Executive Summary

Harcourt Speaks represents the collaboration of a group of local orchardists, farmers, growers and local community who caught up with their neighbours and colleagues to gather photos and stories of strength, cohesion and innovation around the impact of relentless drought and changing climatic conditions. Harcourt Speaks follows the compilation of This Land Speaks - a project that also used photography to tell the stories of some of the farmers and landowners around Baringhup, Walmer, Muckleford and Newstead. The project responds to the need to engage farmers and landowners locally as a way of overcoming an assortment of drought-related challenges. It has enabled the wider community to get to know and hear the voices of these landholders, to whom the re-gion owes a great debt. A book version of both Harcourt Speaks and This Land Speaks can be viewed and downloaded on www.focusoncommunity.org at the Projects link. The Drought Assistance Project was supported by Mount Alexander Shire Council (Project Facilitator, Phillippa Calwell) and the Victorian Government Department of Community Planning and Development. Photography Community Development was provided by Deanna Neville of Focus on Community.

Focus on Community www.focusoncommunity.org

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The Opening of the Harcourt Speaks Exhibition Thursday 15th October, 2009, Harcourt Leisure Centre

This is a marvelous assemblage of photographs. It has been usual to portray a cross-section of the community only through the annual primary school class photos. Here we have the working adults of the community, digitally photographed. In the photographic collection at our Heritage Centre there are quite a few photos of groups at their workplace - the quarries, the Fruit Supply, the fruit packing classes. The earliest photos are two tintypes from the Lang family, one of the Primary School and the other of the Uniting (then known as the Wesleyan) Church, both dated about 1867 . These two photos were taken about 30 years after the first form of photography - the Daguerreotype or sensitized silver covered plates). Now we have digital technology. One iconic photo in the Heritage Centre collection is from the Fruit Growers Conference held in Harcourt 1914. Only two photos survive from this event - old pioneering orchardists standing in front of the Canoe Tree, the other of Harcourt school children at the entrance to the ANA Hall. Back in 1914 the photog-rapher was a bit selective as to what he photographed - there is no photo of the Governor, nor of the delegates, only the pioneers and the children. The photographers in this collection have also been very selective - they have had, as a goal, to make an interesting composition - to ensure the per-spective is just right, to look for an angle formed with fruit bins, or rows of trees or wine barrels. They are interesting-looking, attractive photographs. But, even more, they each have a brief story attached. This is a bonus; many of our older, historic photos lack names and descriptions. Those who have catalogued the photo collection at the Heritage Centre would have been overjoyed to have such a story appended to the old photos. And the stories themselves - what a story they tell. Here is Harcourt, faced with the grim reality of an extended period of drought, so extended that it ap-pears to support those who say that permanently adverse climatic conditions are moving in on our valley. The last such great climate event was the desertification in the USA in the 30’s - the dustbowl, immortalized by Steinbeck in dark writings. Most of us rec-ollect ’Salinity and Rising Water Tables’, a major threat which appears to have retreated. The restrictions on irrigation water in the past three years have been grim news to the local horticultural industry. How our people responded to this grim news is set out in the captions and will speak clearly to the future historians. Throughout the brief captions there are words like “we adapted”, “we were innovative”, “there is always something new to learn” (this from an 81 year old), “new directions chosen”, “resilient”, “optimistic”, and “improving soil health” - these words show that Harcourt’s attitude to climate change has been one of acceptance and adaptation, not just submission and defeat. Here in Harcourt we are clearly not weakly negative - we are not submitting, not bowed down, not crushed. We are accepting, which is a different and more positive attitude, a sort of taking into our lives the disasters that befall us, the situations that distress us, and, on adjusting to our sorrows, we remain at rest in our hearts and minds. We are making the best of it. Congratulations to those who initiated this project and, on behalf of all who view it, I say well done to all who took part. George Milford, Chairman, Harcourt Heritage Committee

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Thanks to project participants

Executive Summary Page i Exhibition launch speech by George Milford ii Index iii Reinhard Goettler 1 Wayne & Heather Rice, Heathway Orchards 1 David Stewart 2 Ada Milley & Prue Walduck, MillDuck B&B and Alpaca Stud 2 Melva & Andy Graham, Woop-Woop 3 Chris Comini, South Ravenswood 3 Hugh & Katie Finlay 4 Dave Chaplin, Orchardist 4 Max Grant 5 Robyn Yeoward 5 John Bauer, Thompson’s Orchard 6 Raymond Rice, Dr Apple 6 Peter Wilkinson 7 Merv Carr 7 Adam Marks and Lynne Jensen, Bress Winery/Cidery 8 John & Valerie Blake 8 Alan & Pam Deumer, Deumer’s Harcourt Valley Orchard 9 Drew Henry, Henry’s of Harcourt 9 Gary Bridgland 10 Gavin Lang, Langdale Orchards 10 George Kyvetos 11 Allan McLean, McLean Bros, Glencoe Orchards 11 Bruce and Jenny Bachmann, Harcourt Hydroponics 12 Ken Pollock, BlackJack Wines 12 Trevor & Kerry Peeler, Peeler’s Family Orchard 13 Ayron Teed, the Garden of Teeden 13 Barbara Livingstone, Kye, Quinn & Aunty Lae, Harcourt Valley Winery 14 Chris Comini, South Ravenswood 14 Key Drought Assistance Numbers 15 Harcourt Community Contacts 16

