Bronwyn’s urban backyard is teeming with diversity. It is providing local families with nutritious food through her Community Supported Agriculture (CSA), but she doesn’t think she is doing anything exceptional. Students from Mulloon Creek Natural Farm’s Permaculture Design Certificate course recently visited Bronwyn Richards’ home in Braidwood, NSW, Australia. They learnt how an urban gardener manages to provide a constant supply of organic vegetables not only for her own family, but five others.

Bronwyn’s bountiful garden doesn’t stop at the boundary of her house block. In true spirit of community and fair share, friendly neighbours have gladly let her use area that they don’t use, allowing Bronwyn to garden over an acre. So the hothouse can be found in the next door neighbour’s backyard this year and the turkeys forage under a neighbour’s old orchard.

As a passionate, down to earth, organic gardener, she has combined different methods, such as biodynamics and permaculture principles. The options she chooses suit her needs. For example, commercial day old ducklings and chicks are bought and raised free range for meat by hens that are “good mothers”. And the good mothers continue providing nutritious eggs.

Ducks, chickens and turkeys happily roam around the garden and the sheep (and sometimes, pigs) are kept amused down the back. Extra potatoes have been sown to give the next round of pigs something interesting to do while rooting around. In between the poultry and four legged creatures are the garden beds, regularly rotated with a diverse array of vegetables. Bronwyn’s philosophy is that if the animals and vegetables are happy and healthy, then when consumed by us, that essence is passed on.

Jerusalem Artichokes

The CSA model allows a close and flexible relationship with customers. Each week she emails them with a list of seasonal produce and the customers put in their orders. First in, first served. When there is an abundance of one vegetable, it is included in all the customer’s boxes. Sometimes customers are given something new for tasting. They can also ask Bronwyn to grow certain vegetables. As a grower, she finds it’s fantastic to have a consistent customer base. As Bronwyn is the gardener, she is at the natural limit of households she can provide for.

Bronwyn would encourage all of us to get in the garden and “just give it a go”.

Herbs

Zaytuna’s straw bale buildings at sun-up

Yesterday I felt like the walking dead, after 45 hours of travel from door to farm. As such, I went out like a light in the very early evening. My otherwise deep sleep was broken intermittently by sounds I’m not accustomed to hearing, like Blue (an Australian stumpy tailed cattle dog) keeping our farm animals and crops safe by chasing off foxes and/or kangaroos; kookaburras – the ‘laughing jackass’ – were seemingly mocking me as I tried to slumber, as were various other frogs, insects and birds that work the night shift in this neck of the woods. I’m sure I’ll soon be attuned to them, and won’t hear them at all after a while.

The Zaytuna world wakes up

This morning a few of us went to the nearby Channon Market – one of the oldest community markets in the region. The market takes place on the second Sunday of every month, so my arrival yesterday made great timing. I took my camera and a huge appetite along (rumour had it they have great falafels and other items that are near and dear to me).

A small portion of the market

I went with an ‘Orgazmic Falafel’ for breakfast this time around

The market boasts a plethora of goods – from organic produce, seedlings and livestock, to sustainably made clothing, arts and crafts, books and more. It was an interesting place to wander around, to be sure.

Nadia and I spotted a poultry breeder unloading his goods, with Nadia immediately gravitating toward it – on the hunt to replace some birds that had been taken out by foxes on the only night Blue the dog had been tied up (proving his immense usefulness – the knowledge of this fact makes me much more forgiving of his barks as I slumber…). Geoff and Nadia ultimately bought a goose pair (emden cross), a large muskovy drake, and a couple of chickens (an isa brown cross rooster and a white sussex rooster).

