Araucaria's habitat.

Discussion in 'Members' Systems' started by Curramore1, Dec 7, 2011.

  1. Curramore1

    Curramore1 Junior Member

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    The big question is at the moment: How to stop sending nutrients away from our land and not having to buy in new nutrients to replace them? On a larger scale, that is.

    How else to earn money to pay for municipal rates, land taxes, maintaining and replacing infrastructure, work cover and other insurance, superannuation, etc. when you don't sell anything?

    The principles of permaculture and sustainable agriculture are about nutrient cycling with no net losses or inputs to the system. I currently sell tens of tonnes of naturally produced, chemical and preservative free beef, lamb, timber, etc. locally and use this currency to provide locally sourced inputs from outside eg. poultry litter and manure, and cold, hard cash to pay Government utility fees, levies, 5 different licences, funds for retirement, operating costs, etc. Profit margins are slim due to our Australian dollar monetary value and as foreign food imports produced far less cleanly in a food safety and chemical sense become cheaper and mainstream and our government insists on a free trade policy which only we adhere to. Like fighting a two armed opponent with both of your arms removed and one leg tied up.
    Look at the produce in your local supermarket- garlic from Russia, ginger from China, no locally produced orange juice at all, many labels saying " made from local and imported products".
    Australian people, as a generalisation do not care where their food arrives from or what it contains as long as it is cheap, and it is not even that really. I often go looking at local, so called farmer's markets near large population centres and the majority of the produce on sale has come direct from the wholesale fruit and veg. market floor that morning. The few that really care and have disposable income buy their food at higher prices at organic certified food outlets which are on the rise.
    I find that smaller, regional farmer's markets are the real thing with fresh seasonal stuff plucked late the evening before and all sold for cash to meet the market present on the day. Only cash received, no GST, no taxation withdrawn probably at all. How long will they let that go on?
    Where to go from here.

    We are getting closer to a retirement age, which means that we have to fund our lives for the next 35 years or so from our productive lives to date. If you have a house on the waterfront which you own in this country maybe valued at $900000 you can apply for an aged pension, such that it is. If you have your house on a farm which you have bought and paid for by the sweat of your brow, not inherited, of the same value which you use to generate income it is asset tested and you would not be eligible to get a pension. We have long recognised this and planned accordingly. The reply given is "that is the lifestyle which you choose to live" so those are the facts.
    Is it a fair thing to have paid in excess of $2Million dollars in taxation over your life , never been a financial burden on society and be treated this way?
    Looks like another set of local family farms will be sold to Chinese, Korean, Japanese or other corporate interests in a few years I suppose. We have had two unsolicited Chinese investment delegations doorknock already this year, seemed really surreal at the time, but it must be that I am out of touch with society in general and that the global economy and global custodianship (ownership) rather than parochial sovereignty of land and water resources in Australia is the accepted norm now.
     
  2. S.O.P

    S.O.P Moderator

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    Where are you buying your fruit trees from?
     
  3. Benjy136

    Benjy136 Junior Member

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    Curramore1

    That's the same for us over here, seasonwise. November is our late Autumn, when we start gettingmuch cooler weather, as our Dec. 21 is the official start of winter. Our coldest weather usually doesn't get here until mid-January into late February. From October on we are getting sweet potatoes, cabbages, still some tomatoes, the last of the irish potatoes, Beets, still a few onions and garlic, apples (if the squirrell didn't mess up too many.) and pears. I still don't know when the yacon will be ready to dig. I could probably get some idea from what part of what season you dig yours. Mine have not flowered yet. I got them from ECO last year and lost a few in my grenhouse, but the one I planted in the garden came up this Spring after dying back last winter. My grapes are just finishing. Bell peppers and jalapinos are still producing.

    Got to sign off now, as Willie has an appt. in Columbia with her Eye doctor ( a lot easier than spelling out the optho...lol)

    I shall return.

    Uncle Benny
     
  4. Curramore1

    Curramore1 Junior Member

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    Hi S.O.P,
    I generally grow rootstock from cuttings and graft buds and scion wood from trees that are local, have nice fruit and are low care and appear disease free mostly. Many come from retailers stocking Birdwood Nursery plants and the cooler climate stuff because I am up in the misty mountains from Daley's at Kyogle by mail order. The occasional rarey from Caboolture markets vendors. The olives arriving today are from Daley's, they have not sent me a dud as yet. Would recommend them as an honest and worthy supplier.
     