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Thanks to project workshop participants / photographers

Wendy Chaplin Alan Deumer

Suzanne Dwyer Katie Finlay

Melva Graeme Julie Hough

George Kyvetos Trevor Peeler

Alethea Joy Robertson Aryon Teed

Robyn Yeoward

Thanks for photos from

Thea McKenzie Lauren Peeler Heather Rice

Thanks to project facilitators

Phillippa Calwell, Mount Alexander Shire Council Deanna Neville, Focus on Community

Elizabeth & Eddie, Harcourt General Store

Index

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Realizing just what is important Reinhard Goettler The drought has been challenging at times. Sue and I had to decide that if we didn’t get rain soon, we would have to think about reducing or completely removing all the cattle. It will be extremely disap-pointing as this herd we have been building for the last 40 years. But we decided that we wouldn’t have another Winter of keeping them in condition and most importantly, alive, through the coldest Winters of the last 3 years. Throughout the drought the piggery has been sup-porting the cattle and paying for the feed. Then the price for pigs dropped massively, resulting in me having to return to the baking industry, fulltime in Bendigo. Working fulltime and running the farm means long hours and Sue taking over a major role of managing while I am still baking in Bendigo.

The season of hope Wayne & Heather Rice, Heathway Orchards Wayne is the third generation to run our orchard and has worked here since he was a boy. There have been many set backs predominantly caused by the weather including hail, severe frosts and 10 years of drought. We feel that although we’re not alone in this situation the previous generations never had such an ongoing desperate situation to deal with. They say that with adversity comes strength. But how much strength do you need to endure the ad-versity we suffer through the drought? Costs in-crease year after year yet we have to tend the trees for them, and us, to survive. The costs now far ex-ceed the value and return of the crop. We enter Spring each year and look at the blossom on the trees and dare to dream that maybe ‘this will be the season’. The season of hope. We tend to each

Harcourt Speaks

It also makes you realize that we need to reduce our costs but gain the feed that was top quality but not top price. As grain and the cost of raw material increased, the price for pigs was still dropping. We weren’t receiv-ing the irrigation supply we needed, so producing our own crops was not an option. So with the assistance of my son-in-law Daryl, he sourced and is producing feed for the pigs and cattle. This partnership also provides a new avenue for us and I have started on a new endeavour of sheep herder. We can see how easily the drought can destroy the drive and passion for farming but through all the hardships and struggles, it can show how to make the dollar work harder for us and make us realise just what is so important.

Photo by Trevor Peeler

tree with a chance that we are able to pick the fruits of our labour. But at what cost and what do we have to endure to get to that point? We adapt our watering schedule and tempt the trees with less and less wa-ter each year to stay alive for even a small crop but to at least have a crop so we can forge ahead into the next season. We pray so hard for rain that you begin to feel helpless when it doesn't come. Deci-sions that were once easy to make are now the hardest of all. How much will you be out of pocket, a gamble if it doesn't pay off? You feel as though you are in some kind of limbo - just on hold until the drought breaks. But you need to work through your days as though nothing is going to stop you from getting the fruit at the end of it all.

Photo by Heather Rice

Living the dream

“You can take the girl out of the country, but you can’t take the country out of the girl.” This is true of both of us when we did a ‘tree change’ in 1991, purchasing a rabbit infested 20 acre paddock in Harcourt North. MillDuck now comprises 35 acres having acquired an adjoining 15 acres. We run two small businesses, MillDuck Alpaca Stud & MillDuck StrawBale Bed & Breakfast on our property in Ford Road. We both have part time jobs off the land. Over the years we’ve developed infrastructure including numerous paddocks for the 45 head of alpaca, laneways doubling as drive-ways and paddock access, a dam, shedding and tanks with a holding capacity of 50,000 gallons. The investment in tanks and a 6 meg dam has paid dividends during the prolonged drought.

Where you’re happy David Stewart For me, I was born in Australia but spent most of my time in New Zealand. By comparison there are incredible weather extremes here – you don’t get Spring and Autumn – it just seems either Summer or Winter! I came here at the end of ’99 when it was easy, having 100% water allocation. Then we got 70, 50, 35, then 2 years at 30%. So from plenty of water to under a third of what you originally had is quite a daunting experience. So because of it at Monta-gue’s we’ve had to become more innovative in adapting to the climatic situation that we’re in. Now we catch 60% of our drainage water – every third row on the property has underground drainage and that’s all run now to a sump and pumped back to a holding dam. We’ve put in a bore, we went to the

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extremes of buying Mt Barker solely for the dams. We’ve put up hail netting – that’s for a multitude of purposes; hail, birds and it cuts down water usage. Last year we saved around 20% of our water under the net and we now use a soil wetting agent pumped through our irrigation system. And the bulk of these things have been a matter of, you have to do it to survive. I think it’s called adapting to the circumstances and thinking outside of the square, not relying on traditional systems. I like Harcourt. It’s got some character; the land-scape I s’pose and some really decent people doing the same job. Our boys have grown up here in their formative years and this is their home now. I think for most parents where their children are happy you make a home.

