06/12/17 – Ravensthorpe, Western Australia

HarvestHER

7 years ago

Last field!

Jess Carmichael -Urara

After 7 weeks, 4000 ha of crop, and 300 ha of pasture, seeding for 2017 has finally come to an end!

Between some pretty big teething problems with the new seeder box and extremely dry conditions, we had a pretty slow start to the season. This added an extra challenge to the process of learning how to operate the air seeder – luckily for me I had some very patient teachers in my boss, Rian, and the farm’s main worker, Steve. I was also pretty excited to get to work with 2 other awesome HarvestHERs/Farmhers – Jodi who predominantly runs the sheep side, and Kaz who does all of the agronomy.

A beautiful sunset to finish off my awesome seeding experience.

Around 3 1/2 weeks in, we mostly got the seeder running as it was supposed to and even got a bit of rain so we were able to crank up and start going around the clock. I ran the seeder for day shift from 5am til 5pm, while Steve did the other 12 hours on night shift.

Our cropping programme consisted of barley, wheat, and canola, as well as 2,900 hectare of pasture for the 9,000-12,000 head of sheep the farm also runs.

Barley germinated in one of the earlier fields we seeded.

After we really got going, the days and hectares seemed to pass by pretty quickly, and I was pretty stoked that I got to finish seeding on my shift – though not so stoked that the last field we were in was called Rocky – enough said there I think. It was definitely a pretty satisfying feeling finishing that last run, though.

Some of the rocks that have been picked from fields in previous years.

We managed to get in a few days off after seeding, and then spent the last couple of days of work picking up the rocks that get ripped out of the ground by the seed bar – definitely not anyone’s favourite job, but a good chance to see the crops coming up around the farms, and appreciate the work we’ve done.

My time here in Australia has come to an end for now, and as always, it’s pretty sad to leave but what an amazing experience it’s been! I’ve been so fortunate to work with such an awesome team – bring on seeding 2018!

In the meantime, I’ll be heading back to New Zealand for a few months before heading back to Australia for the harvest season in October. I won’t have a lot to post about during this time, so to those in the Northern hemisphere…have an awesome harvest, safe travels, and good luck!

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HarvestHER

Definition of a HarvestHER - a strong woman willing to do whatever it takes to get the harvest in. She must have these qualities:

1. Be ready to go at the drop of a hat...sometimes without a lunchbox.
2. Has removed the word impossible from her vocabulary!
3. Can hold a baby, take care of a toddler and drive a tractor or combine all at the same time.
4. Must be able to cook for a crew - large or small.
5. Must be able to read minds.
6. Must be able to banter with a parts man until he realizes you DO know what you're talking about.
7. Must be the entertainment director for those rainy days.
8. Be a wife, mom, friend, helper, cook, problem solver, taxi driver or extra crew hand at all times.
9. Can handle the call that makes you react, "You need what? When?" Dropping everything you're doing to make it happen.
10. At the end of the day say, "I really do love this life".

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