A GREEN DROUGHT

The Severn River which forms one boundary of our farm flows south-west to join the largest river system in Australia, known as the Murray-Darling Rivers system. Like the Mississippi River in the USA it drains inland waters south to the sea. Early Australian explorers thought there must be an inland sea in the middle of Australia, as all the rivers they discovered on the far side of the Great Dividing Range drained westward. By following these rivers they found that they later joined with the Darling River to flow south and into the sea in what became the State of South Australia. Thus water from southern Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria flows south over several months before reaching its destination in South Australia. It is a slow flowing river and subject to periods of drought when it becomes nothing more than a series of water holes. A hundred years ago paddle steamers worked the river, carrying out wool bales and other produce from the interior. During times of drought they remained stranded waiting for “The river to come down.” During the past decade drought has once more dried this mighty river to a series of water holes.

Here on the Granite Belt at the northern end of this river system, we rely on summer storms to start the water flowing. Most years we get sufficient rain to bring our river down in a flood and on average, once in a decade we will get a mighty flood as happened in January 2008.

Flooded Severn River January 2008

Since this January flood we have received little rainfall and experienced a dry winter.  During these spring months, storms have only brought small falls. This has created a green drought. The countryside appears green, but there is little grass growth. The abundance of water in our frontage to the Severn River has provided me with the ability to irrigate my garden and Remembrance Field of Flanders poppies during this drought. Read the rest of this entry »

DRAMATIC SEASONAL CHANGE

One of the joys of living at Glen Aplin on the Granite Belt is that due to the cool mountain climate this district experiences the four seasons of winter, spring, summer and autumn. Much of Queensland only knows the hot, humid wet season of summer and the warm dry season of winter.

In 1990 when I visited Europe in the early spring as the snow was melting I witnessed the dramatic change as tulips and pansies flowered in April just as the fruiting cherry and apple trees burst into blossom. in May they were followed by the lilac, phingst rosen and climbing red roses.

When we moved to live here at Glen Aplin in 1992 I realised I could grow these same flowers. I was agreeably surprised at how rapidly, just like I had seen in Europe, spring arrived and dramatically changed the appearance of my garden.

These photos taken in August, when the decision was made to remove large eucalyptus trees, and photos taken of the same scenes now reveal the changes.

Last month of winter at Das Helwig Haus B&B 2008

The Remembrance Field had been cultivated at the end of June. The Flanders poppies had germinated but were merely a green tinge across the soil due to the dry and frosty conditions throughout July and August.

We had made the decision to bring in heavy equipment – a large excavator on tracks, with a bucket in which a man could be raised to tie chains to the branches of these eucalyptus trees. With a chainsaw the branches and tree trunks were cut to then be swung out and dropped onto the field.

The excavator claws then gripped these heavy lengths of timber and the machine clanked away to drop them in heaps off the field, where once more a chain saw could be used to cut wood into rounds, later to be split for firewood.

Now for the “WOW” factor. Read the rest of this entry »

Although it is the last month of winter, it is not unusual for August to be the coldest month of the year on the Granite Belt. This year, 2008, is not proving to be the exception to the rule with morning temperatures dropping as low as -8°Celsius.
Due to the altitude the Granite Belt it is the coldest district in Queensland. Visitors come here hoping for starry night skies and frosty mornings when the ice will crunch under their feet. They are seldom disappointed.

This is great weather to dine in at Das Helwig Haus on a roast goose dinner. I breed a flock of geese each year and graze them free range on our farm so that when winter comes I can serve a true German style Christmas in July dinner. This is what I like to call “Self Sufficiency at Das Helwig Haus“.
It is sometimes hard for city people to comprehend how food arrives on the shelves of stores or on their restaurant plates, but the reality is that meat animals and birds are bred for the table.
So it is that I breed our own geese and now in August I have already have four mother geese each setting on about a dozen eggs. Ganders make very protective parents once the young are born, but mother geese don’t achieve a high score from a clutch of eggs. I always consider that a fifty percent survival rate is excellent.
Most people think that geese are as savage as watchdogs but I assure them that my geese are shy and will always walk away from people unless they are protecting their young babies.
I always ask our guests not to feed the geese anything like pieces of bread or they could get in the habit of following after people expecting a free hand out. That is why geese in public parks gain a bad reputation for chasing people and pecking them.

Our geese enjoy a great life as free range geese during the daylight hours. They roam all over our farm, grazing on the green grass and swimming on our dams.

Geese are a natural grazing bird, but appreciate a handful of cracked corn in the evenings. This is the lure I use to encourage them to return to their pens, where I feed them prior to closing the doors for the night. Due to the predators like foxes we have to ensure our geese are securely penned each night.