PRE- ORDER Fleur's newest novel 'Voices in the Dark'
‘Fleur dusts up a storm’ – according to RRR Network News! A while ago I was asked to write a piece, for the RRR Network News, about how Red Dust came into being. RRR stands for Rural, Remote and Regional Women. It’s a wonderful magazine that connects rural women together, finds women who…
I’m feeling wonderfully relieved! The Blue Skies manuscript is winging its way to Sydney, via the internet! And earlier than my deadline – which I’m really happy about! I finished the final touches and now its a waiting game to see if Louise, my publisher, likes it (that’s always really nerve wracking!), then its onto…
Well, after trawling through all the entries for the Farm name comp, we finally have a winner! But before I tell you who it is, I’ve got to thank everyone who entered. The response was enormous, with entries coming from as far away as New Zealand. The decision was actually really hard – now I…
Coming up on September 18, we’re holding our annual ram sale. To do that, we need to blood test all our sale rams, to make sure they don’t have any nasty diseases that they can pass on to the ewes that they will mate with. It’s a regular practise with most studs – we feel…
These beautiful looking sheep are our stud ewes, complete with their long, lean and muscular lambs! As part of our farming program we run a White Suffolk Stud – something that my main character in Blue Skies, Amanda, does. These girls are just about to be run through the jetting race – to make sure…
Esperance and most of WA is known for the beautiful wild flowers that appear at certain times of the years. In Esperance they mostly appear around September, but I’ve noticed a few early ones alongside the roads. This orchid is usually a shy flower that hides itself away from prying eyes! You have to look…
Today has been one of those really odd days where nature just seems to throw one amazing thing after another at us! A few mornings ago, just as I was putting the kids on the bus, a thick, heavy mist rolled in from… nowhere! It had dawned a drizzly early morning, then cleared quickly, but…
There’s no way around it, I’m a foody. I love following our produce through from pasture to plate. I love winter and the food it brings with it – thick, hot soups, bubbling casseroles and simmering stews, all served with hot bread rolls, fresh from my oven! Cooking away quite happily, in the camp oven,…
The SEPWA ladies day was an inspirational day for all who went! I felt like I was an impostor amongst all the women that spoke – they were all so clever and had achieved so much! To a degree, whether they spoke about farming, viticulture or achievement, the message was simular – you can achieve…
Have you ever read For better, for worse and for lunch by Christina Hindhaugh? It is the most hysterical book, based on a city dweller who marries a farmer and her experiences as she adjusts to farm life. Christina has a character in there named Aunt Grace, or more aptly, Amazing Grace! Aunt Grace mentions…
Blue Skies is nearly complete. I have the editing to go and I’m positive that I’ll make the September 1 deadline – which is fantastic for me and Allen and Unwin, as they’ve already got the freelance editor, Ali Lavau, booked to start work on the manuscript, basically as soon as it arrives. I’ve really…
I’ve got about five lavender plants in a row at the front door of my house. You have to walk past them to get inside. I love walking past them, brushing my hand over their foliage and having the smell on my hands for hours afterwards. Lavender and their scent are one of my favourite…
Radio announcers often talk about how wonderful it is to have beautiful warm weather for weekends, not realising that farmers often need rain. However, the warm sunny weekend, that was sent to us recently, was a welcome relief from the cold, grey days that we’ve been experiencing! As you can see by the clear picture…
Once we finished the building part of the shearing shed, we needed to cement the floor. Three blokes and I mixed and wheeled wheelbarrows full of cement over six hours to finish it! I helped cement the footers in this shed and that was my first real experience of cement and its dust. I knew…
With two days to go until the Farm Name comp finishes, I’ve just had a phone call from my publicist, Kate, telling me about the overwhelming response that we’ve received! That’s Life, the magazine with heart, have kindly been running this comp over the past couple of weeks and they’ve been inundated with entries! Thank…
It’s tiring be a calf! After running and playing, eating and drinking, it’s time to have a nap when the tractor appears! While mum eats until her heart (or stomach) is content, the calves often take the opportunity to have a quick nap, knowing they are in among the safely of the herd. They snuggle…
It’s the last days to enter the farm name competition. It finishes this Friday (31st July 2009). Head to That’s Life web site, to read about Adrian, his farm and what sort of a bloke he is. Hopefully my descriptions of his character and farm will give you an idea of what he’s like and…
School holidays are now finished. No more damper cooking, long walks or fun trips to town! As I waved goodbye to the kids, I thought that they were as pleased to be going back to school as, perhaps, I was to send them! Now don’t get me wrong, I love having the kids at home…
Reading for me is a passion. I was brought up on many books, some were The Famous Five, Trixie Beldon, and Colin Thiele books and I went through a phase where I collected every Sweet Valley High book I could (don’t hold that against me, and perhaps that’s showing my age!) My bookshelves are filled…
If you’re anywhere around the South Coast of WA, I’d love it if you could put the 6th of August in your diaries! The SEPWA group is a farmer initiated organisation, started to represent the wheat growers on the South Coast. Since it’s conception in 1993, it had grown tremendously, their activities including lobbying, field…