Uniting Earthweb

Fri  8th May to Mon 11th May  2009

Initiated by Dr Miriam Pepper of Uniting Earthweb (Uniting Church ecology network) and ARRCC (Australian Religious Response to Climate Change).

A visit in two parts:

(1)  Fri evening 8/5/09 and Sat 9/5/09 organised through the Sisters of Mercy, Sister Pat and Sister Patricia of Rahamim Ecological Learning Community, 34 Busby St Bathurst,  contact "at" rahamim.org.au

AIM :  To find out about the work done at Rahamim.  Ecological awareness.  Relationship building with people in Bathurst and surrounding areas.

(2)  Sat evening 9th May to Mon 11th May organised through Ross Neville (Consultant for Rural Evangelism & Mission) and Kel Hodge (Rural Chaplain) of the Uniting Church, to farms in the Canowindra area, and Fr Tim Cahill, Parish Priest at Wellington, to farms in that area.

AIM :   To learn from farmers who are endeavouring to use ecologically responsible principles in agriculture.  To understand issues facing NSW farmers.

Participants:

From Sydney: Miriam Pepper, Jonathan Inkpin, Thea Omerod, Nola Stewart

From Canberra:  Diana and Noel Haberecht

BATHURST

Stayed at Rahamim.  Wonderful hospitality from the sisters and volunteers there.  A dinner on the Friday evening, with a dozen or so from churches in the Bathurst area present.  Between courses, heard from three speakers:

1. Jonathan Inkpin, General Secretary of the NSW Ecumenical Council.  Spoke on

- living at peace with the aboriginal community and with those of other faiths.

- UK churches seeking to engage youth.  Projects in the UK where church people and community youth worked together to re-introduce otters along a river, clean up a quarry leaching pollutants into water etc.

-  caring for the whole of Creation.

2.  Miriam Pepper  Maroubra Junction Uniting Church, 'Project Greenchurch', Uniting Earthweb, ARRCC

Miriam began by acknowledging the Wiradjuri people, and paying respects to their elders.

-  explained the work of ARRCC as wide-ranging, multi-faith (e.g. with Hindu Council of Aust.), connected with the community, maintaining links with environmental groups like Greenpeace, FOE

-  spoke of engagement in green initiatives such as encouraging improved energy efficiency of Church buildings

-  described participation in political activity such as CC rally for (among other asks) 100% renewable energy by 2020-  sees the current global situation as a crisis in spiritual relationship with the whole cosmos.

3.  Thea Omerod   President of ARRCC.  Thea spoke briefly to say she

- was involved with Fair Trade, poverty and justice issues but now is also concerned with CC

- noted that the Vatican aims to become Carbon neutral by 2012.

4. Fr Tim Cahill   After Dinner, Fr Tim Cahill spoke of

- the need for restoration of whole of Creation

- work of Catholic Earth Care Australia, and made available some of their resources

- said people in the country are living their faith e.g. through the management of CMAs.

He then taught a couple of group dances to the entire (very disparate) group quite successfully.

On Saturday 9/5/09, participated in a "Caring for Creation" event at Rahamim, 10 am - 4 pm, with others from Bathurst area.

1. Jonathan Inkpin (name means "the people who live around the base of the hill")

- showed powerpoint presentation of aboriginal smoking ceremony on Central Coast (a lament and purification event)

- spoke of work in NE of UK with David Bellamy and others

- sees justice as a relationship that includes the land.  In the Bible, when people don't care for the land, they suffer.  When they don't care for each other (injustice), the land suffers.

- alienation has occurred because for 'people' we substitute 'individualism', for 'land' we substitute 'property'.

- World Council of Churches (WCC) has been working on Climate Change (CC) since 1990

- Statement from the Pacific Conference of Churches: "We ask the churches to help their members to rediscover Christian values of self-restraint and asceticism (=simplicity of lifestyle) and to propagate these values

- are sending Pacific delegates to Copenhagen ('Pacific Calling')

- spoke of ecological initiatives and programmes in Aust. and US.

2. Miriam Pepper shared what various churches etc., are doing, e.g.

- Terrigal UC has built a bush chapel, done eco footprint calculations to reduce impact

- suggestion that church members reduce carbon footprint for Lent, donate money saved.

- people can reduce energy use, do an energy audit, switch to GreenPower, use PV electricity, solar hot water

- a Buddhist centre chose wood, not concrete and steel for built structure to save on energy use

- a Moslem centre chose cold ablutions instead of warm water for a time.

