Welcome to Wednesday Wanderings. Enjoy, laugh, smile and sigh - with our true stories, facts and loves.
Today, Fiona Palmer is walking us through her working day (the non-writing part of her working day, that is.)
Fiona’s working day
We have just finished seeding, all the crops are up in lush greens and I’m getting excited. October/November will be harvest and I am looking forward to seeing Holly again. Holly is a big yellow New Holland header and I just adore her. We spent many days together, singing along to songs while we munched through wheat, barley and canola last year.
Holly!
The guys I work for have two headers, the other one is Amber. They are the same machine yet they both have different personalities. Amber has a bigger front/comb, which means she takes off more grain (you have to be careful about how close you get to the field bin to empty out), and Holly has hungry boards so she can hold lots more grain. They have little quirks in their handling too. Holly and Amber are a real part of the harvest team, and we’ve humanised them to a degree. (Yes, we often do talk about them as if they are real. Both girls do have their moments when they have bad days. We don’t hold it against them.)
Holly in action
I don’t work long days due to my kids. So I’ll put them on the school bus just before 8 am and then head out to the farm. I’ll grease up Holly, warm her up and then start chomping. Luckily we have a GPS in the header which makes things a little easier. But they don’t tell you where the rocks are and these paddocks have lots of rocks. If you hit them with the comb you can break things. You also have to adjust the machine to make sure you are taking off the best sample possible.
Lunch on the go
I pack my own lunch, usually something I can eat while working.
It’s being just you and the header, music blaring away or chatting on the two-way to the other header or the truckie, it’s having time to think of new stories, no one yelling out ‘MUM’ and it’s even just the satisfaction of finishing a paddock off at the end of the day.
Fiona Palmer operating Holly
I absolutely love it.
There is something awesome about driving machinery that I’ve had since I was a kid. I may be a little crazy but I do love harvest and I can’t wait to drive Holly again. There is something special about watching the grain feed through the comb, watching the golden heads wave together in the breeze like a swelling sea, the silver tracks kangaroos leave in the canola like snails on a path (it’s silver because they break open all the seed pods) and the big blue summer sky.
Three generations of Stewart women share a deep connection to their family farm, but a secret from the past threatens to tear them apart.
Fiona’s current release is The Sunnyvale Girls is available in eBook and paperback from good retailers including:
Penguin Books
Booktopia
Amazon Australia
I live in the Wimmera wheat country of Victoria and LOVE it when my cousin phones during harvest and says “come to such-and-such a paddock and you can have a ride on the header”. My preschool grandson from Brisbane would not get out of the header and stayed on board the whole time everyone else got on and off for a ride. It’s awesome watching the grain flow in, riding up so high with wide screen views and all in air conditioned comfort!!
I am so envious of you and Fiona, Noelene! I need a ride on a header next harvest…