January 2012 has started warmly without any worthwhile rain to cool the air, so the Family have been kept busy irrigating and weeding their vegetable crops. It was also the week when the ducks and geese had to be trained to walk to the dam to forage and swim. Shortly after Christmas three geese and four mature Muscovy female ducks were added to the waterfowl flock. Firstly I showed the boys how to escort the three geese to the dam and then returned for the ducks. The young ducklings were fat and lazy never having been outside the safety of their pen for exercise and needed frequent spelling, while they panted for breath. That evening the boys were required to enter the water behind the ducks and geese to show them the way out and then home. After two days of this all these waterfowl were accustomed to the routine and I could leave the boys to manage them morning and evening. The young ducklings quickly became stronger due to the daily exercise.

Geese and ducks

The father purchased four bull calves from dairy farmers for his children to rear. Such bucket reared calves are called Poddy calves in Australia. I believe the reason is that they frequently become pod bellied if their supplementary feed is not as nutritious as cow’s milk, or if they are underfed, much in the way we sometimes sadly see malnourished children in African famine situations. The father has temporarily created a shady compound for these calves by using an electric fence to restrain them.

Poddy calves

Another two poddy calves

With so many animals now requiring watering the father suggested moving a tank on the hillside, which I had originally used for gravity feeding irrigation water to our garden, and which had become superfluous when we began using the solar system, down closer to the animal pens.

Hill tank

After some discussion we hit on the idea of putting it under a down pipe on our machinery shed, where rainwater falling on the shed roof had previously been dispersed onto the grass. Next the father purchased twelve old railway sleepers, which he now intends to backfill with river sand, to serve as a tank stand. With this tank only being used for animal water it will also be possible to fill it using the solar pump to bring water from the dam if there is insufficient rainfall.

Tank stand

With crops starting to come in the mother has begun pickling. This week she made dill pickles with cucumbers picked from amongst the pink flamingos.

Cucumber vines

I made Basil Pesto using this recipe which was given to me by Barbara Buchanan.

Barbara’s Basil Pesto.

• 1 ½ cups basil leaves
• ¼ cup pine nuts
• 2 garlic cloves
• ¾ cup shredded Parmesan cheese
• 5 tablespoons of Olive oil.

Blend together the basil leaves, toasted pine nuts, garlic and Parmesan cheese until finely chopped. Add the oil slowly until well combined. This pesto may be served in many ways, but we like to mix it with pasta and serve with a green salad. Excess pesto may be frozen for later use.

Basil and Dill plants

I pulled beetroot which I cooked and made up in a mould as Jellied Beetroot. See my recipe from 30^th January, 2009 when I wrote a post on An Abundance of Beetroot.

GREEN GARDEN 11

Filed Under (Self-sufficiency) by Fay Helwig on 30-01-2009

Carrots and Beetroot

Another easy salad may be prepared by grating carrots into a bowl, adding the juice of an orange for a dressing and then sprinkling the contents of the bowl with dried currants. I had planted the outer rings of this raised garden with carrot and beetroot seed in October. In November I planted the centre space with more carrot seed. In December I planted more beetroot, carrots and radishes (to mark the rows of carrots) in the section of the Remembrance Field near the house garden fence. I pulled the first radishes this morning. Thus with spaced carrot crops we will be able to have sufficient carrots to eat during the summer and autumn months, and should be able to store more for winter use.

Tomatoes, beetroot, carrots and radishes

The pumpkin and melon crops in the centre of the Remembrance Field are thriving and we should be able to enjoy melons by Easter, with plenty of pumpkins to store for the winter months.

Pumpkin and melon crops

Apart from the sweet corn crop planted in November, which is now beginning to flower, the family are also tending a larger crop of sweet corn which they planted in November and December.

Raspberries and sweet corn

Sweet corn crop

Flowers are adding colour to my summer garden. These blue agapanthus create an attractive feature as they ring our front driveway.

Blue agapanthus

Wildflowers, wilderness and wine

If you wish to read more about how Eberhard and I established Das Helwig Haus as a Bed and Breakfast home and began the creation of this remarkable garden you can order the book Wildflowers, Wilderness and Wine on http://lulu.com/spotlight/striclyliterary or download a PDF for speedier reading.

We have now passed the mid summer solstice which means that from this moment forward our summer days will offer less hours of sunlight, but here on the Granite Belt of southern Queensland we are only just entering the growing phase of our summer. In Australia December is officially the first month of summer, following the spring months of September, October and November. However, due to our altitude we can continue with winter frosts well into October, which means that I seldom plant any frost tender plants before that month.

Prior to leaving for a holiday in Hong Kong in October I planted the first vegetables and because we did not get a late frost we are now picking yellow butter beans, zucchini, cucumbers and cherry tomatoes.

Strawberries

We have also been harvesting strawberries from this bed on the lower terrace of our rear garden since the beginning of November.

By the time I returned from holiday I was able to transplant other seedling plants.

This year we are growing a huge vegetable garden. Why do I now need a huge garden? Who will do all the work? Who will eat all the vegetables or undertake the processing and preserving?

My life is undergoing a change that I believe is an answer to prayer in that it will allow me to live a lifestyle that I enjoy in my own home for many more years.

So today I am sharing with my readers our solution to the problems associated with growing older.

Those of you who have read my posts on http://fayhelwigauthor.com where I published THE FORGOTTEN ONES the story of my husband’s early years in Germany, will have read about how he spent three years as a young child with the Bruderhof. This Christian community was established in Germany in 1920 by Eberhard Arnold.

During the past decade the Bruderhof purchased a large cattle property near Inverell in New South Wales, only about two hours driving time from where we live here on the Granite Belt and we quickly established an ongoing friendship which was mutually beneficial. For instance, they have a factory on the property where they manufacture distinctive signs. Check out www.danthonia.com Our Das Helwig Haus sign was designed and constructed in the Danthonia workshop.

My husband, Eberhard, has been in poor health for some time and when I wanted to leave him for a couple of weeks in October to visit Hong Kong, the Danthonia Bruderhof sent a young man to act as his companion and nurse in my absence. They also realized that we are without any close family assistance and at the age of seventy-one I was struggling to cope with Eberhard’s care, this large home, garden and farm property. We reached a wonderful solution. During the early years of the Bruderhof in Germany the community established a home for children in need, which was where Eberhard and his brothers lived for three years. Now the  Church Communities International - Bruderhof are recognizing that throughout the world it is the elderly who need assistance and are sending out community members to enable people in Germany, Ireland, the USA and Australia to remain in their own homes.

For reasons of privacy, I will not be including any photos of The Family that the Danthonia Bruderhof sent to live with us as co-workers. I will be showing you the results of our combined efforts.

I think of our partnership in terms of share farming. We have the land, the house, the water etcetera and they are providing the youthful labour.

I began life as a child in a three generational family where my elderly Gran lived with my parents. This grandmother taught me many skills like how to set out garden seedlings, cut kindling for our fires and to pluck feathers from the rooster intended for our Sunday lunch. Now at the opposite end of the spectrum I have the opportunity to live as a Gran with this family and pass on my lifestyle skills.

The Family, as I will call them, have three useful young sons and a teenage daughter. This daughter, like me in my youth, is happy to muck in with the heavy outdoor work or turn her attention to more creative pursuits within the house. One of the first jobs the family undertook was to turn over the compost in my big bins and empty one of these bins by spreading the well rotted garden waste over the upper terrace of my rear vegetable garden. A year ago I had purchased a punnet of Asian vegetables which I grew in one of my raised garden beds. I had far too much Mizuna, which is a variety of Japanese mustard. Google Mizuna and you will discover that it is a recently popular salad leaf, which is frequently paired with julienned Daikon, a giant white radish, for a fresh tasting salad. It can also be used in soups, stir fries or as a garnish. When my Mizuma plants ran to seed I pulled them out and threw them in my compost bin.

Well The Family spread the compost near my currant bushes and I transplanted Rosella seedlings into the compost. To my amazement a great many Mizuna seedlings then sprouted in the compost. I decided to leave them as a ground cover until the Rosellas grew into bushes.

Mizuna plants

Now to my delight I have discovered another use for an abundance of Mizuna. Don’t laugh – they are not being eaten by a flock of pink Flamingoes which also seem to have landed in my garden. No they are proving useful as duck food!

Mizuna and Rosella plants

In true hobby farmer style The Family decided to purchase Muscovy ducklings. Having previously had a flock of eighty Muscovies here in the days when we served roast duck dinners to our Bed and Breakfast guests, I welcomed the move to once more utilize our duck pens.

I now pull out the Mizuna plants from around the small Rosella bushes and feed them to the young ducks.

