Frogs in the Mandala

 It was the fulfillment of a vision.... I could hardly believe it when I saw him, especially given that it was a 40 degree day. How could that little moist skinned fellow exist under such scorching heat even under the shade  of a particularly big Radicchio lettuce.....

 When we first dreamed of having mandala gardens at Peace Farm we were inspired by the idea of  a complete system combining seasonal crops, perrenial fruit trees and chicken tractors dancing in a rotational cycle with the seasons.

The Mandala Gardens began as a bare patch of ground.

At the centre of this great swirling, like the planets around the sun, was to be a pond. An intrinsic element to this permaculture design, the pond has many functions. It acts as a heat sink to stabilize temperatures as they fluctuate between day and night. It can also cool and moisten the environment as warm winds evaporate the water as they pass over the pond's surface.

The introduction of the pond brought the element of water to the garden.

What I love most however is that these ponds become home to lizards and frogs who feast on the slugs, snails, grubs and grasshoppers and whatever else takes their fancy. In the wonderful synchronicity that is the Mandala System, it just so happens that these are precisely the critters that we want to discourage.

The chook tractor is another key element of the Mandala garden.

 The three ponds' construction was completed in late spring. By then the frogs were done mating and their season's eggs had already become tadpoles so there would be no frogs in our ponds this season, unless we could get some from elsewhere.
It just so happened that whilst visiting a neighbour I was delighted to noticed their tadpole laden pond by the front entrance which they were more than happy for me to dip into. I happily headed home with a couple of glad bags sloshing at the end of my handle bars.

This is how the Mandalas look today. A veritable Garden of Eden!

I introduced them into the pond and watched them mature over the following weeks and then.......they disappeared.

I imagined that if any had survived the hot pond conditions (Not enough tall plants for shade around the pond yet) they would've headed for the larger dam down the hill and resigned myself to trying again next year to establish a frog haven, until..........

Just two days ago I was pulling up some bolted lettuces from the central pond garden to feed to the cows when this pale little fellow leapt out from under the green foliage. I believe he is a brown tree frog, a species common to southern Victoria. 

Look who was hiding under the giant Radicchio lettuce!

He represents to me the emergence of a complete eco-system that not only supports and sustains our nutritional needs but is also a home to unknown quantities of wild creatures living above, within and below the foliage. Through their contribution in harmony with all of the other elements of this eco-system it is becoming an environment of growing inspiration.

Author: Murray