Narelle Hunter RURAL LIFESTYLE

 I cross the great divide from my office in Woollahra to the dusty paddocks of Bribbaree and jump in the tractor with Howard. He has been up all night baling hay and enjoys the company as it helps him stay awake until 11am. By late morning the hays moisture will be getting too dry to bale. We will have to wait until the cool evening air returns before hay baling continues. In the photos you can see the lines of oaten hay being rolled into windrows. It was cut 3 weeks ago and is now ready to be fed into the new baler. As this side of our business is growing we took the plunge and invested in this new piece of equipment and so far it is going really well. Although it does mean Howard has to work nights at times when there is no driver available. He seems pretty happy with his new toy and big day sleeps so far. My bookwork is up to date and took a third of the time in our little Woollahra office space. It is a great base for when visiting the girls and meeting

Howard is out all day. He is preparing for hay baling and harvest. We are both taking orders for our bulk products and preparing storage. After the rain last week there is an air of optimism. Summer is making its way into the softness of spring, the trees are covered in leaves again and the flowers are adding colour to the garden. Everything has come to life. It is really lovely out here at the moment. Quite a distraction actually! What I would like to commit to this week is courage. The changes we know we need to make, cannot be put off until tomorrow. Yesterday I attended a service in celebration of my dear friend and neighbour Helen. Helen lived 20kms from me along a dirt lane that I loved to travel to see her. It seemed appropriate to listen to  classical music while looking out across the hills towards her home. We would drink tea in her garden, collect plant cuttings and talked about all sorts of things with the birds dancing around us. Helen was a men

The temperature is up by 10 degrees and this is causing the crops to turn early. We hear that we have had a shower of rain across the farm while dropping the girls back to boarding school and that is great news. So here we go, the busy end of the year begins. We hire some help to get the fencing finished as Howard runs about collecting machinery parts and doing any final maintenance before harvest. The hay will be cut this week in preparation for baling. I call and look at our options for locking in some wheat under contract, as the price is pretty good, then write out the invoices and do some filing. At the same time the washing goes on, the house gets a vacuum and I plan a nice dinner. Brooke sends me a text from school and isn’t feeling to well, after a fall from a motorbike a few days ago. I will pick her up from school early today. Never a dull moment! As harvest approaches there has been a lot of information this week about mental health and a man sp

The sun is warm once again as we take our coffee out onto the front verandah and eat breakfast on the steps. A patchwork of yellow canola fields line the countryside as far as the eye can see. Our gardens are coming back to life and the colour gives everyone a lift. We have enjoyed lots of rain and the crops look wonderful. Howard is busy checking the paddocks and the sheep, sending the last of the hay to the dairy farms along the coast and preparing the machinery for more hay cutting and harvest. The girls are all at home for school holidays, which we absolutely love. Their friends call over for sleepovers or they meet for picnics in the Weddin Mountain. We enjoy big catch-ups over our favorite family meals and join Howard in the ute for some farm work now and then. He has two men working with him now in preparation for our busiest time of the year. I keep up the bookwork and pay all our end of month accounts. The Bribbaree Show is on this weekend coming an