Mizuna and ducklings

Below is another photo showing Mizuna, four rosella plants and the climbing beans which are just about to run up the lattice on the veranda. As you can see, there will be plenty of green feed for the ducklings.

Mizuna, rosellas and climbing beans

The Family also planted a crop of sweet corn beside the raspberries.

Raspberries & sweet corn

This year we have not had quite as much rain as by this date in 2010, but with our dams filled and the river flowing we do not lack for water. Due to the big rains during the previous spring, summer and autumn months across much of Australia our country is still moist and covered in green grass. This has had the effect of giving us a cool start to the summer of 2011/2012 as there are no hot winds blowing across dry inland deserts. Brisbane, our Queensland State capital recently recorded its coldest December day since 1888. So much for global warming! Here we shivered until The Family suggested we light our stoves to heat our house!

Now, on Christmas Eve 2011, Eberhard joins with me in wishing all our family and friends a blessed Christmas Day. May your hearts be filled with joy and peace as we prepare for 2012.

Wildflowers, wilderness and wine

I devoted the Spring months to writing posts concerning our Remembrance Field of red Flanders poppies which reached their peak for 11th November.  During the past week poppy seed has been harvested, the dry poppy plants were slashed, the field was spread with feedlot manure as an organic fertilizer and then cultivated. Today we are enjoying rain to soak the soil of the field and later this month we will plant it with vegetable crops. I will show photos of these steps and further progress in a later post. Today I will put up a post about rosellas. This bushy plant can only be grown here during our warmer months and the fruit is much prized for jam making. I presently have about 20 rosella plants in our rear garden which I set out during November.  I took a two week break during October and went to visit with a son and his family in Hong Kong, where the it was then the autumn season. This family live in a highrise apartment at Kowloon.

Kowloon apartment block

This was not the first time I had stayed here and looked down from high above onto a community vegetable garden. I had requested entry to the garden on a previous visit, but been turned away. It was a private garden for Kowloon residents I was told.

Kowloon community garden

When I returned this year, I chose to walk along the side where a fence separated these small garden plots from a busy street – on the side where the purple flowering vine sprawls over the fence.

Fence flowers

My attention was immediately caught by the sight of two different types of rosella bushes growing in several of the garden plots.

Dark rosella

Rosellas are a form of hibiscus and you will note a small flower near the top of this bush. After the flower drops off the fleshy calyx will continue to grow around the seed pod. It is the soft sepals of this calyx that are prized for jam making in Australia,  for drying as a red tea in Arab countries or for creating a cordial in Asian countries. The plant above is a similar variety to the one I grow here on the Granite Belt.

Bright red rosellas

I had never previously seen the rosella variety with the bright red calyxs. I then found that rosellas had just arrived in the fruit stalls of the market streets near where I was staying.

Market stall

I had to wait to take this photo as people were thronging around the scales where quantities of rosellas were weighed out. I needed these shoppersto move out of the way to allow me to focus my camera on the fruit.

Rosellas for sale

These were the dark rosella with which I was familiar.

Rosella fruits

After watching others buying these fruits I held out 20 Hong Kong dollars, worth about 3 Australian dollars and received 2kg of rosellas. I took these back to my daughter-in-law and together we worked to pull the sepals off the seed pods, which gave us a measure of 3 cups. I placed these in a pot with about 3 cups of water and simmered until reduced again in volume to 3 cups. I added 3 cups of white sugar and boiled briskly until the mixture started to jell. As these fruits are high in pectin this only took a short while. The result – fresh rosella jam on the breakfast table.

Wildflowers, wilderness and wine

Recipes for jams, pickles and preserves made with produce from my own garden are included in my book Wildflowers, wilderness and wine which is available on http://www.australia_book.com.au or from http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/strictlyliterary

In my last post I told my readers how I had discovered SAP – Super Absorbent Polymer, or as it is more commonly known Water Absorbent Crystals which, when water is added, form a gel to retain moisture in the soil in dry periods or to prevent compaction of soil in boggy conditions.  It is true to my nature that when I discover something useful I like to share my good fortune. Thus I obtained a tonne of this product, packaged it into 100g boxes and now take it to markets each weekend where I also promote my book Wildflowers, wilderness and wine.

The purpose of these An Abundance of SAP posts is to tell my readers, especially gardeners and farmers, how I have used SAP in my garden. In my first post I included a photo showing how I had planted out Iris roots in the spring.

Planting Iris

This morning on a cool and rainy autumn day I have photographed these flourishing iris plants to show how well they have grown. We experienced a wonderful mild spring with regular rainfall and then floods in January. After the floods we suffered seven cruel weeks of hot dry days.  My petrol powered pump had been immersed in flood water and during the heatwave which followed the flood and I could not irrigate my garden.

Flooded farm dam

It was only after I was able to have my new solar powered pump installed beside the dam that I was again able to water my garden.

Solar powered pump

I then found I had to contend with low pressure as my previous garden irrigation system was set up for high pressure. An Australian born, mature-aged wwoofer, Rex van Huesen, not only set up the solar pump for me, he then adapted my whole garden irrigation process. This took awhile to accomplish, but all areas of my garden to which I had added SAP held up remarkably well to the flood conditions and then a period of severe drought. Thus I could go out this rainy, March morning and photograph my healthy bed of iris.

Thriving Iris

During early February I had prepared a patch of my garden for the last planting of zucchini and cucumber seeds. After cultivating the soil I had sprinkled dry SAP crystals across the top and once more turned over the soil. Then using precious water from my rainwater tanks I had soaked the soil. Next I planted the seed which promptly germinated.

Prepared soil

By the 1oth March this garden was doing well.

Vegetable garden

Yesterday, 17th March, the cucumbers are flourishing, spreading their vines across the bare ground and flowering profusely. Yesterday I picked the first of the zucchinis. Soon I will have an abundance of zucchinis and cucumbers and will have to begin pickling the surplus.

Zucchinis

Apart from a few root vegetables, peas and lettuce, I don’t grow many vegetables during the winter months. Instead I utilize all the summer vegetables I have frozen like sweet corn, beans and prepared ratatouille and the potatoes, sweet potatoes and pumpkins I have in storage. What I do grow during the winter months are flower plants that will bloom in the spring.

March is the month that I must begin planting the seed of some of these annuals and perennials. Because I have a huge garden it is economical for me to save much of my own seed and to establish beds to grow my seedlings. This year I asked Rex to remove all the spent strawberry plants from one of my recycled tank-ring, raised garden beds. Adopting the same process as with the zucchini and cucumber garden, I sprinkled dry SAP over the soil of this bed, raked it in and watered it thoroughly.

After the seed was planted I had one more task to complete. I needed to cover this garden in a way that would still allow enough light and warmth for seed germination but keep my pets, Trixie the Jack Russell terrier and Patches the cat, from leaping onto this garden to dig holes in the soft soil. I accomplished this by covering the bed with bird netting.

Bird netting over seedlings

The seeds I’ve planted included foxgloves, lupins, Pacific Giant delphiniums, aquilegias – all of which need a lengthy growing period – and vegetable seeds of lettuce and spinach under this protective cover. The soil in any potplant or a raised garden bed like this in a corrugated iron tank, will rapidly dry out. But, with the addition of SAP to the soil this garden will retain moisture for a lengthy period.

I will be attending the market on the platform of the old railway station at Wallangarra, which is situated on the Queensland/New South Wales border tomorrow, Sunday 20th March. This market is held the third Sunday of every month. If you are in the district, come and talk to me.

Wallangarra Railway Station

I wrote several posts about the Markets of the Granite Belt including the Wallangarra Market – see my post of 22-08-2010 on http://fayhelwig.com

I have also finished writing and illustrating the story of my husband’s first 24 years, beginning in 1926 to and ending in 1950, when he immigrated to Australia on http://fayhelwigauthor.com This free book is called The Forgotten Ones.

Wildflowers, wilderness and wine

Australian readers may obtain my book Wildflowers, wilderness and wine on http://www.australia-book.com.au Overseas readers may obtain this book print on demand or download it as a PDF from http://stores.lulu.com/strictlyliterary

My readers know that I am SAP – as Self-sufficient As Possible. I have also discovered a product, which I have now been using in my organic garden for three years, that is also called SAP – Super Absorbent Polymer. During March I am going to introduce my readers to this product.

The soil of the Granite Belt is decomposed granite. It is granular like sand and porous. The vegetable farmers are obliged to irrigate their fields every third day. I have struggled with this thirsty soil for over 18 years trying to change the texture by incorporating humus to retain moisture and covering with  mulches to prevent evaporation. While these methods work, they require constant maintenance as this decomposed granite is hungry soil which rapidly breaks down the added nutrients. They then form a powder like texture, which acting in the manner of talcum powder prevents water penetration. When we get steady sprinkling rain for a day before a down pour this light topping will gradually become wet and act as a sponge, but if we get storm rain on dry ground the water will only run off. The question in my mind became, “How can I keep my soil moist without watering it every day?”

