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Stellar farm field day line up

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The Mudgee Small Farm Field Days are celebrating their 40th anniversary this year and Watershed Landcare will be there to celebrate with a full program of displays, workshops and lectures.

From livestock handling to backyard beekeeping, there’s something of interest for everyone at Watershed Landcare’s lecture series.

Bruce Maynard, Stress Free Stockmanship, will show you how stockmanship skills can change animal behaviour to aid in weed management and grazing management and how you, and the animals, can have less stress.

Organic, seasonal or local; what is the best way to shop and eat sustainably? Agro-ecologist David Hardwick will de-mystify the modern food system and show how your choices impact on the environment, farmers and your health.

Find out how you can not only run a productive farm but regenerate soils, repair riparian systems and erosion by working with nature’s designs. Adon Bender, Hazelcombe Farm, will cover water-harvesting methodology, minimal and controlled disturbance soil management for perennial, annual and animal systems, soil-food-web-structures and how all these factors interrelate and influence one another.

Author and self-proclaimed ‘beevangelist’, Doug Purdie will be back to show you how keeping bees on a small scale is easy, rewarding and helps the environment by providing pollination and as a bonus you get your own honey! Doug will walk through the types of hive, the basic equipment and the do’s and dont’s of backyard beekeeping.

There will also be talks on free range pig keeping and solar passive design and building with natural materials.

Visit our website for the full program: http://watershedlandcare.com.au/events.

Watershed Landcare will have a selection of locally grown, native tube stock for sale at the Mudgee Small Farm Field Days this weekend.

We will also have plenty of information and displays at the Waterwise Garden demonstration site (L9), drop by and find out what we do, how to get involved in our projects and become a member.

We’ll be running workshops to help you identify serrated tussock from the innocent, native bystanders and teach you how to build your own bee motel.

You can bring along any mystery plants you have growing in your paddock or bushland for identification, see our display of hardy, salt and drought tolerant plants for the Mudgee district, and we will have a selection of locally grown, native tube stock for sale.

These events are supported by Watershed Landcare and are a part of the NSW Government’s Local Landcare Coordinators Initiative, supported through the partnership of Local Land Services and Landcare NSW.

Pig out on good information

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Ever wanted to have a free range pig or two running around the farm or even taking the next step into full scale pig production?

Watershed Landcare have invited Frank Power and Danielle Littlewood of Power Pork to be a part of our Mudgee Small Farm Field Days lecture series this year.

Frank and Danielle run a pig operation on their Wellington farm, ‘Glenmore’, raising grass fed animals using environmentally sustainable, ethical and low stress methods.

In 2015 they started Power Pork; supplying free range pork, which is processed through a local abattoir and local butcher, direct to customers in the local area and beyond.

To produce a tasty product in an ethical and environmentally responsible fashion the Power Pork menagerie of 20 sows and 2 boars spend 100% of their time in the paddock with a carefully managed grazing regime.

“We love having pigs around. They are just like big cuddly teddy bears. We even have a couple that will come running up to us for a belly scratch” said Danielle.

“Pigs get a bad rap because they are such environmental vandals. I firmly believe that with the right management, you can harness their power for good instead of evil!” she continued.

Frank and Danielle will give an overview of the pigs they run, their management methods and how they get them from the paddock to the plate.

The ‘For the love of pigs and good bacon’ lecture will be on at 1:30pm on Friday 14 and 10am Saturday 15 July in the Straw Bale Lecture Room (L8), Australian Rural Education Centre (AREC).

Watershed Landcare will also have plenty of information and displays at the Waterwise Garden demonstration site (L9), drop by and find out what we do, how to get involved in our projects and become a member.

Come along and see our display of hardy, drought tolerant plants for the Mudgee district, have a chat with members of the Mudgee Bee Group and check out their display hives or join in on one of our workshops on serrated tussock ID or build your own bee motel.

You can bring along any mystery plants you have growing in your paddock or bushland for identification and we will have a selection of locally grown, native tube stock for sale.

These events are supported by Watershed Landcare and are a part of the NSW Government’s Local Landcare Coordinators Initiative, supported through the partnership of Local Land Services and Landcare NSW.