The month of April might only have 30 days but we certainly packed plenty into this year's April at The Mulloon Institute (TMI). Not only did plenty happen but it was "aureate" in many ways. "Aureate" - meaning golden or gilded; but in our case more specifically "splendid or brilliant".

April saw plenty of exposure of what we are about to the broader public through a series of  Mini Field Days. Two were held during the month with a third sneaking into the start of May. All up nearly one hundred people attended with Luke guiding them through our work and achievements. He also had "brilliant" back up support from  Mulloon Creek Natural Farms (MCNF) Farm Manager, Michael Fitzgerald, as well as James Diack from TMI. People came from near and far and the feedback has been really positive.  Our next Field Days will be held after winter.

TMI is also partnering with  Upper Shoalhaven Landcare  in a full day Landscape Resilience Forum to be held in the barn at MCNF's Home Farm on Thursday 30 May. Tickets through Eventbrite. Check our Events page for other upcoming events.

Peter Hazell and Luke Peel attended the Geography Teachers Association of NSW & ACT conference in early April, presenting content for the Sustainable Biomes curricula followed by a hands-on workshop. 

A "splendid" milestone was reached during April and that was the completion of the  Controlled Activity Application (CAA) covering the property "Palerang" within the  Mulloon Community Landscape Rehydration Project (MCLRP). Pete Hazell, Cam Wilson and Bill McAlister did a great job in preparing the comprehensive documentation required by the NSW Office of Water. Pete was taking the landholders,  Ulli and Sue Tuisk, through it before submitting it for approval. The application covers approximately 3kms of creek and 14 structures will be built. We anticipate construction happening in early spring.

Thanks to work of Dr Richard Thackway of VAST Transformations, a baseline assessment has been completed on the vegetation condition within the MCLRP and the Mulloon Creek Catchment. This will allow us to compare the effects of installing leaky weirs to rehydrate soil-landscapes during the project. You can view the VAST report here. 

The other "aureate" milestone completed in early April was Cam Wilson's design work on the demonstration farms  Mulloon Consulting Contracting & Certifying (MCCC) has been commissioned to undertake by the  NQ Dry Tropics NRM. With the completion of the design this project goes to the next phase with construction in due course. The value of Cam's work up in North Queensland has already been proven as an initial structure previously completed survived the incredible floods in the Townsville region. Some very appreciative farmers up north!

And Pete Hazell will be travelling to Central Queensland with MCCC to deliver a two day workshop for the Fitzroy Basin Association providing practical demonstrations of erosion control works to mitigate gully erosion and an introduction to landscape rehydration methods suitable for use in North Queensland. The Fitzroy Basin is the largest water catchment draining into the Great Barrier Reef. 

"Aureate" April finished with another  four day workshop in partnership with  Tarwyn Park Training and as well as being fully subscribed with 18 participants there was an extra "special" student, me! Stuart Andrews has been keen to get me to participate for the full course and I'm so glad I put the time aside. With Stuart, Gwyn Jones, Pete Hazell and Peter Andrews as my teachers I learnt so much. In particular, the practical work out in the field was very rewarding as it was very hands on - even my 30 year career as a surveyor came in handy! While I've known for many years the ability of Peter Andrews to read the landscape and how it works, the four days reinforced so much particularly with the added practical knowledge of Stuart and Gwyn's expertise with plants. I came away saying to myself, even in my sleep,  "Slow the flow; let all plants grow; careful where the animals go; and filter the flow is a must know"- "brilliant". Watch out I'm ready to convince all and sundry that our workshops are a MUST DO!