Category: General

We will be holding a very informal event for our AGM, planning for next year, and social get together with members.
It is SUNDAY 13TH DECEMBER, 3-5pm at the Muckleford train station.
In the shade of the old trees, down by the creek, we will supply food (Covid protocols means we can’t share food), but you are welcome to bring your own drinks and a comfy chair. Families and guests welcome.
Please RSVP here for catering purposes. All food will be vegetarian and vegan, but please let me know if you need gluten free.

The Muckleford Bushland Reserve is public land, entry via the Muckleford School Road. If you’d like a walk, please take a bag with you so you can pick up some rubbish at the same time! It’s a shame, but people are dumping rubbish there.

There have also been some sneaky people taking home firewood…

BUT…it’s a lovely place to forage around. There are some old exclusion plots that must have been erected by a government agency, and no longer monitored or maintained. (Editor’s note: Dave tells me that they were put up by Muckleford Landcare in the early 90s). One fence is down, but the other two plots are still intact. They aren’t very high so don’t keep out roos, but they are worth looking in, to find some lovely plants in flower.

 

 

Some of you may remember a workshop we held a couple of years ago as part of our Water in the Landscape series, on the property of Landcare members, Paul and Kylie. Muckleford Landcare Vice-President, David Griffith, spoke to us about getting moisture back into the soil, and he got into his tractor and did some ploughing to show us the key line technique.

Paul and Kylie are continuing their restoration work on their Walmer property, and during the ‘lock down’ period they have: prepared a site for some revegetation on their dam; done some more key line work in a degraded section in the bush to improve hydration and aid the recovery of understorey plants; also key lined on slopes with degraded pasture to again improve hydration and promote pasture growth.

Thanks for sharing. If you are doing something on your property that you would like to share, please let Beth know via email.

We hope everyone is getting a chance to poke around the bush and look for flowers, we have certainly been doing that when the sun is out. Keep sending me photos that you would like to share with other members, thanks, Beth.

• Autumn Greenhoods (thanks Eleanor and Albi for this photo)
• Inland Red-tip Greenhood (well done Nev for finding this little beauty, never found this one before)
• Parson’s Bands (included a drawing I did for a book on flora of our Muckleford property)
• Sprawling Bluebell (it took a lot of microscope work to identify this correctly as it’s dying now and is not the most common around here, the Tall Bluebell)

Landcare member, Dion, (Muckleford South) is using the time at home to get some plants in the ground. Call Frances at Newstead Natives or Ken at Neangar Nursery to see how they are trading during lock down.

Neville, our Landcare President, found a nest of baby hares on his Muckleford property, the parents took off when he discovered the nest.

Hello Muckleford Landcarers, Connecting Country is holding its annual Landcare Link-up this Saturday 29 February 2020, starting at 4pm until 7pm. You get to hear stories from other Landcare groups in the district about what they are doing. It’s at the Castlemaine Uniting Church Hall, please RSVP to Asha at Connecting Country.

Join us Thursday 12th December at 5.30pm for our end of year break up drinks, and official AGM. This is also the time we decide on our activities for 2020. We will be in the back garden at The Hub, in Templeton Street, Castlemaine (then building with the bikes attached to it).

Meet at 11am on Sunday 10th November 2019 at the Muckleford train station for a ride to Maldon, lunch at the Kangaroo, and return. Get your bikes out of the shed, and ready to go! Please RSVP to Beth or call 0431 219  980.