Natural Harvest Ecology

30/12/2025

25/12/2025

Starting small!
I travel a lot between communities, and live in accommodation that has no permanent resident, just transient workers like myself.
Most people don't invest in sustainability solutions when they're transient. Understandable out here when we're 175km from the nearest town making simple food gardening a logistical challenge.
On my walk this morming, I brought back a couple of rusted steel tins, and I've half buried them in the drip line on the south side of the house.
I'm collecting all my organic waste (which will include 1kg of coffee grounds by the time I leave!)
I'll deposit it in one of these tins, mixed with shredded paper, and buried under some potting mix a previous resident left behind.

At the entrance, it's permaculture zone 1. A perfect spot for some edible herbage.

If we all did little interventions like this, and all build on what others have left, we leave behind more for those who follow.

07/12/2025

When I find a limb down with viable seed pods, I often spring into action to collect the seeds!
In this case it was a manna gum (Eucalyptus viminalis), dried out on builders plastic in the shearing shen for a few months or so.

Did you know that some native species are at risknof being wiped out? In national parks that are impacted by frequent bushfires, foresters need to re-seed areas where the burned regrowth hadn't had time to replenish the soil seed bank before being wiped out by fire.
Unfortunately, there just isn't enough people collecting the seeds needed for revegetation work. In the past, timber harvesters used to employ seed collectors. Now that timber harvesting has been shut down, they're not collecting the seeds any more.

For me, I'll be adding these seeds to the rest of my collection for broadcasting in places I want trees to grow.

24/10/2025

They dug a hole.
Look at how far the eucalypt roots grow in search of water out here in central Australia.

14/10/2025

Ol mate...
This old wild donkey loves people!

26/09/2025

What to do with a bluegum plantation?
I've spent a lot of time on the chainsaw in this plantation, around 70 hectares worth, cutting back the lower growth. I reckon I've done less than 5 hectares over the past few years!
This amount, back to the truck is about 9.4 amphours (one hour) worth of battery work with the husqvarna. I've got a fast charger on the inverter on the truck to recharge the bigger battery in the time I use a 4Ah battery.
It's getting to the stage now that I can start sending logs to the mill for pulp. I just need the gear to be able to do that!
My current plan is a continuous selective harvest, selling maybe 500-1000 green metric tonnes each year, while nurturing future saw logs and converting waste into firewood and biochar.

In the meantime I'm going to have to keep cutting firewood...

23/09/2025

Trying to come up with cost effective ways of processing firewood, mindful that i can't compete with the plantation sugar gum contractors with their hundreds of thousands with of equipment!
Picked up this tandem trailer for $350 from a clearing sale. Going to mount a chequer plate steel platform to the bottom side of the A frame, and bolt the saw horse to that. That'll make the height great for feeding the logs off the truck. With two people working we can pick the logs up, prune the trees, and easily creep the truck along the row to minimise effort.

21/09/2025

Reclaim your pasture, the regenerative way.
We neglected this paddock for many years, but finally my son got the tractor going and cleaned up this patch of gorse.
Gorse is a leguminous plant, it fixes nitrogen into the soil and makes for a great mulch. The only problem with it is it can take over if not appropriately managed. Overgrown it impacts on pasture production and is a major fire hazard, it burns hot!

The gorse isn't dead, it's very much alive, and will quickly regrow, and the seeds will continue to germinate over the next couple of decades.
The choice now is to either manage it with annual mulching, or spray it out in 6-12 months, and ongoing annually.

If you're between Melbourne and the Grampians, my son Joshua can bring the tractor out and clean your patch up too!

02/06/2025

A bit of an eventful trip.
Fried the wiring loom under the seat somehow, must've rubbed some wires together on the rough road.
Off to Katherine in the truck.

06/04/2025

7pm central time.
Clare, SA.
After driving 860km, picking up rustic antiques in Red Cliffs and household items in Clare, I'm now ready to head off to Alice Springs!
I have goods on board for 7 clients!
Not bad for a quick Facebook post.

Not sure how much farther I'll get tonight, but Port Augusta for diesel (first fuel stop from Beaufort.)
Estimated economy, 15L/100km. Better than the hilux.

25/03/2025

In terms of cost-effective processing of plantation bluegum into stovewood I have to highly recommend the chainsaw log bench from at only $99!
It didn't come with Ikea-like step-by-step instructions for putting it together, and if you need them you're probably not safe using a chainsaw in the first place. It did come with adequate instructions for use.
I had been seriously considering buying a proper locally built saw bench from beaver equipment, but with the price people are delivering firewood I just couldn't justify the near $10k price tag, even if that machine would last 50+ years. The opportunity cost of tying that level of investment in an enterprise that doesn't even cover labour costs doesn't make any sense.
There's no way I'd be cutting firewood now, except that I have many tonnes of it lying on the ground, and I'm giving my soon to be 18 year old an opportunity for a bit of cash income with the side-benefit of a healthy body!

If anyone wants a bit of dry bluegum with a bit of decent dry yellow box mixed in, my son will soon be able to deliver a 2m load in the Ballarat region for $250. Tax invoice available on request ($275 for 2 metres including GST.)

13/03/2025

So for today's F around my son and I went down to Warragul to pick up this farm equipment I'd bought at a clearing sale 3 weeks ago.
50 hp Fiat tractor with 3x sets of hydraulic remotes!
2m orchard mulcher, a nice orchard mower, and the tandem trailer!
Dropping the trailer off 100km before the final destination, as the brake had locked on, damaging the bearing. I got it through Melbourne to Ballan, don't want to push my luck any farther!