Mosaic Day

Mosaics with Marilyn - Wednesday 13th June

Present - Marilyn, Anne, Lisa, Jo, Vicki, Katherine and Donna

One of our members Marilyn is an avid mosaicer and she agreed to have a day where she taught us everything she knows about it.  We all had different projects to tackle and Marilyn was a font of knowledge and help to us all. 

We all got our projects up to the grouting stage.  We didn't have enough time for the glue to dry before grouting so we'll all get that done in our own time.

Thank you Marilyn for another enjoyable day learning something new!

Marilyn's amazingly tidy and clean workshop!

Lisa working out her placement of tiles for a flower pattern paver that her husband Kerry dug out of the garden especially for the day!

Jo with her pear covered in tiny green tiles.

Marilyn giving Lisa some advice.

Vicki with her hubcap creation in the colours of the Mighty Marrar Bombers ready for her garden.

Anne's hubcap she covered in plaster to fill the holes before creating some flowers with tiles and glass beads.

My terracotta pot with a pyramid pattern of tiles.

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.

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

Uranquinty Power Station Visit

Wednesday 15th February 2012

Uranquinty Gas-Fired Power Station

Present: Marilyn, Maureen, Liz, Jo, Carol, Anne, Michelle, Heather, Jan, Lisa, and Donna

Q. What has no taste, no smell and can’t be seen yet makes lives easier? (not a joke just amazing)
A. Electricity

Our morning at the Uranquinty Gas-fired Power Station was extremely informative. Our host, Lisa Glastonbury, is very dedicated to her job, and very committed to the ethics and the belief in green energy that Origin Energy, who own and operate the power station, aspires to and is working towards.

Location, location! The site was chosen because of the location of proximity to:
1. A national power grid (owned by TransGrid) –a high voltage network connecting generators, distributors and major end users in New South Wales. Electricity is generated at the Uranquinty power stations then transmitted “across the fence” into the TransGrid network of high voltage transmission lines and underground cables to substations such as the one at Gregadoo. From the substations the electricity goes to homes, factories and businesses by electricity distributors such as Essential Energy. Electricity continues “to be lost” as the distance from the power station to the grid is increased.
2. The gas pipeline. Natural gas is the energy source and is piped in under pressure

The Uranquinty plant is a peaking plant and only operates at times of peak demand over winter and summer, and usually mornings and evenings. The plant is fully computerised and can be brought into operation ‘at the flick of a switch’, even from off-sight. There are four gas turbine generators but the four have rarely been operated at any one time. When it does operate at full capacity, the Uranquinty Power Station generates 640 megawatts of power and can provide power for 880,000 homes along the east coast of Australia.

Electricity is traded on a daily basis with traders such as Origin, AGL, Snowy Hydro and Delta selling power to bidders such as Essential Energy.

The power station employs 12 permanent employees who are fully employed even when the plant is not operating – including the daily safety walk around the site and continuous safety and maintenance checks. The staff is proud of clocking up 1000 consecutive days of being accident free.

Origin aims to minimise environmental impact, and so, the Uranquinty Power Station recycles all waste water produced. The recycled water is used on site to water the thousands of trees planted around the 50 acre perimeter fence and also around the larger buffer zone area of about 1000+ acres.

We enjoyed the day so much that it was thought that our 2013 trip be based around the Cullerin Range Wind Power Station.

2012 Programme

Here is our programme for 2012:

FEB 15 SOLAR, WIND & GAS FIRED POWER STATION @ URANQUINTY
MAR 15 CLIMATE CHANGE
APR 19 HORTICULTURE
MAY 17 ERIN EARTH
JUN 20/21 OVERNIGHT TRIP GRIFFITH – COTTON/HYDROPONICS/WINERY
JUL 19 MANGOPLAH COMMUNITY GARDEN & HOLBROOK PADDOCK EGGS
JUL 28 CHRISTMAS IN JULY & TOUR OF THE THIRSTY CROW BREWERY
AUG 16 METALWORK
AUG 23 MOSAICS
SEP 20 AIR POLLUTION
OCT 18 GARDEN VIEWING & FLOWER ARRANGING
NOV 1 YOUNG WOMEN IN AGRICULTURE
DEC ? CHRISTMAS PARTY

Christmas Party

Last night we held our Ag n Chat Christmas party at Marilyn and Ian's beautiful home. We know it is a bit early to hold a Christmas party because it's still November, but most of us had received 50mls of rain over the last few days so it was decided that while harvest was on hold and before everyone got busy again, that it was the perfect opportunity to hold the get-together.

Thank you very much for an enjoyable year and we're all looking forward to 2012 for Marrar Ag n Chat!

Merry Christmas!

Garden Viewing - 20th October 2011

Marrar Ag n Chat Garden Day at "Raywood", "Caloola" and "Inglewood"

Present – Donna , Lisa, Kim , Anne , Debbie , Felicity , Heather , Vicki , Maureen , Jan , Cathie , Liz , Marilyn , Carol and Wendy

Apologies – Lyndal and Barb

We had a lovely group of ladies and everyone started at Marilyn’s garden “Raywood” and no doubt everyone was inspired with the Art in the Garden. Thank you Marilyn for volunteering your garden.

Then everyone arrived here at “Caloola” and morning tea was on the agenda and lots of chat! We had a brief talk about the garden and everyone had a wander around. A large lawn area dominants the back garden with gums and garden beds all filled with cuttings from family and friends. An avenue of plane trees are planted on the northern side. On the western side is a bark area which is outlined with agapathus and dietes and filled with scrubs and trees. These all need to be hardy as being on the western side it gets fairly hot. A few cuttings were taken and Lisa wins the most organised – cuttings taken and then pots and potting mix in car and all potted up! Wow!

From “Caloola” we then travelled to Carol’s place “Inglewood” and had a lovely wander around. A beautiful Albertine (I think I have got it right) climbing rose greeted us at the front mixed with ground covers and established trees including a Chinese Tallowood and a Chinese Elm. Then we wandered out the back and the garden has been extended out the back gate! Carol has used her creative talent and built a wooden fence around a lawn area and predominantly agapathus have been planted. Thank you Carol for volunteering your garden.

I’m sure everyone appreciated the time and effort Marilyn, Carol and Wendy put in to make the morning an enjoyable one!

Metalwork Flowers

Yesterday we kicked off our Metalwork day at 8.30am after picking up the sheet steel from RAW Design & Fabrication. We started our day of “flower making” with a few people coming a little bit earlier in the hope that we could all eventually finish a project this year. It was quite obvious that the plasma cutter was a hit with the ladies and everyone managed to make a flower of some description, with all of them looking a little different in one way or another, which was lovely and very inspiring for everyone.

The coffee and cake got forgotten for a while and I think that we definitely did more of the “Ag” than the “Chat” this time around. Everybody made a flower of some description which made the day easier on me, as it was really helpful that everyone was happy to help guide each other in one way or another and they managed to keep what I had told them in their memory banks to pass it all on to the next person.

Many thanks to Buster who also helped out on the day (I think he was in more of a panic than I was because I hadn’t cleaned up the workshop enough….wow you should have seen it a few months ago when the mice were around!) and also with his welding and general handiness in the shed.

Thanks also to Kim for the food and thinking of taking something down to the shed, and for the ladies who had to venture up to the house and prepare your own coffee and tea. I am so glad that everyone enjoyed themselves and had a lovely time just being able to “make" something!

Liz and Felicity using the plasma cutter to cut out flower shapes.

Kim on the bench grinder cleaning up rough edges on the flowers with Felicity and Carol waiting.

Kim thought her flowers would make a lovely bikini!!

Jo and Anne drilling holes for the stem.

Jo helping Lisa weld the petals to the stem.

Anne with her flower.

Lisa with her flower.

Our finished products!

Merrill, Felicity, Vicki, Michelle, Heather and Kim

Cheesemaking at CSU

On June 9th Ag n Chat visited the Charles Sturt University Cheese Factory for a lesson in making cheese.
Barry Lillywhite is the local cheesemaker and taught us how to take milk from it's "raw" state , to curd, then removing the whey to form table cheese.

Felicity, Heather and Lisa heating the milk.

Maureen and Jo during the curd formation process.

The curd is cut to remove the whey.


Forming the cheese into wicker baskets.

The final product which is now maturing for a tasting session in a couple of months.

Mosaic Workshop

Mosaic Workshop May 19th 2011 at Marilyn's

Guess who believed that they were the least creative? No prizes for the correct answer.

Carol, Anne, Wendy, Michelle, Kim and Elizabeth came with an interesting array of ideas and embellishments for their mosaic masterpieces.

Anne smashed old plates in shades of blue to decorate a hubcap.

Carol picked her piece of marine ply up from the side of the road and mosaiced a sun (seen here as a work in progress).

Wendy’s paver also had a celestial theme of a star.

Kim finished her first one before most had started, creating a border for her mirror from colourful stones, and then designed a wall plaque of a cup, saucer and spoon.

Liz used black, white and mirror tiles to revamp an old table top.

Michelle centred a tile (a gift from Wendy’s NZ trip) and designed a pattern on a lazy susan, and also decorated a mirror frame with shells.

Another great Ag’n’Chat Day.

Photography Lesson

7th April 2011

After an early “cuppa” we welcomed John and Maria Egan as our guests for this meeting on the skills and pleasure of photography.

John spoke at length with a power point presentation on just how a camera works, it copies our eyes,. Light enters through our retinas and at the back of the eye is reversed and turned upside down and we see!!!

The camera works just the same through various lens in the camera. John spent a good amount of time explaining how the camera works. He explained that we do not need expensive cameras to take good photos, once we know how to use the apertures ( letting in the light) and speed of the shutter works. He explained how they are both intrinsic to get the result we hope for , We all just have to understand how they work together and keep practising.

After another “cuppa”, John then showed us pictures that were beautiful but could be improved on, making them softer in the surrounds, making a part of the picture sharper, remembering the “one third” principle!!! He showed us how he created the improvements and how we can manage this principle with our own camera shots.

There were lots of questions and talk about cameras as some of the members had brought along their own for John and Maria to assist them in improving their use of these.

We could have gone on all day but drew the meeting to a close at 1pm. We thank John and Maria for their generous gift of their time as they were presented with a gift of appreciation.

May meeting at Marilyns - learning mosaics.

Social Networking Technologies

March 17th 2011

Guest Speaker: Dr Barney Dalgarno

Barney is an Associate Professor in Education in the School of Education at Charles Sturt University – Wagga Campus.

Barney’s presentation focussed on the way that social networking technologies are changing the way we communicate, collaborate, and develop a sense of community. He outlined the technologies of Facebook, Twitter, Blogs, You Tube and Second Life. We discussed the positive and negative implications of these technologies.

Facts
• There are 140 million tweets per day
• There are 600 million active Facebook users, and 135 million page visitors per month

Barney also outlined how mobile devices like iPhones, iPads and so on are making us constantly connected to the internet and how this may impact on our conventional relationships.

Barney enjoyed the morning, and thought us to be a switched on group of people that must have some good conversations! I think we’d agree.

After the morning’s presentation we enthusiastically agreed that Donna create a Blog for Marrar Ag’n’Chat with all of us contributing (if we are taught how). This she has started at http://marraragnchat.blogspot.com/