Erin Earth

ErinEarth - Kildare Street, Wagga Wagga - Thursday 17th May 2012

Those attending: Marilyn, Vicki, Felicity, Anne, Lisa, Heather, Wendy, Donna & Lyndal

(that's a pretty good roll up for mid-cropping)

This 1 acre of land behind Mt Erin (now Kildare Catholic College), was some 10 years ago, two bitumen tennis courts.  The vision was that of Carmel Wallace (of the Presentation Sisters) to build a house and garden which "walked lightly on the earth".  The focus of ErinEarth is to have a place for reflection, a place for protecting and nurturing biodiversity, a place to experience sustainable living in an urban environment and provide an educational experience for children and adults alike.

With work on the garden beginning in 2002 it is amazing to see how resilient nature can be when given the right conditions to recover and adapt.  Funding for the project was completely outsourced through community groups, government funding, personal contributions and brought about by the willing band of volunteers who have worked hard to bring the garden to the stage it is at now. (We enjoyed morning tea with a small group of the volunteers on the day, and we both seemed to enjoy meeting each other).

ErinEarth shortly after the house was built with the garden under construction

Eight years later, ErinEarth has been transformed (Feb 2011)

Although I must say Sr Carmel must have contacts in high places to receive offers of truck loads of manure, mulch and the use of earth moving equipment for no charge, a bit different to our gardening experiences!

The site contains many small sheds which house tools, a morning tea room, the vege patch and the dog kennels.  The dogs being an ever present friend for Carmel, they being a fox, cat, and snake deterent. A small pond (dam) holds run off water which is pumped up the slope to form a small wet lands, complete with frogs.  This is allowed to dry up, as in nature, over summer.

We were amazed by the variety of hardy aussie natives used in the garden, some of which were the eremophila varieties (common named emu bush), the ground cover varieties being eremophila biserrata, subteretifolia and glabra, these possibly being Carmel's favourites. Wallaby grass, thriptomine, dianellas, kangaroo paws, aloe, bookleaf mallee, silver cassia, cut leaf daisy (brachyscomb multifida), creeping boobialla, native rosemary (westringia), and the beautiful and unusual one sided bottle brush (calothamnus varieties) and a lovely eucalypt Silver Princess.

Community open days are held the third Saturday of the month from April to November, with the garden is open from 9.30 am - 3.00 pm.

I only spotted two very small areas of 'token' lawn (one being under the clothes line) - no need for a ride on mower here, and next to no watering. 

Carmel and her friend Margaret shared their enjoyment of nature and gardening this way with us, and I'm sure we all came away inspired at how we can make a difference if we put our hearts and minds to it.

Birthing Kit Foundation (Australia)

The Birthing Kit Foundation (Australia) is an organisation dedicated to improving the conditions for women who give birth at home in developing countries such as Afghanistan, Vietnam, Ethiopia, Malawi, India, Nepal, Papua New Guinea, Sudan, Uganda and Tibet.

"Every 90 seconds, a woman dies of complications related to pregnancy and childbirth"

With an estimated 385,000 women dying annually in childbirth, many from infections acquired during childbirth, there is a great need for our clean birthing kits.

Most women we assist for reasons of isolation, cultural choice or poor transport have little or no assistance during childbirth. Many mothers and babies die from preventable infections. By providing a clean birthing kit and training in how to use it, these mothers will have the resources to reduce infection.

The Foundation is a not-for-profit non-government organisation (NGO) that provides birthing kits and education in clean birthing practices. We have no religious or political affiliations. 

The birthing kit addresses the 7 cleans needed for a safe delivery - clean birth site, clean hands, clean ties, clean cut, clean eyes, clean umbilical and clean perineum.

The kits are basic with 6 items - a plastic sheet, soap, 2 gloves, sterile scalpel blade, 3 cords and 5 gauze squares.  These items are assembled into a small bag at an Assembly Day.

When our group read the statistic that "every 90 seconds, a woman dies of complications related to pregnancy and childbirth", we decided to donate some money for supplies for these very important kits.

Kiva Microfinance Loan # 3 - Faith

Faith is a married woman from Kenya. She has 2 children, ages 7 and 8. She describes herself to be social and talkative. She operates a farm where she grows tea. She has been involved in this business for 2 years and employs 3 staff members. Her business is located at a busy local area and her primary customers are a cooperative tea firm.

In addition, she runs a grocery store where she sells fruit. She describes her biggest business challenge to be changes of climate greatly affecting tea.

