“Peter greeted us as we reached the shed, and we all piled into the back of his white Ute and headed over to the Baby Cos Lettuce Fields – where we helped him do a special small order.”
Come one, come all, experience the magnificence of my blinding genius as i take you on a whirlwind tour of the Gold Crop Exhibit using my Mobile Phone
While some would have you belive otherwise, taking quality pictures with a phone is HARD. Unless you’re perfectly still while taking a photo, all you end up with is a massive blur. Out of the 100+ photo’s i took, these were the only ones good enough to put up here
The Exhibit in all its glory!
This one was a pain in the ass to get right
Scary……
Best Photo in the house
The single close up that came out right!
And now for something completely different! A video tour of the exhibit itself, Guest staring a tired and irate waide at 4:14 !!!
Boree Creek farmer and Gold participant Graham Strong was a guest in last weeks SBS program ‘Insight’. He was invited to contribute to the debate on the long term effects of GM crops. To find out more and watch the program online, click on the link below:
Stanthorpe farmer and Gold participant Jean Harslet is profiled as a key contributor to the Australian Climate Witness Report. This report was a collaborative effort between WWF Australia and the Queensland Murray Darling Committee. The WWF initiated the project as part of an international Climate Witness project. This report is based on the climatic observations of 60 farmers.
Jean is profiled on page 52 of the report. To read more and download the report follow the links below:
Over dinner the previous night, we had asked Ray if we could come a visit him the next morning. I hadn’t been to his farm before so I was looking forward to it. We had had a discussion after dinner where I was converting some of Ray and Franks Imperial measurements into Metric for Bronwyn. Some of the measurements I worked out on my mobile phone, which Ray thought was really funny.
So we had to get up at 7 – 7.30 and had very short showers due to there being very little rain in the Weir lately.
We then had some brekky that included some very delicious muffins and scones that Frank made. He made a big scone for me but instead I ate a little one.
Ray has been farming on his property (across the road from Franks) all of his 86 years. The only time he has lived away from the Hume Weir was when he went to the army.
Once we were ready we headed over to Ray’s farm to be there by 9.00 am. Ray was nowhere to be found.
We had a look around the farm to try and find him and we saw an interesting sign. (I asked Ray later why there was no bull in the paddock and he laughed and said I had given him an idea) There were a few other ones as well that were really funny.
We went down the back to the weir. You can see the water lines on the banks and the dead tress of where the water has been previously, and it was amazing how low it was. It was a cold day but Frank had lent me his green jacket so I was warm.
Savvy and I stayed up the hill a little bit and had a good old yarn. It was good to see Savvy again because I have not seen her since the last trip to Boree Creek . Savvy has worked with us on the Gold project for the past few years and has now moved to Wagga. We had a few good conversations about things happening around the place. There was a lot to catch up on, with what’s been happening at Gold and everything in our lives. Eventually we went down to where everyone else was. Davo and Jasmine had been doing some time-lapse photography.
Ray finally arrived and we went back up to the top of the farm and grabbed some hoes (for some weeding).
We helped hoe the weeds because Ray finds that most sprays don’t work or that Roundup which does work kills absolutely everything there. Ray said that I was doing a good job so I told Ray about hoeing the weeds outside my flat. I can’t even imagine weeding a whole farm the way that Ray does.
We took it in turns hoeing and interviewing. We must have been hoeing for at least half an hour I reckon.
Savvy had to go so Davo took her back to the house and Frank took her off to the train for her trip back to Wagga. We were in the middle of our interview with Ray so I didn’t get to say goodbye.
Jasmine gave Ray a box of chocolates and Bronwyn joked that she would leave me there to hoe with Ray until the next big hART visit in July. I wasn’t too impressed with that idea. We went back to Frank’s farm and had some lunch, packed our bags and then did some cleaning. I had to clean the bathroom, which I wasn’t too impressed with.
It was just starting to spit with rain when we packed the trailer. We then put the tarp over and completely waterproofed it so our luggage wouldn’t get wet. Frank had one last go at fixing the indicator lights on the trailer by playing with the cords and although he got the left indicator working again the right hand indicator stopped working.
We then went to Wodonga and dropped Paul off at his great grandmothers house. Paul was happy to see his grandmother and great grandmother again because it has been a few years since he had seen them. We went to visit the butcher Michael to buy some saltbush sausages made with lamb produced by Graham in Boree Creek. It was good to go to that butcher because he had all sorts of different types of meat that is not found at other butchers.
We got some fuel and went shopping at the Salvo’s shop in Wodonga.
While we were at the Salvos we bought some presents for Davo but I cant list them because her birthday is not till tomorrow (May 7). I saw James looking at one thing but he left it there and I said to him that he should buy it because Davo would probably like it.
On the way home we got lost in Albury. When we finally got on track we went through Burrumbuttock (which James had fun with again). We then stopped in Lockhart again for toilet break and stretch of legs.
Then we drove through Leeton, which James thought was good. We went pass St. Francis College, which is a Catholic boarding school that I went to for three years and also went past the Roxy theatre and watched the sunset, which was absolutely awesome.
We then headed home and arrived in Griffith at 6:30.
So overall I though the trip was awesome, amazing and would love to do it again some time soon. I would like to thank Holly, Davo, James and Bronwyn for taking us there and organising the trip. I would like to thank Frank for letting us stay with him, Ray for letting us interview him and hoe his weeds and Jasmine, Paul, and Savvy for just being with me at an awesome trip.
