Rain...

It came at last...rain! Despite not suffering as badly as everyone up North, we have been feeding cattle daily and the dark clouds brought relief. While rain doesn't change everything over night it is more than just life giving, it gives us hope. A feeling of hope that no one can describe unless they have stood and watched livestock become skin and bone, dams dry up and the life taken from the land.

Imagine having a terrible day-the worst. Lose your phone, late to university, fall down stairs, fill your diesel ute with petrol, your worst nightmare day after day, this is a farmer's day when water becomes scarce.

The consolation a bit of rain can provide is unbelievable and makes farm life easier, from dirt to grass, from nothing to something. All the mental strain can be left behind once the first drop of rain hits the parched earth.

I feel reassured knowing I won't have to load a truck filled with quality cattle and send them to the abattoir. Last year in the middle of summer we were faced with this decision and sadly were forced to load the truck. 

It is amazing how  fast the land regenerates even after just a small amount of rain. I can look over the rolling horizon and see a green hue covering the landscape. The dams over flow and become rivers that flow from property to property. The sunken and starving cattle bounce back to life.

Fingers crossed the rain keeps falling around the country-Dust and All

Country Life

What is not to love about waking up to an ever changing, forever mystifying sunrise? The morning call of a horse as I walk out the back door and a smiling dog waiting to be let out. Driving a late model 1980s John Deere tractor, with a round bale of hay to feed a herd of  beautiful cattle. Waiting for a show heifer to calve, hoping it will become a Royal Show Champion and training a horse that was fearful of people to become calm and quiet. Collecting fresh eggs from the chickens which roam happily though out the farm and watching a pasture germinate and become a luscious field.

I know you must be thinking these are all positive and nothing can be all good. I could have mentioned the fact we feed the cattle daily due to having no pasture because we have not had enough rain, which means we are also lacking water for the stock.

Rather than dwell on factors out of our control we need to view what is in our control, whether you are from the inner city, live beside the sea or on a farm or station, by focusing on the positives of life we keep everything in perspective. Being thankful for what we have is something I believe a lot of us forget to do (I am also guilty at times). Living on a farm has provided me with this idea of loving life for what it is the ugliness and the beauty. 

Country life is not for everyone, but I can't imagine living any other life-Dust and All

A Country Sunset