- other initiatives such as car sharing, recycling, sharing in Earth Hour, Clean Up Australia Day etc in the churches.

3. Sr Patricia spoke of

- deep need of ecological 'conversion' from attitudes such as 'property ours to exploit' and 'humans versus the rest of nature'

- be open to the science.  See ourselves in the context of geological time - billions of years

- relate new knowledge to religious context

A DVD was shown with astronomical and evolutionary references, together with reflections that these scientific themes are awe-inspiring

- support education of the wider community along these lines

- political action for change.

4.  Sr Pat  outlined the work done at Rahamim, with the help of 'work for the dole', volunteers and programmes for prisoners.  Construction of raised garden beds.  Construction of moveable chook house and chook run.  Contours to direct water flow,  Excavation of old water storage facility, collection of rainwater from roof.

A map of the grounds was provided and a visitors' self-guided tour using this map ended the day.

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At 5pm our group left Rahamim and drove via Orange, where we had tea, to Wellington.  We stayed overnight at accommodation provided by the Parish Priest, Fr Tim Cahill.  

Our aim was to talk to farmers over the next couple of days.

Sunday 10th May

1. John  After Mass next door on Sunday morning, a farmer from the congregation, who only knew we were from Sydney, began talking about his farming experience.  He could recall, starting from 1947, which was a good year for rain at Wellington, what the rain, or lack of it, had been like year by year since that time and what they had grown on their farm as a result.  Without prompting, he said that the land had gradually been drying out in the time since then.

2. Nigel  Fr Tim directed us to Yeoval, where we met Ross Neville (UC) and last year's 'Farmer of the Year', Nigel Kerin. After an informative talk, Nigel drove us around some of his sheep paddocks on the back of his truck.

- Nigel has learnt and applies 'holistic farming'.  Believes in investing in education for employees and in always employing someone smarter than yourself.

- sees himself as a 'grass farmer'.

- has improved pastures, not with fertilisers and chemicals, but by growing a mix with more native grasses which are adapted to that area.

- Uses “cell grazing” method - allows sheep to use a paddock for a day, then moves them on the next, so that paddock is rested for 120 days before it has sheep on it again.  Grass is not eaten right down.  Sheep tend to leave saplings alone, in favour of other food.  Soil isn't compacted, so when rain comes it is not lost as runoff but soaks into soil and run-off is minimal.

- avoids over-grazing, which leads to weeds thriving, which then would require chemicals

- Dams tend to be empty after rain because water soaks into the soil and promotes growth of pasture.  This reduces loss by evaporation, also contamination of  dam water by stock.

- uses a two strand electric fence for paddocks and a one strand electric tape which can be driven over as a gate.  Minimal use of materials but effective containment of sheep.  Less opening and closing of gates.  Sheep need little encouragement to transfer to new paddock as food is better - minimal labour involved.

- to sow desirable species of grasses, puts a tin of the seed into sheep feed, sheep eat the feed, seeds pass through gut and are deposited in droppings, then buried by dung beetles to the ideal depth, then coming up in the paddock

- Leaves water troughs empty when not in use, removing bung when sheep leave paddock - helps control kangaroo numbers, is hygienic

- sells stock on the basis of a 'worst case scenario', i.e. predicts carrying capacity on the basis of receiving no rainfall in the next couple of weeks.  De-stocks selling healthy animals to that amount and if rain falls, new growth goes to his 'grass bank' and he can take in animals from further west which may be in poorer condition and are bought at a lower price.

- has bred a type of sheep that does not need mulesing.  These breeds have been around for some years but Nigel now has both meat-producing sheep - 'Dorpers' from S. Africa crossed with 'Finns' from Scandinavia -, which lose their hair by moulting, and wool-producing merinos bred not to need mulesing.

- Keeps a flock of 'feral' sheep where rams are not separated from ewes so breeding occurs year round, disengaging from practice of forebears who, due to the cold winters in the UK, made sure lambing occurred in spring time.  Not as necessary here.  Lambs born any time.

- keeps a chart with an overview of what is happening and on which he can make predictions about selling stock.

- His business (land holdings) is expanding but he needs little in the way of heavy farm machinery.

- Says rainfall has been undiminished at 24 inches per annum but that when it falls has become less predictable.

3.  Dennis  Late in the afternoon, made our way with Fr Tim to Elong and met Dennis O'Leary, wife Marg, who had prepared an excellent afternoon tea, and 3 of the grandchildren.  Dennis talked about the family and farming history (family has been in area over 100 years) and showed us a map of the property divided into numbered paddocks. He uses a cell grazing method similar to the Kerins.  He runs a 'finishing off' farm for cattle trucked in from places as far afield as the NT.  The farm has held an organic certification since 1989.  The family is now working on expanding their markets into Asia.  He has hydroponic set-ups to raise barley seedlings for extra protein to be fed to the cattle.

