Sun Shine

Any questions or comments you have about Natural Sequence Farming processes. These could include general questions or ones about your personal problems.

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greg
Posts: 36
Joined: Wed Jan 02, 2008 6:43 pm
Location: Cooks Gap (Gulgong)(Mudgee)

Sun Shine

Post by greg » Thu Nov 25, 2010 7:34 pm

Gidday All
I am sure everyone has the same thing happening, but i am surprised at how much the plant growth has increased at my place since it started to get a little warmer.
The area i have been trying out my NSF idea has now been over run with plants that i have to push through a little and is around hip high.
We have had wet periods before but nothing really grew, now the ground is mushy and thickly covered.
The area in my next door neighbours place (down stream) where it is usually just barren dirt is now green and growing.
Due the extra water I have also noticed a distinct reduction of leaf litter on the ground, so suggested to the Rural Fire Service that this may also be a method of reducing fire hazards in different areas. Just a thought.
Hope everyone is still enjoying the wet times.

Greg Dunnicliff

duane
Posts: 1161
Joined: Fri Apr 20, 2007 1:44 pm
Location: Central Coast, NSW
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Re: Sun Shine

Post by duane » Fri Nov 26, 2010 7:27 am

Hi Greg

Water, plants and energy make a great combination. Its the whole basis of nsf.

Greg said
The area i have been trying out my NSF idea has now been over run with plants
What sort of plants are in the mix Greg?? And what 'nsf' ideas did you implement??

Do you think your nsf work has caused the positive effects on your downstream neighbours property...
The area in my next door neighbours place (down stream) where it is usually just barren dirt is now green and growing.???
And finally could we hear more about your comment :
Due the extra water I have also noticed a distinct reduction of leaf litter on the ground, so suggested to the Rural Fire Service that this may also be a method of reducing fire hazards in different areas.
What was the feedback from the RFS? This whole rehydration approach goes to the question of limiting fire. Are you also noticing the effects of the short water cycle?? More dew on your plants for longer because of the heavy green cover?? Water in the system staying longer because the plants are recycling their transpired water??

Your observations would be welcomed.
Last edited by duane on Fri Nov 26, 2010 8:29 pm, edited 1 time in total.

ghosta
Posts: 78
Joined: Tue Nov 16, 2010 2:23 pm

Re: Sun Shine

Post by ghosta » Fri Nov 26, 2010 10:48 am

Great to see a wet year at last Greg.
Eucalypts shed their leaves, twig and branches as conditions dry out as part of their survival mechanism, but will retain them under wet conditions. So expect a big dump to be added to your hip high vegetation when things dry out. Hope its not too close to your house and outbuildings, you will have one huge fire hazard just like most of the rest of the country will have!

greg
Posts: 36
Joined: Wed Jan 02, 2008 6:43 pm
Location: Cooks Gap (Gulgong)(Mudgee)

Re: Sun Shine

Post by greg » Wed Dec 01, 2010 6:14 pm

Duane
The mix of plants is pretty big I would say at a guess that there are about 10 different types, what they are I have no idea, but its green and the sifting bush is dying. i have also noticed that bottle brush plants seem to like wet feet.
I started with a couple of small leaky dams and noticed a change, the dams have been getting larger and i have been puting in small gullies to divert the water sideways as the creek fills when it rains, this year the creek hasn't stopped running, but it is a good rain year. The effects down stream is a result of what i have been doing as the green is in the creek bed but also uphill a bit from where i have pushed the water out sideways. The ground is mushy and full of frogs.
The RFS recognises that the fuel loading has dropped because of the increased rain, when i suggested that it might be able to be extended useing the NSF, I had 2 heads and talked through my hat.
The dew is lasting longer, i also notice that when i was mowing, the breeze that blew from the creek area was cool and moist, when it came from the other direction is was slightly warmer and dryer.
My vege patch is now growing vege's and weeds and the sand is brown, where before i couldn't get the weeds to grow and the sand was white, something is better, i have also notice more bugs in the ground and i found 2 worms, iwas amazed, i don't get worms, its too dry.
as a last comment, as you may have noticed by the news the mudgee area has had a lot of rain ove the last 24 to 48 hours, the water in the creek run over the top of my dam and blew out all my leaky dams and has flattened my plant matter. So i will have to figure out how to rebuild with a stronger dam system and maybe improve the way my setup worked??
I must admit i liked all the gum leaf litter when it was dry as i used that to help form channels for the water to travel along, which also caused them to break down and add fertility and remove a fire hazard.
I got an article in the local paper about NSF, but unfortunetly only the converted seemed to be interested??
If anyone has some suggestions i am all ears.

Thanks Greg Dunnicliff

ghosta
Posts: 78
Joined: Tue Nov 16, 2010 2:23 pm

Re: Sun Shine

Post by ghosta » Wed Dec 01, 2010 9:35 pm

greg wrote: I got an article in the local paper about NSF, but unfortunetly only the converted seemed to be interested??
If anyone has some suggestions i am all ears.

Thanks Greg Dunnicliff
This year being a wet year means most floodplains have plenty of water....whats not under flood is well saturated. Landowners have other concerns at the moment....get crops in and harvest , care for and breed stock etc. These are good times that havent been seen for decades in some places.This mean interest in NSFgenerally will have diminished for the moment. While things are like this I would EXPECT little interest...there simply isnt the percieved need.

Many of Peters explanations for some of the things he does are contentious. Like the use of weeds to increase soil fertility. When farmers have been removing weeds for generations and experiencing increased production as a result, its almost impossible to convince them weeds could be beneficial under ANY circumstances. I have no doubt that this alone has closed peoples minds to some of the other ideas Peter postulates.

Landowners can only take from Peters work what they can apply on their own land. For example they may be able to minimise the erosion happening on their land, but if they dont have a floodplain, or only have a part of a floodplain then their options for water management are much more limited . Further, if the intake area for water on your floodplain is on your neighbours property higher up or there is a road blocking the location where you would need to run contour channels what can you actually do?

Someone who has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on an irrigation system (for example) isnt going to abandon it in favour of something else no matter how good it sounds.

This sounds all very negative, but "the converted's" expectations must be realistic. People ARE trying out Peters methods, and where they do work they will speak for themselves. And any failures will set things back.

Most importantly understand that people who know nothing about farming who preach the virtues of NSF are going to be ignored by the farming community. There is nothing more distasteful to a farmer than some "towny" lecturing him on how to farm.

greg
Posts: 36
Joined: Wed Jan 02, 2008 6:43 pm
Location: Cooks Gap (Gulgong)(Mudgee)

Re: Sun Shine

Post by greg » Thu Dec 02, 2010 6:24 pm

I agree whole heartly wirh you and why should a farmer pay any attention to some blow in towny.
However if some farmers could see some of the results even on a small scale, perhaps it would give them food for thought. I am not a farmer but i tried something to see what it did, it seems to work and i would like to show some farmers to see if it is feasible to their bottom line??
Sometimes i would like a logical reason why it doesn't work, but i suppose old habits die hard and i guess it is hard to try something that may flop and cost a bundle. It gets complicated sometimes.
Before i forget, something else i noticed was that as the water flows it gets a build up of slimy moss which seems to do 2 jobs, 1 as the moss gets thicker it slows the water and causes small build ups behind them and the second is that it appears to filter the water??
You make a lot os sense, all we can do is see how it works out in the long run.

Cheers

Greg Dunnicliff

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