Soils workshop with Katie, Hugh and NCCMA
Posted on 1 December, 2016 by Connecting Country
On Wednesday the 30th November 2016, Connecting Country was proud to partner with the North Central Catchment Management Authority (NCCMA) to provide an soils health workshop as a extension to our Farm Field Day held in August. Sixteen attendees were taken through the soils guide which was developed by the NCCMA to help people to conduct tests on their soil to survey for soil health. Katie and Hugh Finlay, from the Mount Alexander Fruit Gardens, kindly hosted the event on their orchard in Harcourt and shared their understanding and land management practices in relation to soil health.
Mandy Coulson (NCCMA) and Martin Hamilton (Department of Agriculture) lead participants through the guide which aims to give landholders a quick and easy group of soil tests they can do on their patch. It’s intended that these results become baseline information for soil health. Katie and Hugh grounded this exercise with the story of land management practice change on their orchard, current practice and resultant soil health.
Connecting Country has copies of the soil guide available from their office at the Hub – feel free to drop by and pick one up. Another great resource for people interested in soils is the The Brown Book website hosted by the Corangamite CMA.
Mount Alexander Fruit Gardens in Harcourt hosted the event
Mandy and Martin introduce the Soils Guide
Tools of the trade
Attendees studying their sols guides
Getting stuck into soil texture
Ph can affect plant growth
Soil tests help us with the big picture
Soil compaction tests require a metal rod and some elbow strength
Looking at soil structure requires some organising skill
Hugh talked about making and distributing compost tea to trees on the orchard
Worms make great pets and form the starter for compost tea
Thank you for that wonderful report Tanya! Clearly I’ll have to leave Melbourne and settle in my beloved Maldon, so that I can attend all the interesting birding walks. I was busy on the 4th and couldn’t walk with you all and am anguishing now, as obviously it was a sensational occasion! Thank you for all your wonderful imput into connecting country people and stirring up the city slickers. Sue?
That’s lovely Sue! SEnsational is a great word for it! I do hope to see you on one of our bird walks in 2017, warm regards, Tanya