Stall owner juicing by pedal power

Interestingly, Roger the breeder (pictured above) spoke in the course of the discussion of how he was being harassed by the RSPCA, who deem it cruel to sell birds at a market stall and are threatening to shut him down (he was expecting them to show up today as well). I was rather astonished, despite being aware of many such absurdities in this so-called modern world. These animals were obviously well cared for and looked in top health. This was in stark contrast to the birds I’ve seen in factory farm conditions – birds that limp, have virtually no feathers left (from rubbing up against cages), and that evidence many other signs of poor health – like a completely drooping comb, etc. Roger’s operation is similar to that of millions of small scale breeders who have operated for thousands of years. I can’t help but wonder what the Australian RSPCA would do if they were to open a branch in one of the south-east asian countries, like Vietnam or Thailand, etc.? The mind boggles.

click image to read the sign

Instead of picking on the little guy that is working conscientiously on a healthy small scale, how I wish they could focus their attentions on the large corporations who are doing quite the opposite. I complained about this in depth recently (see also here and here).

Some people use their stalls to make more than just money. A good example was the gentleman at right, who was simultaneously selling clothing and making a point as well – complaining about BHP Billiton’s latest plans.

It’d be great to see small markets dotted all over our western landscape – encouraging millions of people to become small scale suppliers of healthy, chemical free, conscientiously produced goods. If we could do that, then even markets like this one could become more sustainable – in the sense that we could get rid of the image at left. If we had small markets everywhere, we could walk and cycle to them, thus eliminating the transport and associated car parks more isolated markets require.

Geoff and Chris release the two new geese into their temporary housing.
Once they’re settled in, they’ll be allowed to roam free.

Recent developments at Kailash-Akhara, Adi Yoga Retreat Center, Phu Rua, Loei, Thailand.

By David Perkins (Dharmadeva) – Farm Manager and resident permaculture designer and educator at Kailash-Akhara.

Ducks

Our duck population has exploded from 4 to 22. We have been keeping Muscovy ducks (1 male and 3 females) since December, and their reputation for prolific breeding has proven to be true! After we noticed some ducklings were dying shortly after hatching, we found that well-timed human intervention was necessary to reduce suffocation or trampling in the nest. This resulted in 18 survivors, who have been a delight to watch this month. The adults keep laying, so we now need to eat more fresh eggs to keep the size of the flock manageable, while looking forward to some home-grown meat in due course.

Swales

What is a swale? Imagine a ditch running across the land on contour, so that it collects the runoff of rainfall flowing downhill. A long mound, or berm, below the ditch acts as a barrier, causing the water to build up during a heavy rain. Then it slowly infiltrates the soil. Plants and trees are specifically planted on and below the berm to stabilize it and take advantage of the increased moisture content of the soil. A swale is an earthwork feature commonly used in permaculture design, with which we achieve a great deal of benefit, by preventing erosion, hydrating the soil, and contributing to a more fertile and productive landscape.

The process of creating our swales began with careful observation of the land, and extensive surveying to find the contours and the most appropriate locations. The design for this property now includes 5 swales (3 x 300 meters long, and 2 x 150 meters). With the help of a skilled local man at the controls of the excavator, and a crew of laborers, we hope to have our swales dug and planted in time for the beginning of the rainy season. A swale takes a lot of work to create initially, but once established as a water infiltration and tree growing system, the resulting food forest keeps on giving for a long time… permanently, you might say – a clue to the origin of the word permaculture.

Pond

The upper pond is located in the core area between the training hall and the dormitory building, and its primary use will be recreational. The pond has 3 levels, and a depth of 2.5 meters at the deepest point. The main water source for this pond will be catchment from the training hall roof. It was dug one year ago, but did not hold water due to low clay content in the soil. Now it has been sealed using reinforced concrete, which was chosen for its great sealing properties, easy availability, relatively quick installation, and its durability and longevity. Additional landscaping around this pond will make it complete, and ideal for relaxing or taking a dip to cool off.

Garden

More beds are now in cultivation in the main garden. At this time of year, 2 ravenous pests emerged: flea beetles and grasshoppers. They can present a significant challenge to the organic gardener, and here we confronted them with natural sprays of neem oil and garlic juice – nevertheless, they chewed up more than their fair share of the young vegetable plants. Beans and squash are growing vigorously, and some beds have been sown with cover crops for building organic matter in the soil. In another bed, two of our favorite Ayurvedic medicinal plants, tulsi and ashwagandha, were transplanted, having been raised from seed in our nursery since January.

