It has been almost 12 months since we first
saw the property that we would buy and name Honeydale. It was a cool May day when we first inspected
the property and walked to the rear fence line then continued on to the Brisbane
Valley Rail Trial. We returned a week
later for a second inspection after which we put in an offer that was accepted
after a few days.
After taking procession of the property the
hard work started. The immediate work
was cleaning up the area around the shed and home pad. We dragged all sorts of items to a central
point then loaded them onto the ute and dumped then at the local council
tip. The chainsaw was used to cut up
dead falls and the wood was put into some wash-a-ways to stabilise the
ground.
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| Front of Block, May 2017 |
The biggest effort has gone into removing lantana. This pervasive weed overwhelms the native
vegetation and eventually killing it.
The most effective method is to pull the lantana out by the roots by
hand, or with the tractor. After the
lantana has been removed the bush becomes much more open allowing freer
movement for the wild life.
 |
| Front Quarter, May 2017 |
After cleaning up the deadfalls and
removing the lantana we have planted natives including Brisbane Valley Wattle
and grevilleas, both native to the area.
Most have thrived and have double or trebled in size and are doing well.
 |
| View South of Shed, May 2017 |
The pretty faced wallabies are starting to
return with the drier weather but unfortunately the koalas have gone into
winter mode. With the cooler and drier
weather koalas become more sedentary and are harder to spot, also they tend to
stay much deeper into the bush.
 |
| Bernie Koala resting near the shed, April 2017 |
The remnants of Cyclone Debbie passed over
Honeydale about a month ago but the area is starting to dry out, the grass is definitely
browner along with the unwatered portion of the garden.
Later this month we will be ripping what is
left of the garden and preparing beds for our winter plantings including
garlic, potatoes, cabbages, cauliflowers, egg plants, broad beans and lots more. We had some good successes with our garden,
but we also had failures. However, we
have learnt a lot along the way and installing the bore pump and reticulation
has made the garden more productive.