  5. Curramore1

    Curramore1 Junior Member

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    Hello Uncle Benny,

    My yacon is ready to dig from May until the end of August when it re-sprouts. This equates to our late Autumn until the end of winter. They flower in late summer to autumn here, but not very prolifically, not like Jerusalem artichokes. I only divide and replant the vegetative bit with the red shoots and eat and/or give away the tubers.
    Hope the optham. appointment with Willie in Columbia went as you desired. How far is that from where you live? We generally have to go to Brisbane here for the laser eye specialist for my boys as they both developed a treatable condition called "kerataconis" due to then being gentle giants as an inheritance from their Mum and Dad. It generally wastes a day in travelling to the big smoke, being seen for 45 minutes or so and return. It takes about 2 hours to get into the city from here.

    Bye Uncle Benny until next time.
     
  6. S.O.P

    S.O.P Moderator

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    Yep, bought a few from them, Daley's that is. A little steeper than I would like and I am not proficient in grafting. I take the occasional cutting, Acerola Cherry and Pomegranate usually go ok for me. Waiting to propagate Jaboticaba though I did see a tree on my travels with a thick grass-like covering of seedlings underneath it so whether or not they will survive transplanting...

    Peter Young sounds like he knows his stuff. Had anything to do with him?

    https://maryvalleycountryharvest.co...-crop-horticulture-in-the-mary-valley-part-1/
     
  7. Benjy136

    Benjy136 Junior Member

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    Curramore

    We catch the super-highway about two miles from here and its only about 20 minutes to Columbia, and maybe 10 minutes to the opthmo.
    From what I gather from you, I can start checking on the Yacon about November, while I'm harvesting my kiwis. I've turned the Chooks out of the garden, so how would it be, now to mulch thickly around the base? The Chooks would not allow mulch to set there while they had a free run of the garden.

    Love is the key!

    Uncle Benny
     
  8. Curramore1

    Curramore1 Junior Member

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    Hi S.O.P,

    lived beside the DPI in Nambour as a kid, Peter Young worked at the DPI beside home, probably where I got my yen for exotic stuff and what is out there. I think I went to School with his little brother Glenn Young. Nice fellow with a huge experience and knowledge base.
    Jaboticaba should grow well, just from seed.
     
  9. Curramore1

    Curramore1 Junior Member

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    View attachment 2693 Figs have burst buds, citrus in full flower, stone fruit with small, hairy fruit, cassava and weeping mulberry in bud, black mulberry in full leaf , flowering, leafy greens on the go- mizuna, bok choy, wom bok, senposai, coriander, parsley in overdrive, asparagus tips blasting through the mulch, fennel bulbs fat and juicy, yacon in new leaf, broad beans in pod, way too many brussel sprouts, bring on the equinox, next weekend here in Aus. Beautiful temperatures atm 12 degrees - 22 degree days with a gentle SE breeze off the ocean. Native, King orchids in full flower, I've never before noticed their exquisite perfume before today.
     
