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“Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food”
Hippocrates

Farming, Feral Animals And Trying To Get Along With The Native Animal Residents

G'Day Folks,

It’s Monday afternoon 13th and I have just finished ordering the first batch of vegetable seeds for our Autumn veggies. I spent the weekend planning out which crops to grow and procrastinated endlessly over what veggies we should stick to and what veggies we need to let go of after too many failed attempts. We will need to start seeding our Autumn crops before the end of this month if they are to be ready for transplanting come March. The seasons sneak up on you so quickly when you're a farmer, and timing in farming is everything.

As I roamed about the gardens over the weekend I noticed the roar of the Cicadas had finally receded to a gentle humming, with the occasional yet brief moment of silence. The birds are all looking fat and healthy with their shiny coats. They have been busy feasting on the seemingly endless waves of Cicadas emerging from the earths crust, in what can only be described as the largest invasion this farm has seen.

 

For the first time ever, we have Deer wandering through our fields each night during summer and they have developed a strong desire for our young corn crops. We usually only see Deer during the colder months but obviously their population has grown over the years, with the abundance of feed created by the very wet years we’ve had of late.

Unfortunately there is little we can do to prevent Deer from entering our gardens, the fencing required to stop them just isn’t at all something we could afford. But because they are a feral animal, we will allow those we trust to humanely kill Deer causing havoc. But only if the Deer is not wasted, it must be shot only if it is going to be eaten. It doesn’t seem right to leave something so beautiful and healthy rot in a paddock somewhere. Mum loves the idea of having Deer permanently grazing on our property, and I would too if they would just stick to the abundance of food around them and leave my veggies alone.

I’m thinking of ways to deal with the native residents on our farm this year. We did a trial with the Bower Birds favourite winter veggies and planted Broccolini in the centre of the field away from the trees and shrubs that run along the perimeter of our gardens. The Bower Bird although highly intelligent and cunning, didn’t dare roam too far from the treelines edge as there are now too many Hawks and Wedgedtail Eagles circling above. The Broccolini crop wasn’t touched, not a single bit of Bower Bird damage could be seen. Those crops planted too close to the tree line were demolished.
 
After the finale of the 2019 drought, I would very rarely if ever see Hawks and Eagles on our property. The drought caused the entire food chain to collapse and these apex predators really suffered. But with the rains returning the chain quickly began to rebuild itself from the bottom up. First the insects, then the amphibians and reptiles and so on until the great predators of our sky re-emerged. But before they did, the Bower Bird population exploded and with barely any predators they took over our farm.

I now see Hawks and Eagles daily, so I am hopeful the Bower Birds will cause less harm than previous years. But I’m leaving nothing to chance if I don’t have too. So I will plant a mix of the green leafed vegetables they adore, along the edges of our fields, hoping to provide enough food within the Bower Birds safe zone. Maybe then it wont need to stray any further and put itself at risk beyond these sacrificial crops. Like I said, they are very intelligent animals and I do not believe they will take more risk than is necessary. I also believe this strategy is worth a try with the Rabbits, their favourite feed seems to be clover, so we will plant much of this before winter sets in and give them something else to eat rather than our veggies. Luckily for us the rest of the native animals don’t eat enough of our veggies to warrant any attention, they nibble on a few things here and there, but we just plant a little extra.
Thank YOU for joining us on this epic journey & supporting Your local farmer!

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