Liz
I grew up on a farm, but have been in town for most of my adult life - though longing to get back to a property. Originally, I was looking for around 100 acres but after 4 years of searching bought this which is 35 acres and actually suits me better. It is roughly divided in three with a third native bush to the south, cleared in the middle and a mixed eucalypt plantation in the north.
I have lots of ideas for the property including growing and selling garlic, hazelnuts, truffles and other fruit and nut trees in pots. These early years have been tidying up and getting organised. The dam has just been dug out to give more storage, so am now in a position to think about replacing reticulation and establishing plants.
I had only been here about a year when I first heard about the Peer Group Mentor Program from my neighbour Arthur. We had chatted over the fence a few times and he arranged a visit with Bob and Gary. We walked round the whole property spending a bit of time in the plantation which has spotted gum, Sydney blue gum and lemon scented gums. I knew a bit about trees and seed collecting after some work experience in the bush, but not much about managing plantation trees.
They talked about the importance of thinning and pruning trees if you wanted to use the timber for saw logs. We also talked about the option of harvesting the whole lot for woodchips, but because it was a small plot and had mixed trees it may not be economically viable. I am unlikely to harvest the whole lot anyway as it is lovely to walk through and it seems to be popular with a lot of birds.
It was interesting to hear Bob talking about how it would look after thinning, with wide spaced trees and areas for grazing underneath. In the plantation, you could actually see the impact of pruning with trees that had self-pruned and dropped their branches. You could also see trees that wouldn’t be good for saw logs as they had been left too late for pruning. Some trees hadn’t done well in a wetter area and we talked about other species that may do better.
During the visit, they suggested a controlled burn in the natural bush which they thought was in really good condition. We have now done the burn – which was probably the first in about 30 years- but it got away a bit and I have been surprised at the amount of leaves that have dropped again.
Bob and Arthur came back for a second visit and showed me how to prune the trees; I just have to find time to do that now.
As it is just a small plot, we talked about using any timber after thinning for firewood, both personally and as a potential money earner. I am already selling some of the silver dollar to a florist who said there could be other income opportunities as people are even buying sticks for home décor. I am aiming for self –sufficiency and looking at a range of income producing options. I could have sold some mandarins this year, but someone stole them!
The most significant change for me is how it opened my eyes to a range of opportunities and I now understand the potential of the plantation timber. I have the knowledge to get the best value out of it by managing the thinning and pruning. I think the program is really good and it gave me a lot of ideas.
I grew up on a farm, but have been in town for most of my adult life - though longing to get back to a property. Originally, I was looking for around 100 acres but after 4 years of searching bought this which is 35 acres and actually suits me better. It is roughly divided in three with a third native bush to the south, cleared in the middle and a mixed eucalypt plantation in the north.
I have lots of ideas for the property including growing and selling garlic, hazelnuts, truffles and other fruit and nut trees in pots. These early years have been tidying up and getting organised. The dam has just been dug out to give more storage, so am now in a position to think about replacing reticulation and establishing plants.
I had only been here about a year when I first heard about the Peer Group Mentor Program from my neighbour Arthur. We had chatted over the fence a few times and he arranged a visit with Bob and Gary. We walked round the whole property spending a bit of time in the plantation which has spotted gum, Sydney blue gum and lemon scented gums. I knew a bit about trees and seed collecting after some work experience in the bush, but not much about managing plantation trees.
They talked about the importance of thinning and pruning trees if you wanted to use the timber for saw logs. We also talked about the option of harvesting the whole lot for woodchips, but because it was a small plot and had mixed trees it may not be economically viable. I am unlikely to harvest the whole lot anyway as it is lovely to walk through and it seems to be popular with a lot of birds.
It was interesting to hear Bob talking about how it would look after thinning, with wide spaced trees and areas for grazing underneath. In the plantation, you could actually see the impact of pruning with trees that had self-pruned and dropped their branches. You could also see trees that wouldn’t be good for saw logs as they had been left too late for pruning. Some trees hadn’t done well in a wetter area and we talked about other species that may do better.
During the visit, they suggested a controlled burn in the natural bush which they thought was in really good condition. We have now done the burn – which was probably the first in about 30 years- but it got away a bit and I have been surprised at the amount of leaves that have dropped again.
Bob and Arthur came back for a second visit and showed me how to prune the trees; I just have to find time to do that now.
As it is just a small plot, we talked about using any timber after thinning for firewood, both personally and as a potential money earner. I am already selling some of the silver dollar to a florist who said there could be other income opportunities as people are even buying sticks for home décor. I am aiming for self –sufficiency and looking at a range of income producing options. I could have sold some mandarins this year, but someone stole them!
The most significant change for me is how it opened my eyes to a range of opportunities and I now understand the potential of the plantation timber. I have the knowledge to get the best value out of it by managing the thinning and pruning. I think the program is really good and it gave me a lot of ideas.