  10. Curramore1

    Curramore1 Junior Member

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    Jaboticaba starting to flower, planted another broad leafed variety and a yellow fruited as well yesterday. 5mm of storm rain overnight and cool breezes today. Davidson's plum in flower for the first time after 5 years. Citrus have all set new fruit, still with the flower stalk on the end.
    Sheep all shorn, mulched fruit trees with the urine stained and daggy wool bits and belly wool. All lambs sold off due to the continuing dry seasons. 25 late beef weaners mustered, drafted off, branded NLIS electronic tagged and sent direct to saleyards 100 km away. They averaged 220 kg each with prices $2.00-$220/ kg because of the mere promise of rain in the air, 25c/kg better than anticipated. We are not keeping any replacement breeders this year, the stocking rates have to be reduced all round to allow the ground cover to get back to 100%, otherwise we will have a weed infestation in the pastures as well as the increased risk of erosion. We will keep on reducing the grazing animal numbers by 20% a year to allow the soil organic matter levels and pasture appearances to rise before we put the pastured country on the market for some lucky superannuated retirees to live their dream.
    Preparing the ground for more eucalypt plantings by yeoman ploughing along the contour plus 2% fall in the granite and gravelly country, will fire this section to germinate the seeds present from the adjacent Grey Gum, Tallowood, Yellow stringy, Ironbark and Brush Box forest. we try to do a hectare or so each year on this less arable country and thin down from 20000 fire germinated seedlings to about 400-600 in the second year. Just finished limb pruning the 2009 planting now. Thinned 50 stems for fencing strainers from a hectare of the original forest to get 160x2.4metre, 30cm diameter posts, sold for $33.00 each on site including GST. They barked nicely too after a small shower of rain, mostly Tallowoods removed, Ironbarks left for more maturity. Have to create more cash flow now as the youngest son is now working at home and we'll need a replacement tractor and a new saw next financial year as well. Just experienced my first Centrelink visit with said son, So far removed from my reality that place, decided to just go home and work a little smarter instead! After waiting 2 and a half hours just to be talked at and treated as a number. What a croc of shit.
    Planted out summer salad lettuce seedlings, first zucchini fruit ready to harvest, rhubarb has reshot, as have the pepino bush and egg plant bushes. Figs with half grown fruit, wampi in full flower, lychee in flower bud, cassava cuttings reshooting nicely, cherry guava fruit half grown, climbing beans starting to climb, persimmons in full leaf and flowering, avocadoes in full flower and leafing up, mangoes in full flower, choko vines on into invasion mode.
    The first Channel-billed Cuckoo arrived this morning after the storm with crows harassing it, a sure sign that spring has arrived here and it is about to get warm and stormy. Temp. range here 13-27 degrees C at present. Just perfect.
    Kegging up and lagering the last of the Christmas beers and ciders now, a very promising James Squire 150 lashes clone seems to be the best at the moment brewed from the first of my own home grown and malted barley, followed by a Morgan's Blue Mountain lager from a kit extract base. My wife has made a danger sign for the brew shed titled "Achtung! Mad Scientist at Work". Have given up on hop growing, just too warm and humid here, the rhizomes have reshot, but can't seem to get them to flower properly here.
    Busy month ahead doing some large beef AI and ET breeding programs around the ridges to generate a bit more cash flow before the Christmas period. 300 odd head to program up and inseminate, a bit late this year due to the dry seasons.
    Enjoy the longer days fellow Aussies and commiserations to the Northerners coming into winter.
     
  11. Terra

    Terra Moderator

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    You have been busy

    We get yellow tailed black cockatoos that migrate here for nesting in the sugargum hollows they turned up nearly a month earlier than we have seen them before (I moved here in 1988 ) , so we are tipping a early summer , interesting how we notice the birds behaviour.

    Centrelink is just dreadfull they treat everyone as scamming criminals , unless of course your wife works there then you can duck and weave and dodge your commitments .
     
  12. Curramore1

    Curramore1 Junior Member

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    View attachment 2760 Hi Terra,
    we get the sulphur crested cockatoo variety mainly, sometimes the yellow tailed black ree-arking around the hills before rain and on the odd occasion Glossy black cockatoos looking for Alocasuarina trees in fruit. We also have an escaped cage bird around called Lenny who does acrobatics and carries on with a big din until we give him some grain or a beer.
    I'm glad we escaped the wild weather they experienced in NSW. Typical dry, windy spring here, a bit of clover in flower where a scud fell. Eldest son is working the wheat and barley harvest near Kroppa Ck outside Moree until Christmas driving a chaser bin on the night shift, the grain moisture there has hit the critical 12% already so he finished his last exam yesterday and starts tonight after driving for a couple of hours to get there from Armidale. 12 hours on and 12 hours off. He'll find it hard to get the sleep patterns fixed for a bit, but $500.00 a night and Air-con accommodation is some compensation. I've just returned from swapping my Landcruiser ute for his low slung Falcon ute. Brings back memories of grotty Uni rentals and the big end of year clean-up. Road trips are a good break, back to mustering, marking and fencing today. I have a cattle yard welding contract to fill for the next couple of weeks before it gets too hot to work comfortably and before the AI programs kick in. Nice to have my youngest son as offsider to measure and cut while I weld. Bugger Centrelink.
    Spring is a busy time as by Christmas it is usually too hot and wet to do much in the hills except do a few hours work in the early morning and later go for a swim and BBQ at the beach and visit rellies. If I don't do it all by early December I won't get back to it until March or April. By then it is time for the spray run, weaning and so on. Nice long working days at last from 5.00am until 6.30pm here at the moment, don't know how they put up with store opening times where they have daylight saving time. Try to do orders in NSW you have to have them done by lunch time or they are closed already. I suppose you get used to it, doesn't really make any difference here as the light dictates the work hours.
    Make hay while the sun shines!
     
