Not long ago in the images fire was the big enemy when bush fires struck.
 Last week, it was a different story when the stubble left after harvest was burned off.  Small crops grown on the pretty undulating land of the central south west of the state were seen on fire here and there leaving large black and brown patches over the landscape.

  Recently it was said that agricultural fires are a big contributor to global warming via the emissions so are the fires very essential?

  
 I had a little nut tree, nothing would it bear,
     But a silver nutmeg and a golden pear.........

William Bartlett pears $1 kg.  Four pears cost 60 cents.
 We need more respect for the little treasures from the farm.  An orchard is tended and pruned, the fruit is picked and packed and transported long distances to distribution centres and then moved to the supermarket.  All this for next to zero return.  This low price is very unusual.  Think of the grower who works for nothing.
5, 6, 7 or 8 serves of fruit and vegies each day is declared mandatory for good health and illness prevention. 
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                               Don't rush.  We need time to lay down memories. Children need time.
 
  Our grape vine before it gets plundered by birds.  The anthropocene is upon us.  In time populations and urbanization will grow and demand for food will increase .
  Grape production was very noticeable in the MIA and west to the border.  Miles of grapes.  Production and research of wine is a notable industry around the area.
  Wine is fine but is there scope for more essential crops if the time comes?

 

Road Trip

Harvesting was afoot in the 'Bidgee district.  But not by backpackers.
 A Backpackers rate of taxation for fruit picking work is hotly debated.  Farmers depend on the visitors - legal or otherwise - and seek legislation yesterday. Visitors probably gain 'brownie points' towards a visa extension by working in rural areas.
  A grower in the N T relies on a team from Taiwan to pick the Mango crop. No locals prepared to do this work .....the low pay..... the grit....the distance? 
  Complex times.  Exploitation of overseas workers, banning free trade, bringing back the old ways and making things great again is debated. Unlikely to go back. 
Globally, these times could be interpreted as a very slow inevitable move towards more equality and global social justice.

   

Yet another Chautauqua. Even through the glass in the window of the train carriage the scene was truly green.  Rice fields grew all the way there and back in Java.
  It must be the case that over centuries of tending the land it has been levelled, divided and devised to succeed in holding a shallow bath of water for the growing of the staple food. 
  The impression is not one of broad acres which would seem fitting to meet the high demand. More often multiple small fields in different stages of growth are seen and well orchestrated and cultivated by one or two expert farmers or a small group.  Corn and other unidentified crops are there also. 

 Amazingly the crops must be harvesting by hand as no mechanisation was apparent except for the rotary hoe seen now and again getting along half submerged. No water buffalo. Fertiliser is made available and was the subject of some scamming according to the press. Plastic pieces were hung to flap in the breeze and act as scarecrows.
  Rice fields have 'fingers' into the small villages

and up onto higher 'shelves' in the hills, every where.
  The island has a fair share of hilly country.  Gardening extended up very steep hills, in valleys and fields and centers of population were a constant feature. 
  Next to the watery fields a farmer's house, in brick, would be seemingly built sat flat on the damp ground.  In all, the housing steadfastly resists change.
  The cooked rice was invariable good. 

A shout out for blueberries following the Hep scare.  Chinese products were suspect. Take pity on our producers. However, it turns out these are from New Zealand!  Can we live with that? 
The berries are rather good tasting.

Two items are in a price war just now, it seems.  Strawberries $1.50 and Broccoli  $1 kg.  Such largess, what are the supermarkets thinking?
Vary rare to find tender excellent strawberries.  They tend to be wirey, woody, tough, low in flavour.  Those who worry about such things say to soak strawberries and wash them well as they catch a lot of chemicals on their skin.
None of which is high on the scale of world shattering events that confront us today.

Massive sweet potato with purple 'flesh' from the new community garden growing near shopping centre Wallsend.  This variety claims more benefits for us than the other varieties with yellow or white interior. Flavour was good, colour....well...it's different.

This is a hop plant that won't end up in a pale ale; it is ust being ornamental.
The plants start again each season and grow up tall to the overhead wires.
The latest hop processing plant is conventional and contrasts with the big old weatherboard unique examples.

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Some consulants in philanthropy are visiting and are full of 'goodness'. Do we really need them?  A better way is to first succeed in collecting taxes from the big end of town to add to the public purse for the good of all, after that,  they can dabble with their pet, fullfilling causes and offer benevolence.

Try in vain to collect a just and fair mining tax from the high flyers. No way. Taxes should be the target.

Harvested the week before, this is where hop plants grew on line in Tasmania. 

Due to our over-use of the internet we are on speed restrictions for a while.  One forgets how it was. 
The slow contrasts with high speed ADSL. Surely a total fibre optic network and the NBN is the way to go.
We don't want the half baked network proposed by the Liberal party.