I am a seeker of knowledge, so I researched the shelves of the hardware stores that stocked garden products. My first discovery was Searles Water Crystals.

Water crystals

I began using these crystals extensively within my garden and found them useful. Because they were costly, my next step was to investigate the cost of buying the product in a bulk form.

I approached Landmark one of the suppliers of many items used by farmers and they were able to obtain for me a 25kg bag of water crystals. The price, as of last week, for another bag was quoted as $308.00

Earthcare crystals

The instructions with both these products was to add 1 teaspoon or 5g of the crystals to 1 litre of wate. Thus 8 teaspoons of crystals were sufficient when added to an 8 litre bucket of water to transform this into 8 litres of gel.

Bucket of water gel

I then began experiementing with these crystals in a variety of ways and researching further information about their use in the USA and China.

I suggest that my readers investigate SAP – Super Absorbent Polymer by checking out the site below. It is a non-toxic product which has many uses in our modern society, including soaking up the urine in baby diapers, or the blood in the base of packaged meats.

1. China Sap, Super Absorbent Polymer, Sodium Poly Acrylate, Crystal …

   Sap, Super Absorbent Polymer, Sodium Poly Acrylate, Crystal Soil – China … soil conditioners based on water soluble anionic polyacrylamide (APAM). …www.made-in-china.com/showroom/…list/Polymer-Resin-1.html

Primarily my use of these crystals when added to water has been in my garden. When planting out seedlings I will firstly scoop out a small hole, add a dollop of wet gel and then plant my seedling adding more gel to cover the roots, before adding soil and wetting down the seedling. This ensures that the roots of my seedlings never become dry and do not suffer much transplanting shock.  The roots can take any needed moisture from the gel until they spread out further into the soil.

This photo showing how I have broken up and planted out Iris demonstrates the process on a larger scale.

Iris

Firstly I cleared the hay mulch from the ground I wished to plant with Iris and lifted a layer of topsoil into the blue wheelbarrow. The wet gel was sprinkled over the bare ground. The rooted Iris pieces were positioned across the gel. Iris should not be planted deeply. The soil in the barrow was lightly replaced to cover the gel and finally the hay mulch was replaced over this soil. The Iris thrived.

When I decided to promote my book Wildflowers, wilderness and wine by taking a stall at the Granite Belt markets I knew I would need more than my book to fill the table. I hit on the idea of promoting my self-sufficiency way of life by taking cut flowers, jams made with my own fruit, recycled candles and potted seedlings. I added the water soluble gel to my potting mix.

Lettuce seedlings

As always when I work in the garden my cat, Patches, keeps me company.

These seedlings sold extremely well at the markets.

Market seedlings

The logical next step was to consider how I could supply my customers, many of them home gardeners, not only with seedlings but SAP – Super Absorbent Polymer at a price and in a quantity that they could readily afford. One of my sons lives in Hong Kong and it was he who helped me arrange the printing of Wildflowers, wilderness and wine in China after it was published in the USA, but not in Australia. I turned to him for advice.

“Mum, you need to become an entrepreneur. The factories only sell in one tonne quantities. You will need to buy a tonne and have it shipped to Australia. You will need to warehouse the SAP which will arrive in 20kg bags and you will need to package it into smaller quantities for your buyers.”

I agreed to import the SAP and then retail it in 100g boxes at the markets. My son also obtained the packaging for me.

Empty Box

The empty boxes arrived with the shipment of 20kg bags.

A tonne of SAP arrives

Next it fell to my Wwoofers to unload the bags for storage in our farm shed and then to repackage the SAP into the 100g boxes.

Boxes filled with SAP

I checked the prices of this product in the large hardware stores of Toowoomba and found that they were selling SAP under different brand names at $8-$10 per 100g. I offer my market patrons 100g for $4.00.

Next week I will write more on the subject of SAP and how to use it. Meanwhile if I have aroused your interest and you have questions you want answered you have two options. You may ask a question in the comment section or you may send me an email at helwig@halenet.com.au

In my next post I will also tell you how you can obtain SAP directly from me if you wish to use it in Australian gardens.

Australia is a land of droughts and flooding rains – a land of extremes. A land that gives abundantly of sunlight or rain, but seldom is the weather moderate. It is a harsh land that refused to be tamed by European settlers. The indigenous people did alter it over many centuries from rain forest to open forest with their use of fire, but that evolution was probably accidental caused by burning off country for hunting purposes. They lived with the land never attempting any form agriculture. It has always been a matter of interest to me that every third year several different tribal groups came from all points of the compass to gather at the Bunya Mountains at this time of year to harvest the nuts of the Bunya Pine cones. The town of Jondaryan took its name from Aboriginal words meaning the last big waterhole on the trek to the mountains. I attended the Yamsion primary school which apparently was sited on a good place for digging yam roots and my parents built a home on Black’s Camp Hill. Because of a fear of spirits in the mountains the tribal people descended down as far as this hill to sleep each night.

The early settlers tried to transplant the ways of Europe onto this continent. It, of course, ignored them and continued to bring the floods and droughts as in previous time. They tried to tame the land with fences, roads, railways and placed dams on the river, all to no avail as they could not change the climate. The land is not separate from its climate. Rather the oceans that send currents swirling around our shores, causing condensation to form and precipitation to fall are all linked in a chaotic pattern that modern man and his computer models are dimly beginning to understand.

Therefore, I believe it is essential that Australians learn to live with their land because they can not change the vagaries of the climate. One way we can do this is to utilize our abundance of sunlight to generate solar power.

Flooded farm dam

Five weeks ago we were experiencing the largest flood across our land since 1974, although I am told the flood did not reach the height of that year. A number of tropical cyclones have swept across northern Australia and down the West Australian coast this summer, while a rain depression after Tropical Cyclone Yasi moved down through central Australia and brought floods to Victoria, here in this small region we have experienced five hot and dry weeks. The rainfall map below shows the path taken by Yasi and our dry position is marked by the white patch.

Rainfall map

Not only were our weeks dry, but the days were scorchers! The grass grew madly sucking all the moisture from the soil. The native eucalyptus trees adapted by shedding bark and dropping leaves while the introduced trees showed stress in other ways.

Dry pine needles

For over a year I have planned to replace my petrol powered garden irrigation system with a solar powered pump. I read recently that Australians are rapidly embracing solar power.

John Grimes, in Climate Spectator, wrote:

You wouldn’t know it from reading the papers, but the Australian solar industry has been one of the few success stories of clean energy in Australia.

There are now around 20,000 Australians employed in the solar industry, ranging from electricians and engineers to scientists and researchers, to salespeople and tradespeople.  The Australian solar industry is a billion dollar industry, poised to take advantage of the global and regional shift to a low-carbon economy.

How did this happen? Australian families took action. Backed by state and federal government incentives, Australian families made the conscious decision to make long-term investments in solar panels and solar hot water systems – and they did this in record numbers, even though positive returns on those investments are years away.

Some 175,000 Australian homes installed solar panels in 2010, a tenfold increase on 2008. Australia installed more solar power last year than in all other years combined, and Australian solar rooftops combined are now equivalent to a power station with more than 510 megawatts of zero pollution power.
www.climatespectator.com.au/

A positive return on a solar installation may take many years to recoup.

The cost of fuel in the form of petrol, diesel or electricity it rising. Electricity was never feasible on our farm, so I have used both petrol and diesel powered motors to pump water to my garden. Not only are the cost of fuels rising, but the maintenance of these motors has become too onerous for me to continue. By outlaying money now to install a solar pump I am experiencing short term pain for long term gain. I believe I need at least five years to average the cost of this equipment against the cost of the existing petrol driven engine. Therefore the only immediate benefit to me will hopefully be less physical work. Yet this has to be proven, as the solar pump delivers water to my garden at a lower pressure than the former petrol powered motor, which means I can no longer expect portion of my existing garden irrigation system to function efficiently.

It was one thing to make a decision to purchase a solar powered pump and another thing to get it installed. It was delivered in December. But who could I get to install it other than an expensive tradesman? The solution appeared on the WWOOF Bulletin Board where Rex van Heusen offered his services. He explained that he was an older person who wished to travel and work his way around Australia as a wwoofer. I replied to his offer on the Bulletin Board and Rex arrived here on Tuesday of last week. In Rex I have gained a wwoofer with exceptional experience. He even presented me with a business card.

