More on Tambellup

I had a very interesting time in Tambellup, and learned a lot. I particularly enjoyed staying at the farm and waking up on Sunday morning to a chorus of bird calls, including geese and a couple of roosters. The geese were very vocal and seemed to be egging the roosters on – everytime they honked one of the roosters would crow. I don’t know how the farmer sleeps through that (or maybe he doesn’t!).

The farmer and his wife were friendly and hospitable and gave us a cooked breakfast (sausages, bacon, eggs, toast, tea). After breakfast we all piled onto the back of his ute and went on a tour of their property. The farmer was very knowledgeable about his land and talked about how you could tell what type of soil was in a particular area by looking at the trees growing there.

He talked about the drought and how getting a good rain is going to determine what sort of harvest he gets this year. It was sad to learn that his wheat and oats were planted really late this year (because there was no rain), and won’t reach their full potential unless it rains. Some of his oat crop were affected by a plant disease, rust, as well, which won’t help the situation.

He also showed us parts of his property which he’d fenced off from his sheep flocks and the difference it makes to the land with and without grazing animals. The sheep “just nibble on everything,” he said, and prevent most plants from growing to any height. I really wonder what the area would have looked like prior to European settlement.

The townsfolk were very friendly and I was quite impressed by their obvious love of their town. It made quite an impression on us all, I think, when someone asked the farmer, who was part of the organising committee for the fair, whether he worked for, or was paid by, the town to do all the work he’d done: “Why do you do it?” His answer: “I live here.” On Sunday morning many of the townsfolk pitched in and took down the rides and the tents, put away the furniture and generally cleaned up. I reflected on the difference between that clean town and the environment we live in back in Perth. We live close to a couple of fast food restaurants, and some days the amount of food wrappers flying around the footpaths really irks me.