Roughly A Third Of All Aussie Farms Have Disappeared Since 2000
G'Day Folks,
We are busy on the farm preparing the ground and starting the seedlings for all the summer crops you will enjoy in months to come. Lochie seeded the first of the Capsium and Eggplant last week and had to keep those trays of seedlings nice and warm in the Old Dairy to ensure they germinate and will be ready for Spring. It's such an important time to get things right, if any problems occur with these seedlings we will be 8 weeks behind our planting schedule. Which means 8 weeks without summer crops coming off our farm and the income that is sorely needed to keep the Sohip ship upright and afloat.
This final month of winter will be relished, Autumn and Winter are the most beautiful time to farm here on the mid north coast. Whilst there is a strong reluctance to pull the doona cover back and expose your warm body to the cool morning air that engulfs our little farm house during the pre-dawn hours. You do so knowing the sun will peak its head above the tall gum trees and drench your body with its warmth in only a few short hours. Unaware of the changing shades of the early morning sky, it is the symphony of birdsong that lets us know those warm sun rays are only moments away. At midday when the sun reaches its highest point, it is still far enough away for your body to feel cool and comfortable during even the most strenuous of tasks.
What it means to lose so many family farms can never be overstated. In truth I believe we are only just beginning to see the cracks in our societies once rich and diverse fabric. The unstitching of what was once a vast patchwork of small to medium farms, is being replaced by corporate entities that own and control swaths of land as far as the eyes can see. Those who work for these corporations will never again feel the sense of value and meaning by those who worked the land with their family in the most noble of manners. In a way in which the work you did mattered, in a way that made you feel useful.