Photo by Alethea Joy Robertson

Whilst having a desire to improve the land, the drought has driven an increased focus on improving the sustainability of the land. Regular soil test are taken with organic fertilizer made specifically for the needs of the soil. This along with rotational grazing has increased the stocking rate per acre. Lucerne hedges provide both wind breaks and fodder during the dry months. Straw mulching is used in the sub-stantial garden planted around the environmentally friendly strawbale house and two Bed and Breakfast accommodation units built in 2000. The house is of a passive solar and energy efficient design to com-pliment the environment. There’s no doubt it has been hard work, but very rewarding – we really are living our dream!

Photo by Julie Hough

Ada Milley & Prue Walduck, MillDuck Strawbale B&B and Alpaca Stud

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From Wildflowers to Woop-Woop Melva & Andy Graham ‘Eight acres with a creek and a dam’. To a couple of Crow Eaters it sounded like an oasis – just the place to try a new venture – growing wildflowers. The block had been cleared of the fruit trees once grown there, and was ready for planting. We had been to seminars on growing wildflowers, and after first building our house and sheds, we had the soil tested and planted 800 banksias, proteas and leu-cadendrons. Two years later our wildflowers suc-cumbed to root-rot and we were back to eight acres once more. We began planting native trees and shrubs while we tried to think of another project. When friends and relatives came to visit our country oasis, they were sceptical of our accounts of the local kanga-roos so Andy ‘created’ a few down by the creek.

A strong commitment Chris Comini, South Ravenswood The involvement of the Comini Family in farming at South Ravenswood began with the arrival of my Great Grandfather in the 1870’s. We have been here continuously since then, my brother and myself be-ing the 4th generation to do so. We produce sheep, cattle and fruit on an area which has expanded greatly from the original block, reflecting the need to work a larger area to remain viable. I am a believer in climate change. The climate and environment of the planet has been changing and evolving since its birth, fortunately for all of us. Dur-ing the last 15 years we have adapted our business to suit the conditions. The use of more supplemen-tary feeding with grain and hay enabled us to main-tain our livestock numbers at levels only marginally below normal. Different arrangements for livestock drinking water have also been necessary.

Harcourt Speaks

We were regarded as truly having ‘a few roos loose in the top paddock’. We lived up to our reputation by adding other such ‘creatures’. Gradually a garden of sculptures and an art gallery depicting Australian colloquialisms began to grow. As the dam and creek dried up, the sculptures and art grew faster than the plants. However, despite the lack of rain, myopic kangaroos, marauding wallabies, hungry rabbits and severe frosts, we managed to raise a veritable bush land and habitat. Because of the drought, Andy has sculpted some interesting ‘plants’ that require no water whatsoever. After nearly 10 years of operation, we have visitors from all over the country. We reckon we’re just the luckiest geezers this side of the Black Stump.

Photo by Robyn Yeoward

Fruit growing, however, has been severely affected. Due to Coliban Water becoming a less reliable sup-plier of water, our fruit growing has been reduced to a trickle. Environmental work has included the planting of many trees over the years, and a strong commit-ment to fire prevention and suppression through a long involvement with Harcourt Fire Brigade. We have also continued an aggressive attack on weeds and pest animals. Despite the challenges of the immediate past and those that lie ahead, I am optimistic about the future. Farming is a great lifestyle and I have enjoyed my 43 years working here. I would not have been as happy doing anything else.

Photo by Trevor Peeler

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Worms and microbes Hugh & Katie Finlay What we really love is the mountain, the view and the soil. It was really nice to come home after many years in Melbourne, and though neither of us ex-pected to become orchardists we’ve really enjoyed it – we’re constantly on a steep learning curve. We started to become certified organic a few years ago, and since the drought we’ve become inter-ested in the potential for the soil to store more wa-ter, when you start composting and encouraging worms and microbes to do their thing. We’ve only been doing it for a few years, but we are getting some good results and can grow a crop on a frac-tion of the water we used to use.

From trailers and horses to tractors Dave Chaplin, Orchardist I have lived here since 1932. The first cool store was built in 1954. The best part of the job is that there is always something new to learn, to advance with the times, from trailers and horses to tractors. We have moved from picking fruit in cases and now its bulk bins and fork lifts do all the heavy lifting. A bit different to picking up a case of fruit and putting it back on the trailer and then taking it off the trailer, putting it on a pellet and wheeling into the cool store and stacking it up high. The worst part of my job was not getting paid enough for what I did. Always. But we all accepted what we got. We have been very fortunate with hail

Harcourt orchardists have always been innovative – that’s why we have such a long history of growing apples here, and such a good reputation for our fruit quality. Improving our soil so that it can store more water may be one of the innovations that helps to maintain this district as a fruit growing area, despite the reduced rainfall that climate change seems to have brought us. It’s hard work, and there’s always something going wrong, but we love it and still feel really passionate about the farm. We’re glad we brought our kids up here.

Photo by Alan Deumer

storms. Some had 10 years out of 10 where we had 1 year in 10. Fortunately we’re in this end of the valley and it never attacked us very much. I remember my first drought in ‘37-‘38, that was a two year drought and that was pretty hard on fruit growing in this area. A neighbour and my dad dug a well down here. 32 feet they went down to get water and when they got there the water was that hard. This is the worst drought I have ever seen. Well, 12 years ago we had 60 or 70 acres of fruit, now that would be reduced by 15 acres. We’re not getting enough water, that’s for sure.