The 1975-77 TV Series ‘Survivors’

I’m showing my age here, but I was today reminded of an old British TV series called ‘Survivors‘ that was very popular in the late 1970s (nothing to do with modern reality shows!). It was a bit like Mad Max, but set in Britain, and after a pandemic rather than a nuclear war. The pandemic was, incidentally, a man-made affair. A lab experiment went horribly wrong when a test-tube crashed to the floor releasing a deadly virus. The scientist subsequently spread the contagion around the globe as he flew from convention to convention. Very few individuals survived.

As a child I was of course suitably impressed with the concept of being one of the few remaining children left on the planet, and being able raid toy shops and supermarkets without fear of reprisal. But, it also left me with a bit of a dog-eat-dog impression of basic human need and survival. This show ran during some of the darkest days of the Cold War, where similar results from nuclear bravado were half-expected.

Recently we were all wound up about the H5N1 ‘Bird Flu’. Today it’s the new H1N1 ‘Swine Flu’. Factory farms have been blamed for causing Bird Flu and now the search is on for the source of this latest virus. This BBC clip from today only infers that an unnamed U.S.-owned factory pig farm in Mexico may be on the short-list of potential culprits…. but the Grain article we quote below seems to concretely link it with Smithfield Foods, the same corporation we just brought to your attention in the previous post.

Another thing we know about the swine flu outbreak in Mexico is that the community of La Gloria in the state of Veracruz was trying to get authorities to respond to a vicious outbreak of a strange respiratory disease affecting them over the past months. The residents are adamant that the disease is linked to pollution from the big pig farm that was recently set up in the community by Granja Carroll, a subsidiary of the US company Smithfield Foods, the world’s largest pork producer.

After countless efforts by the community to get the authorities to help — efforts which led to the arrest of several community leaders and death threats against people speaking out against the Smithfield operations — local health officials finally decided to investigate in late 2008. Tests revealed that more than 60 per cent of the community of 3,000 people were infected by a respiratory disease, but officials did not confirm what the disease was. Smithfield denied any connection with its operations. It was only on 27 April 2009, days after the federal government officially announced the swine flu epidemic, that information came out in the press revealing that the first case of swine flu diagnosed in the country was of a 4-year old boy from the community of La Gloria on April 2, 2009.

… While it has not been widely reported, the region around the community of La Gloria is also home to many large poultry farms. Recently, in September 2008, there was an outbreak of bird flu among poultry in the region. At the time, veterinary authorities assured the public that it was only a local incidence of a low-pathogenic strain affecting backyard birds. But we now know, thanks to a disclosure made by Marco Antonio Núñez López, the President of the Environmental Commission of the State of Veracruz, that there was also an avian flu outbreak on a factory farm about 50 kilometres from La Gloria owned by Mexico’s largest poultry company, Granjas Bachoco, that was not revealed because of fears of what it might mean for Mexico’s export markets. It should be noted that a common ingredient in industrial animal feed is "poultry litter", which is a mixture of everything found on the floor of factory poultry farms: fecal matter, feathers, bedding, etc. – Grain (entire article recommended reading) (emphasis ours)

This article, just hours old, is also worth a read in this regard.

About Bird Flu in particular, take a look at ‘Bird Flu – A Virus of Our Own Hatching‘. This is a book you can buy, or read online – and is a sobering exposé, showing how our modern centralised agricultural and factory farm systems are putting our health out on a tenuous limb.

I’m starting to wonder if the modern factory farm may have made its ascendancy, just to arrive at the top of a very big slippery slide heading to its own demise (well, we dare to dream, don’t we?).

The thought of a 1918 type pandemic is certainly scary, but the most infuriating aspect of these situations is that it can result in a profit bonanza for the very same people that caused the problem in the first place. During the avian flu scare, fear-induced policy decisions caused a great many small-scale farmers to cull their poultry, either because they were forced to, or because the management requirements imposed on them became too expensive and/or onerous to manage.

At least 15 nations have restricted or banned free-range and backyard production of birds in an attempt to deal with avian flu on the ground, a move that may ultimately do more harm than good, according to Nierenberg. “Many of the world’s estimated 800 million urban farmers, who raise crops and animals for food, transportation, and income in back yards and on rooftops, have been targeted unfairly by the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Health Organization,” she told participants at the AAAS event. “The socioeconomic importance of livestock to the world’s poor cannot be overstated.”

