Summer at Markdale

Accommodation |

The garden | Ecology

Ecology diary | Availability/Enquiries

Activities | Press Reviews

Press/Guest reviews

| About the property

The property |

The history |

1930's Polo |

Directions | Tariffs

Tariffs |

Special events | Food

Food |

Summer at Markdale

In the Garden

Looking down a stone path in the summer In the summer the garden appears as an oasis in a parched landscape, the shade of the elms, cypress, pines and ashes being a relief from the sun at midday.

As well as the water the garden is to some extent a labour of love as the lower level soil is basically shale and clay onto which has been dumped tons of river soil and a thin layer of mulch. Deep rooting trees grow at a slower pace at Markdale and even the water resists the garden as it runs off down the sloping hill.

Flowering over the summer months are the oyster plants, agapanthus, roses, day lillies and lavender.

On The Property

Summer at Markdale runs from December to February with temperatures generally between 25 and 35 degrees centigrade. During the hottest summer days you tend to get up early and go out whilst it is still comparatively cool, spending the hottest part of the day between about 11am and 3pm inside over a long lunch, game of cards, or watching summer cricket. Then going out again in the late afternoon, and taking advantage of the long summer evenings.

Older sheep like the 5 year old wethers (male castrated sheep) are sold for meat in Summer, in recent years at only $15 - $25 per head. These days (1998) you can buy a whole sheep for what it costs for a 'leg of lamb' at the butcher! Or if you want a few hundred have we got a deal for you!

Suprisingly Markdale has an annual rainfall not too different from Europe at 26 inches per annum - but this tends to be much more concentrated and evaporates far quicker in the hotter months of the year.

The property has experienced a number of severe droughts in its history. The most recent was in '97-'98, preceeded by one in 1981 and 1982, and consciousness of the value of water is part of everyday life. Over time an interlocking system of water sources has been built to satisfy the demands of the garden and household which includes the creek, a creek water storage tank and storage dam, rainwater tanks and catchment from the long low roof of the homestead, and finally two 40 foot bores into a local acquifer. With all that water you'd think that summers presented little risk of drought around the house but the green oasis of the 4 1/2 acre garden uses 15,000 gallons of water a day in mid-summer! In 1998 the El Nino-related drought grew so bad before it broke that the whole storage system ran down to just two weeks supply.

Droughts don't just affect the house of course. Young sheep born at the end of winter need a small amount of green rather than dry feed in the summer - often the native kangaroo grass which grows slowly in the summer better than the imported varieties. Then of course there's breeding. Rams are 'joined' or placed with ewes in January for the 5 month gestation period until lambing in late winter. And a happy ram is a ram with a bit of green grass to keep him going.

The summer from January onwards is also the high risk season for bushfires, For most of the summer from January a total fireban operates in the region with much emphasis on local firefighting teams being alert. 1989 saw our last major fire burn through a corner of the property and advance on our Cessna airplane parked on the strip (hastily removed in a quick takeoff as the flames jumped the road and advanced up the strip). In recent years there has been some discussion that fires are a natural process in assisting mature tree growth and so forth.

Markdale contains scattered tree growth - primarily stringybark and box gum - in most paddocks which provides useful shade for stock in the middle of summer. Both species grow best in small clumps and so we will assist tree growth in paddocks basically by fencing off a small area. Initially much grazing land was created by clear-felling, in retrospect a mistake that would be have been much better dealt with by selective felling.

Trees also indicate the type of country around Markdale: box gums occurring in the good country with stringy barks in the less fertile areas. Both are periodically attacked by beetles and mistletoe, in the latter' s case aptly spread by the mistletoe bird. Good country also tends to be associated with granite outcrops with the less fertile country being associated with slate. Quartz appears everywhere with goldmining being an important early activity in the area.

Summer around the dam in the Markdale garden also sees the emergence of red-bellied black snakes which like to live closer to watersources and like the hot weather. However these, like the more poisonous brown snakes are extremely timid and will disappear faster than the person who sees them.

Probably most annoying of all are the summer flies: the small bush flies and less frequently stinging horseflies. Markdale, like most eastern Australian country houses is heavily fortified with flyscreens against them.