Mother Nature looked kindly on the Farm Forestry Field Day at Kanumbra on Sunday 16 May 2021, when the rain stopped for 12 hours, giving just enough time to set things up, hold the field day, then get things packed away before it started raining again. Sixty people attended the Field Day, run by the Murrindindi Climate Network and the Home Creek-Spring Creek Landcare Group, where four speakers (Tony Richardson, Clinton Tepper, John Woodley and Philippa Noble) explained why they got involved in farm forestry, the different objectives for getting involved, how to plan a farm forestry plantation, and how to establish and maintain a farm forest. The talks were rounded off by a description of other benefits of farm trees, at the farming and environmental levels.

After questions from the audience, everyone took a break for some warm drinks to try to warm up a little (thanks for the gluhwein, Rita). Most attendees then joined in a guided walk around part of the forest, and being up close to the trees encouraged a whole new wave of questions and discussion. As darkness approached, the last of the attendees wended their way out of the forest, thinking about lots of things they had never thought of before Sunday.

The audience of sixty was made up of people with some forestry experience and many for whom this was their first sighting of an operational farm forest. Our thanks go to the Mayor of Murrindindi Shire and three Shire councillors and the CEO for attending, as well as Federal Member for Indi Dr Helen Haines. The discussions around the gluhwein pot and on the forest walk showed that the time has come for farm forestry to be considered as an alternative supply of high-quality hardwood and as a generator of carbon offsets to help in the achievement of 2050 Net Zero Emissions targets.

A video has been created of the presentations and the Q&A session, as shown below: