By Callum Ludwig
A unique display of wares, trades and businesses was out on show at the Wandin Silvan Field Days.
Everything from agribusiness tools, machines and vehicles, cars, pool heating, beds, plants, emergency services and even snakes!
Co-owner of Home Gardening products business Biolink Kevin Beecroft said the Wandin Silvan Field Days were a great opportunity to put themselves out there.
“You can put products out there that are new or a little bit different, that’s where we’ve come into it, with our products are able to use for conventional or organic agriculture. We want agriculture to be sustainable into the future, not only from a nutritional point of view, but we’ve got to be able to have soils here for hundreds and hundreds of years,” he said.
Biolink was founded in the last 10 years by Kevin and his wife Lisa, alongside fellow organic dairy farmers Graham and Melissa Clay to provide a microbial-based range of natural fertilisers, soil stimulants, and animal probiotics.
Yarra Valley Gas owner Michael Alexandrou was also in attendance to proudly showcase the 100 per cent locally owned and operated independent business.
“We buy direct from our suppliers, there’s no more middleman to what we do in order to support locals with LPG, industrial gases, barbecue bottles, bulk bottles, everything,” he said.
“We were first here five to six years ago, unsure what to expect and we got so much out of it to the point two of us are now Committee Members. Tomorrow [Saturday 15 October], we will get absolutely smashed, people are hanging out to get out to every live event. People will come and ask others what they do, we’ve been around since 1975 and I just had a gentleman say he only found out about us in the paper this week.”
Yarra Valley Gas is known in the community for ‘Stanley’, a free portable BBQ trailer loaned out to charity events.
The Ranges Tec College was represented by Maintenance Manager and teaching Assistant Russell Knoll, with a range of plants available that were grown by students.
“We have a farm in Monbulk, where students are involved in the process of propagation, growing cuttings, growing plants by seed, growing them on putting them up fertilisation, learning about spraying, learning about different weeds, and all the processes that are involved in, in horticulture,” he said.
“We also set them up on our work placement to get experience in their field. Ranges Tec was established because we recognised that there was a need within schools to offer a different kind of learning programme, a different way of learning to allow these students to realise their intelligence is much more hands-on and practical, maybe going from someone who doubts themselves to blossoming in a learning environment.”
As well as horticulture, Ranges Tec also offers hospitality, engineering, furniture-making electro-technology and building and construction courses.
Michael Alexander, the founder of Blacksnake Productions, a local wildlife conservation business with an interactive education model, said they are currently the only snake-catchers in the Yarra Ranges.
“We do wildlife conservation education throughout the whole of Victoria. As well as snake catching, we’ve got breeding programmes for endangered species like bandicoots, bettongs, curlews and gliders and work with lots of other species. We have about 400 native animals at our private zoo in East Warburton,” he said.
“Knowledge of snake safety can literally save people’s lives but the most important thing is that we leave them alone. People do all sorts of things to snakes that if you did to a koala for example would cause an uproar, and think it is okay but they are just as important to the environment, probably more of a contribution to the ecosystem than a koala.”
Mr Alexander performed a 40-minute show from 10.30am where he showed and spoke about a range of snakes including a copperhead, tiger snake, red-belly black snake, eastern brown snake and mulga snake. Blacksnake Productions was founded by Mr Alexander in 2006 after he learnt his skills volunteering at Healesville Sanctuary and working at The Australian Reptile Park and Melbourne Zoo.
