Farmgirl Nata

Well it's that time of the year again...time for us to get out "old blue" & begin the fun & excitment of tangible preperations for planting (of course Dave's been thinking about it since harvest last year). So after speaking to a few trusted friends (who have been farming for generations) it was decided to plough up all the paddocks that we are considering planting - & this year that's 130 acres worth. Now anyone who has farming experience knows that we have only a little, tiny tractor - this means it takes much longer to accomplish this task than on one of those big, newfangled machines.

We've been going out in any spare time & getting this done - & truthfully Dave's done the bulk share - however I took my turn the other afternoon & worked up about 40 acres worth.

This is me hard at work:

Now if you're wondering about the sheep still in the paddock, well they are our neighbours & we've been adjisting them for a while - he came & moved them the next day - before I finished the paddock.

Anyway, I thought for anyone who hasn't been out on a tractor before I would describe what it's like:

You begin working up the paddocks (or just direct drill sowing as all our "big" neighbours do - if you have 1000's of acres direct drill is definitely the way to go) in autumn, so by this point the air is crisp & the days are cooling down. Our tractor (being so very old) has an open cab - this means that with the movement of the tractor & usually a light breeze, the temperature is invigorating to say the least & as the sun gets lower in the sky it gets downright freezing. Mingling with the cold breeze is the diesel fumes (in fact one of our friends jokes that some of the farmers who are always out in some kind of machinery or trucks are just "diesel sniffers!!!LOL).

This is the view looking directly ahead:

While driving the tractor you have to be constantly checking ahead & behind. It's important to make sure the scarifyer is at the correct level; it hasn't lost any points; that you are ploughing the whole paddock & not missing a strip between the previously ploughed part & the strip you're doing now; & of course that you don't hit anything with any part of the machinery - like a strainer post (ah ha that was last year's mistake - oops).

This is a view behind - the scarifyer (which I think is older than old blue), my hubby checking the level (no he didn't trust me - yes this made me grumpy) - OK he said he was checking the moisture as well :
Now if you're wondering what you do while out on a tractor - I highly recommend you take any chance you get to go out for a few hours (like, um, next year - you can come & plough some paddocks for us LOL). Old blue is old & very, very noisy - so noisy you need to wear earmuffs - this means you cannot have a radio etc going. So it's just you & God. Truthfully, I love these times (although don't tell Dave as he'll send me out all the time) - it is a great time to spend praying - I prayed for everyone & everything that came into my head (yes, a lot of my blog friend were prayed for). I also sing - well actually I sing a lot anyway, so this is kind of expected for me. It also gives you a chance to sit & daydream & as long as you don't hit a fence post or a sheep that's fine!! One of my favourite parts of the particular paddock I was working up is it's view - we live on the a slope & our farm looks down into the valley - here is the view to my right - it just goes on & on until the next rise that is thousands of acres away:

One thing I forgot to mention is the dust - it gets EVERYWHERE. I didn't realise how bad it was (although I'm sure I ate a few kgs!) until I came inside & looked into the mirror:

After double shampoos & a lot of scrubbing it all came off (well as much as possible - if I looked slightly more tanned you know why -just joking!!)

So now we have all the paddocks ploughed we just sit (yeah right) & the wait for rain (again) - we are dryland farmers, so rain is the only way that moisture gets to our paddocks. If only God could tow some of the excess rain up north down here....wait, I'd better let God be God & stop giving Him my ideas!