short of Time

[Zondrae]

My writers group home work for last week was 'Short of Time'. Here is my effort. No DPA for me again.

Short of Time
© Zondrae King (Corrimal) 1/10

Seasons come and seasons go and gardens must be tended.
Invitations not accepted, hope you’re not offended.
Balancing fertility in soil and beast and crop.
Don’t forget acidity. Does work just never stop?

Busy life, a farmer’s lot, for he must forward think.
Praying that the rain will come or crops are down the sink.
Hay must first be cut and turned and bound before the shed.
Just a hundred things to do before it’s time for bed.

Dairy farmers have this life; it’s up before the sun.
Herds of udders cleaned and emptied, twice before he’s done.
Growing cattle just for beef you’d think an easy earn
Ticks and worms, exotic sickness, threaten every turn.

You may see the yellow sea, canola flowers wave.
Damage from a weather’s turn can put him in his grave.
Flood and drought and rising salt and wind that blows in grime,
Farmers would go top themselves if they weren’t short of time.

[Bellobazza]

Good one Zondrae...
Reminds me of a pair by Philip Rush called "How Does a Farmer Fill In His Days?" and "The Farmer's Wife".
Ah, the restful rural life!

Cheers, Will.

[Zondrae]

Yes, I remember.
Get the cow in and feed her while milking, Feed& water the calf, feed & water the pigs, feed & water the chooks, collect eggs. Take the milk inside, strain it through muslin to remove bits of grass etc that the cow has flicked in with her tail. Cover the milk bucket with a clean cloth (or lid) to keep the flys out while it stands for an hour of two to let the cream rise, put on the first load of washing and water the veggies (only in very hot dry weather).

Now it is time to have breakfast and get the kids lunches packed. Make sure the kids have what they need for school today, check clothing, get in the car and take the kids to school. Come back, separate the cream, pour milk in screw top drink bottles (I used to sell milk, eggs and organic veg to some hippies). Set some whole milk aside to start cottage cheese. get out the flour etc to make bread (home bread makers weren't available then) start bread dough. when this is done and set to rise I would sometimes begin beating cream to make butter (yes, I did). Back to the washing . I'll stop now because I'm up to smoko that was about 9.30am.

We had a flat bed Bedford truck and sometimes we would 'pick up' hay bales for a couple of farmers and stack it in their shed. We were paid piece work. Other times we would do some weeding types of field work (too long to explain) or pick up cobs of dry corn that the harvester had missed or knocked over. In this case we were not pain in cash but would get half of what we picked up and bagged. (Good feed for pigs, chooks, cow & calf.) We would have to put it through a cracker mill. When in season we went mushroom or blackberry picking. (free feed). I bottled Jam and pickles and made a lot of the kids clothes. it used to cost us virtually nothing to live but we were all day earning it. We would fall into bed and sleep like logs.

No wonder I was so thin.

[thestoryteller]

I often talk to Chris about selling up and going back on a block of ground, but going through your list brings back the reality of a life achieved in younger days. The old mind yearns for it but I'm afraid the old bones just say different. It was a great life though and good for the kids. Easier these days to just put it all down in verse. Great reflections Zondrae.


The Storyteller.

[Zondrae]

Thanks Merv.

Life was pretty much a blur in those days. Mind you I was a very young 30 year old.
We had one school age girl , one three year old girl and a two year old boy when we bought that place. The house had been abandoned and no one lived there for about three years. It was build just after the war from local timber. Beautiful weather boards inside and out. But it had not been maintained at all. Luckily there was a Dutch master painter who lived in the area and he did a magnificent job of restoring the outside. The roof had some off the front verandah, which had been closed in and used as a bedroom at some stage. With that replaced it was water tight. We painted inside, added a wrap around deck and a large Water tank. Wayne made a hot water 'donkey' to serve the laundry and some yards for the chooks, pigs and a milking bale, and there you are. A city girl, up to her knees with farm work. Who needs a gym.