Skills

I wasted no time in presenting Rex with the packaged parts of the new solar system and showing him where I wanted it installed.

Rex takes a level

Trixie and Patches accompanied us. Patches trails me wherever I go when working outside, as though I was her mother and will then sit down beside me. Trixie dashes ahead and like a child with attention deficit syndrome is easily distracted by butterflies or a rustle in the grass. Due to the previous wet months we are surrounded by high grass and it was with some care that I picked my way through the grass and around to the far bank of the dam to take this photo.

Solar pump with house in the background

Even so, when I saw a red bellied black snake near my feet I let out a yelp and jumped ahead. These snakes live near water as frogs form much of their diet. It is illegal to kill snakes in Australia and personally I believe that it is wrong to kill the red bellied black snakes as they are a predator on the far more venomous brown snakes. They have a natural immunity to the venom of other snakes and are able to hunt, kill and devour them with impunity. Humans are seldom bitten by the red bellied black snake as this species is timorous and will always try to avoid people.

Once Rex announced the pump was working I switched on a tap in the garden and found I had reasonable pressure.

Lettuce seedlings

There is insufficient water pressure for the operation of the knocker system of spray irrigation installed in my garden and I may have to rely on moving hoses and sprinklers like this one beside the lettuce seedlings. Note the former insect screen door which I have recycled to serve a dual purpose. It provides some shade cover for delicate plants, but more importantly it prevents Trixie and Patches from digging holes in, or walking across, this garden plot.

My existing system of water mains can carry the water to the highest point on our land where we have a tank positioned. From this location we can gravity feed water back to the garden. When checking the flow to this tank Patches frisked ahead of us and up onto the tank stand where Rex snapped this photo.

Fay and Patches

Wildflowers, wilderness and wine

This week I anticipate that I will complete writing the last chapter of The Forgotten Ones, the story of Eberhard’s early years in Germany prior to his arrival in Australia in 1950. http://fayhelwigauthor.com

It is almost a year since I set up http://www.australia-book.com.au to promote sales within Australia of Wildflowers, wilderness and wine. Overseas readers may obtain a copy on http://stores.lulu.com/strictlyliterary

It was with shock and dread that most north Queenslanders watched cyclone Yasi bear down on the State, but also for those well removed from the location there was a sense of awe at the magnitude of this particular cyclone. Everyone had days of warning to prepare and Government and volunteer organizations swung into action. It was not only that Yasi could be one of the strongest cyclone to hit Queensland since 1918, but it was a monstrous size. Cyclone Larry that struck Innisvail in 2006 was a strong cyclone, but not a wide one. Queenslanders are accustomed to cyclones but this cyclone had the potential to wreck havoc and take lives like never before seen.

Once more, while there were still communication towers standing, people were able to share information via mobile phones and sites such as Facebook. It was on Facebook that I read this post from my son Adrian, in Townsville.

All prepared and awaiting TC Yasi. We are well above the expected tidal surge. Food, water and other provisions all laid in.

Adrian has always been prepared for any emergency. Even while living in Brisbane he always had his emergency stock and a plan of action. He is a strategic planner with a holistic approach.

Shortly after I read that message he phoned me to reassure me of the ways that they had prepared. Although he is a Microsoft systems engineer employed by a mining company at Cloncurry, which means he works 8 days on and then flies back to Townsville for 6 days off, he was then in Townsville. He and his  fiancée are sharing a house with Cat’s brother and wife while their house is under construction. Cat’s parents who own a sugarcane farm at Ingham were holidaying in Thailand, so the young four had been out to there farm and prepared that situation for the onslaught of the cyclone. That meant removing anything that could become windblown, placing machinery in sheds and above flood height and taping windows of the house. In their own situation they had a generator and fuel so they could manage if they lost their electricity supply. They had half a beast of beef in their freezer. They have a barbecue and full gas bottles. Their pantry was stocked. Their cars were fully fueled and in sheds. They have 40litres of bottled drinking water and a supply of iodine tablets if they should need to treat the town water.

My daughter Debra relocated to Mackay last year and has been living in rental accommodation. I was concerned about her location until I received this email the night the cyclone approached.

Just letting you know that we have moved house.  Have moved to Mirani which is 30mintues west of Mackay, in the Pioneer Valley.  Small town with lots of new houses. The Mackay local paper printed a map yesterday of which areas might flood if there was a storm surge as expected with the cyclone.  Our house was in the flood area so decided to move before the cyclone hit and my very nice boss hired a small covered truck and sent three men yesterday and four this morning to help move my furniture.  Also gave me ½ a day yesterday and all day today off to move.  So nothing is left in the old place now.  The rain is very heavy at the moment and the wind is gusty.  Talk to you soon

Mackay was well south of the worst destruction and I she was back at work the next day. I haven’t yet heard from Adrian, but telecommunications are ‘down’ in the region.

Although there was huge destruction of property between Cairns and Townsville these two cities missed a direct hit. The worst areas are around Ingham and Tully. Eighty percent of Australia’s banana crop is grown in this region and it was decimated. The expectation is that it will be three years before the supply of bananas will return to normal. Cat’s parents are sugar farmers and they may have lost their crop. The world price of sugar immediately jumped as Australia is normally an exporter of sugar.

There had been no loss of life directly caused by Yasi, but one young man who had bunkered down with a personal generator in a closed room died when he was overcome by fumes.

As usual, when there is a cataclysmic event like a monstrous cyclone here in Australia, floods in Brazil or a huge snow storm in the USA those people who wish to blame it on Global Warming or man made Climate Change come to the fore with their statements.

Thus it was with interest that I have read two statements this week which help explain the nature of the weather cycle we are now experiencing. For those of my readers living in Australia there was an article in February5-6 The Weekend Australian newspaper headed And Science suggests this may not be the end. It warned that Queenslanders face the risk of repeated shocks from tropical cyclones, perhaps for decades.

I had read much of the information in this article from Online Opinon the previous day and will now share it with you.

ON LINE opinion - Australia’s e-journal of social and political debate

Big climate cycle means wet decades

By Mark S. Lawson
Posted Friday, 4 February 2011

The big floods in Queensland and Victoria have ebbed away, for now, but there may be more floods over the next 20 to 30 years or so thanks to a gigantic climate cycle in the Pacfic Ocean.

For a number of researchers point to the Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO) or Interdecadal Pacific Oscillation (IPO), as an over arching climate cycle which governs the number and duration of the shorter, better known La Niña and El Niño climate cycles that directly affect rainfall in eastern Australia.

After careful analysis of the historical weather records, as well as the likes of tree rings and ancient coral reefs they say that they have established a link back through thousands of years worth of rainfall changes.

The PDO had “flipped” into its cool mode, and researchers believe that means more and stronger la Ninas in coming decades.

The issue is still a matter of some scientific dispute, with the Australian Bureau of Meterology doubting the link and, above all, saying that there is not yet enough evidence to forecast changes in the sequence of el Ninos and la Ninas.

However, investigations into the link between the PDO and rainfall are, in turn, part of efforts to uncover patterns in the great oceanic cycles which seem to govern climate over decades.

As is well known, the El Niño and La Niña climate patterns are characterised by changes in sea surface temperatures that drive shifts in atmospheric circulation and cloud patterns. When a La Niña effect rules, as it does now, the sea surface in the central and western Pacific is generally cooler, and that shift in sea surface temperatures sweeps rain bearing clouds towards Australia.

In an El Niño the opposite occurs, resulting in drier weather that may turn into a drought.

An El Niño or La Niña cycle can be anywhere between six to 18 months long, and occur once every three to seven years, but are not predictable.

To date the best that scientists can do is give a few months warning of an onset of a new cycle by watching for telltale signs of changes in sea surface temperatures.

Together known as the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO), the cycles are tracked by the Southern Oscillation Index (SOI), which is the difference between air pressure readings in Tahiti and Darwin. When it is high a la Nina rules, when it is low an el Nino  brings drier weather.

In contrast to the comparatively short- lived ENSO phases, the PDO, first noticed as a pattern by salmon fishery researchers in the 1990s, “flips” between cool and warm modes every 20 to 30 years. In April 2008, after examining patterns of sea surface temperatures identified by satellite, researchers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratories announced the PDO had “flipped” into its cool mode.

The last time it flipped – from cool to warm – was in 1977, or three years after the last serious floods in Brisbane.

From examining historical weather records, scientists believe the PDO previously flipped (from warm to cool) in the mid-1940s, and around 1920 (from cool to warm).

The release from NASA stated the cool phase of the PDO was characterised by cooler water off the US west coast, stretching from Alaska to the equator, forming a horse shoe around a body of warmer water. In the PDO’s warm phase, this pattern is reversed.