She will use the loan to pay for hiring a farm for growing tea for selling. Her business goal is to buy land within 5 years. She hopes that in the future, she will build a house and venture into another business of a boutique.

Kiva Microfinance Loan # 2 - Millicent

After our first Kiva loan was successfully repaid on time, our group decided to re-loan the money to another worthy woman in agriculture.  We chose Millicent who is the facilitator of the Bongoline B group of the One Acre Fund in Western Kenya.

Millicent takes care of five children at home. She joined One Acre Fund in order to access fertilizer and hybrid seeds and ensure food security for her family. In the 2011 season, Millicent had a very good maize yield, harvesting 16 bags on 1 acre of land. Before joining One Acre Fund, Millicent was only able to harvest 8 bags of maize on 1 acre of land.

With this loan, One Acre Fund will purchase fertilizer, seeds, and other important inputs to distribute to Millicent and her group during Kenya’s next planting season in February 2012. The distribution of farming inputs is part of One Acre Fund’s integrated agriculture package, which includes training, reliable input supply (such as fertilizer and seeds), credit and insurance.

With income from maize sales, Millicent will educate her children and invest in livestock rearing.

In 2012, the members of Bongoline B group will each plant between ½ and 1 acre of maize.

We received an update from Kiva last week which told us that Millicent has successfully planted her maize crop on time, and all looks good for a profitable crop.  The loan is to be fully re-paid by December 2012.

Year of the Farmer "Ball in the Hall"

Due to 2012 being the Year of the Farmer, our group has decided to hold an event that Marrar and district has not seen in a very long time - a full on glitz and glamour old-fashioned "ball".  It was decided that it was time for our group to get dressed up to the nines and have a fantastic night out in our little country hall.

The ball will  be happening at the end of October and we'll be having a scrumptious 3 course meal by a wonderful local caterer.  We've got a husband and wife duo lined up for entertainment, and we'll have some fantastic prizes for a raffle and even some items that have been handmade by a few of our members to be auctioned off.  All funds raised will go to charity - we haven't decided which charity but our Kiva microfinance loan programme might be the one to benefit

We can't wait to finalise all the details and get some advertising happening to make it a wonderful night to remember!  We'll keep you posted!

The idea for our night came from this event - Opulence in the Outback.  Check out their website and see how much money they raised from their event - unbelievable!  As their website says -

"Opulence in the Outback is our way of thanking our local producers and helping to lift the profile of farmers in our region - not to mention offering the perfect setting for our farmers to enjoy a well earned evening of opulence and entertainment surrounded by their peers and supporters.

In 2012, we celebrate the Australian Year of the Farmer. It recognizes what farmers do for all Australians. It's about what we eat; about fresh fruit and vegetables, dairy, grains, fish, meat, eggs and about wool, cotton, timber - all the fine quality products that our farmers grow and harvest in large and small businesses.

In our region, farming and agriculture is synonymous with our way of life. Most of us are either farmers ourselves, come from a farming background or serve the agricultural industry in one way or another. The Year of the Farmer, gives us the perfect opportunity to show our respect and acknowledge the important impact our local farmers have on our community, region, state, nation and even the world."

Australian Year of the Farmer Celebrates Women on the Land

On the eve of International Women's Day 2012, new research shows the majority of Australians still think farming is 'a job for the boys', despite one fifth of agribusiness jobs belonging to women.

The research, conducted as part of altitudinal benchmarking for the Australian Year of the Farmer 2012 campaign, found 92% of Australians think that men are likely to work in agriculture, farming and related businesses, but only 40% think women are likely to pursue these opportunities.

However, when asked to think about their own careers, the difference between the genders was negligible, with 18% of males and 16% of females indicating they would consider a career in agribusiness.

The result was similarly close when the 2000 respondents were asked if they would encourage their children to take up a career in agribusiness, with 49% of females and 50% of males indicating they would.

Australian Year of the Farmer's newest Ambassador, Channel 9's Catriona Rowntree, said the results confirmed a long-standing, but ultimately bogus stereotype; that careers in agribusiness are generally male-dominated.

"This assumption is a load of rubbish," Ms Rowntree said.  "The Australian agricultural sector is thriving with enthusiastic successful young women ranging from jillaroos and farm hands, to researchers, agronomists and CEOs of multinational organisations. They're passionate, positive and powerful."

Year of the Farmer co-founder and Chairperson Philip Bruem AM said the results pointed to an interesting anomaly.

