Our biggest project yet is underway!
Ever since we moved to the farm, one of our major ongoing goals has been to revegetate large chunks of it. For shelter and food for wildlife, shade for our livestock, windbreak, and overall health of the land and waterways. It’s a difficult undertaking though - reveg projects aren’t cheap! We’ve grown and planted hundreds of trees over the years ourselves, but there’s only so many we can manage at one time.
So we’re incredibly excited to be collaborating with Tarwin Landcare Group, who have received funding towards their “We Love the Tarwin” project, to help turn the escarpment on our property into native habitat. This will be stage one of a larger project to create a wildlife corridor that connects the escarpment to the Tarwin River. We hope that this will eventually lead to improvements in the waterways that connect with the river, and keep some wildlife away from the dangers of the road.
It’s no simple project - it requires exclusion fencing to keep livestock off the site (shout out to Carmody Fencing); weed management so the trees don’t get overwhelmed; and of course a massive planting effort that will take place in May this year (all on a hillside no less!). The total planting area is nearly 12 acres. But we are ready for the challenge.
Given that the hillside is visible from the road out of Tarwin Lower, another plus is that everyone will be able to watch the progress of the vegetation growth into the future.
This project also wouldn’t be possible without the volunteers at Wonthaggi Seed Bank who are growing all of the tubestock.
