Introducing Warracknabeal’s Aussie Soil Selfies - soils up-close, in use, as we manage their...

Introducing

Warracknabeal’s Aussie Soil Selfies

- soils up-close, in use, as we manage their challenges,

- as celebrated in photos by Australians in the International Year of Soils 2015

A project conceived and created by

Jeanie Clark enviroed4all®

at Clarkspark Farm, Werrigar near Warracknabeal in the Wimmera, Victoria, Australia

Warracknabeal’s Aussie Soil Selfies

soils up-close: cracking clays, loamy clays, gilgaied soilsred sandy loams, non-wetting sands

in use: food growing

broad-acre crops e.g. canola, lentilshome vegetables and fruits e.g. zucchinipasture for livestock e.g. sheep

natural habitatconstruction

homes mud-brick housedog sleeping hole

recreation rifle butttractor pull track

as we manage their challenges: in dry times, against wind erosion, adding gypsum, sand, retaining stubble

Introducing the Soil Selfies of Dart’s, Batchica, Wimmera, Australia

Stubble paddock soil

Soils up-close, in use as we manage their challenges- celebrated by Australians in the IYSoils 2015

A project conceived and created by Jeanie Clark enviroed4all® Australia © 2015

Description – Loamy Clay - fine and dry 30cm topsoil Location – claypan in broad-acre paddock Values for this soil: Broad-acre food production as family farm business Teaching our child about the environment, by being in it.

No-till conservation farming managements for using this soil for broad-acre cropping: Clay - Gypsum spread before pulses sown to break down clay Nitrogen - Pulses in five-year rotation to return nitrogen Nutrients – rotation of pulses, cereals, oilseeds and chemical fallow Erosion - Stubble retained for ground-cover protection of soil from evaporation and erosion Organic content – stubble breaks down as compost in soil.

Tracy Dart, of Batchica, gives permission for her photos and information to be used under a (cc) license 2015



Soils up-close, in use as we manage their challenges -celebrated by Australians in the IYSoils 2015


Introducing the Soil Selfies of Bangerang, Wimmera, Australia

Reddish Bulloak soil



Description: Reddish colored topsoil, lacks moisture in current drought conditions. It has a clay base below the reddish soil, which holds moisture when over 80mm rain is received

Location: flat Wimmera plains in Bulloak/Buloke (casuarina) country at Bangerang Values for this soil: Commercial broad-acre family farm producing foods for domestic and global markets

wheat pulses

Grows some lovely Bulokes (Casuarinas) naturally and Emu plants (Eremophilas) we planted Grows some fruit and vegetables in the home garden Challenges and managements for using this soil for agricultural production especially in a dry season: Wind erosion – Minimum till farming methods with stubble left in ground and crops sown dry Nutrient depletion –

urea applied to the soil to add nitrogen pulses in rotation add nitrogen to the soil

Hard ground - gypsum phosphate is added to make the clay subsoil more easily worked. For more about plants http://www.dpi.nsw.gov.au/agriculture/resources/private-forestry/paddock-plants/Allocasuarina-luehmannii-Bulloak.pdf and http://anpsa.org.au/eremoph.html Lindsay Koschitzke, of Warracknabael, gives permission for their photos and information to be used under a (cc) license 2015

http://www.dpi.nsw.gov.au/agriculture/resources/private-forestry/paddock-plants/Allocasuarina-luehmannii-Bulloak.pdf

http://anpsa.org.au/eremoph.html

Introducing the Soil Selfies of Clarkspark, Werrigar, Wimmera, Australia

Gilgai paddock Soil



Description: gilgai – grey brown deep heavy clay, (vertisol) Location: lower lying Black Box Ground, Werrigar East, near Warracknabeal, Wimmera region Values for this soil:

main soil of this paddock providing us with ground to farm – graze sheep for sale.

sustains our winter feed crop- green feed especially at lambing

sustains native trees (Black Box, Eucalyptus largiflorens) for native birds, bees and other fauna

o and provides shelter for sheep – wind break in winter , shade in summer

Challenges Clay soils swell and shrink creating the gilgai formation of humps and depressions across the paddock crack open in summer, sometimes open up into sink holes after wet weather, and is sticky mud. If covering grass is lost, the fine clay particles can be eroded by winds, so

Management of the soil to prevent this happening is to:

We aim to keep sheep off when the cover has been eaten, and use a stock containment paddock for them to go into.

