Cycling/walking tracks
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(This is a sticky post, please find current news items below) By Jill Marie Sanders in B&B |
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08.11.09 The sheep are still having fun in some parts of the trails but are doing a wonderful job of keeping the trash/grasses off. they are responible for scattering a few small pebbles/gibbers on it tho. I wish they would lift their feet when using the trails................
. with the wonderful spring rains its been a challenge to keep grass off of someparts of the trails. I can only hope that with more use they will stay bare.
The signage is all done.......... only those shelters and they are in the plan for after harvest jobs.
02.07.09 Did someone mention sheep?
they have been very nosey.... A few have taken a liking to pulling off the distance stickers from the markers and playing with the marker dropper pushing them over to crazy angles.
The little Sticky Beak markers go out tomorrow too, marking particular plants, soil types and other features along the tracks. I hope some silly woollies will leave them alone!
09.06.09 The tracks are ready and waiting for eager adventurers to expend some energy! They are sign posted along the trails and we have maps available at the trail head. Of course not every thing is totally finished but atleast you get a good work out! The shelters are still on the 'to do' list but its got to be getting closer to the big day. We still need to get appropriate sign posting done too from the roads and at the farm gate.
New!! 15.02.09
We are in the process of building cycling and walking trails. While they are mostly ready for use immediately, they might not yet be of the standard expected yet. They are due to be finished at the end of May for the Fat Tyre Festival in and around Melrose on the long week end in June 2009. We do have a couple of bikes here for your use.
Feel free to try them out and give us your feed back. We do plan on opening them up for the public for a gold coin donation and also have maps avail so you can find your way around easily. Guests of course, ride/walk for free as it is part of the Farm Stay product for our B&B.
Bring your own horses and we will provide a yard/enclosure for them. At this point there is no real stable but the garage at the cottage can be used until such time we do have better stabling for over night horses, if the demand is there. There is also plenty of sheep yards about with out barbed wire.
Picnic hamper back packs or baskets will be avail for cyclists or walkers for along the trails. There will be 2 shelters erected that will offer wonderful views of the countryside. For that extra special lunch etc we will do our best to go that extra mile to make your day complete. Or a moonlight stroll and supper under the stars. Tell us what you want. Again, bookings should be made in advance to ensure the best we can provide. We have only a small functional shopping center near by. The next is over 40 km away.
Mountains of Memory
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Saturday, 16 August 08 - 06:44 AM (GMT) By Jill Marie Sanders in Local Geology |
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During May both Gordon and I were able to take part in two operators training sessions to help us understand why our land forms are what they are.
It was fascinating stuff, even for people;e like me who thought they had no interest what so ever in it.
The two day training at Melrose concentrated on Hancock's Look out, the Survey Rd and Pt Germein Gorge. Most of us local race thru the gorge on the way to and fro from Pt.Pirie, not taking much notice of anything else but the number or roos we have to dodge. Now I go thru with 'new eyes' looking for the original sea bed ripple rocks, looking at the strata layers we were shown that have stromatolites, and then even older than that, the tillites that contain glacial rocks etc that glaciers dropped whilst melting on their way north left and have become in bedded in some of the oldest rocks on earth. There was also evidence of mud cracks indicating that the sediment that was exposed to air had dried out
During the Quorn training we were shown what to look for along the road from Quorn to Pt Augusta. We investigated to Saltia ruins and again took into account the rock strata and its ages, and more mud cracked sediment slabs.
Our leaders from Flinders Uni and the Adelaide Museum gave us a better insight into what the local Aborigines used as bush tucker and also some of the more notable birds to identify.
I have a paper copy set and PC disc's in the cottage from those two training sessions and also for both the Oraparinna and Blinman days.
The term Mountains of Memory have come about with the new tourism branding strategy for the total length of the Flinders Ranges, and offers the tourist with time so much more than a quick drive by.
The new geological time scale 'Ediacaran period' is the first time an international geological period is named after an Australian locality (Reg Sprigg from Arkaroola found fossils of this time some years ago
Farm news
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Saturday, 16 August 08 - 06:06 AM (GMT) By Jill Marie Sanders in General |
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08.11.09
Summer is on its way along with all the busy roads chocked up with big trucks, dirt roads made dustier and rougher....... Be aware that the big rigs on the road dont leave much comfort room on our arterial roads..... these roads are often a bit narrow with high shoulders if you' fall off' you might have to stay there and get back on the road slowly. Please be safe
Harvest for us is soon to crank up altho our header (harvesting machine) is still in the shed awaiting its pre harvest check up. Currently we are trying to finish baling hay and get it carted. Early mornings for both jobs.... the lovely normal pattern type of spring rains mean we all get a harvest of some kind. Some get a real wonderful one while others are still happy with what they get. Its a lot better than we thought we might get at mid August. It was very depressing with no rain in sight, hot days for that time of year and a very long dry spell when it should have been raining......and the spring forecast dismal. Once it started to rain all fell into place, including smiling faces.
Our sheep feed supply is good but we havent been able to source appropriate stock for the feed lot so its been handy in the way we dont have to deal with them over the next months during harvest. with such feed, we can hope for a good seed set and early start to next years growing season with out having to sow, and let the pastures regenerate by themselves. This will give the natural native grasses a boost.
2 July 2009
Hi Everyone.
The Flinders Ranges is a wonderful place right now. Its mostly green. All the farmers will tell you there is more money to be made from mud than dust. Lets hope it does carry on all thru the spring months too rather than the Met. threatening us all with another extremely dry spell.
