The broken magic mixing machine.
Um, just wanted to quietly tell you that we had between 110–130+mls of rain (4.5- 5” for pre-metric boomers like me) last week, which is a good start towards a winter crop and some feed for our poor cattle. I’m not shouting about it though because many did not receive nearly as much, and I think some areas received nothing at all.
I’m also not making a big song and dance because the rain so far is less than half what we will need to produce a reasonable crop and logistically it creates a few issues as far as feeding goes because the magic mixing machine¹ does not tow well in mud. However in the interests of not sounding like a whinging cocky, whilst trying not to let Huey (the country god of rain) know we are slightly more optimistic than last week, it is nice to see a slight tinge of green already starting to appear. It reminds us why we live here.
Jeff and the boys did put a few plans in place when they knew we might be in for a reasonable amount of rain and started feeding the cattle almost twice as much as normal to hopefully get them through a couple of days of just having dry grass and saltbush to eat. They also opened gates for the cattle to come closer to the house paddock where it would be easier to take the feed, once dry enough to get about. One thing we need to avoid is letting them get too hungry because then they lose even more condition “chasing” the green pick as it starts to shoot.
Just so that I am not the one to destroy the myth that farmers are never happy or you’ve started to think we are out of the woods I should tell you that on the way back from feeding on Sunday the axle broke on the m & m machine, destroying the tyre in the process and creating what will probably be several thousand dollars worth of damage. Karma’s a ……!
Also on Sunday, but on a more positive note, some of our city members were looking to greener pastures of a different kind and the following tale from Annie Kiefer describes their day. As far as I know the wheels did not fall off their cart:
I awoke Sunday morning to a beautiful day – just the type of day to spend down on Sydney Harbour at the Opera House! I set off with my daughter, Tonya, to set up our CWA stand at the “All About Women” Day at the Opera House. Sydney City Branch girls were so very eager to go and spread the word about CWA being alive and well in the City. We fielded questions from women who enquired about “what do we actually do” to “I didn’t know you have Branches in the City”. We spoke to some wonderful women who shared their stories of “my Nanna used to be a member” and who vowed and declared to not lose their magazine and leaflets all about CWA and who fervently promised to seriously consider joining up………when they found the time. We will see. All in all it was a wonderful exercise in PR and a marvellous way to connect the City to the Country. The age group of women attending the day ranged from 18 – 90.
Merna, Tonya, Annie, Debra at the Sydney Opera House
¹For a description of the magic mixing machine see blog post How Hungry are You.
Snippets 
A thought for the Sydney City girls. Belconnen is a city branch in Canberra and when I am out and about like you were I always ask those I am speaking to if they have an email address and if they would like to be invited to our next couple of specific activities. For example our next meeting will have a wonderful presentation on birds including the wedge tail eagle. We specifically invite the public to come after our meeting and to join us for morning tea. Many are willing to be reminded of CWA in this way and be invited to a very specific time and place and we have gained members this way.
so pleased to hear you had some rain………………it was a start for the inlaws also but a great follow up for us……….we were on the border……….feeding/no feeding……..hopefully those who missed out will get a fall very soon and those that got some get another follow up…………..bugger about the MMM breaking down………so essential in the dry………….
good to see the city girls promoting things……………..