Summer weeds like Heliotrope grow after rain, so we need to kill or remove them to conserve soil moisture for the next crop

See more about at http://familyfarms.enviroed4all.com.au/family-farm-snapshots/texels-warracknabeal/food/

Jeanie Clark gives permission for her photos and information to be used under a (cc) license 2015


Gilgai paddock Soil




Vegetable Patch Soil

Soils up-close, in use, as we manage their challenges- celebrated by Australians in the IYSoils 2015



Vegetable Patch Soil




Farmhouse Backyard Soil



Introducing the Soil Selfies of Warracknabeal, Wimmera, Australia

Soil for mudbrick house



Description: a Dry, fine, soil, a reddish Wimmera cracking clayLocation: flat, plain on edge of rural town Values for this soil: Building material for 5000+ bricks to create house, outbuildings and garden walls Mudbrick houses are energy efficient and easy to maintain Challenges/managements for this soil: Clay was too fine for bricks so cracked - mixed with imported sandProtecting the clay bricks from weathering – rendering of walls and floorsAgeing – any cracks are easily fixed with the addition of more mud and water. John and Ros Martin, of Warracknabeal, gives permission for the photos and information to be used under c) license 2015


Dog sleeping hole soil



Description: Dry, fine, grey non-wetting sand Location: flat, backyard on farm Values for this soil: Building material to dig a hole, comfortable and insulated to sleep in Patich’s sleeping holes are long-lasting and easy to maintain in dry times and after rain Challenges/managements for this soil: Effort in digging – sandy areas chosen

o Lack of grass (due to dry times) makes digging easiero Harder clay parts of the garden have no Patch holes

Jeanie Clark, of Warracknabeal, gives permission for the photos and information to be used under a (cc) license 2015


Soil for a rifle range



Description: clay Location: flat Wimmera plains Values :

The clay behind the rifle butt is the building material for the mound.

The clay ground is also dug up and mounded into the much smaller shooting mounds

Challenges of this clay being managed for a rifle range:

Maintaining the mound – o constructed decades ago, and packed down firmly, it is holding up well o native grasses have colonized some of the steep slopes o 4WD illegally entering and using the butt are the greatest danger in destroying this protective cover and

opening bare soil to erosion. o Lead bullet shot into it can be recovered without damaging the butt.

Greg Burke, of the Warracknabeal Rifle Club, gives permission for these photos by Jeanie Clark and information to be used under a (cc) license 2015

Introducing the Soil Selfies of the Wheatlands Museum, Wimmera, Australia

Soil for ‘Tractor Pull’



Description: fine cracking clays Location: demo flat paddock at Warracknabeal Agricultural Machinery Museum Values for this soil for a celebration of historic agricultural machinery: Soil as a floor on which to display machinery Hard, flat slipping surface on which to drag a weight (skip) for a dryland tractor pull recreational

event Managements to prepare the surface of the fine clay subsoil for the skip to be pulled steadily over it: Removing, to one side, topsoil of about 30cm of plant matter (e.g. stubble) and fine loose clay. Grading and sliding skip over deeper harder drier clay subsoil, into a flat and ‘shiny’ surface Repeated flattening of this with the skip dragged full length before each next competing tractor. Topsoil is replaced annually and cropped, as any minimal damage will repair itself. Some water applied to aid slipping, in the past, was found to not be necessary in the last big drought.

Jeanie Clark, of Warracknabeal, gives permission for her photos and information to be used under a (cc) license 2015

Introducing Warracknabeal’s Aussie Soil Selfies - soils up-close, in use, as we manage their...

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