… Locating large chicken farms near cities might make economic sense, but the close concentration of the birds to densely populated areas can help foster and spread disease, Nierenberg says. In Laos, 42 of the 45 outbreaks of avian flu in the spring of 2004 occurred on factory farms, and 38 were in the capital, Vientiane (the few small farms in the city where outbreaks occurred were located close to commercial operations). In Nigeria, the first cases of avian flu were found in an industrial broiler operation; it spread from that 46,000-bird farm to 30 other factory farms, then quickly to neighboring backyard flocks, forcing already-poor farmers to kill their chickens. - The Sietch Blog

It’s tremendously unjust that the ‘little guy’ is suffering due to the unnatural habits of nearby factory farms. It gets worse when you consider that these small backyard operations – which are far healthier and humane – may not recover financially, and their market share will be swallowed by the financially stronger factory farm that caused their bankruptcy. And, significantly, the viability of the low-carbon, more self-sufficient backyard farmer – who makes up a large proportion of the poor in developing countries – is thus seriously compromised, as he must find a way to earn more money, somehow, because he’s forced to buy ‘food’ from the energy-intensive industrial machine.

In a fair world, the enormous flocks and herds of the factory farms would be culled off instead. Oh, wait a minute – keep reading…:

Experts suggest that rather than culling smaller, backyard flocks, the FAO, WHO, and other international agencies should focus the bulk of their avian flu prevention efforts on large poultry producers and on stopping disease outbreaks before they occur. The industrial food system not only threatens the livelihoods of small farmers, it potentially puts the world at risk for a potential flu pandemic. “While H5N1…may have been a product of the world’s factory farms, it’s small producers who have the most to lose,” says Nierenberg.

Intensive animal farming is not only deleterious to human health and economies; it is also responsible for a great deal of ecological destruction. The growing numbers of livestock are responsible for 18 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions (as measured in carbon dioxide equivalent). They account for 37 percent of emissions of methane, which has more than 20 times the global warming potential of carbon dioxide, and 65 percent of emissions of nitrous oxide, another powerful greenhouse gas, most of which comes from manure. - The Sietch Blog

Common sense should have prevailed on this topic a long time ago. Putting thousands upon thousands of birds beak to backside in cramped, faeces- and ammonia-laden conditions is not only inhumane, but logic dictates that an unhappy, unhealthy bird is not fit to eat. Combine that with growth hormones, antibiotics and unnatural feed (including GMOs) and this should be seen as outright criminal negligence. Factory farming of pigs is equally inhumane (or worse if the measure of intellect of an animal is any gauge of suffering), and even more disgusting and dangerous in terms of pollution. What more efficient way is there to breed dangerous super bugs and pathogens?

The only time I felt truly comfortable about the food I put on my table was when I lived on the farm and grew most of my own… Now, I live in an apartment in the city, and am dependent on nameless, faceless strangers to grow, process and ship my food. It seems as if unethical and unsafe practices grow in direct proportion to how far we have lost the trail of accountability. So I don’t always trust them to put my family’s best interest over concern for their bottom line. I don’t like feeling helpless, as if every trip to the grocery is a crap shoot - Vicki Williams, columnist, USA Today

It’s kind of ironic that if a pandemic does transpire, it may ameliorate our environmental situation by stopping air travel, collapsing industries, and killing off many of the earth’s most destructive parasite (us). Do we need to go through this process? Do we need to be killed off so the natural world can ‘take a breather’?

At Zaytuna Farm, home base for the Permaculture Research Institute, all animals are treated with dignity and appreciation. Each are essentially ‘employees’ that ask little but give much – having an important role to play in the farm system: improving fertility and controlling ‘pests’ (weeds/insects), etc.. The Zaytuna livestock troupe convert potential agricultural problems into win-win solutions. When some are ultimately selected for culling, it is done – being little short of family pets – in the most humane way possible.

