It’s not the brief of yandoit.net to advertise for Aldi, but this may be of interest to wildlife-lovers. Aldi is offering a motion-sensing wildlife camera with infra-red LED lighting for night use – might just catch that elusive phascogale: $129 on special from 10th September.
An old mate from Uni, Dr. Neil Barr, made it onto this list of “Ten Great Books About Agriculture” with his book on the transformation of farming communities.
Excerpt from a review in the Rural Society Journal:
“In this book, Neil Barr, Senior Social Researcher, Department of Primary Industries, Bendigo, critically examines Australian farming, with particular focus on the family farm. Having grown up in a family who tried to make a living in horticultural farming, he has first-hand experience of what farming families are going through: his book, as he states in his preface, ‘is a result of thirty years pondering over the joy, despair and paradoxes of farming life’. The family and personal successes and tragedies he chronicles are explained by social circumstances (wars, financial crises) yet are embedded in nature (drought, dust storms, floods). The combination of personal experiences (social issues) and objective reality (statistical data, figures, graphs, maps) makes The House on the Hill special. Easy to read – and of interest to people who live on the land or who plan a future in agriculture – it was written to help improve the sustainable management of land, water and vegetation. Yet it is of value for academics and students with an interest in Australian agriculture, in farming families, geography, demography, or the environment.”
It can be purchased from Booktopia, or can be found in many libraries.
Fundraising Gig for Wombat Forestcare
Sunday, 31st August 4 – 6.30pm at the Old Hepburn Hotel. $10 entry.
Join us for some great live music.
The line up will include a DSC student band, a video piece (a musical), the Safari Suits, who will be celebrating their 30th Big Year, and Scurvy, an ’alt-country’ four piece made up of former Daylesford lads.
Churches and settlement of Yandoit, Franklinford and Clydesdale
When: SATURDAY MAY 10th, 1.45pm for 2pm start
Where: meet at the YANDOIT UNITING CHURCH
Afternoon tea at 4.00 followed by optional visit to several local churches between 4.30 to 5.30pm.
See the May 2014 Chronicle for details
We want to encourage locals to use the website in a more interactive way. John Ross has set up our yandoit.net website with lots of options for information exchange. There’s also the possibility of changing the name to be more inclusive of Franklinford and Clydesdale which would require registering a new domain name. We will be calling a meeting of those interested in the website in the near future. Please contact John if you’re interested.
24-27 March 2014 in Bendigo.
Of interest to farmers, horticulturalists, ag scientists etc.
”You are invited to attend ‘Soil Change Matters’ an international workshop concerned with the scientific investigation of changes in soil and their effect on critical soil functions and ecosystem services.
The workshop is hosted by the Victorian Department of Environment and Primary Industries, and supported by Soil Science Australia and the following Working Groups of the International Union of Soil Sciences – Global Soil Change, Soil Monitoring, Proximal Soil Sensing, and Digital Soil Mapping.
The workshop is designed to bring together practitioners in policy, science and management to address the questions –
• What is changing in soil?
• Why does it matter (impact, extent, critical thresholds, system collapse) or does it? Who cares and who pays?
• How do we measure change and are we monitoring important changes?
• How fast are changes occurring and expected to occur?
• Should anything be done about these changes – science understanding, technical ability to measure and monitor change, policies for intervention or prevention.”
This summary has been compiled from various sources by John Ross, in response to a thread on the Castlemaine Bushfire Help FaceBook group page.
It provides advice and links about managing animals in a bushfire. Continue reading
Shameless self-promotion!
Well I put the website together, so occasionally I get to indulge!
This is my hot new band with Doug Owen (vocals, guitar), Sean Hanrahan (lead guitar), Martin Myles (drums) and myself on electric upright bass.
Come early for dinner and stay for the show. $10 cover.
Bridge Hotel, 21 Walker St Castlemaine (near the botanic gardens)
Present: June Smith, Stephen O’Connor, Roni Nettleton, Claire Collie and Benoit Oury, Adele Cammeraat and Kerrie Moore, Terry Willaims, Cheryl and George Teng, Ross Sartori, John Ross, Greg Pridmore, Steve Catterall, Cathy Westcott, Leslie McGilvray, Mary Grant, Alan Straub, Steph … Continue reading
Facebook groups for bushfire information sharing:
Castlemaine:
http://www.facebook.com/groups/504594886306492/
Daylesford:
http://www.facebook.com/groups/286331024825528/
It’s on again from 24th to 27th January at various venues around Newstead.
See http://www.newsteadlive.com/
Tickets: Weekend $95 ($90 on line). Children under 13 free.
Youth under 18 $20 if accompanied by an adult .. buy at the festival.
Day ticket Sat, Sun $50…buy at the festival
Day ticket Monday, evening ticket Fri, Sat, Sun, $30..buy at the festival.
See this page for transfer station opening hours and fees: http://www.hepburn.vic.gov.au/page/Page.asp?Page_Id=170&h=1
Note that the following items are recycled free of charge:
Get picked up from anywhere (where possible) along the route (Yandoit/Franklinford/Clydesdale) in or out of Daylesford. The bus leaves Daylesford after 9am and returns at 10.30am. It leaves Daylesford at 1pm and returns before 2.30pm.
Bookings are ESSENTIAL – call 1300 44 35 34 before NOON the day before.
Child seats (0-7 years) and a hoist are available on request.