This has complex effects but the overall result, as noted in the NASA material, is that the cool phase intensifies La Niña or diminishes El Niño effects around the Pacific basin.

To put that in Australian terms, scientists point out when the PDO was in its warm phase between 1977 and 2008, a succession of severe El Niño cycles brought hot, dry weather to eastern Australia. Droughts in the Murray-Darling basin never seemed to end.

When the PDO was in its cool mode between 1945 and 1977, the rain-bearing La Niñas were strong and frequent.

The PDO is already of some notoriety in the sceptics versus warmists climate debate as sceptics occasionally point out that the cycle’s recently ended warm phase about coincides with a notable increase in temperatures, while its previous cool phase (from the 40s to the 70s) also coincided with a known dip in global temperatures.

The warmists have responded in detail to the sceptics, but this article will concentrate on the quite seperate and much less controversial link to on rainfall - which may or may not also be affected by human-induced global warming, if it exists.

Stewart Franks, an hydrologist and associate professor at the University of Newcastle, says now the PDO has flipped, Australia’s climate on the eastern seaboard can be generally expected to return to the conditions that existed between the 1940s and mid-1970s.

Apart from the Brisbane floods in the 1970s, the era was characterised by severe floods around Maitland in NSW in the 1950s.

The correlation between the PDO and Australia’s sequence of floods and droughts has been traced through centuries and is extremely strong, he says.

Another researcher who agrees that the correlation is strong is Hamish McGowan, at the climate research group at the University of Queensland.

Along with colleagues at the university and researchers at the Snowy Mountains scheme and Laurentian University in Canada, he recently published a paper closely linking the PDO with water flow through the Murray River. (Reconstruction annual inflows to the headwater catchments of the Murray River, Australia, using the Pacific Decadal Oscillation, Geophysical Research Letters, 25 March 2009).

Another paper by almost the same group and published in the same journal in March of last year, established a connection over 6,500 years,

One conclusion McGowan notes in the first paper is that towards the end of a PDO warm cycle, “inflows to river systems such as the Murray River may reach historical lows”. By analysing the PDO and correlating it with the known river flows, the researchers suggest inflows into the Murray River before the change in the cycle in 2008 would have been at their lowest for more than five centuries.

However, McGowan also cautions that the interaction between the PDO and the ENSO climate cycles is by no means the full story of Australian climate. There are a number of other cycles, including the Indian Ocean Dipole that affects Western Australia, as well as the Southern Annular Mode (the SAM). These cycles are now also being investigated, he says.

As one example of of how the SAM can affect climate, Milton S. Speer, a visiting research fellow at the University of NSW’s Climate Change Research Centre, says that a complete return to the wet, ”cool” period from late 1940s to mid-1970s would require the SAM to also return to its strongly negative phase. (When the SAM is negative, the winds and cold fronts around the antarctic are more likely to move up to Victoria and New Zealand. The SAM has proved difficult to forecast.)

Speer also notes that the PDO was already weak before it turned strongly negative in 2008, but the counting should start from when it became fully negative.

The PDO, SAM and ENSO cycles are, in turn, only a few of a veritable slew of cycles being investigated around the world, including the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation and the well-known North Atlantic Oscillation.

Ian Simmonds, a professor and researcher in climate dynamics at the University of Melbourne’s school of earth sciences, says the SOI index is the highest it has been since the 1970s. This, combined with evaporation from record high sea temperatures around Australia, has resulted in the recent extreme events.

The undoubted recent change in the PDO may create changes in the ENSO patterns, but the pattern is also marked by considerable variability, making forecasting difficult, he says.

“Scientists are still coming to grips with the PDO. It involves deep-water circulation and there’s a lot they don’t know about the workings of the deep ocean,” he says.

Despite the interest in the PDO, the Bureau of Meteorology remains unconvinced.

Dr Scott Power, a senior principal research scientist at the bureau’s Centre for Australian Weather and Climate Research, says scientists have been looking at the cycle for 12 years now. The bureau has also published material pointing to a link between the PDO and the Southern Oscillation, but further research makes them think the connection is the other way around.

Perhaps the PDO flips from warm to cool because of a sequence of La Niñas or El Niños, and not the PDO affecting the sequence?

Repeated El Niños, for example, would be expected to increase sea-surface temperatures. Whatever the connection, the bureau is not satisfied that the pattern is established or can be used to forecast.

Power says the pattern of El Niños and La Niñas could be distinctly different over different decades or even generations with more of one type of pattern than another.

But then repeated coin tosses would also show similar patterns with more heads than tails for a time before the pattern reverses. Overall, there had been about the same number of El Niños and La Niñas.

Another complication was the present high global temperatures and record high sea temperatures around Australia, Power says.

Whatever may come of all this scientific enquiry, as readers can see, the higher temperatures forecast by the IPCC, if and when they ever occur, may not result in lower rainfall.

In fact, as scientists really don’t know how these cycles work, forecasting just how rainfall may change due to those supposed higher temperatures is almost certainly a waste of time.

Mark Lawson is a senior journalist at the Australian Financial Review, who has recently launched a book, A Guide to Climate Change Lunacy – bad forecasting, terrible solutions, published by Connor Court.

Now that you have reached the end of the article I hope your head is not spinning trying to understand all these weather cycles. While Yasi drenched much of northern and central Australia with rain and even swooped right around to Melbourne bringing floods to that city, here on the Granite Belt we have experienced a heat wave with three hot weeks. The grass grew well after the floods but has now run to seed and scorched off. My garden has cried out for moisture. It just goes to prove that one must make hay while the sun shines and store water when the rain falls.

Wildflowers, wilderness and wine

This week I received an email from a a woman in Sequim, Washington State USA who said she was doing some research about edible landscapes and my name came up as a result of one of her searches. She had found my Australian website www.australia-book.com.au but wondered where she could obtain my book Wildflowers, wilderness and wine. I advised her to go to http://stores.lulu.com/strictlyliterary

With only a week remaining of our six week holiday in Germany, as revealed in The Forgotten Ones, I expect I will be bringing this book about Eberhard’s youth in Germany to a conclusion soon. I estimate I must write another three chapters. You may read this tale of survival on http://fayhelwigauthor.com

It appears that much of the media and perhaps the general public will only remember the dreadful tragedy, which overtook some people like those drowned in Toowoomba and Grantham, as part of  the seasonal floods that encompassed much of Queensland.

Flooding of the nature that affects Brisbane about three times in a century is something for which people can prepare. The unexpected nature of the deluge which hit Toowoomba and flash flooded the Lockyer Valley had never previously occurred. There was no history of such an event. There was no warning. There was no time to flee.

I wrote to a correspondent in the USA a week after the deluge.

I am sick to my guts with the way the media have portrayed the floods as a result of Climate Change. Senator Brown of Tasmania, and leader of the Greens Party, called for instant implementation of high taxes on the coal miners, who he claimed had caused these floods by creating global warming. There are plenty of the media who want to follow this line too, about this flood being unnatural and punishment from God. In Australia the Greens are laughingly called the Watermelon Party by people who say they are green on the outside and red for communist on the inside.

I’m tired of hearing the media talking up the great mateship of the Australian people. True, in fine sunny weather, 10-12,000 people across Brisbane rallied on Saturday and Sunday, armed with brooms, mops and shovels. They worked to clean up the mess in the homes of the traumatized victims. But, these were the same people who could be seen on TV throwing out items that only needed to be washed – items like plastic chairs.

I wanted to kick the sacred cow! Even more so, when the Queensland Premier started spouting words like, “We are Queenslanders!” She seemed to be indicating that people of this State were somehow stronger and more capable than other Australians. Most Australians are generous people who prove that when times are tough, the tough get going.  Australians give generously of their time and money whenever there is a disaster in the world wide community, or to help any person in need in their street.

The one thing which I do believe sets us apart from other citizens of the world is our lariken sense of humour. Nothing better epitomized this attitude during the Brisbane flood clean up than this picture.

Youthful larikens

I looked at this photo and thought, these fellows are the same age as the youths of Australia who rode their horses away from Australian country homes to fight at Gallipoli and in the muddy trenches of France in World War One. Like these lads they went for a variety of reasons – to see the world, because their mates went and believing they were doing the right thing. It was during these next dreadful years that the whole ethos of Australian mateship and laconic humour came of age.

It was fortunate for the home owners of  flooded Brisbane regions and many other cities and towns across Queensland that these people were able to move to higher ground. It was fortunate that even if they had not heeded his prior warnings the Mayor of Brisbane was prepared to cope with such an emergency. It was he, who rallied and organized the huge force of workers who turned out to assist those in need.

