With more rain approaching us from QLD, harvest still not completed (we managed to restart late last week however the header blew up yesterday) and crops still in the field, it really is turning into a season bordering on the ordinary. We’re nervously watching monsoonal conditions extending in from the Coral Sea, with reports of a cyclone predicted for Fraser Island close to New Year’s Eve. The pattern is scarily redolent of ’76 – our last major flood. The stories floating in from around the country- water 14 metres plus deep in the Macquarie River-that is taller than our old relic windmill, and cattle caught in forks of trees in WA is not for the faint-hearted. I think of all the heart ache in the country at the moment and wonder at the resilience of everyone who chooses to make a living from the land whether you be growing wool or cucumbers! Here’s to a better year for all. While it’s difficullt to celebrate sometimes, I would like to raise a christmas cheer to the AWB (Aust Wheat Board) especially the guys at the Pittsworth office in QLD who are doing their level best to help growers out of multigrade wheat contracts. A few growers have nothing to deliver at all and could be faced with extra costs if they can’t find grain to fill their contracts. One grower got his ‘get out of jail’ card yesterday with a number of growers helping him out. It was a high point in a arather shitty day at the station office. Here’s also to those regional areas and the dedicated people that produce quality magazines in their role of informing, entertaining and promoting local areas. If you have a moment visit http://www.panscott.com.au/weekender.html . This is the online mag Dubbo Weekender edited by my old uni pal Jen Cowley. Launched this month New England Country Living is a new magazine highlighting this wonderful region in NSW. It’s available at many newsagents on the Eastern seaboard. http://www.neclmag.com.au/
 
Christmas wishes and good health for all! Here’s to a fabulous 2011.