All the crops are up, the sheep are looking good and the country side is in good health. We are currently shearing most mornings now and will be for a few weeks, (only 15-20 a day!!) so you should be able so see some sort of action. Even if you are passing thru and not intending to stay here, why not drop in and see if Gordon is shearing. Part of the process of selling lambs to the trade market is, they only require a minimum amount of wool on them (3-4 weeks worth). Right now the push is on to keep shearing so we have about 50 to fill the trailer with every Tuesday for the trip down to the Livestock Market at Dublin.
The soil must still be warm too as I have picked quite a few mushrooms in the last weeks. Many of the along the cycle trails too... so next year, bring your bucket and little knife and come for a walk!
9 June 2009
Hi Folks
We have had rain. ... you know that wet stuff that leaks out of clouds...
Its been very dry here for the most part this year. Most of the crops are in and most up, but just at this point of time a tractor and his air seeder are stranded out in the paddock. No one seems up set by this as it means its wet and boggy.. We will get them back in and maybe one more paddock sown when the opportunity arises.
I have picked only a few mushrooms but they were tasty.
The lambs in the feed lot are growing well and those out in the paddocks are also looking good. Some of those in the smaller yards have had to be moved as it was getting rather yucky and uncomfortable for them. Like the rest of us they don't like wet beds or smelly muddy conditions.
The cycle /walking tracks are open and ready to go. Sure a few finishing touches, but they are now ridable and we have maps etc so you dint get lost.
At this point we are not charging the public for their use as we have no idea just how popular they might or might no be.! The shelter sheds are still to come. I will be offering gourmet picnic baskets or morning/afternoon baskets delivered to the designated shelter when they are up and furnished with their table and chairs.
23.03.09
Hello again
We had some severe hail/rain and wind in the last 2 weeks. We really coped a down poor here and made a bit of a mess on the drive way and also the gardens. Some of the gravel has been moved a considerable distance.
The cycle trails all have green edges and so does much of the area around, even in some of the paddocks.
The only things really waiting for the trails is some styles so you don't have to lift over a fence and sign posting, but even then its not hard to find your way around.
Its hoped they will be an asset as many guests like to go for walks and they are not comfortable walking at random thru paddocks.
There are a few lambs growing in the containment yards now too. We are making our weekly excursions down to the Dublin livestock exchange too. Take a few heavy ones down and bring more skinny light weight ones home!
March 09......... Hi Every one,
While the nights have been cold and the days often misty, there is something going on thats almost new here. Go for a walk in the morning and the boots get wet! There is actually green grass out there and altho we expect it every year, its been some time since we have experienced such a once common delight.
Over the last few months we have noticed with much wonder and amusement that out once barren lamb feed lot is now a lush 'green lot'. There are not the numbers of lambs in it that there was, and the few we have cant keep it down! When we buy some skinny or very light weight lambs to fatten and turn over back into the fat lamb market, it takes a couple of weeks for their 'gut' to settle down and for the lambs to accumulate enough gut bio-Flora to break down green grass. Mostly these lambs had been on sticky /hard type herbage. As on can imagine, the sudden change of diet does play havoc with their digestive system and many have tummy upsets.
Most weeks there are a few days shearing, with Gordon doing it himself in the cooler mornings, while waiting for more friendly weather to do some out side work. the sheep get used to running in and out of the shed after a few days. We shed them at night for a few nights to help them over come the loss of their woolly coats.
We have also been planting a few salt bush and other shelter type shrubs and a few trees in the lane ways between each feed lot yard. We are hoping that this will provide cold and hot wind protection for the lambs and the soils. Obviously shade trees are high on the list too.
Rain only 22km north of here has been rather dismal with the Willowie blocks receiving only half of what we have had. Consequently crops and feed is close to failure again, for maybe the 7th year in a row.
15/02/09
Hi Folks
The farming year turned into a dismal failure again with the crops not finishing on the potential they promised. Sept. saw the drought really hit home and by the end of October there was only poor crops left. Sure there was often lots of heads and straw, but the heads of the grains were mostly empty or only quarter filled. - most with inferior quality as the plants died before they finished forming and ripening the seed. It didn't gladden the heart to see yet another drought on the score board.
Our rain water tanks would be completely empty if we didn't get a good rain in Dec. While many of us had finished harvest, there were a few about the area who lost what harvest they didn't get in before the rain. The excessively heavy rain ruined the grain causing significant down grading in quality and price. We have a large bunker of farm stored feed barley down at the gate under lots of black plastic and tyres. It will be sold off during the year for a better price than what was offered during harvest. It's only feed quality but worth more than the prices that were offered at the time.
The feedlot has only a few lambs/sheep in it as the prices to buy in are too high to make the effort of fattening up these same lambs to large ones profitable. Instead we have been busy doing some productive work building a cycling track. We secured some grant monies for it and its been fun to do. Currently we are half way done, flattening out the track, and getting it ready for extra surfacing and signage etc. There are still stiles and extra gates to make but we are getting there. These cycling/walking/horse riding trails are expected to be finished and ready for full use by the end of May, but we encourage any one to use what has been done so far to gain extra feedback. Something like 5 km done so far, with about 3 km more to go. We hope it will not be too hard for families with children to ride, but some of the hills will be challenging for the under 10s. They are easy to walk tho.
The cottage has not enjoyed much use over the hot period and I have discouraged it due to the low level of rain water we have. I do however miss the guests.!
16/08/08
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