Bonjour Bienvenue (hello, welcome) to ‘In my Paddock’. We have a slight French theme this time around, as Charlie, Will and myself decided to learn a second language, (well a few basic words so far!)
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A few things I’ve learned after three lessons:
- It’s not easy.
- The boys pick it up a lot quicker than I do.
- If I did the homework and revised, I’d probably do the same.
Now that we have started, it is actually a lot of fun and I’m enjoying the weekly lessons. It does help having the other two around to practice with, although we have been somewhat slack in practicing at home together. However, that is now slowly starting to change and henceforth we should see the results of this.
So between French, table tennis and basketball, I’m not sure when the farm work is getting done!
Throw in violin lessons for Will and piano for Charlie, it quickly becomes a full week.
Somehow the spraying still seems to get done, office jobs get sorted, with much help from Suze, and other things on the list receive the priority they require.
And now, back to the paddock, the crops have been getting closer to harvest ready. On the other hand not sure if I am!
Last week a storm went through and we received 10.5mm while at another block it was 1-2 mm. Which as luck would have it, is where we have our oaten hay. I’m sure the lentils next door would have benefited from some moisture as well. Yields this year are looking at average to above average, pending on the usual factors - rainfall, frosts, time of sowing, weeds, fertiliser, mice, insects etc.
In some ways, this has been a challenging year dealing with early insect damage and then the ongoing mice problem. June was on the dry side but July and August made up for it.
The rain gauge for September recorded 14mm and so far in October, we have received 30mm. This would give us approx average growing season rainfall for the year.
Canola windrowing is about to start or will have started by the time this is published. Legume crops are being monitored for grubs and insects, while the sprayer has been busy spray topping all the chemical fallow.
Sheep and lambs have again received encouraging results this year with the last market proving successful with a trailer load of lambs/hoggets taken in. Who knows, maybe these funds could end up in the Brad’s Bargain Bike Bank account.
The Mincarlie garden continues to grow and unsure where it will stop! Suze has the place looking a million dollars and the roses would even rival Flemington on Melbourne Cup Day!
Hope a successful harvest awaits you all. A la prochaine (till next time).
- Brad Martin, Galaquil
Salut (hi) my name is Charlie and I am in grade two at school. Every Wednesday our whole family plays table tennis together at Hopetoun. I enjoy playing table tennis and I hope you do too. Every Friday night, I play basketball. My team is called Olympics and Will, my brother’s team is called Olympics as well. My Dad coaches my team. I am enjoying it a lot.
- Charlie Martin