Photo by Wendy Chaplin

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A battle with the drought Max Grant After years working for Frank Bertuch I purchased this property growing apples and pears. Early days proved a struggle with resources limited and labour a problem with lack of funds to employ staff. My son Gary decided he would like to join me on the land. We purchased another 12 acres of orchard and so the battle began. We managed to update our irrigation system with poly piping and microjets which made life a lot easier. Knowing what varieties to plant became a lottery but we managed to keep our heads above water by working long hours.

From trees to books Robyn Yeoward My dream was always to live on a farm. Although I was brought up in Melbourne both my parents had strong farming connections. In 1999 I purchased ‘Orchard View Farm’ at Harcourt North. Overnight my life changed and I became the owner of six hundred mature apple trees. I love this place, its rocky slopes, paddocks, sheds, trees and clean air. Here I had space to write and paint. Living here has meant juggling casual relief teaching with run-ning the farm and orchard. I also had a herd of Welsh Black Cattle and a mixed herd of crossbreed Angora, Cashmere and Anglo Nubian Goats for their beautiful fleece.

The last few years have become a battle of wits with a limited water supply which is essential to fruit growing. It has proved to be easier to grow grape hyacinths than fruit as they don’t seem to mind the lack of water. Our battle with the drought could nearly be over as I have retired and Gary, along with elder son Peter, have opened the Bike Vault in Castlemaine. And push bikes don’t need water!

Photo of Lois Grant by Ayron Teed

Since 2004 I have experienced the increasing effects of the drought on my farm. I’ve watched my apple trees die and the pasture turn to dust. I had my wa-ter allocation reduced and then withdrawn totally. My somewhat erratic, idyllic lifestyle has changed as I have had to rethink about how to stay on the farm. Ironically, (without the orchard) I can now further my interests in poetry and literature and am currently studying professional writing and editing. I have also turned the old apple packing shed into a studio. This I let to Marie, a visual arts student from Latrobe Uni-versity. Like me, she is inspired by the local land-scape and small farm animals which share our home environment. I’d like to think there is a book or two to write now, based on the farm; one for her and one for me.

Photo by Suzanne Dwyer

Improvisation and diversity Raymond Rice, Dr Apple I’m Harcourt born and bred and my family has been here on the land for 3 generations. I left school at 14 and worked in the family apple orchard and I’ve been working with the land for over 40 years. It’s not all good soil on this property; being old gold country there’s a lot of sandstone quartz. I found I’ve had to compete with Mother Nature, understand her and overcome the difficulties when trying to produce. I love the feeling of dirt under my nails and have an affinity with the soil. It’s a great feeling to make dirt produce more than you think it is capable of and amazing what you can achieve in this area with wa-ter! During the tough times frost and hail have had a devastating effect and I’ve had to find outside work to supplement my income. I have worked polishing Harcourt granite and for 21 years my wife and I ran the Harcourt servo and raised 4 kids, but farming is in my blood and flows in my veins.

A bloody great place to grow apples John Bauer, Thompson’s Orchard About 21 years ago I got into the apple industry – it’s been in the background from when my mother packed for the European market. My father got into the pine industry, making the packing boxes. And as a kid I’d do a bit of work on orchards during school holidays, riding my bike over from Barkers Creek. I’ve seen a fair bit of change over the years, the whole industry has changed to fit the bill of the su-permarkets. Previously we were growing fruit with minimal pruning, getting a larger crop which didn’t have to be a particular size and colour. Now super-markets have taken on the need for 3 specific sizes of fruit and up to supermarket specifications for colour.

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So we have to work scientifically to meet this de-mand – bud swell, cell division, and measuring the water around the tree roots at the right time which dictates the crop load. The weather conditions play a huge part and you can alter this with irrigation. But with a dry Spring you’re right behind the 8 ball. Ma-jority of the work is done in the Spring time – by us and by the tree, and it’s the toughest time on the tree. The rest of the season you can only tough it out, as best you can. I guess I get pretty passionate about what I do. I find it tough that such good productive land is getting cut up like it is. Sure it’s a good place to live, but it’s a bloody great place to grow apples.

Photo by Alethea Joy Robertson

About 5 years ago, to make a few extra bob I started a hobby making apple juice. We started off supplying a few friends and before long we had businesses ringing us wanting our product, which forced us into learning a whole new business! I select my fruit from a local packing shed and I set aside one evening a week to produce between 120-200 litres of juice depending on orders. It’s done the old fashioned way using the cold pressed method. It’s all about improvi-sation and diversity living on the land. All I do is sell Harcourt, but Harcourt sells itself.

