Star Weekly is taking a look back at 2023. Here’s one of our biggest stories from last year.
As Moorabool settles into autumn, about 100,000 sunflowers have turned Bolwarrah Springs farm into a “carpet of yellow”.
Agronomist and farmer Stuart Grigg said that his family-run farm is a “unique” set up that “challenges the norm in the region”.
He said the farms major focus is around sustainable vegetable production, “trying to produce high yielding crops with as little impact on the environment as possible”.
This involves work around integrated pest management – working with nature to reduce the need for pesticides, and using mixed species cover crops on a five year rotation.
The mixed species crop helps promote soil and plant health, this year the farm’s crop consists of rye grass, beetroot, peas, safflower and sunflowers.
Mr Grigg said sunflowers are a “vigorous grower with a deep root system for recycling soil nutrients, and also adding a high amount of organic matter to the soil.
“This year the sunflowers have taken over so we thought we’d open it up and share a bit of sunshine and put some smiles on the faces of the public,” he said.
The sunflowers will only be open to the public for a short time, information can be found on the Bolwarrah Springs Facebook page.
Details: www.facebook.com/BolwarrahSprings/
