Challenging

Farming tests you physically, intellectually, spiritually and always emotionally. 

Not a day goes by where I get away with just using my brain. Muscles are a must on a farm. If you don't have them, you soon build them. There has been many a joke about needing to use my 'man muscles'. It can be utterly infuriating as a woman on a farm. There are days when I have to wait for a male to help me do something, only to find they can do it by themselves. It's not just muscle though, it's stamina. We've had loads of young, fit, and strong people come through the farm. They just don't make it through a whole day of farm work day in, day out because they don't have the stamina. You become battle hardened to long days that leave you dog tired and bone weary. 

There are intellectual challenges in everything. Laws of physics apply to fencing, building gates and sheds, lifting heavy items with a loader. Math equations are in every element of measuring materials, dosing animals, assessing seed or chemical rates. Chemistry lessons are in the fertiliser components and the chemical make ups. Biology tutorials are in makeshift autopsies, in learning how to keep an animal healthy, in keeping worm burdens down and understanding their ecosystem along with the ecosystem of the farm. Farmers are just frustrated engineers, we prop things up that should really fall down, we build new things that last for tens of years and we run million dollar businesses in the middle of nowhere. 

Farming tests you spiritually as well. I'm not a religious person but I can't help noticing the beauty in nature or the natural balance in everything. I also can't help noticing the pain some natural systems inflict on animals or ecosystems. Through all of this there are days when I wonder if it's all someone else's plan or if evolution is what it is and we just keep finding new ways to survive. We may never know. 

Farming always taxes you emotionally in some way, at some point. It also uplifts you, every single day. Some people aren't cut out for the days when it taxes you. Today is one of those days. Last year it was a fly wave that kept hitting the sheep harder and harder that broke me. I couldn't keep chasing animals down on a bike to treat the maggots crawling over them, eating them alive,  and hope that I wouldn't find them dead the next day. Today, it's knowing that the weaners were put into a lovely paddock, thick with feed, only to find the grass seeds have stuck in their eyes and turned some of them blind in a matter of days. This also means they can't find the water point in the paddock, which wears them down until they just can't hold onto life anymore. Seeing animals that I care for as my own in a state like that tears me up inside, it's like being hit by lightning. My emotions explode within me, splintering in every direction. Then I gather the pieces and I tend to the animals as best I can because I love them, and I love what I do, and I will never let the pain I feel rank higher than their wellbeing. The day my wellbeing is placed above my animals wellbeing will be the day I quit farming, because I won't be caring for those animals the way they deserve to be. 

Undoubtedly I am lifted higher by farming than I'm ever pulled down by it. Drought, deaths, frost, hail, fire.. The list of 'taxes' goes on. I take all of that because the joy of farming, of lambs, of beautiful crops, of being immersed in nature will always lift me higher. 

Mistakes of Young, Knowledge of Old

Well... It's been an immense gap between my last post and this one. For those of you who followed the blog avidly, I apologise; life has a funny way of getting in the way of things we intended to do. 

In that time the Facebook page has had many a photo added to it, but I feel that the written word has an undervalued power, and so it's back to writing (when I have time for it!). Please forgive me while I get back into producing informative yet enjoyable blogs and I do hope you enjoy hearing of my antics and the photos will still be added to the Facebook page too. 

Today has been one of those Friday's where things gain a little clarity. Clarity from a UHF call informing me the top dresser and tractor are bogged to the moment when we finally beat the laws of physics with brute horse power. 

I learn from my father on the farm, as many family farms would relate to. It's only on the days when he's not around (today) that I realise just how much information is in his head. Not necessarily because he's a genius, but because he's done it before, and learnt from it in his younger years whilst being open to innovations and adapting to technology. Today it became clear that a) I'm incredibly lucky to be able to learn from him in this safe and challenging workplace and b) that I can't fear making mistakes my father has made 10's of years ago. He did it once and the only way to learn is by making that mistake for myself. It also crosses my mind that there's an optimal balance between having knowledge imparted to you and learning it first hand. It's safe to say I discovered a few things I'll never do today that had my father simply told me not to, may not have sunk in quite so well (if you'll excuse the blogging pun). 

Again I find myself marvelling at how much science, common sense and satisfaction in accomplishment can be learnt or found within a farm. The physics of tractors and gravity in wet areas, the chemistry of why we apply lime to a cropping paddock, the common sense in drain placement and muddling through the fundamentals of the sciences to realise why the tractor isn't shifting yet. 

I love farming because there are physical challenges that I learn from every single day. I love farming because it's a different way to learn, a book only tells you so much. Needless to say, every farmer knows the value of a carton of beer - the price of every mistake that warrants your neighbours tractor. ;) 

Unsung Heroes

Small country towns don't have the luxury of huge fire fighting departments. The town itself is supplied with fire fighting capabilities by volunteers. Drive 50 kms to the edge of the shire and take a look at the stubbles, the bush, the roadsides... It's all fuel at Mother Nature's fingertips. When those summer storms hit, more often than not, they're full of lightning and thunder, and the rain doesn't always show up. How do we stop a fire that sends up black plumes of smoke that can be seen from kilometres away? Through the selfless actions of the surrounding neighbours. We don't see the neighbours very often, they actually live 5-15 kms away in most cases. When that smoke signal goes up, they're there.

They commit and they don't stop fighting until it's under control. The wives, mothers, grandparents or children rustle through the pantry and get food together for these selfless people because that smoke signal leaves no time for preparation. You jump in the ute and you go, which is why all fire units are prepped at all times in Summer. A full tank of water, a serviced pump, a full fuel tank - preparation is key if containing this is going to be possible. 