Photo by Julie Hough

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Challenges and stepping stones Peter Wilkinson I was born here. I left here for 20 years and came back to run my father’s farm. As a youth my father kept cattle and sheep, and I continued this on, and juggled a small road transport business. I moved back here with my wife Vicki, daughter and son. Our son has left home and is working in hospitality. You are always tied to a farm. The garden, which my mother kept going with water from the Harcourt Channel, has been dying. Vicki is planting water-wise plants as there’s not enough water to use in the house. I had to buy water in and we will be do-ing that again this year. Before the drought we always used to breed fat lambs. It was the only way of making money be-cause of the drop in prices for wool and Merino sheep, but without allocation water to plant summer

Creeks that ran in Summer Merv Carr The drought of the 1980’s was quite different to the current long term rainfall shortage. Reduced water allocation had been virtually unknown in my time as an orchardist, which began about 1957. Irrigation was via a head race along the top of the orchard, delivering water to a furrow on each side of the row of trees. A fair amount of experience was needed to judge the flow down each furrow, which was usually regulated by the placement of rocks in the head race to divert water into the furrow. The aim was to get the water to the bottom of the row in about 12 hours, and then reduce it for another 12 hours. A lot of wa-ter was wasted in this process, but water was con-sidered to be low value, and high volume use was encouraged by the Water Commission.

feed, we stopped. There’s uncertainty all the time now. Things will change and one day we won’t have a choice whether to leave or not. People keep saying it will rain, but they have been saying that for 10 years now. You wonder when it’s going to go back to normal. I believe in positive thinking but when it just goes on and on, it becomes another stepping stone that you have to deal with, and then gather up and have another go.” Living here, in such a beautiful area, we have free-dom, space, and a sense of achievement. The lifestyle has been wonderful - the kids have been able to learn to drive cars and motor bikes on the farm. They’ve had animals too. The dog, Dick, can tell if he’ll get a walk just by the clothes I put on in the morning.

Photo by Robyn Yeoward

The original irrigation permits had no limit placed on the volume used. All the local creeks normally ran in Summer due to the excess water draining from the orchards. I recall the only way to save water in the drought was to reduce seepage from the head race, so I replaced it with long tubes of black plastic that Marce and I sewed on the home sewing machine. Nothing was easy in those days. The concept of delivering water to each tree indi-vidually was quite new, and was only possible with the availability of cheap poly pipe. Research was done to show growers that it was not necessary to water the entire area of tree roots to get satisfac-tory results. No drippers were available, and the water was delivered to the tree via a plastic ‘spaghetti’ with the flow regulated by the length of the spaghetti related to the water pressure – it was a rather complex system to set up.

Photo of Merv & Howard Carr by Katie Finlay

Loving the lifestyle John & Valerie Blake We began growing proteas and native plants 25 years ago on less than a hectare in Castlemaine after reading a book on ‘Growing Proteas for Profit’. In 1996 we then purchased our property in Harcourt, part of Mt Alexander. We selected the property for the fertile, good draining soil and also being above the frost line, all of which contributed to producing top quality produce. Our aim was to grow Australian natives and proteas for the local and export markets. We had storage capacity to hold enough water with the annual rainfall and working on past rainfall averages; all things looked promising for a productive enterprise. Our local and export markets became established. The prospects looked good for a comfortable but hard working lifestyle.

I’m originally from Melbourne but have connections with Fryerstown and Castlemaine. I‘ve been in-volved in the wine industry for 20 years, traveled abroad observing methods of wine production using bio-dynamic farm methods and I now have an aver-sion to conventional farming methods and artificial fertilizers. My wife Lynne and I purchased this prop-erty in Harcourt 5 years ago and set about re-establishing it as a winery and cidery. It was seri-ously run-down and we knew that the 33 megalitre entitlement of water would become a thing of the past. The soil was extremely poor so we set about improving soil health through building organic matter and soil microbial activity with worm introduction. 30 to 40 tons of compost is made each year from or-ganic matter including grape

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skins and apple pulp and as a result of the idyllic conditions we’ve successfully achieved a 5 red star rating for our wine from James Halliday. I also set about establishing a market garden to provide fresh produce for our restaurant. There is an amazing array of culinary delights in the Harcourt valley - I get olives locally from a 65 year old olive grove at the foot of Mount Alexander for our olive oil. Old quince trees growing wild provide fruit, we breed our own chooks and buy fresh lamb up the road, so it’s all fully integrated! The property was intended as a lifestyle change but it’s become a viable business supporting the sur-rounding district. We love living in the Harcourt area, the beautiful simplistic view down the valley extend-ing to the sheer beauty of Mount Alexander are second to none!

Photo by Julie Hough

Second to none Adam Marks and Lynne Jensen, Bress Winery/Cidery

Over the last 6 years with declining rainfall and re-ducing dam levels drip irrigation was no longer pos-sible. We decided not to replace any plants lost to the dry. The last 4 years with lower than average rainfall, hot and dry Summers, has contributed to a considerable plant loss. The plantation depends now on the rainfall, also we cut the grass continually as mulch to retain any moisture. For John it’s a 360 degree return back to his home town where he was born. We love Harcourt. We love the lifestyle.

