Wednesday, March 26, 2008

To everything there is a season.
When you live in town you may be able to let the odd seasonal change slip past but on the farm your whole life revolves around them. You spend months hoping THE right change will come, then the rest of the time hoping it doesn't go too far either way.

Harvest has been finished for a couple of months, so we a have been in a lovely farm hiatus when the DH actually arrives home at 6pm, but now it is time to start the whole cycle again and start preparing for sowing.
When we first married we had to burn every paddock to get it free of "trash" (the old stalks, etc) for the new season's planting. In a few short years this is no longer the general clean up tool; mulching the ground with the old crop and air seeders that can sow the new crop straight into the old ones trash have meant that we can mimimise burning and any unnecessary harm to the environment. But we have taken possession of our new farm next door and as it hasn't been cropped and it about to be, it needed all the old grass burnt ready to start ploughing.
This is not a job i line up to help with...all the smoke! I used to help on one of the trucks pre-kids. One year i was dropped off to watch a perimeter fence with my water back pack on, while my BIL checked another one. I found the fire breaking through and had to take off my t-shirt and soak it with water to beat the fire out, managed to get it back on, slightly singed, before being picked up by a laughing BIL!!! Funny, you would think they would want me to help more!
The motorbikes have lighters on them that hang down into the grass with a constant stream of fuel emitting. So you will see all the flames coming behing the bikes.
The trucks go ahead of the bikes spraying the ploughed firebreaks as a double precaution. Every farm around has these old trucks permanently setup with water tanks in case of a fire emergency.
Notice how it starting to get quite grey, well it wasn't just the smoke, half way through the burn the skies opened and it hasn't stopped raining since. So that may well be our autumn break....just a few days before we would have preferred it as the paddocks are still mainly full of grass...but that is farming and the seasons!
Dh says, if you are lucky and we can burn again, you will get to see far bigger flames than this, the rain fought against us.
The kids are having great holidays, we are trying to do at least 30 minutes exercise each day, here they are heading out the driveway, and here they are attempting the our side lane....you gotta ride on what you are given!
Now for those people that want to know how the quilt frame is going....really well except now I have worked out they set the sewing machine up wrong (Grrrr). I juast have to work out today how to thread it properly and hopefully I will be on track! So no more naggy emails girls!
I also have some sewing to show next post, but right now I have to run.
Have a good day, Tracey
ps I had the Sweet Valley high books as well.....gotta love those twins-the nice one I mean!

10 comments:

Needled Mom said...

Beautiful photos of the events of daily farm life. Having grown up on a farm, I am now a city girl. I understand the loooong hours that are needed during certain periods of harvest and planting. It is amazing how farming ideas have progressed over the years.

Doodlebug Gail said...

Being a city girl I really enjoy seeing photos of your life on the farm and these fire ones are no exception. Are temperatures cooling off a little? We've warmed up to "just above freezing" these last couple of days" ..... what a treat!!!!!

Jodie said...

Great farming post Tracey... Isn't it funny how different things are for each region/area... No-one burns around these parts, CMA has recommended against it for years... They're trying to reintroduce it though to combat the invasive woody weed problem we have in these parts..

Jodie

Calidore said...

You got rain????? Half your luck - apart from six drips and a bit of lightening and thunder here - nothing.....darn it. Beautiful photos. Good to hear the hols are going well and the kids are enjoying themselves.

loulee said...

Interesting stuff, not sure I'd want to be in amongst that lot. The farmers have been burning this week too, they're getting rid of gorse though!

Clare said...

They used to burn the fields when I was a child - burning the stubble after harvest. Not allowed any more so the dormice can rest easy! The farmers round here don't burn the fields - everything is ploughed back in - but they do burn the verges. I'm seeing a lot of set aside being ploughed up for grain/maize.

Chookyblue...... said...

I would avoid the burning off to.......my lips are sealed on the sewing frame and I must ask Mum if she knew what I did with all my books I had......

Dawn-Marie said...

Oh my I read those books when I was young that was another life time ago. I have not thought of them since. Wish I had kept them not that I have identical twin girls of my own.

Libby said...

I do remember when my grandma had a burn barrel outside. Even living in a farm community all my growing up years, I've never seen fires like yours. *wow*

Susie said...

Hi Tracey,
I always so enjoy your posts about life and activities on your farm. We can't burn around here at all (although we used to have incinerators for paper waste when I was young) Too much air pollution now.
Very interesting post..
xo