests and get an idea of how to improve their soils. The workshop is not aimed at experienced farmers and it is weighted on the natural side: if you are after conventional soil additives, there are plenty of commercial retailers.
The workshop is on Saturday 5th May at the Baynton Hall, starting at 10.00 am. There will be a brief talk followed by a discussion of each participant’s soil tests and after lunch a field walk to examine some nearby examples of soil improvement. The workshop will finish around 4 pm. Refreshments and lunch will be provided and the workshop is free of charge.
Each participant needs to supply one or more soil tests, either from one paddock or from across their property. Old soils tests, so we can make comparisons, would be of value too. Guidance on getting soil tests done can be obtained from Carl Reeve on 0412144 936 but if you are interested in this workshop, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with Carl soon, or start getting your test(s) done, as the results can take a while.
If you would like to participate in the workshop, you will need to book with Clare on
54 234 152 or clare@knco.net before Saturday April 14th. And when you book, you will be asked to supply a copy of the soil test(s), so that Carl can have an opportunity to standardize the information, thus making it much easier for workshop participants to compare tests and so learn.
All are welcome at this workshop which is funded by the North Central Catchment Management Authority and organized by Baynton Sidonia Landcare Group.
14 & 15 April – Growing the Harvest Festival
Posted on 28 March, 2012 by Connecting Country
The Growing the Harvest Festival will be held in Castlemaine over the weekend of 14th and 15th April. The two days will be packed with activities including workshops, community apple juicing, a community lunch and meditation walks. To see the full program click here or call Heather on 0409 327791.
The Meet Your Local Farmers forum is likely to be of particular interest to Connecting Country members and supporters. It will provide an opportunity to connect with the people who grow food locally, hear their stories and understand their trials and tribulations. The contributing farmers are:
- George Kyvetos, fruit grower, from the Castlemaine Fruit Supply
- Dr Janey Jackson, beef producer
- Marie Murley, Goldfields honey
- Max Blackmore, cropping and mixed farming and secretary of the local branch of the VFF.
The session will be led by local orchardist, Katie Finlay of the Mount Alexander Fruit Gardens.
When: 11.15am – 12.15pm, Saturday 14th April
Where: Uniting Church Hall, Castlemaine
Cost: Free
We would also like to remind readers of two upcoming Connecting Country ‘farming’ events. On 18 April there will be a panel discussion on the topic of Can I get paid to farm nature? and on 22 April there will be a presentation by Geoff Park and Malcolm Fyffe on Farming and biodiversity conservation … how it can work in practice? For more details about these two events and the remainder of the 2012 Connecting Country education program click here.
‘We are country. Country is us’
Posted on 27 March, 2012 by Connecting Country
Dr Dennis Saunders, Research Fellow CSIRO Ecosystem Sciences and Member Wentworth Group of Concerned Scientists
There are 20,000 kilograms of micro organisms in a hectare of soil. What happens to them in the process of agricultural production?
The fact is, as Dr Denis Saunders pointed out in his Connecting Country talk on 21 March, that we don’t know.
To explain why this is important, he put a question to his audience: if you were getting on an aeroplane, and saw a mechanic take a few bits out of the wing to put on another plane, wouldn’t you want reassurance that those bits were going to be replaced?’
At the moment we tend to be playing a game with the environment: we are not sure what changes we are bringing about, especially in the area of micro organisms. There is no reliable way of finding out how farming practices are affecting them. Reducing their numbers simplifies the landscape and potentially makes it less resilient to crisis events like flood or drought. Sobering statistics on extinctions suggest that we’re not doing as well as we should in land management.
Dr Saunders began by drawing attention to Aboriginal philosophies founded on the interdependence of land and people: ‘we are country , country is us’. He emphasised that farmers, who work on the land and manage it, are keys to land health: and that they should be suitably rewarded for their efforts, both through schemes like BushTender and through a fair pricing system for products of the land.
Dr Saunders pointed out that we are not presently paying the full price for food and fibre products: production is subsidised to an unknown extent by environmental degradation. An accounting system integrating agricultural and biodiversity values might be a way of getting a grip on how things are changing. ‘Conservation’ has tended to be a matter confined to such areas as National Parks: in fact, private productive land is at least as important.
Interestingly, Dr Saunders expressed misgivings about the word ‘biodiversity’, a potentially confusing term which he preferred not to use. And he warned that we should be careful in our use of language in talking of environmental matters. The tendency of conservation workers to talk down to farmers, and for some farmers to be dismissive of environmental concerns, will not help get a practical consensus about how we can ensure landscape productivity long term.
Seventy-five people came along to the Newstead Community centre for this event. The gold coin donation from attendees for the evening’s food is being donated to Newstead Landcare Group.
The next in the evening series of talks is a Panel Discussion – Can I get paid to farm nature? on Wednesday 18th of April, 6:30pm to 9pm, Campbells Creek Community Centre. For more information about Connecting Country’s 2012 education program click here.