Harvest 2014

I've never been a farmer...but I've always admired them from afar.

It's a menacing look on a photo, and I wouldn't want to get
in his way, but still beautiful...and amazing that I got a shot.

Sure we owned 6 acres in the Snowy mountains for a few years, but we never tried to run anything other than a horse on it, and it was not arable land.

But here, in Burrumbuttock (gotta love the name)...it's harvest time.

It's nearly 10pm and I can still hear the header whirring. It's a high pitched sound, with the low drone of motors from the harvester under toning it. Ordinarily, it's the kind of sound that would have annoyed me in the city...annoyed me a lot. But here, it's a sound that makes me feel excited.

A full paddock of ripe wheat (which is what our neighbours all had this afternoon) is a beautiful sight. Even more beautiful, after 20ml or more of rain in the past week, is hearing the headers take the wheat, knowing that it's now safe. Over and over since I heard the headers this afternoon I've been singing in my head "Bringing in the Sheaves, bringing in the sheaves, we shall come rejoicing bringing in the sheaves!" It's an old song, but it matches the excitement.

The Seven Silos tonight.

Our front verandah looks out on a large paddock with seven silos. Tonight there were multiple vehicles there with their lights on as they delivered their wheat. As I was walking and watching and feeling the excitement of the night, I heard one of them whoop. I know this can be a great time for farmers, the culmination of the best part of the year of planning, working and praying that the weather goes their way. It's good to be able to share in their excitement as we see our lonely lane become a bustling road of trucks, utes, tractors, headers, harvesters and chaser bins.

Tomorrow, Christian is installed as Pastor here in the Burrumbuttock parish, with 4 congregations and 5 preaching points. They have been vacant for three years. But they have not been idle, there has been much activity going on in the absence of a pastor. We pray there will be much to harvest here...and many good plantings and harvests in the future too.