James Rolevink and his wife, Rai, received just under $30,000 to look after vegetation on their Forreston property. That money was a small slice of the $1.3 million paid out to private landowners late last year as part of the State Government's Native Vegetation Heritate Agreement program. James has a legally-binding agreement to look after specified native vegetation and his story is fascinating.

(The image on the show notes for this episode is the Blue Fairy Orchid, taken by James Rolevink).

The SA Drink Of The Week is The Soloist 2021 Shiraz by Coriole, and it does link in nicely with our main topic.

And in the Musical Pilgrimage, we feature the new single "Humble Heart" by West Thebarton, offering a taste of their upcoming album "Mongrel Australia."

Plus a special cheerio to U3A Flinders (University of the Third Age), where Steve spoke recently about 10 years of podcasting. We hear from one "volunteer", Elizabeth Bleby, and we should thank Steve's mum, Yvonne Davis, for lobbying for the talking spot.

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Running Sheet: Protecting Native Plants From Kangaroos In The Adelaide Hills

00:00:00 Intro

Introduction

00:04:38 SA Drink Of The Week

The SA Drink Of The Week this week is the 2021 The Soloist Shiraz from Coriole.

As Steve notes in his tasting, apart from loving this wine, he compares the nature of The Soloist vineyard to the work James is doing on behalf of the native plants he is now custodian of. All will be explained.

00:08:44 James Rolevink

After losing everything in the Cudlee Creek bushfires, James Rolevink and his wife, Rai, bought a property at Forreston in the Adelaide Hills, hoping to start a new chapter in their lives. Well, little did they realise that before too long, the State Government gave them close to $30,000 to look after their garden. Well, that's not exactly the situation. As you're about to hear, James received this money to help his family protect rare and threatened native plants from, among other things, kangaroos. James, welcome to The Adelaide Show podcast.

Before we get into the grant and the plants, I need to ask about Cudlee Creek because I am 100%  sure that I have no idea what it would be like to lose everything in a bushfire. In the hope that it might spur more of us to take our bushfire planning more seriously, what are some of the consequences of the bushfire that took you by surprise, that you didn't foresee?

Today is tipped to reach 40 degrees. How present is the threat of bushfire in your mind?

Our native plants have evolved to regenerate after bushfires, before we talk about them, can you see now that new things were generated within you and Rai as a result of this experience?

Now, I'm told that when you and Rai saw this property, everybody else was looking left while you were looking right. What had caught your eye that the others were missing?

Had you always known about native plants? What prompted your interest?

Something that was counterintuitive when I first heard about your story, was native plants being threatened by kangaroos. To be fair, I suppose we have squeezed roos out of their habitat and we have put lots of paddocks of vegetation into place that helps them breed. Can you talk us through the situation and how it really sent you down the Heritage Agreement rabbit hole, so to speak? Actually, our episode on the History Of Rabbits In Australia is fascinating and worth a listen.

Do any of the native plants on your property bear fruit that can be eaten because then I could say the grant is "money for jam"?

I mentioned the temperature earlier, it's going to hit 40 today. We know native plants cope with bushfires by regenerating afterwards, but how do they get through these boiling days?

Do these plants attract native birds?

They can't protect themselves from kangaroos, what about introduced grazing animals, any luck there?

Did our colder, wetter start to summer impact anything?

What will you be expecting to see develop through autumn and winter?

Any tips for home gardeners in relation to natives?

And if someone in a bushfire zone asked you what is the minimum they could do to get by, safely, what would you recommend?

00:49:44 Musical Pilgrimage

In the Musical Pilgrimage, we feature the new single from West Thebarton, Humble Heart.

West Thebarton is hitting the road this year with its ‘Mongrel Australia’ Album Tour With Guests OK Hotel. The single, Humble Heart, is from their new studio album, Mongrel Australia, which will drop on March 22, 2024.

If you're up for their high octane rock, you'll want to get tickets to see them live at The Gov on Friday, June 21, 2024. Tickets at westthebarton.com.

And good to see the new album, with 11 tracks, was recorded in The Little Smoke© here in Adelaide, and then engineered at Twin Earth Studios, Somerton Park.