From Weedy Forests to Grassy Woodlands tells the story of a communityled permaculture initiative to mitigate forest fire risk using goats and hand tools rather than herbicides, heavy machinery, and burnoffs. On the edge of Daylesford, a town on Dja Dja Wurrung country in Victoria, Australia prone to massive bush fires, a small group of communityminded folk have pulled together to work towards restoring the ecology of their commons forest – in order to stop the future need for controlled burnoffs by the local fire authority.

Burnoffs keep the township safe from outofcontrol fires, but they hinder the forest’s ability to regenerate, and thus cannot provide the environment necessary for the diversity of insects, birds and animals that are necessary in a healthy forest on a healthy planet. Restoring the forest also allows for traditional indigenous burns to take place, as the danger created by flammable nonnative species has been reduced.

The work being done by the Goathand Cooperative is not only showing stunning results on the forest floor, it’s having much broader effects: the forest’s wildlife is thriving, the goats are healthy and happy, but in addition neighbours previously dubious about the project have come on board, so that new and strong community connections are being made. And as one Cooperative member says in the film, an important reconnection is also being made with nature. “We haven’t always been trammellers of land,” says Patrick Jones. This connection to the soil and to the forest is, he believes, “our way back to sanity”.

From Weedy Forests to Grassy Woodlands offers inspiration to anyone looking for ways to regenerate their own or a commons forest, anyone feeling the urgency of mitigating the potential disasters of forest fires in the most natural way possible, anyone in a locality and position to use goats for that purpose, and just anyone seeking reconnection to the earth that created and sustains us!

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https://goathand.blogspot.com/

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** Film credits **
Directed and written by Jordan Osmond
Story feedback by Antoinette Wilson & Nick Tucker
Cinematography by Jordan Osmond
Editing, colour grading and sound mix by Jordan Osmond
Additional footage by Michal Krawczyk vimeo.com/earthcare & Patrick Jones.
Intro song 'Walking bare' by Anthony Petrucci: https://anthonypetrucci.bandcamp.com/...

** Thanks! **
Thank you to our wonderful Patreon supporters: Filip Zeman, Greg & Rachel Hart, Carolyn Gillum, Brian Newton, Emma Savage, Lauren, Susan Hunsberger, Danielle Klein, Al√™ Franco, Klyti Green, Kirti Patel, Kelly Milikins, Tabitha Bristow, Gabriel Moreno, Vijayalakshmi, Nathan Kitchen, Alex Muir, Geoffrey Torkington, Tiitus Laine, Cicely Jette Stewart, Mehron Kugler, Rex & Jo, Brett Davidson, Jess O’Shea, Tony Schaufelberger, Sankar Madhavan, Pierre Blom, Moana Kiff, Namaste Foundation, William B. Everett, Ron Hastie, David, Melissa Tripodi, Kate Hall.