Photo by George Kyvetos

Bring on the cider Drew Henry, Henry’s of Harcourt The drought has not been a major issue for us be-cause we have changed our operation from growing fruit for the market to making apple cider. We also purchased extra water over the years so we have been able to get by on the 30% priority allocations. We recently took advantage of the Irrigation Man-agement Grant to make our irrigation as efficient as it can be. Long-term climate change will be more of an issue for us. Warmer winters will begin to affect fruit set and I believe that we are beginning to see this in some of our older cider apple varieties. Also, we cannot plan for the extremely hot weather in sum-mer. No matter how good your irrigation is apples just cannot grow in these conditions. Another side 9 Harcourt Speaks

After working for my parents for 13 years on their orchard prior to their retirement in 1996, it seemed like the right decision that my wife and I would buy the orchard from them. The promise of good pros-pects and lifestyle was very appealing and the hope that good years of producing would see us finan-cially secure for years to come. Little did we know... We have had the worst drought on record, water restrictions for most of our years on the orchard. We have had frosts which have totally ruined our crop twice and caused damage every other year except for maybe two seasons. Our marketing had disap-peared by 2001 after the interstate carrier retired, one of the local carriers retired and the other carrier ceased operation after the local coolstore fire. And this year we closed our roadside fruit shop, which

had been operating for more than 40 years, due to the freeway bypass. There are some good things though … our family life has improved since the closure of the shop. Our weekends and school holidays are now free and we can do stuff with our kids, much to their delight. Besides from growing and selling apples and pears we have also continued to make our apple and pear juices. The main outlet for selling our produce now is delivering to households and businesses in the Woodend, Romsey and Macedon areas, which I really enjoy doing. The people are all really lovely and most have become friends over the years. I think my future in the apple industry will be ex-panding my deliveries, possibly in new areas.

Photo by Alan Deumer

The family life

Alan & Pam Deumer, Deumer’s Harcourt Valley Orchard

effect of drought has been the increase in problems with parrots and kangaroos causing extensive dam-age to crops. Permanent netting can mitigate some of the problems, but at $50,000 per hectare, we can-not justify the capital cost. The move into cider-making was a really positive step for us. Small-scale orchardists cannot compete on the open market, they need to rely on niche mar-kets or as in our case, value adding. It also means that we can get full value for the less than perfect fruit that we have grown under the difficult drought conditions. The market for cider is expanding rapidly to the point where we can now support two families from our small business.

Photo by Robyn Yeoward

Life couldn’t bee sweeter Gary Bridgland A carpenter and registered builder, I had no idea that I’d get a bee in my bonnet to become an apia-rist. I had never had anything to do with bees until 9 years ago when I built a house in Chewton for a beekeeper. He was always talking about his hobby and asked me if I was interested in bees. I said, “no, not really.” However, after I had finished building the house, he brought a box of bees to our place one Sunday and said “here’s your first hive of bees.” I became passionate about beekeeping and eventu-ally gave up building. You could say I got ‘high on honey.’ My carpentry skills are useful in making my own hives, and my business skills are useful in mar-keting my honey and bee pollination. I enjoy selling my honey at 3 district markets.

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I did not realize until I became an apiarist that bees were so important. Over 90 percent of the world’s plants rely on insect and animal pollinators for fertili-zation and reproduction, the bees are the most im-portant. We have a variety of eucalypts in the Har-court area which provide pollen and nectar, but like all areas affected by drought, the supply has dimin-ished in recent years. This has meant traveling greater distances to find food supplies. There is no sweeter music than the hum of a hive, no more tantalizing aroma than that of fresh honey-comb and no more delicious taste than honey – the nectar of the gods!

Photo by Melva Graeme

Proud of our heritage Gavin Lang, Langdale Orchards I returned to the family farm 12 years ago after at-tending school and working in Melbourne from 1980. I returned with my wife and 2 children as the country life was where I wanted to raise my family. The last 10 years have been tough from a farming perspec-tive, with freeways being built through some of our land and the drought making growing fruit a struggle. Low water allocations and the threat of overseas imports have postponed plans to expand production, forcing us to find other markets for our products. We now sell a portion of our production at local farmers’ markets which are all on weekends, putting a strain

on leisure time. However, it has been rewarding to be able to talk to our customers as they are inter-ested and concerned about life on the land. Through all this I now look at how my family have thrived in this environment and I know we made the right decision to be the sixth generation to grow ap-ples on this patch of dirt. I am very proud of our heri-tage, established in 1858 and the fact that a small family business can survive under such abnormal conditions. It’s been raining all last week and it’s what we all needed to put smiles back on people’s faces.

Photo by Wendy Chaplin

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Changing the old ways

Allan McLean, McLean Bros, Glencoe Orchards I have lived in Harcourt al of my life. My great, great grandfather, Hugh Pope McLean, left Scotland in 1864 to come to the Mt Alexander goldfields. He went on to purchase land and planted an apple or-chard. The McLean family now have been growing apples in Harcourt for 5 generations. In recent times we have had to turn our business virtually on its head because of economic pressures, drought and changes in the apple industry. We real-ized that we had many large trees of older varieties that required high inputs of labour and other high costs with low returns. We planned to remove older blocks as the new ones came into production. This

George Kyvetos My family migrated from Zakynthos, Greece, in 1965. We lived in Essendon for 6 years where I was born. In 1971 my father bought this property in Har-court. I went to Harcourt Primary School then Castle-maine High and Technical College. 1978 my family bought Castlemaine Fruit Supply. I left school in 1984 and started working on the or-chard. In 1990 the family bought the 12 acre block next door. That’s when I decided to get serious about orcharding, with a lot of help and advice from other orchardists. In 1992 we started planting a new orchard with new varieties then the next few years we bulldozed a few more old blocks. In the past all the orchard was furrow irrigated, a lot of hard work and wasted water. By 1997 all the orchard was irri-gated by a drip system, how easy it is to water!

