farmdoc's blog post number 480

Since 2002 when I started farming, I’ve learnt many pastoral skills. A key one’s fencing. I’m now confident I can put up a fence which meets its two main aims – to keep stock enclosed, and to stay up. I know about strainers, corner posts, tensioning mesh and barb, Gripples, and hanging gates. That’s not to say I know all there is to know; but that I’m a bit more advanced than a beginner. So I latched on to this Landline item about Blaze Aid – the volunteer organisation set up by Kilmore farmer Kevin Butler to help Victoria’s farmers replace the thousands of kilometres of fences destroyed by the early 2009 bushfires. It sounds like fun – each work day starts at 7:30 with a crew breakfast, then the fencing starts. Blaze Aid’s put up about 500km of fence so far, and estimates it’ll take 18 more months to finish the job. That’s a hell of a lot of fence. The 2009 fires were a tragedy in so many ways. But according to the ‘clouds and silver linings’ aphorism, to the extent that they’ve resulted in stronger communities, some good’s come out of the adversity. Because I’m hardly in Victoria at all, I’m unable to volunteer for Blaze Aid. But I think I’d enjoy it – and improve my fencing knowledge and skills too. I hope the fences – both literal and metaphorical – that Blaze Aid builds, stand for decades as a testament to this wonderful community response to a dreadful natural disaster. Good on you, Blaze Aid.