If there is one thing that I really hate it is people dumping their rubbish in the forest. Unfortunately, it seems to happen all too often. A mattress dumped and lying beside the fire trail in the forest or a whole trailer load of junk up-ended in the beautiful bush. Bits of plastic and paper and old toys and who knows what else. Rubbish bags full. Torn open by animals. Old furniture. Car parts. People transport this junk into the forest and leave it here. Today I am wandering through the goldfields at Happy Valley, Victoria.   Around me everywhere are diggings - signs of considerable ind ..read more

I love this sign. Makes me laugh. It is a warning sign regarding the deer in Nara, Japan. A delightful place to spend a day. Wander up along a lovely road and into a large parked area of some 660 hectares. At the far end is a temple/shrine and all along the way are Sika deer. I can report that I saw zero deer attacks whilst I was there. Nara is in the lower middle of Japan. It is a tourist hotspot. Designated as a “natural treasure” (according to Japan-guide.com). We all came here to see the town that is home to deer - the “messengers of the gods”. The Shinto gods that is. They are everywhere ..read more

In search of adventure, the walking crew minus the one who flew north for the winter, headed out to the forest today. We parked in a new spot and wandered off the track through a valley, then up a little hill into an area where we’ve never explored before. This is an area that had a controlled burn a few years back and has regenerated considerably. The first thing I noticed was a little shrub that I don’t recall ever seeing before. It looks like a kind of banksia with white flowers. Very small. I stopped to take a photograph and was completely entranced. When I raised my head I realized w ..read more

Every few days the dogs and I go exploring in the forest. We are fortunate to be surrounded by forest in every direction. There are many destination choices and, even after years, we are always discovering new places. A couple of times a week we walk as part of our regular walking group but sometimes it’s just us. The other day the crew walked seven kilometres, just ambling along. Going in any direction. We found a long fence-line and a lot of kangaroo trails and then a small river and a steep rock face. Monty wanted to scamper down it so that he could have a swim but the management team said ..read more

I was about 15 minutes late this morning walking down the hill with the canine crew plus one, that being Mitzy the cat. The horses were waiting for me. Just out the front of the house. The crew and I took a slight detour so as to avoid the horses as sometimes they get a little boisterous. We wandered down and along the fenceline and rambled towards the feed area. Towards the end of the journey we met the horses. Seeing that a couple of the horses were showing some interest in Mitzy I ran over and picked her up just to make sure she was safe. Jasper my big gray horse took up a position at my el ..read more

On a recent trip to Japan one of the things that really struck me was the absence of visible animal life. This was the case, not just in the big cities like Tokyo, but also rurally. I saw not one cow, horse, sheep, goat nor any other critter. I saw no wild beasts although heard stories of hunters catching bear and deer (to eat). One day I saw 6 black birds. In Tokyo and Yokohama (a large city just below Tokyo) there was the occasional dog. Rarely walking on its own legs. Usually in a pusher - which I can only assume was made for purpose - replete with blankets and cushions. The dog was always ..read more

Zetor - Czech made - post-WW2 tractor. The Zetor tractor was great for a while but it had its limitations. In order to get the hale bales down from the top of the pile of three I had to climb up and tie a rope around the top bale and attach the end to the tractor. Then, after, screaming at the dogs to get out of the way, I would reverse the tractor. At a bit of a distance. Pulling the bales off and out. Then I could pick up the bale with the forks on the front of the tractor. Out to the paddock and feed the hay out to the hungry beasts. It had its moments. Excitement as Monty narrowly missed ..read more

Now that I had livestock on my farm, cattle and then horses, I discovered that at certain times of the year there wasn’t enough food on the ground. In winter and in the dry months of summer the pasture would not grow or dry off. I had studied Agriculture. I should have known this. This meant buying hay. In bulk. By the semi-trailer load. Initially I kept the hay in a small yard. Covered it with a large tarp. Kept the rain off it. Unfortunately it didn’t keep the cattle out. One day they broke into the yard and absolutely decimated the neat piles of hay, ruining it. It was an expensive mistake ..read more

One of my favourite things is fungi. I am a ‘fungilover’. I have come very late to the love of fungi. Fungi is everywhere. When you starting looking around you will be amazed at what you see in the fungi world. This is a photo blog of some of my fungi finds. The above group of toadstools are on a pile of horse pooh. Fungi are one of the most important elements of our ecosystems. They are decomposers, feeding on rotting material, converting it to usable substances. Into nutrients and other elements which then become available to plants. Typical fungi - and fungi that most people recognise, l ..read more

I spoke in an earlier blog about the influence my dad had on me in my love for nature and the bush and being outdoors. I want to chat a little further about dad. There were three main elements to my father (if I can put it in that rather clumsy way). He was an intensely devoted family man. Family was so very important to him. Apart from family his Christian faith was his cornerstone. He was a ‘Believer’ for the whole of his life. The third aspect was his adoration of ‘country’. And it is this aspect with which I resonate. He loved and needed to be outside. In his garden or any garden or at the ..read more