In 2002, after family discussions, we made the deci-sion that instead of planting more apples why not try stone fruit to sell directly through our business, which we do today as ‘Uncle George’s Fruit’. The last 6 years our water allocation kept decreasing so again we had to do something to make our water allocation last until mid-June. We don’t seem to get any Autumn rain the last few years either. Watering during the cooler hours has helped which meant early mornings and late nights. Over the past 3-4 years the orchards have survived with over 60% less water. Harcourt is a beautiful place with beautiful people. I have learned a lot about orcharding – there is still a lot to learn.

Photo by Wendy Chaplin

was complicated by the lack of rainfall in the past few years. We found that we did not have enough water to grow all of our orchards so we had to remove quite a few blocks before we really wanted to, but in hindsight it was the right thing to do. We now have a lot of new orchard and plan to plant more as soon as water is available. To cope with the lack of water we have had to change many old ways of doing things. We water our trees daily in short bursts instead of flooding the place as in the past. We pay much more attention to tree nutrition, keeping the grass cut short and the tree line weed free. Trying to keep things go-ing through the drought has been a real challenge and I must acknowledge that our staff, family and my wife Sharee have been a great help. I enjoy living and running the company in the Harcourt Valley. I think Harcourt has a lot going for it and is a great place to raise a family.

Photo by George Kyvetos

Harcourt: A beautiful place with beautiful people

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What a change

We moved to our small intensive farm in 2000. Both of us gave up good careers and incomes for the farming lifestyle: What a change. Advice from farm-ing parents was “make sure there is enough water”. The first year there was water everywhere, but then it progressively dried up. Ever since then it has been one big emotional rol-lercoaster, every year we discuss giving up, but feel that we have put so much heart, soul, and money into the place that we couldn’t. However, more positively, the drought has made us more resilient and tested us as individuals against things we cannot change. Drought has forced us to make some dramatic changes and focus on produc-tion with less water, this innovation has come to

considerable expense and further increases our debt. We constantly wonder if it is all worthwhile and can we ever unshackle ourselves from our debt – we believe so as there are plenty of opportunities. At the end of the day there is always someone worse of than ourselves. We have our family, our health and a certain farming lifestyle. We can see our pre-schoolers in the middle of the day and have lunch with them as a family and tea with our children, unlike many families. We know that we have achieved something when we see our product in the local shops and supermarkets and when the locals tell us how much they love our tomatoes. This all helps to make it worthwhile.

Photo by Trevor Peeler

Second to none Ken Pollock, BlackJack Wines Growing up in Gunbower, my weekends and school holidays were largely spent working on farms, which was probably why I’ve always had a wish to continue working on the land. A developing enjoyment and appreciation of wine cemented this desire to own some land and produce fine wine. With my business partner Ian McKenzie, over 18 months was spent looking for the ideal piece of land to plant a vineyard. We finally found it in Harcourt, and planted the vines on what was once an apple and pear orchard. That was 21 years ago, and in that time we’ve experienced many of the joys and despairs of life on the land! Our practices have changed with the effects of higher

temperatures and prolonged drought. We now find that harvest time is 4-5 weeks earlier than our tradi-tional late April/May picking time, so while we once picked in jumpers and beanies, now it is t-shirts and sunscreen weather! We are also finding that all the varieties are ripening within a week of each other, rather than a month. This is a cruel irony; as we are getting older and slower, the pace at vintage time is definitely speedier! We’ve adjusted our practices in other ways; we use gypsum blocks and data loggers to measure the soil moisture, the reduced watering is now done at night, we mulch under the vines and we prune harder than previously to reduce the crop the vines need to ripen. With ongoing sustainable practices, viticulture in the Harcourt Valley has a great future.

Photo by Thea McKenzie

Bruce and Jenny Bachmann, Harcourt Hydroponics

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Life is good in Harcourt Ayron Teed, the Garden of Teeden We knew we had found our little bit of heaven about 30 years ago. It stretched to the top of the hill. It had a patch of granite rocks, magnificent old trees, a creek with water in it, good soil and historical links with Harcourt in the early days. An exciting place for five children to run – just as free as their imagi-nation. The Garden of Teeden. That’s what one of them named it. And it is. The garden has grown with fond memories of all the friends who have contributed plants, of trees that were planted when we first came, of a son who couldn’t swim but sent hours ‘boating’ on the dam.

A rural community connection Trevor & Kerry Peeler, Peeler’s Family Orchard With the birth of my first grandchild that’s now the 8th generation of our family to live in this district. My family first settled here turning the soil in search of gold to make a living and presently I am still turning the soil in horticulture to make a living. And I enjoy the connection we have in a rural community living with friendly like minded people. I have worked in the fruit industry all my life and really have few regrets. My only real regret is the long hours a farmer must work at times which has robbed me of time with my wife and three daughters. There is always work that should be done that’s directly related to farm income, productivity and farm

debt. The despair a farmer can feel with ongoing debt can only be felt if you’ve experience it and I take my hat off to anyone who takes on farming as an occupa-tion. During the last 10 years of record breaking drought this task has been even more difficult, but we have been lucky and have adapted. Farmers have a better understanding of climate change because they work so close to nature, they see the changes occur-ring. The general population doesn’t seem to take climate change seriously but we are certainly adapting here. Farmers see life at many levels and now marketing, research and development are major factors. I see the world’s increasing population as a bigger issue than climate change as all farmers know that their farm is only so productive and so is this planet. In the mean-time I just hope my wife Kerry and I can grow old to-gether still wandering around our farm where our chil-dren and grandchildren will visit regularly.