Just as our present environmental and economic crises are urging us to re-evaluate the very foundation of our consumer society, may this threat of a global pandemic cause us to reconsider the supposed ‘efficiencies’ of turning sentient, biological beings into, effectively, widgets on a filthy, chemical-based, industrial conveyor belt.

Do Something!: Sign a petition to call on the United Nations World Health Organisation and the Food and Agriculture Organisation to investigate and regulate these farms to protect global health.

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As an additional note, the Humane Society of the United States recently revealed a shocking undercover video that exposed what many of us already knew, and what many others don’t want to know…. If you eat meat bought from the standard industrial supply chain (‘machine’), I’d encourage you to take a look yourself. If you want the non-graphic version: essentially workers were filmed pushing sick animals around with forklifts, dragging them by their legs behind forklifts (over faeces laden concrete), beating them, using electric cattle prods on their faces and eyes and water-boarding them.

Viewer Discretion advised – the two clips below are definitely ‘meet your meat’ type presentations….(not recommended for children…):

Warning: Extreme Animal Cruelty Video

And for good measure, below you’ll find ‘Earthlings‘, a feature-length documentary narrated by Joaquin Phoenix (of Gladiator fame, amongst others), also featuring music by the platinum artist Moby. The documentary examines man’s relationship with the creatures he profits from. Earthlings uses hidden cameras and never before seen footage to chronicle the day-to-day practices of some of the largest industries in the world, all of which rely entirely on animals for profit. You will see that this man-animal relationship is the business partnership from hell.

Aigamo ducks in rice paddy

Mr. Takao Furuno’s modest business card reveals that he is a farmer in a world where “one duck creates boundless treasure”.

He farms rice very successfully in Japan and is a private aid volunteer, working in Vietnam when I met him. He had a message for all rice farmers, perhaps all wet paddy farmers, and gave me his book (all in Japanese) on the duck-rice paddy design he has perfected. Luckily I also have a condensed translation.

His ducks, by the way, are a cross between the mallard and a wild duck (Anas superciliosa) that we call the Black Duck, despite the fact that it is brown! This cross is a small duck, lean and active, that he has named Aigamo. It is fertile and breeds more of the same.

This Aigamo is released into the young rice paddy as soon as it is weaned at seven days and left there in a shelter until it is eight weeks old and the rice begins to flower. Like all ducks, it loves rice, so cannot be trusted with maturing rice seed. When the ducklings are first released, the rice has been transplanted for ten days, so that Mr Furuno has set the duck eggs at about the same time that the plants seed in his rice nursery bed. The ducks do not eat rice leaves.

Around his rice paddy, he has erected a low duck fence of netting, say ½ a metre (two feet) high, and above this he runs an electric fence to keep out foxes, dogs, and feral cats. Inside this fence is the duck shelter, opening onto the field. Mr Furuno stands his inner fences in the edge of the water. It is only on the boundary of the paddy fields that one needs the electric fence; any inner fences can be very simple mesh, at most a metre high. It is helpful to provide clean straw for the ducks to stand on, and inside their shelter.

The ducks are fed light rations of bran, and crushed rice daily, enabling the farmer to judge their need for food as they grow.

In Vietnam there is a duck called the “Cherry Valley” breed, very like the Aigamo used by Mr Furuno. No biocides or fertiliser are used by Mr Furuno apart from that produced by his ducks which are stocked at the rate of 15 – 30 per ten ares (an are is 100m2 or 1/1000 of a hectare). Rice is transplanted mid-June in Japan, (mid-December in Australia), thus duck eggs need to be in the incubator in the first week of May (November). Ducks hatch in 31 days and need to be a week old before release.

If ducks are used, rice grows taller, tillers very well (hence is more dense), the stems are more robust and the root mass is greater. Above all, work in weeding is eliminated as are chemical inputs. Mr Furuno puts this more abundant growth down to the puddling (muddy water effect) caused by the ducks. When the ducks are no longer needed, they are used as table birds, and add considerably to the family income or protein intake. As ducks are active at night, the labour of penning them away from the fields is counter-productive.

