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_BLACKBERRY CONTROL DAY: On 25.10.11 - by John McClumpha
The Yarram Yarram Landcare group hosted their Blackberry Control Workshop at the Bingi hall, which was attended by approximately 20 people. Five different speakers explaining various control methods both chemical and biological gave presentations. A bus tour of the Binginwarri area demonstrated areas where Blackberry control has been successfully carried out under the JARR project. One of the biological controls discussed was a rust, which can be transferred between blackberry plants and will spread naturally throughout the district. The introduction of this rust to the Bingi area could be a future activity for our own group. The BLG provided morning tea and a BBQ lunch, which helped boost our coffers a little. Thanks are extended to the ladies who supplied the lovely cakes for the day. THE BBQ THAT WAS: On 20.11.11 - by Kaye Proudley Thank you to all the 38 people who turned up to the Binginwarri Landcare BBQ at the hall in November. We attracted more people from other Landcare Groups than our own but that was to the good I think. Dallas Wyatt won the door prize, so congrats to you, but don’t forget to fill it and bring to the next ‘do’ Dallas! It was agreed that we all had a marvellous time, made very yummy by our special chef on the day John McClumpha, thank you to John and to all who provided lovely salads and sweets. And made even better by The Cut Snakes, Cider & Popcorn, and Electric Finger. Thanks to their fabulous muso’s – Peter Webb, Ruth Williams, Phil Jackson and Richard Holt. There was lots of toe tapping and singing along. If you’d like a taste of their music go here - http://web.me.com/tjebi/PW_updates_02/bingie_landcare.html (Some of the attendees – Photo by Ruth Williams) HAZEL PARK WALK, TALK & GAWK: On 30.1011 - by Jenny Wolswinkel Months and months ago, Kaye asked me if I could lead an outing to look at plants in October. I didn’t hesitate – but it took me a little while to think of a suitable location. Eventually I came up with Hazel Park Flora and Fauna Reserve, simply because it’s interestingly different from most other areas of bush around Yarram and the Strzelecki Ranges. The vegetation has elements that remind me a little of Wilson’s Promontory, or else closer spots around Foster and Toora. Its diversity of plants is just perfect for studying…. Well…. plant diversity! Leading up to the event, I was wondering how we came up with a start time of 9.30 on a Sunday morning, and fully expected to be the first to arrive, with people straggling in until 10.30 or so, as often happens in the Landcare world. However, I should have known better; there were nine of us there, ready to start not long after half past nine. Maybe this is what happens in the field naturalist world. But this is supposed to be a report on plants and things! Before we’d even started on the walking track, a showy white flower was spotted, and we all wandered over for a closer look. It was a great start for me as humble expert, because I didn’t know what it was. Fortunately, others in the group carried a lot of knowledge, and Dallas carried a wildflower book, so we were eventually able to find out that it is a Diplarrena moraea – a native iris. In fact, during a previous visit I’d thought there was a lot of Lomandra longifolia (Spiny-headed Mat-rush) along the track, but most of these are actually more of these irises (they weren’t flowering, then). There were many different grass-like plants along the track – Diplarrena, with its dull green, flat, pointed leaves; Lepidosperma, with its shiny green, flat, pointed leaves; Lomandra, with shiny, flat, jagged-ended leaves; Dianella, with dark-green leaves bent along the centre; and two sorts of the narrow, hard-leaved Xanthorrhoea (grass-tree) – the small X. minor with leaves v-shaped in cross-section, and the trunked X. australis with its leaves diamond-shaped in cross-section. The abundant Banksia spinulosa (Hair-pin Banksias) weren’t flowering, but we looked at and talked about them anyway. Also present from the same family was the smaller Lomatia ilicifolia (Holly-leaf Lomatia). There were a few mysteries on the day. The Broom Spurge, whose name I’d forgotten, but have since looked up, is called Amperea xiphoclada – a mostly leafless, small shrub that has inconspicuous male and female flowers on separate plants. We spotted many leaves and one budding shoot