Our day started at 7:00am.
By 8:30am “He” had dumped our cassette and we had registered for a dinner we are attending on Saturday.
At 9:00am we were part of a convoy of probably 40 vehicles that left our campsite and headed approximately 30k’s west on the Narrabri Road stopping at a farm property. There we were given the history of the property (the property carries beef cattle and has adopted numerous novel approaches to farming) followed by a tag-a-long tour of the property. A requirement of the tour was a 4WD vehicle and “She” did the driving honours today so that “He” could take pictures. We had to engage 4WD several times including a water crossing and several steep climbs. We spent a couple of hours at the farm and returned to our campsite just after 1:00pm.
We were booked on another tour in the afternoon and were unsure as to what time. We departed our camp at 2:00pm and when we arrived at “The Living Classroom”, it became apparent very quickly that we were an hour early.
The Living Classroom is an area of land that was once part of a “village common”. The land was acquired back several years ago and with Federal, State & Local funding, the area is being transformed into a rural showpiece.
Bingara’s Living Classroom is pivotal to Bingara’s own regeneration. While being situated at the heart of one of Australia’s most productive agricultural and educational regions, Bingara exists on a knife-edge like so many other rural towns.
The Living Classroom is said to be key to the four pillars of Bingara’s future economic prosperity, agribusiness, education, tourism and conferencing. It will create a visually beautiful and natural wonderland which showcases and demonstrate the future and wonder of food from the soil up to paddock, to our plates and then back again. It aims to provide inspiration and know-how for the next generation of farmers and the regeneration of rural communities.
To fulfil this purpose 150 hectares of degraded town Common, located on the outskirts of Bingara are now being regenerated into a highly productive forest of food by combining a wide range of complementary agricultural activities with horticulture, aquaculture and forestry. The synergy between these activities is key to nutrition, productivity, profitability, health and the natural environment.
It is said that this work is an exercise in broad collaboration and integration, being designed and created by the collective efforts of the many participants of the modern food system as well as harnessing the best knowledge from traditional through to scientific and other contemporary farming methods.
Our early arrival allowed us to watch a group of local school students working on a project to create a farm in a two-square metre area. They are tasked with preparing the site (soil selection and how it is mixed with other items), selection of the product to be grown, planting and then the care of the product. This will take place over a 10 week period with the children paying a visit each Wednesday.
We then commenced our formal (3pm) visit and spent just over 1.5 hours looking over the work that has been completed so far. We enjoyed the experience.
We returned to our camp site for a quick happy hour and then cooked our evening meal. We had a quiet night watching television before retiring just before midnight. Whilst the weather is currently remaining fine, we are still experiencing strong winds from the east.