Incubators for eggs, ‘brooder lights’ and duck feeder troughs (or sheets of roof iron) are all standard equipment. Taro should benefit as much as rice for the same reasons. Ducks, to the rice farmer, seem to be about the equivalent of sheep dogs to a squatter (grazier). Neither needs wages or holidays.

• The duck (Aigamo) eliminates most weeds, removes all harmful insects, and all the water life it can catch.
• The duck fertilises the rice.
• The duck cultivates the rice producing a rich mulch around the rice plants.
• The paddy provides weeds, insects, pests, snails, frogs and shelter for the duck.
• The rice crop provides open range for the duck.
• The rice provides bran and cracked grains for the duck.

The result of this beneficial marriage of duck and rice is that fertiliser and pesticides, molluscicides and tractors are eliminated as costs, and more rice is obtained. (Ducks in Vietnam are also widely used to glean fallen rice after the harvest.)

You don’t often hear about the positives of dog ownership, in a permaculture sense. My Jack Russell terrier Vikki is a permaculture farm dog, who works for her keep – a real ‘WOOFer’. Not only does she provide a 24 hour fox warning system, but she also uses special skills with the rare poultry I keep.

Vikki can catch a chook on the run. One mention of "catch the birdie" and she flies off in hot pursuit, to finally land on top of the target bird and hold it firmly (but unharmed) underneath her until I arrive on the scene. Other Jack Russel owners can’t believe it’s true. One guy lost 57 chickens to his dog in three minutes! Vikki’s dad happens to be a chook killer too.

Her breed was developed to hunt rats and rabbits – no wonder they are such a popular farmers’ companion. I’ve heard of Jack Russells who climb the macadamia trees in the plantations near us, and catch rats red handed. When Vikki used to catch rabbits on my property she would bring them home for butchering and enjoy the spoils of the hunt for dinner. Not surprisingly, the rabbits keep well away these days. She also chases doves from freeloading in the chook feed bowls, keeps goshawks from snatching chickens and warns us of snake presence and visitor arrivals.

Instincts Modified by Training

Vikki’s natural instincts have been modified by lots of good training. When we got her at 5 weeks of age we put silky chickens and baby guinea pigs in her bed for her to bond with. She would happily doze off cuddling a fuffy fat pig, who would sneak off to the other end of the box with great relief when she finally fell asleep. The farm animals became family, with Vikki their protector. Lots of discipline and patience were needed in the learning process along the way. Training was hard work at times. Now she loves to please us and revels in her farm work.

All domesticated animals are a nuisance if not trained or managed correctly. If we provide them with proper sustenance, protection and the freedom to follow their natural behaviours, they can be so rewarding to us. When people and other animals have symbiotic partnerships of mutual benefit that also create ecological balance, it is a natural harmony. Our animal allies have much to teach us.

It’s an age-old struggle: ever since people gave up the hunter/gatherer lifestyle for a more settled agricultural age, food production has been subject to the ravages of creatures with appetites similar to our own. The ‘taming’ of our natural environment has come at a huge price, the only subject of debate is what our excesses will cost our children. Home food producers, not to mention an ever increasing contingent of commercial producers, are looking for new solutions to old dilemmas. Where the aim was to protect ourselves from the elements, we now seek to protect nature and ourselves from the many stresses of a ‘tamed’ wilderness.

Total Exclusion vs Diversion Strategy

Wildlife of any kind can be thought of as being similar to flowing water. Water will always take the route of least resistance. Wild creatures seek only to meet their survival needs by expending the least energy possible.

Control methods that seek to totally exclude are rarely successful and have several disadvantages. For starters, you lose the benefits the wildlife bring, whether aesthetic or practical, at the same time using tremendous amounts of resources and energy.

A case in point is the story of an African village that built a three metre high electric fence to keep the local elephants out of its gardens. The first animal took a couple of shocks in the trunk before retreating to the forest, it appeared that the villagers had won. In moments the animal returned carrying a tree, and without preamble, flattened the fence with it.

Being kind to wildlife is not humanly possible unless you can put food on your own table first. Employing diversionary strategies means exactly that, diverting ‘water’ rather than trying to ‘dam it’. The creatures are included in your overall plan from the outset as opposed to ignoring their presence and becoming (understandably) distraught when they show up for dinner.