  13. Terra

    Terra Moderator

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    The Yellow Tailed Blacks are endangered around here , 2005 we had 35 / 36 depending who you believe , not really enough to be a viable population . The few years prior to 2005 the parks people were taking eggs and incubating them , the birds regularly lay two eggs but only rear one chick so the extra eggs were taken as a precaution for back up genetic use if needed , so we now have more in captivity than in the wild . 2005 had a massive bushfire destroyed habitat and tree hollows and their numbers have crashed to 13 since then although we don't see any more than 8 and we live with them for 6mths a year so don't know where the extras are . Now im tipping they are not much different to the sth east birds just been separated by distance for lots of years , I heard a heap of sth east birds were destroyed as they were a danger at an airport . VERY clever these environment people on payrolls I just despair at times . We love these birds must get more here before the migration pattern is lost they all come and go together when the times right , why didn't they pull 50 out of nests down the sth east to reduce numbers and bring them here to grow out , even if they are a tiny bit removed surely half breeds are better than none at all .

    Lenny sounds great ive had various pet birds released and they hang around terrorizing the dogs and cats for years and gradually reintroduce in the wild . Best by far was a wedge tailed eagle , fantastic he / she lived as a free member of the family for 3 yrs we taught him to fly and every thing , now of course you would be jailed for life and fined 10 million dollars if you reared an abandoned wedgy (parents were probably shot by some dill) but I was about 10 yrs old then and he/ she liked to ride around on my push bike handlebars I wish I had photos there could be some buried in my parents stuff somewhere .

    We should come up your way on a working trip those wages are a lot better than here , which is why I usually just shear. There are people keen on buying my place bit of uncertain times ahead , could be on a road trip before long .
     

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  14. Curramore1

    Curramore1 Junior Member

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    Hello Terra,
    I don't think that the YTBlacks are that endangered here as yours sound to be, of course it is mostly habitat destruction I guess. I have seen a flock of over 50 last year, but that is a rarey. The eyes on those in your attachment seem different to ours, maybe I just never really noticed. We still have wedgies here, they need a lot of space for the home range of a pair I suspect, usually see young ones with the golden plumage here mainly. Funny how the laws change regarding wild animals, we used to have orphaned wallabies, possums, rainbow lorikeets etc.as a kid which all eventually returned themselves to the bush sooner or later. These days the aggravation and red tape just isn't worth it. The harvest work that my son is doing is about 700km from home, the shearing is hot, dirty and hard yakka, I take my hat off to you. I am shearing some alpacas soon before it gets any hotter, they are tricky devils to restrain until you get into a routine.
    The land here is now uber-expensive $20000-$50000 a Hectare for rural land, you still have to travel to the work at least an hour each way as there is very little local employment. Just ask Eco. Times ahead are always uncertain, it's just the degree that varies. There is a spare room here while the prodigal son is away toiling.
     
  15. Terra

    Terra Moderator

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    Alpacas are pretty funny to shear only done a few , necks like a Emu , head swivels around , spit , interesting. The shearing here through Jan to March can be hot and nasty on days forecast for 40c im going home at halftime im over it , if farmers don't like it bad luck.
     
  16. eco4560

    eco4560 New Member

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    I just had two sulphur crested cockatoos outside my window! Don't normally see them around here much. Hope they leave my garden aloneā€¦.
     
  17. Curramore1

    Curramore1 Junior Member

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    Eco, the bush is pretty dry with not much bush tucker at the moment, the cockies come in here now to eat the thistle seed and clover seed. They just looooooove sunflower seeds and sweet corn if you have them. Saw local freshwater turtles crossing the road from big dams heading overland to small dams higher up today in two different places 10km apart, I think the rains are comin" Ma. Also saw three different Black duck mums and new hatchlings today heading across country as well, plus watched a clutch of freshly hatched wood duck babies jump from their treed hollow nest last week with about a 15 metre drop, they just bounced and gathered themselves up and followed Mum off to a nearby dam, amazingly tough little ones. Hope we don't need an ark this time. Planted a few rows of corn and cucumbers on the strength of it all.
     
  18. Curramore1

    Curramore1 Junior Member

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    Uh Oh! Careful what you wish for. Rain just turned lumpy and instead of pattering on the roof has taken a distinctive Thor's hammer sound. Days hot, dry and windy to 36 in the shade, down to the last rungs in the rainwater tank, at least now it will be cool to drink!
    Frogs going off with the first real rain for months, the earthy smell is incredible. So thankful that the season is breaking at last.
     
  19. Terra

    Terra Moderator

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    Rain is wonderful when you need it , its amazing how quickly nature can turn things around .
     
  20. S.O.P

    S.O.P Moderator

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    No rain here, rain to the South.

    Strong winds in Samford, lots of work to do. Working on an 80 year old Hoop Pine today and tomorrow that decided to let go in old farm land.
     

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