Dennis then drove us on the truck to nearby paddocks.  He uses electric fencing powered by small solar panels, about 30 cm square, and drive-over electric 'gates'.  He doesn't over-graze, uses mainly native grasses and the soil is well aerated as a result  He pointed out the difference in appearance with a bare paddock in a neighbouring property, where he said the soil had lost texture, was 'dead' and compacted.

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Two left the group on Sunday night (Jonathan and Thea) to return to Sydney and two joined us on the Monday at Canowindra (Di and Noel Haberecht from Canberra).

Monday 11th May

We had morning tea at the Canowindra Uniting Church, and heard two UC itinerant pastors, Ross Neville and Kel Hodge, speak of their work amongst rural people who, on the whole, do not consider Climate Change to be a big issue because a rise of a few degrees , as they see it, is nothing compared with the seasonal variations and temperature fluctuations which come through the year.  Climate is more variable but they trust in the Dept of Ag and genetic breeding to come up with new varieties which, for example, need only 25 frosts instead of 33 for proper germination.  Rural communities have problems world-wide with migration to cities, which is hard on families and farming communities. (For example,  over 4 million of the 7 million people in NSW live in Sydney.)  As rural populations drop, local services are closed and the people must travel further to main centres.

Both Ross and Kel spoke of the support needed by rural people through major changes such as decisions to change from one crop, e.g. rice, to another due to water problems or the loss of rural workers to city jobs.   

We then continued with our farm tour.

4. Richard    A short way out of town is the organic farm of "Rosnay", run by Richard and Florence Statham.  They raise grapes for wine, olives and some figs.  The farm is one of a number of farms held under “community title” - 12 lots of 25 acres, with 7 owners, and is the equivalent of a rural strata title in that individual properties can be sold.  We had a talk by another of the participating farmers, who is also a DECC officer, Andrew ("Woollie") Wooldrich, who spoke of salinity, its causes and solutions.  In using and re-using the little water available, we are increasing the salinity of the land through 'salt loading'.  In removing native trees, we get rising water tables and with that comes salt.  Salt loading through irrigation caused the demise of ancient civilisations such as the Sumerians and we are doing the same at a more rapid rate.  Solutions include:

- don't over-water (raises water table and hence salinity)

- do mulch (reduces evaporation)

- in some places, planting trees is right answer, in others it is grasses

Explained biodynamic farming as encouraging the right kinds of soil microbes.  It is also organic - no pesticides or chemicals. Method of Rudolf Steiner, using compost and 'compost teas' to enrich soil with microbes.

Agrees with "Small is Beautiful" principle.  Has a belief that, 'for every complex problem there is a simple solution - and it's wrong!'

Ask right question, e.g. 'What uses lots of water?' then don't grow it.  Use drip irrigation on vines.

Richard believes the strength of the farm lies in the ongoing consultation in which the community on the farm engages, together with the wide ranges of ages (4 generations of Richard's family live on the farm) and range of life experiences.

5.  David  At Cudal near Orange is the 3000 acre farm belonging to David Harrison (a former bank manager) and his wife Jan; a mixed farm raising crops such as canola and also sheep. Initiatives include using solar panels to pump water from the dam to storage on a hill (low maintenance), whilst monitoring salinity at the base of the hill, trying not to burn off stubble and direct drilling so as not to disturb soil too much when planting seed.  Otherwise, the farm uses a lot of expensive heavy machinery required for sowing and harvesting but this is currently also used also by two of David's sons farming their part of the property.

David also took us to his local Cranbury Uniting Church and then back to their homestead for afternoon tea.

The group then headed home.

Many thanks are due to Miriam Pepper for arranging the weekend, to The Sisters of Mercy Pat and Patricia at Rahamim, Bathurst, to Ross Neville and Kel Hodge of the Uniting Church and to Fr Tim Cahill of Wellington for making this a successful, enjoyable and informative weekend and also especially to the farmers who gave up their time to pass on their experiences and knowledge: John, Nigel, Dennis, Richard and David.  Also to "Woollie" from DECC.

See the Rural Chaplains' blog at http://ruralchaplains.blogspot.com/2009/05/new-way.html for Kel Hodge's comments on the visit.

See the Board of Mission's work in NSW at http://nsw.uca.org.au/bom/Rural.html.