Insectivorous bat – a very hard worker

The benefits to this shift in our basic outlook are many, not only reducing the impact of animals on our crops, but even attracting and employing some species to advantage. An excellent example is that of insectivorous bats which can eat as many as 600 flying insects per hour! An organic farmer in Oregon, USA, reported to Bat Conservation International that approximately 600 bats housed in 21 bat boxes had virtually ended the incidence of corn ear worms.

Know Thy Adversary

Like any garden project, forward planning is essential, and an inclusive strategy means that acknowledging wildlife as part of the local conditions, like acid soil or storms, means you’ll be ready for anything.

For example, if I was about to plant an apple orchard, I should ask myself a few simple questions like: Who besides me likes to eat apples? Where I live in the Adelaide Hills, South Australia, the answer would be possums, codlin moth and parrots. Addressing each creature separately, I would endeavour to know my adversary.

Take possums. Possums climb very well and can jump reasonably well too but no more than four feet (1.2 metres). So I’ll need to prune my trees so they have four feet of trunk before the first branches. Now I can wrap the trunk in sheet tin so the possums can’t climb it.

Tree branches will need to be kept at least four feet away from fences and the like so there are no alternative routes for the possums. I’ll plant a couple of trees away from the main orchard and leave them unprotected as a decoy feeder.

I’m no entomologist, so off to the library to look up codlin moth. I discover that the larvae are the culprits, and that there is little I can do once they’re in the apple, so it’s the parents I’m after. Armed with the knowledge that they fly at night, I call in the airforce, BATS! Insectivorous bats that is, not fruit bats. The metal collars around the trees are well known to house bats but I’ll install a few bat boxes as well.

Now for the parrots. Many orchardists will tell you that most bird scarers, like tinfoil plates, gas guns, windchimes and tin hawks, work for a short while but the birds soon become accustomed to them. The critical point is that birds as a rule don’t have very long memories and constant change is the secret. So, a weekly rotation of four different scarers is better than one scarer alone.

During your crop’s most vulnerable period, you might consider feeding the parrots in a tranquil place away from your orchard (and scarers). If this option is taken up, some research would be required to determine which species is giving you the headache and what you can entice it with. Not all parrots, for instance, eat seed. The lorikeet is a ‘brushed tongue parrot’ and feeds primarily on pollen and nectar, so juicy fruits like cherries and plums are a favourite target. A suitable nectar substitute should be available from good pet stores. You might wish to find out what your birds used to feed on at ripening time before your orchard came along. It could be their alternatives are limited as a result of our agriculture.

South Australia has a huge number of vineyards, but little bush left in the area where grapes are produced. As a result the local honeyeaters often have a devastating impact on the crops. Some of the more progressive vineyard owners have begun planting native banksias in groves around their vineyards, selecting species that open their nectar-rich flowers at ripening time. When the banksias flower, the honeyeaters display an obvious preference for them and the vineyards suffer only the lightest bird damage at the edges.

Acceptable Losses

I know of no pest control strategies that completely eradicate damage to crops without eradicating the troublesome species, and this usually starts more problems than it solves. It is often easier to see what the wildlife is doing to us without pausing to think what they are doing for us. For instance, honeyeaters may attack fruit but they also consume vast amounts of insects. If we were to eradicate the honeyeaters, the massive increase in insects would force many growers to rely on poisons to do what the honeyeaters did without toxins for free. If I wished to harvest the fruit of 10 trees per year I would consider planting 12, the extra being payment for natural insect control.

Nothing in the natural world happens instantly, and most of the suggestions above require mid to long term thinking. When we examine the effects of short term thinking, so evident all around us, that doesn’t seem so bad.

It’s impossible to provide universally effective solutions to wildlife management dilemmas. My aim here is to encourage people to take inclusive strategies on board. With a little research (your local library is a gold mine – your neighbour might be as well) and observation, your will find even more ways to work in harmony with nature, and by example you will no doubt show others in your area how to do the same.

Further Reading:

• Which Came First – Pests, or Pesticides?