It was fortunate that we have had almost three weeks of fine, sunny weather since the heavy rain caused the flooding. This not only allowed the volunteers to turn out in their thousands during these weeks, it allowed the flood waters to abate.

The flood in Brisbane was not an act of God, it was a predictable weather event – an event for which the Mayor of Brisbane had prepared a plan of operation. So, why were many people traumatized by the event? There is a saying I frequently quote – Five percent do, fifteen percent are aware and eighty percent ask, “What happened?” Could I be correct in thinking that the traumatized flood victims of Brisbane belonged in that group of eighty percent?

A friend suggested that I could earn money by offering temporary accommodation to some of the people flooded out of their homes. I replied that none of these victims would be willing to pay for temporary accommodation. The ethos of mateship amongst the Australian people is such that these victims would believe that any temporary accommodation should be freely given. Apart from which, we live three hours driving time from the flooded region.

Another friend asked, “If as you say, such floods occur regularly, why have these cities and towns been established beside rivers and streams?”

Historically, mankind established communities beside water. They needed fresh water for drinking, cooking and cleaning, while they used boats and ships on the river for transport.

With so much drivel being written in newspapers, or filmed for TV, it was to the internet I turned for thoughtful articles. I will share with you, this piece from On Line Opinion.

ON LINE opinion - Australia’s e-journal of social and political debate

Southern Queensland floods – again

By Yvonne Perkins
Posted Monday, 17 January 2011

1893 floods in Brisbane – Queen St. in the CBD. Source: Wikimedia

We have all been shocked by the devastating floods in southern Queensland and our hearts reach out to those living through this destruction. This is not just a crisis in one city, three quarters of the state has been affected by floods over the last three weeks.

At last count over eighty six towns and cities in Queensland have been either flooded or isolated due to floods. There has been constant reference to the floods of 1974.

The image above indicates that these floods are not an aberration – they have been occurring ever since European settlement and there is evidence of flooding prior to this.

We live in a country that is very dry, often drought-stricken and prone to fierce bush fires and paradoxically suffers periodically with floods.

Like two years ago when Victoria had devastating bush fires at the same time as north Queensland was suffering from severe flooding, this time southern Queensland has suffered from a huge torrent of water while firefighters in Perth, Western Australia were battling a large bushfire.

Historical Records

The floods in Queensland, as well as the floods in New South Wales, Victoria , Brazil and Sri Lanka, will have consumed countless photos, diaries, letters etc. At the moment the priority is where it should be – saving lives and creating safe living conditions. There will be little time or resources to save personal memories.

Natural disasters such as these floods are terribly damaging to our historical records. All the homes that have been flooded will now have waterlogged photo albums, diaries and hard disc drives. While the State Library of Queensland has given good advice on how to save some of these precious memories, in many cases owners will not be able to restore them.

Even the State Library of Queensland has been affected. The photos of the library taken before and during the floods show how badly flooded their building was.

State Library of Queensland before April 2010. Source: Zayzayem on flickr

After: State Library of Queensland 12 Jan 2011. Source: @jonoH on twitpic

Fortunately the State Library staff moved collections from the lower levels to the fourth floor before the flood hit. The biggest problem will be the humidity which will affect the items due to the lack of air conditioning because of power failures. The best way to ensure that historical records do not get destroyed in flood or fire is to store them in the cloud. Backups that are stored on site or close by are just not as safe. Libraries around the world are working hard to digitise their collections. Recently the State Library of Queensland uploaded 50,000 images to Wikimedia. Due to their foresight and effort I was still able to access their collection on Wikimedia while their building was closed and their website down due to the floods.

Brisbane

I read about Brisbane’s flooding problem while doing a geography major at university. Through an article by Rahman and Weber we learned that Brisbane is prone to flooding because of flash flooding of creeks within the city due to severe thunderstorms, overland flooding due to built structures impeding and redirecting the natural path of rainwater overland and flooding of the Brisbane river (Rahman and Weber, p. 74). Brisbane is hilly and therefore has many valleys where floodwater accumulates. Unfortunately buildings have been sited in areas where floods can occur. The Bureau of Meteorology has summarised the history of flooding in Brisbane by graph and a chronology. This shows 1841 was the year when Brisbane suffered its highest flood levels. 1893 saw flooding that almost reached the levels of 1841. The 1974 floods were severe but considerably lower than the floods of the nineteenth century. While the 1974 floods were higher 6,700 homes were affected whereas in 2011 14,700 homes were affected.

Source: Bureau of Meteorology

The recognition of the susceptibility of Brisbane to flooding in the nineteenth century can be seen in this flood map produced in 1893.

Flood map of Brisbane, 1893. Source: ‘Themed Mapping’, Queensland government website.

Nearly a year ago I stayed in the riverside suburb of Yeronga while doing my research at the John Oxley Library for my thesis. It was a beautiful suburb that stretched along the river. I spent a pleasant but hot morning walking along the banks of the river on the way to the University of Queensland. At the time I was grateful for how flat this stretch was. Unfortunately the close proximity to the river and the flat ground which I appreciated nearly a year ago are features that no Brisbane resident will appreciate today.

The suburb of Yeronga is just one of many that has been invaded by the river. 417 houses in this suburb have been immersed in floodwaters. The inescapable issue that the authorities will have to grapple with in the aftermath of this tragedy is how to plan for the future. These floods will occur again and again. New buildings and structures will need to be constructed to replace those that have been destroyed. Where will they be placed? End of article.

It is interesting to note that although the Brisbane flood of 2011 did not reach the height of the 1974 flood, more than double the number of dwellings were flooded.

As I write this, two more cyclones are bearing down on north Queensland. I heard a weather forecaster say last night that Queensland is fortunate that Cyclone Anthony is moving fast. he explained that this meant it would not linger long enough to deluge the area with flooding. The behaviour of cyclones is not easily predicted. Of more concern he said, was a cyclone of higher intensity moving into the Coral Sea from the direction of Fiji.

Cyclone Anthony

The subject of weather has been of great interest to me all my life, because I have spent that life living on farms where weather determined our prosperity.

Wildflowers, wilderness and wine

In Wildflowers, wilderness and wine I wrote about how this district, the Granite Belt, experienced drought, a bushfire and a flood all within twelve months. I also recounted the way the firemen came from far and wide to stop the blaze – a tragedy which claimed a woman’s life. One reviewer wrote that Wildflowers, wilderness and wine read like an adventure story. it is available on www.australia-book.com.au and http://stores.lulu.com/strictlyliterary

Although my own daily affairs have been hampered by the heavy rain and subsequent flood over our land I found time last week to put up another post on http://fayhelwigauthor.com of The Forgotten Ones, the book I am writing and sharing with you for free, chapter by chapter, about Eberhard’s youth in Germany revealed to me as we holidayed in Germany in 1990.

For a number of reasons I haven’t been able to write a weekly post, but with a bit of luck I might be able to put up something more personal during this coming week. What I will share with you now is a newsletter I receive regularly from Food Connect. They are a group of organic farmers who have got together to market their produce directly to discerning consumers. It is my intention to visit the farmers of Food Connect here on the Granite Belt over the next month or so, armed with my camera, to pass on to you information about their ways of producing tasty food.

Wildflowers, wilderness and wine

My good news is that Colin Campbell, who many of you will know from his appearances as a presenter on behalf of Queensland gardens on the ABC TV program and in the magazine Gardening Australia, has kindly agreed to read my book Wildflowers, wilderness and wine. He will then write reviews of the book and submit them to the Courier-Mail newspaper and the Gardening Australia magazine. Colin is a delightful man who has visited my garden a number of times, including November 2009 when I last opened it for the Australia’s Open Garden Scheme. www.australia-book.com.au

On http://fayhelwigauthor.com I put up a post yesterday which included some beautiful photographs of the vineyards around Stuttgart, Germany.