Photo by Lauren Peeler

The farm produced top quality black angus calves, and food for ‘Horse’ and ‘Spare Horse’. Then came the Freeway. Just a change of direction and the Garden of Teeden remains our little bit of heaven. The freeway through the middle meant no more cattle. We are aging! So instead of Harcourt apples we planted a Harcourt box-ironbark forest Only a small one. But an exciting place for a host of young grandchildren to run, just as free as their imaginations, too.

Photo by Alan Deumer

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Music in the vines

Why wouldn’t you purchase a winery when the big-gest passion in your life is good wine? After working in Melbourne for 20 years it was time for our tree-change. Of course, it had to be a location with mountains and a heart and soul. Harcourt Valley Vineyards was perfect. It have us a home for our boundless energy, it gave our 2 sons a huge back-yard and it gave John a wonderful outlet for his pas-sion for wine. It also gave us a sense of community and many wonderful friendships. The drought has had a large impact on our vineyard. Our 30% allocation stretches our water to the limit. It means getting up at midnight to change the blocks and it’s worry, worry, worry. Are we going to get the rain to see us through? The garden has suffered and I will be thinking more about drought tolerant plants this year.

With the passing of John in 2004 times have changed dramatically at the winery. Our 2 sons, Kye and Quinn, are now our partners. Kye has taken on the role of marketing, and Quinn has thrown himself into the wine-making under the watchful eye of Adam at Bress Winery – the community at work. Despite the drought and the Calder By-Pass the win-ery is doing exceptionally well and has been claiming a multitude of awards on the wine circuit. We are all so very proud of our small family business and to the continuation of the wine industry in our region.

Photo by Ayron Teed

A strong commitment Chris Comini, South Ravenswood The involvement of the Comini Family in farming at South Ravenswood began with the arrival of my Great Grandfather in the 1870’s. We have been here continuously since then, my brother and myself be-ing the 4th generation to do so. We produce sheep, cattle and fruit on an area which has expanded greatly from the original block, reflecting the need to work a larger area to remain viable. I am a believer in climate change. The climate and environment of the planet has been changing and evolving since its birth, fortunately for all of us. Dur-ing the last 15 years we have adapted our business to suit the conditions. The use of more supplemen-tary feeding with grain and hay enabled us to

maintain our livestock numbers at levels only margin-ally below normal. Different arrangements for live-stock drinking water have also been necessary. Fruit growing, however, has been severely affected. Due to Coliban Water becoming a less reliable supplier of water, our fruit growing has been reduced to a trickle. Environmental work has included the planting of many trees over the years, and a strong commitment to fire prevention and suppression through a long involvement with Harcourt Fire Brigade. We have also continued an aggressive attack on weeds and pest animals. Despite the challenges of the immediate past and those that lie ahead, I am optimistic about the future. Farming is a great lifestyle and I have enjoyed my 43 years working here. I would not have been as happy doing anything else.

Photo by Trevor Peeler

Barbara Livingstone, Kye, Quinn & Aunty Lae, Harcourt Valley Winery

Centrelink

Exceptional Circumstances Assistance 132 316 Rural Services Officer 5430 5941 Social Worker 5430 5820 North Central Rural Financial Counselling Service Assessing farm/business finances 5468 7499 0409 189 018 Drought options, referral to relevant services 5442 2424 Small business support 5450 3285 0447 506 401 Department of Primary Industries 13 61 86 Small farm information & support 5430 4451 Drought management 5430 4670 Animal health and welfare 5421 1717 Counselling Services – CHIRP Individual, family, drug & alcohol 5479 1000 Division of General Practice 5443 9577 0419 320 770

Centacare – Bendigo 5438 1346 Salvation Army Drought line - Peta Pittaway 5442 7889 0418 570 406 Bendigo Uniting Care Outreach Ruth Hosking 5443 3485 Crisis Contacts Mental Health Assistance (24 hr ) 1300 363 408 Lifeline (24 hr) 131 114 Mount Alexander Shire Council 5471 1700

Key Drought Assistance Numbers

Harcourt Speaks exhibition launch - 15th October 2009, Harcourt Leisure Centre

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Harcourt Community Contacts

Harcourt Valley Community Website www.harcourt.vic.au

Harcourt & District Fruit Growers Association

Contact: Katie Finlay, Secretary kfinlay@mafg.com.au, 0409 706 784

Harcourt After the Bypass Reference Group

Secretary: Sally Morris, Economic Development Officer Mount Alexander Shire Council

s.morris@mountalexander.vic.gov.au

Taste of Gold Association Mt Alexander Trail

Contact: Jill Collier, Colliers Chocolates collierschocolates@mmnet.com.au

Harcourt Applefest

President: Garry Holmes, M: 0418 525 696 PO Box 56 Harcourt VIC 3453

Harcourt & District Lions Club PO Box 100, Harcourt 3453

Harcourt Valley Heritage Centre

Address: ANA Hall, High St, Harcourt Contact: 5474 2426

Harcourt CWA

Secretary: Ayron Teed, T: 5474 2415 Meets 1.30pm, 1st Thursday of each month, Harcourt Leisure Centre. All are welcome.

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