31. January 2021

    News of January 2021

    “In a higher world it is otherwise, but here below it is to change,

    and to be perfect is to have changed often.”

    St John Henry Newman

    Dear Friends and Family,

     

    Now fully awake and active, nature dictates what is possible as well as the pace at which we get things done. January gave us 337 mm of rain (694 mm rainfall for the season to date). Nature shows how wild she can be, but also how abundant when given the chance. It is a time of growth and the refilling of energy and water-reserves for the lazy months ahead when everything slows down again. It is also a time for learning, as we watch her respond to seasonal factors as well as to management factors. Anybody who learnt to ride a horse at an early age would appreciate what it is like when you are confronted with living forces with wills of their own, that are so much stronger than you. Get it right and all goes well, get it wrong, and you can get yourself into all sorts of strife.

     

    Wishing everybody a safe and productive month ahead.

     

    Best wishes from Kachana

    Photos of the Month

    • After months of dry, hot and often windy weather, Nature is now fully awake
    • Having an ‘eye in the sky’ adds dimension to the complexity we are part of
    • This wet season, the country was given a chance to green up before the heavy showers arrived
    • Flying ants preparing for take-off
    • A kitchen-gecko getting drunk on fermenting mango-juice
    • Have we got a visitor?
    • Sylvia is back after a few months of absence.
    • Sylvia looking much healthier than a year ago
    • Our visitors come in all sizes
    • Mid-January and still no flooding creeks. (Nearly all the rain was captured where it fell.)
    • The same 5-millimeter shower on the 16th January: depending on where it falls, outcomes vary
    • As they lose biodiversity, dysfunctional catchments, export soil faster than they replace it!
    • Another visitor. This time it is a Burton’s Legless Gecko
    • Kachana ponies are small and tough!
    • Nature selects for function, not for fashion: Kachana Happy Beef is one result
    • Sheltered from predators
    • Sheltered from the wet
    • Wet roosters!
    • A break in the rain allows Bec to fly to town
    • Greetings from Kachana!

    News & Views

    Current ruminations on Kachana have to do with the question:

    How do we explain ourselves to the grandchildren?

    (Some of them we may never get to know personally, but we do know that they are the ones who will need to negotiate the ecological, political and cultural landscapes that we leave behind.)

     

    This month, three people in particular added spice to such ruminations. Here they are:

     

    “Faith is not opposed to reason.” Listen to Bishop Barron present at the headquarters of Facebook on "How to Have a Religious Argument" as well as other timeless morsels of wisdom.

     

    Then there are the insights of a man who arguably was ahead of his time. “Small is Beautiful: Economics as if People Mattered” is an inspiring book by E. F. Schumacher.

    Here a link to a movie with E. F. Schumacher shot in Australia just a few months before his death:

    On the Edge of the Forest (1977).

     

    Last, but not least, an evolving perspective of our current times posted by Zach Bush 25th January 2021. Very much pro-science and pro-human health, Zach also keeps an eye on the bigger picture.

    Link of the Month

    In a two-minute video Graeme Hand shares how he harnesses natural processes to build resilience into landscapes.

    Middle level management at work on Neringla:

    Tags: 2021