Narelle Hunter RURAL LIFESTYLE

Sowing is in full swing and the oats, canola, barley and wheat are being planted on our farm and most of the places surrounding us. We sow tiny grains today and know the type of plant that will push through the earth in a month’s time. This is probably our only certainty all year. This little grain needs rain and good soil nourishment.    Long dry periods, frost, weeds or insects will stress the plant.  We will watch the weather closely for the rest of the year. The plant will be expected to be resilient, tolerant, determined and healthy.  The farmer will need all of those qualities too. It is a long road from sowing to harvest.  You need to have a lot of faith in the plant, the soil, the potential for rain and the value of the crop at the end of the year. Anyone involved in farming also needs to have faith in his or her own ability to mange and adapt to the testes faced throughout the year. We all need a good plan B if the crop doesn’t perform as well as ho

Today I am having one of those rare days when I am enjoying the housework. Yes I admit it, most of the time I would rather be doing anything else other than sweeping the floors and wondering how half the farm ended up in our kitchen but today I am very happy pottering about and straightening things up. The sun peaks its head out from behind the grey clouds as I hang the washing out on the line, the towels smells great. When back inside I vacuum the pieces of wood that have fallen in front of the fireplace and dust the bookshelf well. I head for the kitchen, switching the kettle on as I run past, wiping the benches and setting out the fruit in a bowl. Perhaps the girls will be tempted with fruit after school, I think to myself, but a chocolate biscuit by the fire is more likely to be their afternoon snack. Howard comes home for morning tea and tells me that the Brolga's are back on one of the dams. We are very excited because they haven't called into the farm for over 6 year

Your age is just right! Celebrate it!! A group of incredibly inspiring women and I meet regularly for a yoga and deep relaxation class I teach in town.  In between classes they go off to chemotherapy, surgery or doctors appointments. When time allows they get on with day-to-day life with a whole new perspective. They don’t take anything for granted and have a way of seeing things that needs to be bottled. Some of the women are further along the path and their hair is returning with a few extra lush curls. We are great friends and getting to know each other during this last 12 months has been precious for us all.   We where talking about birthdays yesterday and what important milestones they are. Hearing that people hide their age and complain about their birthday seems so ridiculous. Ageing is wonderful! Wrinkles are beautiful lifetime expressions and for one particular lady in our group, turning 60 is a goal almost achieved! Our dear buddy doesn’t have to ha

The kitchen was dark and still. There was a sound outside that I hadn’t noticed until now…what is it? Ah..rain! I dash up to the bedroom and open the door to show Howard the lovely sound but his response is not in the excited form I expected. He leaps out of bed and next minute he is in his ute and gone. As it turns out some wool bales were on the back of the truck and exposed to the weather. Half the sheep were still out of the wool shed too so todays shearing will be a shorter day. I enter the shed around 11am and our 2013 shearing is in full swing. The men have been warned I want to take a few photos so they get on with their work. The shed is loud with the humming of machinery; a radio in the background and the odd joke but there is little time for conversation. 4 sheep are held still  by the shearers as their fleece is careful and swiftly taken off. The remaining stock waits in small pens behind the old swinging doors. This shed was built in 1968 but

It seems at times like the self-development industry is stating the blatantly obvious. ‘Stay calm under pressure,’ ‘Be patient, kind, forgiving, accepting.’  ‘ Make healthy choices for your body.’ ‘Think positive.’ ‘Be happy.’ If only that coffee didn’t smell so good and everyone in the family could be having a good day, on the same day, I could be perfect! I actually don’t want to be perfect but I do want to be a good person more than I want a successful career, lots of money or my bucket list ticked off. This takes effort and I don’t always get it right.  How different would our world look if we all decided that it is actually the new ‘normal’ to choose to be kind, grateful, patient, understanding and present, to make the most of the time we have with the people we love, to embrace all the great things about each ordinary day? That is what I want for us… Over the weekend my brother and his wife brought their two little children to visit the farm.  From