Riding around sections of the Scenic Rim is heartbreaking at the moment. On Thursday 25th October, a storm swept through the area with heavy hail and severe wind which has absolutely devastated some of our farming community. Whole crops have been lost at a great cost to our farmers. Roofs have been ripped off sheds and boom irrigators have been bent making repair bills hefty.
This freak storm could not have come at a worse time in our area. This time of year our farmers are optimistically preparing for harvest in the hope of a successful season. Crops were looking lush and green and it’s a time when the money finally can start coming in. So many of the crops destroyed by Mother Nature were only days or weeks away from being harvested.
Our own crops didn’t go unscathed. After the storm, hubby went out to survey the damage. The news wasn’t great. It looks like we have lost some crops and others are a wait and see type situation to see what can be salvaged.
Mother Nature has managed to take the potential of a successful season and completely crush it in 30minutes. That’s the power of Mother Nature and the risk you take being a farmer. Farming is a gamble and the price paid is sometimes very high.
It got me thinking about why our farmers do it & what keeps them going. It didn’t feel like that long ago that we were having to recover from crop loss due to a flood. On asking hubby he simply said “we don’t normally see hail & wind like that come through the area”. It’s the optimism that I hear that I admire.
I don’t profess to be an expert on farming. To be honest I’m hopeless and I often joke I’m the worst farmers wife in the district. I’m not a morning person much to hubby’s disgust, I still have trouble telling some crops apart and my eyes start glazing over whenever hubby starts talking in detail about some machinery fix that’s occurred down the farm. I do however know that whatever it is that makes our farmers continue through the hard times it is a trait that deserves respect and admiration.
So as I ride around the district with a heavy heart, I can’t help but feel in awe and extremely proud of our farmers who get knocked down time and time again yet get back up again and soldier on.
Read more about it here:
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-11-03/queensland-farmers-miss-out-on-disaster-funding/10462272
Vespas in the Scenic Rim & Beyond 
That really is heart breaking! I was thinking about you and hoping your farm would be ok. So many people don’t appreciate where their food comes from, and how difficult it can be for farmers. We are so lucky in this country to have affordable, safe, fresh produce. Thanks for sharing the pictures. Very humbling.
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Thanks for thinking of us. Many of our farming friends just down the road were hit worse than we were.
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