"The massive gulf between the perceived suitability of careers in agribusiness for males (92%) as compared to females (40%) is remarkable – especially when in their assessment of the suitability of a career in agribusiness for themselves, or their children, males and females were almost identical," Mr Bruem said.

"The contribution of women to agribusiness is often overlooked by mainstream Australia. But regional areas know the reality is that women play a hugely important role across all areas of the industry."

According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics most recent labour force data, of the 250,000 agribusiness jobs in Australia, more than 50,000 belong to women.

"International Women's Day is the perfect occasion to recognise and appreciate the role Australian women in agriculture play in feeding, clothing and sheltering us all. There are so many wonderful stories to tell," Mr Bruem said.

Cath Ford, who runs the largest certified organic macadamia and coffee plantation in New South Wales, entered the world of agribusiness when she converted a lychee farm into a macadamia and coffee plantation.

Today the plantation is profitable and sustainable and features approximately 8,000 macadamia trees and 3,000 coffee trees on 110 acres.

Cath, who hails from a banking background, said there were countless opportunities for women seeking a rewarding and fulfilling career in agribusiness.

"There is more to agribusiness than driving a tractor across a paddock. In fact women are said to account for one third of the management positions in agribusiness," Cath said.

"Agribusiness offers women dynamic and rewarding career paths and also provides an incredible opportunity to contribute to the prosperity of local communities and to the broader economy."

Horticulture

April 19th - Wagga TAFE - Horticulture

Present – Anne, Liz, Felicity, Jan, Barb, Heather, Lyndal, Marilyn, Carol and Lisa.

What a fantastic resource we have in TAFE.  Many thanks to Kent Rogers for a great morning.

Kent answered all our curly questions. Did you know that Riverina hydrangeas are usually pink because our soil is more alkaline (pH 7)? If you want them to flower blue they need a pH of 4.5. You could add iron sulphate, or watered down battery acid?!

Anne’s cyclamen should be put out with the cat at night because it likes the dark and the cold.

Kent showed us the essential tools in his propagation toolbox. A sharp pair of Secateurs are imperative. We just need someone to invent a pair that won’t get lost in the prunings or the bottom of the wheelbarrow.

We had a tour of the glasshouse and the propagation shed. We learned some techniques such as taking cuttings of our favourite plants and how to strike them.

Kent demonstrated budding and grafting. I’m going to have a go at grafting my wild lemon rootstock (previously unidentified tree growing in the old cattle yards) and the fabulous mandarin growing in a far off paddock.

TAFE run a course in propagation, which is on every 2^nd Friday. They would love to hear from anyone interested.

Climate Change & "Climate Dogs"

March 28^th - Speaker Michael Cashen - Climatologist from Wagga DPI.

Attending were Barb, Heather, Lisa, Jo, Donna, Marilyn, Felicity, Michelle, Vicki, Liz and Anne

Michael gave a most interesting presentation on Climate and the variants of it all.  It was interesting that he declined from any comment on the Murray Darling basin controversy.  Michael had history of the Marrar rainfall from 1887!!!



Climatedogs - a series of video clips for farmers and students wanting to get a better understanding of the drivers of climate variability in NSW - can now be viewed on the NSW Department of Primary Industries (NSW DPI) website.

NSW DPI climatologist, Michael Cashen said Climatedogs uses clever animated sheep dogs to demonstrate in simple terms the complex drivers of climate variability in NSW.

"Farmers have always had to manage a variable climatic pattern, but science has recently made significant steps forward in understanding the drivers of this seasonal variability, providing an opportunity for farmers," Mr Cashen said.

"The Climatedogs animation series explains the interaction of the four major seasonal influences, with each dog representing a driver such as the El Nino Southern Oscillation.

"This makes explaining how those influences interact with each other, in both the short and long term, much easier to understand.

"I urge anybody interested in better understanding our variable but changing climate to go to the Climatedogs webpage and watch each of the five video clips.

"You will come away with a much better understanding of the drivers that influence climatic variability in our state."

Mr Cashen said farmers can make more timely decisions that capitalise on opportunities and avoid the downside risks by better understanding climate drivers.

"In the past, variability in rainfall has had a significant impact on agricultural production," he said.
"In 2002-3, the drought had a significant impact on the Australian economy.

"It subtracted around one percentage point from GDP growth and around three quarters of a point from employment growth in that year.

"Understanding rainfall patterns will enable farmers to make informed decisions about likely seasonal conditions."

Climatedogs can be viewed at www.dpi.nsw.gov.au/info/climatedogs