Have you ever had event in your life that makes you stand up and say; ‘That’s it. I’m changing.’ Or have you ever got yourself into a rut that is so hard to pull yourself out from? Well, that’s me. On both accounts. For those who follow me through Facebook, Twitter, or this blog, you’ll…
Every so often an opportunity arrives, that you just can’t pass up, no matter the circumstances. Harvest and Hay making are extremely important in farming world. Hay means there is food for the stock during the dry times and harvest is the money making part of the year. This year, canola harvest and hay making…
“It’s a marvelous night for a moon dance”… Ah, I mean a marvellous morning for an early morning trip to town! You’ll know, if you’ve been following any of my social media of action, lately, that we’ve been seeding. One of my pet hates about growing Canola is The Boss spends so much time on…
Full moon time is always noisy at our place. The soft light allows the dogs to see a lot more than they usually would. Meita, still being so young and not doing a lot of work (therefore having much more energy than the older dogs) is the main culprit. Bark, bark, bark, all night! At…
HAPPY EASTER, from the McDonald’s Farm! In my family, Easter is not only about chocolate easter eggs, hot cross buns and commercialism. It’s about Eternal Life and what happened so that we could have that gift. But the other thing which signals Easter is family. To have the whole family home, together, is now an…
I’m sitting here this afternoon, knowing I should post a blog, as I haven’t for about a week, but wondering what the hell to write. As I look out my office window, there are a few chooks scratching on the front lawn and Law, the old red Kelpie, is snoozing in the sun. The cattle…
Gillo and Russell Woolf from our ABC radio in Perth had a brilliant segment on yesterday about diaries. They wanted to know if any of the listeners had ever kept one. I wish I could have posted it hear for you to listen, because it was so good. But there wasn’t a podcast made of it.…
Last night was our seventeenth wedding anniversary. Hard to believe that so much has happened within that time. Especially when the wedding seems like only yesterday. Two kids, two or three farm bought and sold and bought again. And as with most families, there are few people missing from our family now, who were there…
I love photos. Photos are memories and I’m always snapping, where ever I go. Every time I release a new book, the call comes for new publicity photos. This is one of my least favourite things to do, because I’m much happier behind a computer screen, or out in the paddock, than I am in…
I think I’ve told you all many time, how much I love where I grew up in South Australia. Now I understand, people who live in ‘greener areas’ might get a bit freaked out when they see the country up here, but it is really special. Yeah, there are lots of stones, prickly bushes and…
The farm is well and truly looking like it’s summer, even though we’re only in mid-October! Some paddocks have a gold/white tinge across the tops of the plants, indicating it’s done its time. Saturday was a warm 35 degrees, so the crops won’t take long to turn, ripen and harvest will be started before we…
It true. From little things, big things grow. And when it comes to cropping, Canola is a great example. It’s starts off as a tiny black seed – smaller than a grain of sea salt and just slightly larger than a ‘hundred and thousand’ (you know what I’m meaning? The things kids love to…
Maybe it’s good to be scared in a “sardine like” plane! It helped get Kylie Stretton her man! Here she is: The year is 1999 I’d just finished Grade 12 in Queensland. I’d applied for many governessing jobs all over Queensland and the Northern Territory, I’d been offered one at Richmond which wasn’t too far…
The world lost another amazing man this week. Neil Armstrong was an incredible explorer – how brave must he have been to accept the crazy dream of a country to put a man on the moon? To blast off into the unknown, into blackness. I’m sure his heart would have been in his mouth plenty…
In keeping with the TV show A Farmer wants a Wife, I thought it would be a fantastic and timely opportunity to bring you some love stories from the bush. Now, pick your jaws up! Yes, I know I have made a huge issue, about NOT writing ‘just’ romance in all of my books and…
For regular readers of my blog, you may remember this very interesting Wednesday, a few years ago. (If you don’t, have a read and maybe a laugh!) Something similar happened last night, except this time, the kids were a long, long way away. Canberra, in fact. On a school camp. A very peaceful and enjoyable…
Lately I haven’t been sure if its the fact I’m getting older or there are more things in the world going wrong; sickness, death, war. It seems every time I turn around I hear of someone I know suddenly diagnosed with some horrible disease, or dying unexpectedly. I believe the list is endless and this…
Monday was an exciting day. After much hard work, a few little hiccups and the wonderful input from all at Allen and Unwin (namely Siobhan Cantrill, Louise Thurtell) Purple Roads arrived in my mailbox. You know, it’s funny. I thought I’d rip off the mailbag, tear open the packages and stare at it. I…
Sometime people get Christmas presents just right. My brother and his wife has just returned from about six months overseas and they did their Christmas shopping at Harrods of all places! Anyone who knows me well knows I panic easily – at the drop of a hat really and I turn molehills into mountains…
I wrote about traditions a couple of blog posts ago and mentioned Rochelle would be cooking our New Years Eve meal. Which she did with great aplomb! Yummy chicken drumsticks in a mustard and honey marinade and salad. It’s pretty hard to be a great cook though, when there isn’t any power! New Years Eve…
Well the sun set on a fairly crappy year last night and to be perfectly honest, I’m pleased to see the back of 2011. (I have to say, many people I’ve spoken to have found 2011 to be a bad year, so I don’t think it’s just our community that wanted to hold a…