G’day Fay, in this Farmletter, A Word From Rob Catch Rob on ABC Radio This Week’s Tucker Top Up At The Homestead Shop Food Connect Websites Connecting Farm Tour News From The Homestead From the Source – Curry In A Hurry A Word From Rob Rob cookin’ up hot meals for flood affected families. Rob wrote this for our Week 3 Farmletter – in between sleeping over at the Food Co nnect Homestead to take 2am deliveries from farmers, cooking up hot meals to deliver to those affected b y the floods, and keeping 2 year old Elsie entertained. If you wanted something to fail, then our current food system design is a great example of it. All the community / city farms and gardens are located on flood prone land, and even the NGO food providers, like Food Bank are located on low lying land and were flooded. Even the Central Markets (a very bad system at any rate) is located on flood prone land. It took 48 hours of a huge contingent and machinery from the army to clean up the mess. Thank your lucky stars for small DIVERSIFIED local farmers! We and our farmers are continuing on unabated; actually we have more than enough produce. The reason? Diversity, smallness (elbow energy only needed; people don’t get bogged), we are local (transport issues are solved by local knowledge, a few friends with baots, plus the fact they are close), our warehouse is located on high ground, and fantastic community support. Click here to read more from Robert Pekin, Food Connect Founder and CiEiO Rob On ABC Radio As we all clean up after the floods, we’re also now hearing about the difficult times ahead – rising costs, rising expenditure, inflationary pressure, higher rates, etc. One of the major shortages ahead will be food. Not only have the farms been wiped out, but it’s going to take them years to re-establish crops and plantations. We’ve all heard about the problems at the Rocklea markets, now hear about how food supplier Food Connect has been faring. Listen to the podcast here. This Week’s Tucker Stone fruit – get them before the birds do! Late last week we got a Great Escape story from our farmers, Noel and Lynden Jackson who run Annakeeba Aquaponics at Fernvale. Their area, across the river from Lowood, was evacuated after the river rose 26 m – their house and growing sheds are 32 m up. At that point the river had grown to 5km wide! They had 30 minutes to top up the diesel generator and let the goats out to fend for themselves before leaving. Luckily only surface water affected the sheds and the generator kept the aquaponics pumps going so the fish live to see another day and feed another lettuce. This means the Jacksons have been able to send us some Green Mignonette lettuce. Since Noel has found it difficult to get produce to market it has begun to bolt, but is full of freshness and flavour. Speaking of the flood, we had a great response to our farming bee invitation. We have had to delay the working bees as the ground is still too wet on many farms. Look out on our Facebook page for further updates. The farmers were all grateful for the offer and some may take it up this weekend or next. Read more from Luke, our Farmer Liaison about what’s happening on the farms and in the boxes this week. Visit This Week’s Harvest to see what produce we are expecting for the boxes this week. Top Up At The Homestead Shop After a great turn out to our store at the Homestead last Friday, we have decided to keep it going! Come visit us at Unit 1 Number 8 Textile Crescent in Salisbury between 10am and 2pm every Friday. The shop sells fresh fruit and veggies (what we have left at the end of the week’s deliveries), dairy products, oils, honey, jams, eggs, and lots of other goodies from our range of Extras. It is a great way to top up your fridge if you are running low, have forgotten to order a box, or need something for a special occasion. Please bring your own carry bags. Food Connect Websites Connecting Keep a look out for some changes to our website coming soon! A new page will link Food Connect Brisbane, Sydney and Adelaide. To get to the Brisbane page just click on the Brissie map – it will take you through to our home page – and links to your Food Connect account. You will also be able to click through to Food Connect Sydney and Food Connect Adelaide to see what your fellow Food Connectors are growing, eating and cooking. Farm Tour News The Gympie “Farm Tour with a Difference” which was due to take place on 22nd January has been postponed until May or June, as several roads have been washed away on the Guggers’ farm and they are behind schedule with their persimmon harvest. Keep your eyes on the Farmletter for the new date later in the year! Eden Hope Organic Farms is having a Biodynamic Field Day on Sat February 5, 10am-2pm for farmers, home gardeners and other interested parties. Eden Hope are the suppliers of our delicious milk, and on the day Glen and Therese will be concentrating on the biodynamic aspect of their farming management. If you are interested in attending, please contact Therese on gbunter5@bigpond.com or 5486 6121 for more information and directions. Click here to find out more. Ray and Samantha Palmer from Stanthorpe have been in touch to let us know that there will be the opportunity to pick your own wild blackberries at their farm in the next couple of weeks. Keep your eye on the Farmletter for more details soon. From The Homestead Empty boxes needed urgently! Due to the floods and the Christmas holidays, the amount of empty boxes returned to the Homestead has been really low. If you have any empty boxes at home please return them as soon as you can. Flood relief In the Farmletter in week 2 we sent out an appeal for clothing, bedding etc. to help flood stricken families nearby. We had a fantastic response from the Food Connect community so many thanks to you all. Our Highland Park City Cousin’s dad has used the vehicles from his company Tingalpa Light Commercials to deliver these donations to Ipswich and as far as Rockhampton. He is continuing to do these runs, and has sent word that what is required now are things to help get the kids back to school – books, school bags and stationary. If you have any of these items, please send them in to the Homestead, to Tingalpa Light Commercials at 1276 Wynnum Road or to our Highland Park City Cousin. Win a Bonza Prize Take out a long term subscription (18 weeks or longer) by the end of January and be in with a chance to win a Bonza Hamper, worth $100! Long term subscriptions help us and our farmers plan ahead, and you also receive bonus items to make your subscription more affordable. All long term subscriptions must be paid for up front. Subscriptions If you are placing your own order online, please remember that 4 weeks is the minimum subscription at Food Connect. Food Connect works on a subscription basis to provide a secure market for our farmers and to enable us to plan our orders, so please help us out with this. Strayed from the Table jams and relishes Due to an increase in operating costs Strayed From the Table has had to increase their prices – their jams and relishes are now $7.50 per jar. From the Source Extras Co-ordinator Reuben delivering freshly made meals to hungry volunteers during the floods Curry in a hurry What to do when there are hundreds of hungry mouths to feed, flood waters all around, and boxes of veggies left at the Homestead? A few of our wonderful staff got together and whipped up this curry in a hurry. Then they packed up individual serves with rice and wooden forks in noodle boxes and delivered them, along with bottles of water, to some of the many volunteers and homeowners who were cleaning up the flood stricken areas in Rocklea. Naveen (our delivery driver for the day) says they were very happy to see him! Click here to read our recipe for curry in a hurry. Enjoy your share of our local harvest – contact Food Connect to place your order, or do it online! Cheers – the Food Connect team

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Firstly I wish to extend my sympathy to all those families who have lost loved ones in the recent floods. I feel empathy too for those who have lost their homes and possessions.

If you are not a regular reader of my posts I suggest you read my last post for 2010 which I ended with the words:

• I expect more rain and more floods at least until Easter. It is during Autumn that the Pacific Ocean current which determines if eastern Australia will experience an El Nino or La Nina season fall into place. At the moment the Oscillation Index which measures this current is still high indicating a continuation of the La Nina weather pattern until Easter.

I had been watching the Oscillation Index rise during last winter and actively saying since July 2010 that we could experience a really wet summer this year. I knew that wet year cycles come around regularly every 25 – 30 years. I am also issuing a further warning. I believe we could continue to have cyclones, heavy rain and floods right through to Easter. So the Queensland disaster could get much worse yet. Like all other warnings, my warnings will only be heeded by a few people.

We prepared for this wet season that I knew was due. Twelve months ago, in preparation for such a wet year, we paid to have our entrance road built up to drain the water away that would run down the slope of the hill and I’m very glad we did so. This has allowed us to drive to and from Mt. Stirling Road without churning and sliding through mud since the rains began here in July. The last thing I want to do is sound righteous, but many of the decisions we make in life are choices. We could afford to get the road constructed, but equally we could have spent the money on holidays or a luxury item.

It has been interesting to listen to the interviews with flood victims in Brisbane. Several of the older people experienced the floods through their homes in 1974, yet made the choice to continue living in that home. These choices may have been made due to poverty, as it is often the poorest people in any society who suffer in times of disaster, or for sentimental reasons. They may have believed that the big Wivenhoe Dam constructed after the 1974 flood would protect Brisbane from ever experiencing such a flood again.

Campbell Newman, the mayor of Brisbane, sent out missives repeatedly in the past twelve months asking residents what preparations they had made for a flood? I have listened to him on TV news services  warning since December that the situation was set for Brisbane to again experience a flood like that of 1974. While most people did not take his warning seriously, he was prepared to act decisively when the dreaded event occurred. He seems to have been very well organized and prepared for the event with a plan of action. He has managed the Brisbane flood situation really well.

As for Anna Bligh, the Premier of Queensland, the only way was up. She had such a low rating in the polls that she was facing electoral defeat at the next Queensland elections. Although it does not appear as though she had any disaster plan prepared for the State, she has reacted well and her management of these successive disasters may improve her chance of re-election.

The same applies for Julia Gillard. The Australian Prime Minister has reacted well to these disasters, which now include flooding in southern States. The nation will be watching to see what long term p0licies are put into place to assist the people. Of special concern is what assistance will be given to the primary producers who have lost their crops and income for another year.

Even in times of serious flooding, Australians have the ability to see the ridiculous and laugh.

Green frog hitches a ride.

Dalby was my home town for many years and in a matter of three weeks recently it was flooded five times. My daughter Debra sent me this photo, origin unknown, which had supposedly been snapped in a recent Dalby flood.

