Looking back on July
This is a round-up of our social media posts from July 2022. This collection is for those who don’t spend much time on Facebook or Instagram, and apologies to those who have already seen these. (Please do click on the gallery photos to see them in full size!):
A sun-baking mantid, hot pink and purple plants, frosty mornings and rainbows, an Australian Shelduck on our wetland and getting rid of Cruel Vine. Plus, a visit from the Food Next Door farmers!
Apricity is the warmth of the sun in winter. Found this little guy, a mantid, soaking it up! Look at all those dew drops ...
And our very own not-so-giant earthworm. Back in January, an entirely new type of earthworm was described from arid Broken Hill, and named Aridulodrilus. Measuring 1.5m long it is a huge worm! (but not as long as the 3m long Giant Gippsland Earthworm). My guy was only 20cm long but I live in hope!
We are absolutely honoured that Food Next Door is considering using our ex-irrigation paddock. Food Next Door matches under-utilised farmland with landless farmers to support small-scale regenerative farming. Their goal is to relieve the distress suffered by newly arrived migrants and refugee groups. "Nurturing land, nourishing people". Love it. We are so excited that Jane, Joselyne and Joel thought that our paddock would be suitable. Can't wait!!
I love the deep purple and hot pink of this native succulent (Sarcozona praecox). The plants really color up in winter. The purple is probably due to increased production of anthocyanins (protective pigment) at the expense of the green, photosynthetic pigment chlorophyll.
Dog on a frosty morning ... You can't beat the clear, crisp winter mornings in the Mallee. Jazz the Hungarian Vizsla reckons it's a bit cold on her belly. Better when the sun comes out! And the rainbows.
I didn't expect to see this in the orange trees adjoining Raakajlim! It's a weed called Moth Plant or Cruel Vine (Araujia sericifera).
Each of these pods contains about 300 seeds that float about in the wind on little bits of white fluff. We first noticed fluff everywhere and thought it was a huge, native Bush Banana (Marsdenia australis) releasing seed. Sadly not. Why is it called Cruel Vine? Because the flowers have little hooks inside them that trap butterflies and moths by their proboscis (tongue), holding them until they die... seriously. But also in the bag of tricks: smothers and kills other plants, has white, latex sap that's a skin irritant and is toxic to animals.
So I cut and painted the stems with herbicide, collected all the pods and double bagged them for disposal. I suspect I'll be revisiting the neighbour's orange trees for a few years yet before I'm rid of this one ...
Australian Shelduck
The wet weather continues to entice new species to Raakajlim, our conservation property in the northwest Victorian Mallee. Phil calls Australian Shelducks "Honkers". This one is a female.