Tom Nicholson from Queensland, who we first met at Christine Jones's first Carbon Forum at Armidale, came by on his way to WA. He is writing a book about Carbon Farming He intends to interview many practitioners and experts.

He is to be assisted in his work by our old friend Judy Cooper who is acting as secretary and scribe, because Tom says he is deficient in this regard. Good luck, Tom. Good luck, Judy.


We welcomed John Pashai (L) and John Muller to "Uamby" recently. John P. is an inventor and manufacturer of a pelletised fertiliser called Caliope which we will be trialling in Middle Paddock (one of our worst) to test its application in pastures. John has a farm outside of Gulgong and has dedicated his time to creating this product which has been chosen by the University of Western Sydney as a joint venture development. (Middle Paddock was where we trialled pasture cropping. It has a long history of being cropped which has reduced its soil organic carbon to dramatically low levels.) John Muller is a friend from Collarenabri who represents a group of large landholders interested in selling the soil carbon they are accumulating in their soils due to a change in management (till to no till.)

To the passing motorist there may appear to be feed in this paddock. But looks can be deceptive.
There is a great deal of bare earth that needs to be colonised by weeds which will, in turn, be out competed by grasses. (The process is callled "Sucession". It was described by grassland expert and pioneer Allan Savory. It goes like this: bare earth is usually first colonised by lichens or mosses, then low lying weeds, then deep-rooted weeds, then thistles and burrs, and finally pasture grasses. This is a natural process and can be assisted by the use of animals in concentrated numbers grazing evenly across the space, disturbing and dunging on it, then leaving it to recover. In this way - via a symbiotic relationship between grass and grazing animal - are we ale to restore the health of degraded soils.