Normally snakes are predators of frogs, but at that moment both the frog and the snake were concentrating on survival. I posted it on my Facebook page with the title – living dangerously. Another person responded – takeout dinner.

Severn River bridge underwater at Glen Aplin

When Quart-pot Creek flooded Stanthorpe thirty houses were were evacuated. That water joined with other streams to form the Severn River which fronts our farm. We were isolated from the highway for a couple of days as the bridge over the Severn River was totally under water, but in a medical emergency we could have made our way to Stanthorpe via back roads and reached the town from the western side, a much longer route.

View of the flood

At no time was our home in any danger. I took this photo of the flood backing up to our overflowing dam from our front veranda at mid-day on Tuesday, the second day of rain and flooding.

Flood Tuesday evening

I took this second photo of the flood on our land on Tuesday evening. The true river bank is back beyond those tall trees and down out of sight.

I read an interesting article during the week which I would like to share with you.

Floods in south east Queensland were caused by normal weather patterns in an extraordinary confluence with predictable results.    [To read the full article, visit http://www.onlineopinion.com.au/view.asp?article=11475

By Keith Kennelly
Posted Friday, 14 January 2011

I have listened to and read much of the media information and comment in regards to the recent tragic floods in the Toowoomba region. I have had a great deal of interest but have been left looking askance at many of the irresponsible assertions regarding the cause being cast about in the media.

I am sorry to be critical but so much serious and "informed" comment by many in the media is just plainly wrong. I understand the real problem is not what is written or said by journalists but what is erroneously or superficially passed off as expert comment by many "educated experts".

I am a sailor and have taken an avid interest in meteorology over the last few years. While I am an amateur I understand my viewpoints result from much theoretical reading, detailed observation and personal experience.

I predicted to friends, on Monday morning, "Toowoomba would be subjected to a huge deluge within a day or two".

Many might have been surprised by this at the time and no doubt it would surprise many now, especially since the "facts" have all now been supplied by "authoritative" figures.

I hotly dispute many of the common assertions.

The Bureau of Meteorology’s reported description of Toowoomba’s rain as a "Superstorm" or a line of storms was wrong and simplistic. It was something quite different.

Experts have correctly described the La Nina as the cause of the floods but that is too general and is a somewhat vague explanation as to why so much rain fell in Toowoomba and surrounds, while similar was not experienced in other parts of Southeast Queensland.

Some have claimed what happened in Toowoomba was a once in a century event. Toowoomba over the years has experienced similar, although not as intense nor as severe, flash flooding.  I.e. The general pattern of the Toowoomba flooding, as excellently described and shown in the media, but after less severe deluges, has had the same general flood pattern.

But most of all I totally reject the assertion the floods in Toowoomba were not predictable. This has been a mantra used by people, from the Queensland Premier Anna Bligh down. An examination of the circumstances and weather over the Southeast of Qld clearly shows all the events were eminently predictable. The Bureau of meteorology maps and synoptic charts of the period, all on the public record, do give supporting testament to my conclusions.

What specifically has occurred over Southeast Queensland since before Christmas is a series of perfectly normal weather occurrences. Nothing has been particularly unusual about any of them.

Initially we were subjected to a traditional monsoonal trough. It descended from North Queensland and hung about for a few weeks before Christmas and this was what had led to a saturated and drenched Southwest Queensland, Darling Downs and Southeast Queensland. Secondly Brisbane, since Christmas, had been subjected to a rain depression and it was moving slowly westward. This depression had been caused by the quite fierce, in excess of 33 knots, coastal "South East Trade Winds". They had blown for over a week.

Do you remember the storms in Bass Strait during the Sydney to Hobart? That’s where they originated. These rain depressions are a quite normal event for Queensland coasts and hinterlands.

Third an upper level Australian East Coast Low had formed over Christmas off Bundaberg.  These commonly form in Harvey Bay or off the coast at Coffs Harbour and usually blow themselves out at sea or can track south west inland. They act very similarly to cyclones in many ways but without the extreme winds. Winds can blow up to 50 knots.

Cyclones typically deposit most of their rain not on the coast but about 100 kilometres inland. It takes a little while for the air to cool sufficiently for condensation to form (See later). This Low was a result of the cooler SE trades coming into contact with The Australian East Coast Current flowing down from the warmer Coral Sea. This current warms the air, causes it to rise, in turn causing further cool air to come in, rapidly, whipping up the sea spray and causing it to warm and rise.  They do pick up huge amounts of sea water.

On a personal note I was once caught in a yacht in Harvey Bay while one of these East Coast Lows formed. The winds gusted up to 50 knots. The lasting impression I had, besides the humidity, was that I could not see beyond the pulpit of the yacht from the cockpit because of the spray coming off the ocean. The amount of moisture in the air was astonishing.

This latest current Low had travelled up and down the coast for a week, until it went ashore at Fraser Island last Monday, tracked southwest from TinCan Bay, through Maryborough, Blackbutt Ranges, Sommerset and Wivenhoe Catchments, the Lockyer Valley, Toowoomba, Bremer catchment and Dalby through to the Granite belt. It deposited the greater part of its massive load, about 100klms inland, over the Lockyer Valley and Toowoomba.

Here I feel it appropriate to explain how rain is caused. Rain/precipitation is condensation. If you look at your car windscreen you will often see condensation (warm air cooling) but there are no rain drops in your car.  To form raindrops/precipitation, condensation must form on something. Usually it is dirt or dust particles in the air. In most rains at sea and in particular tropical cyclones it is salt particles in the air, from the evaporated and warmed water, that enables raindrops/precipitation to form.

So what happened at Toowoomba was a combination and an unusual convergence of three quite normal Queensland weather events. Principally an East Coast Low crossing the coast at Fraser Island and Tin Can Bay and tracking southwest through Toowoomba, second a SE Trades rain depression tracking westward from Brisbane to Toowoomba and third the previous severe soaking effects from a traditional North Queensland Monsoonal trough.

Questions do need to be asked.

Why wasn’t the deluge in Toowoomba predicted by the Bureau of Meteorology? Why were local "Severe Weather Warnings" not issued to the media and broadcast before the Toowoomba deluge, as had been regularly issued throughout the rains in other Queensland areas?

Why didn’t State Emergency Services undertake preparations for flooding?

It was obvious the East Coast Low had crossed the coast as downpours had flooded Tin Can Bay, Gympie and the North Coast Hinterlands on the Monday morning. It should be noted warnings were issued in Gympie enabling retailers to remove stock.

It also needs to be asked why many, from the Queensland Premier Anna Bligh down, in the media are now saying the downpour in Toowoomba wasn’t predictable?

We pay these people to protect us. They miserably failed many people in the Toowoomba and Lockyer Valley regions.  They are all covering up a great omission and shortcoming.

They do need to be correctly informed and to hold those in error to account. We all deserve as much.

Many accounts in the media, and particularly radio and television, focus on easily quantified river levels, major and minor flood levels and the input from expert hydrologists. It occurs to such an extent, to me, it appears to be a sports scorecard and at times seems to be an attempt to portray the current Queensland weathers as a single extreme event somehow related to and proving climate change. At the same time there is a paucity of information regarding rainfall. To me it seems, with the emphasis on the rivers, many of the media and the experts have forgotten that rivers don’t cause floods.

Floods are caused by rain... which is what happened in Toowoomba ... in a cyclonic volume.

Keith Kennelly is a 53-year-old small business operator, resident in Brisbane who raised two childern as a single dad. His hobbies now include swimming, reading, sailing and Texas Hold 'Em poker.

Flood debris

I agree with Keith that the severe rain storm which struck Toowoomba could have been predicted, but doubt that a severe weather warning would have alerted many people to the ensuing horrific event that was to take lives in Toowoomba and Grantham. In most instances, even if the warning was heeded, there was no time to take any evasive action.

We prepared for a wet season and when this huge flood came we could only sit and watch until the rain eased and the water dropped. We chose to live beside a river recognizing the benefits. We knew there would be years when the river would flood, although we did not anticipate the water would rise as high as it did. Cleaning up the flooded section of our farm is now our responsibility.

Wildflowers, wilderness and wine

In my book Wildflowers, wilderness and wine I write of how a drought ended with another, less damaging flood. My book tells of a year in the life I shared with Eberhard managing a busy Bed and Breakfast home on the Granite Belt. It is available  from www.australia-book.com.au or http://stores.lulu.com/strictlyliterary.

I am also publishing, chapter by chapter, the story of Eberhard’s early years in Germany. In the last post I wrote of the two years he spent as a cook in the American Occupation Forces. You can read this tale on http://fayhelwigauthor.com