Once they've held it at bay, so begins the 'mop up'. As many units as possible make light work as you grid the fire and 'black out' anything smoking, smouldering or still burning. 

Many a tank of water is drawn from the dam by a fast fill pump that can fill a 1,000 litre tank in less than a minute. Not to mention the behind the scenes volunteers coordinating the attack. These people are manning radios and phones to get enough units, bulldozers, loaders and any other resources required on the scene as quickly as possible. These fires are monitored for days for any flare ups, as is the rest of the country side. Lightning strikes can smoulder for days and flare up in the heat a few days later. Vigilant eyes are something we are taught from a very young age. 

Without these volunteers our properties and many a home would have been lost over the years. We thank you. 

The Age Of Information

It is with a heavy heart that I write this post. Once again the internet has 'wowed' me with how a search engine operates. I am not going to cite a particular organisation or event as I am not trying to promote any particular side of an argument. I am not attempting to put a sugar coated spin on anything. I am not attempting to sway your opinion with emotional arguments about the fact that exporting sheep is a part of my livelihood and without it I could not be a farmer living life on the land that I love. 

Whether you are someone who skim reads posts, whether you are someone who reads a newspaper from cover to cover, whether you are someone who only reads further on the internet if the picture captures your interest - all I ask of you is to research a little further. In this day and age, properly (and improperly) written articles can be completely biased and submitted into the cyber world freely. This is the age of information, it is freely available and anyone can submit it. With that thought in mind, please take a second to realise that websites do not always have to report all the facts - there is no legal obligation for them to look at both sides. There is no governing body that dictates what is allowed to be written, and what is not.

I write this with full understanding of the fact that I myself am biased in a certain direction. However, if my pointing out that sometimes you need to search for all sides of the story in this era of information overload leads someone to discover that perhaps what has been portrayed as the truth is not the whole truth, then I have achieved my goal. 

So, if nothing else, please remember that no person’s truth is the same. It is not necessarily fact that you are reading on the internet, it is more likely to be a truth derived from certain beliefs. Just as religion is interpreted in a multitude of ways, so too are individual events. We need to remember to look at all the truths surrounding an event - not one alone. Try searching different organisations to do with your event; those that support your views, those that oppose your views, and those that provide governing rules surrounding the event. Each of these will provide information based upon their beliefs, and only when we are furnished with all the facts can we then decide upon our own truth. 

Keeping Up Appearances

Life on the Land often means living a fair distance from friends and family. I'm very thankful that some of my extended family live mere kilometres away (it makes Christmas time a breeze)! However, my dearest friends are, at the very nearest, an hour and three quarters drive away. The furthest being over 2,000 kms away! 

When I say keeping up appearances, I mean setting aside a day purely for driving to a friends house and catching up with them. It's incredibly easy to go on living and breathing farming without stopping to socialise. As a young person, that can get very hard on you. 

So I'm used to the fact that I clean my ute only to have it covered in gravel 'slurry' in seconds flat. I'm used to driving a 370 km round trip to see my best friend. I'm used to going to jump in the ute, only to find the weaners have walked into the house yard and need pushing back to their paddock before I can leave. I'm used to watching for kangaroos as dusk hits on the way home, and feeling relieved that I have a bull bar. I'm also used to running errands on these trips for the farm too. 

What's the moral of my story? When you're isolated and your work is 24/7, as opposed to 9 til 5, it's important to keep in touch with your loved ones. Without their support the toll of living your work can become too much. 

Oh and here's a happy puppy for good measure ;)

Rolling Landscapes

I'm always interested in the way soil types change, the way a landscape can instantly close off or open out because of the change in vegetation. When I'm home on the farm it's harder to document or observe as the land is cleared. Up here on the station it's very visible, there are clear changes in the scrub lines, rocky outcrops are bare and the coastal plains are wide open rolling spaces. This got me to thinking about a sequence of photos that depict these changes. As I learn the different kinds of vegetation and the names of the soil types I'll try and update this post. For now, I hope you enjoy some scenery from what is technically the Kimberley. (The station land on the south of the Great Northern Highway is in the Pilbara, the northern section is in the Kimberley!) 

A North-West Moment

*I'm afraid I don't feel confident enough with all the operations here at the station to give you concrete information on how and why we do everything. As I learn all the reasons for what we do I'll keep you updated but for now I hope you enjoy understanding why when I wake up in the morning there is a smile on my face; regardless of how long or hard the day ahead is.

The door slides back as my foot hits the mildly warm rippled decking. So used to the feeling of cold floorboards underfoot she wriggles her toes slightly. She breathes deeply and laughs to herself as the humidity provides her with a drink as well. Unlike home this is a place where warmth and moisture envelops you constantly. She smiles as it hugs her with warm arms instead of cold fingers clutching at her. She listens to the chirrups and twitters of the bird life around her. The world seems alive and thriving, the grass seems to sing beneath the dewy morning. The sky reigns with deep blue and twinkling stars in the west, and in the east it is lit from beneath. The fiery reds morph into brilliant honey yellows, the clouds mix the palette into sultry purples as the light ripples it's way through a rainbow of hues. Not a breath of wind stirs yet all the noises can be heard, as clear as a bell they reach into her soul and she smiles.

She may miss home, she may miss the cool of the mornings and the slight warmth at mid-day, but there is nothing she does not love about this place. Here she can run free in shorts and singlets, she can befriend the curious Brahman calf, she can drive for fifty kilometres and still be on the same property. This is a home of another variety, this is a home of red dirt, of green kooch grass sneaking it's way across soft white sand dunes. This is a place where the soul lightens with each sunset it sees, a place where strength is admired and ingenuity an essential tool. She can wake to hear the beach being pounded by surf, sweat in the heat all day long and come home to a cool drink and many a laugh.