6. Good Organic Gardening - November-December 2016 AvxHome.in

GARDENING FOLK | Sean Morrow
which we can hear only when the ponds have
water in them,” he says.
The frogs provide Sean and his family
with a beautiful orchestra each evening.
“Although we have two dams, there were
hardly any frogs breeding in them when we
first arrived,” says Sean. “Now we have a large
number of different frog species and we see
lizards, snakes and marsupials such as the
antechinus living near and around the ponds.
Frogs and other animals require habitat
around water in order to thrive.”
To create this habitat, Sean builds up the
banks of the dams with rocks and branches,
and leaves piles of mulch for skinks to lay
their eggs in. Perhaps his favourite creature
is the water dragon. “I create ash mounds for
them to breed in,” he says.
Sean happily shares his produce with
birds, bats and possums, which have plenty
of flowers and fruit to feed on as well as
nesting boxes to live in. Sean elaborates,
“When mulberries are in season, we have fig
and cat birds here for 4–6 weeks, depending
on how good the crop is each year; this is
the only time we see them here.” He creates
mounds made of soil and a concrete blend
that excludes cement and covers them with
leaf litter. Pardalotes dig tunnels into these
mounds and lay their eggs to nest in them
over winter.
Sean regularly supplies logs to
the edge of the dam to create
habitat for wildlife
“I came down to
the creek and saw a
platypus in the water.
I knew immediately
this was what I’d
been searching for.”
Luna and Darcy
The eight chooks have a large
enclosure to scratch around in
34 | Good Organic Gardening