of some sort of orchid, but none of us were expert enough to know the type. A nice patch of flowering bird orchids provided some compensation. A single specimen of a Monotoca (large heath) shrub kept Dallas and John occupied for some time, trying to nut out the species with Dallas’ book long after the rest of us had given up and moved on. I’m not sure if any of us ever came to a verdict; it looked like M. scoparia, but was more the size of M. elliptica. A little later on, as we walked through a ferny gully, we were attacked by a bee, which caused a bit of excitement til we came to our senses and just got out of its way! Thankfully nobody was stung, although it spent a while getting tangled in my hair. Then, while there was a bit of a break in discovering new plants, a few of us caught up on the latest on Doc Martin (the TV show, not theboots), which was great, because I don’t have a telly and have therefore only seen a few episodes myself. After taking 2 hours to walk and gawk along a track that is probably less than a kilometre long, we got to the start and end of the track again, and a few of us ended the day with a picnic. Thanks to John, Dallas, Jude, Sarah, Russell, Kevin, Libby and Kath for making this a very pleasant event, and for helping to share our combined knowledge around. Also a welcome to Dallas and Jude who are new to the group – great to meet you both. My thanks also to the Reserve, for providing its groundcovers, trees, shrubs, graminoids and ferns, some flowering, most not, but a good range of leaf shapes and sizes; and also to the weather, for holding off the rain until the end and not blowing a gale. There were many more plants that we looked at but I haven’t mentioned – I believe John took a few notes on what we found – and Kath was keeping tabs on the birds with her binoculars! (Photo of Banksia spinulosa (Hairpin Banksia) taken in July at Hazel Park by KP) VISIT TO HEGGEN’S PRETTY RD PROPERTY: On 3.12.11 – by Kaye P. About 10 people turned up to this event to hear Kevin and our guest speaker Peter Gannon from Eccocentric talk about how Ecological Vegetation Classes work and why they are important (and also how wrong DSE have got it on their computers!) We walked a tiny fraction of the property, admiring the revegetation done about 7 years ago and marvelling at its growth. The weather was good and over our picnic lunch we held a brief meeting that went longer than brief (I think!) J Thanks to Libby Heggen for escorting our wheelchair-bound attendee in her Ute and therefore missing out on most of the discussion. L RECIPE FOR THE GARDEN OF DAILY LIVING: Plant three rows of Peas: Plant four rows of Squash:
Plant four rows of Lettuce: No garden is without Turnips 1. Lettuce be faithful 1. Turnip for meetings 2. Lettuce be kind 2. Turnip for service 3. Lettuce be patient 3. Turnip to help one another 4. Lettuce really love one another To conclude our garden we must have Thyme: 1. Thyme for each other 2. Thyme for family 3. Thyme for friends Water freely with patience and cultivate with love. There is much fruit in your garden, because you reap what you sow. Author unknown. CONGRATULATIONS DUE: Originally by Dan Garlick, YYLN Network. The Binginwarri Group heartily echoes these sentiments. As you may or may not be aware, YYLN had the following Landcare State Award Finalists: Libby Balderstone – State Primary Producer Award David MacAulay – Individual Landcarer Award Gippsland Plains Drought Tolerant Pastures Group – Sustainable Agriculture Innovation Award Woodside Landcare Group – Community Award Congratulations to all those nominated, in particular Libby Balderstone who won the West Gippsland and the overall State Landcare Primary Producer Award. Congratulations also to those included on the 25th Anniversary Landcare Honour Roll. Lastly, another reminder to get your entries in (by adding to the JARR website – www.jarrproject.com) noting any of your animal, bird, weed or any other unusual sightings. Not only you, but maybe our group as well may win! Don’t forget, if you want to be taken off the mailing list, a simple request by email or phone will do the job! Alternatively, if you have friends or neighbours in the area that you’d like to pass this onto, feel welcome to do so – or better still, give us their contact details. So that’s another edition wrapped, hope you have enjoyed the read. Kaye Proudley Editor. Contributions always welcome 5185 1398 or 0409 80 3341. [email protected] |