Hi everyone. I hope you are all doing ok.
We have just returned from a lovely weekend with family on a grain growing property in Bruce Rock in the central Western Australian wheatbelt.
We have a long association with the wheatbelt as both my parents were raised in the wheatbelt, and my husband has cousins in the wheatbelt. My sister's first teaching posting was to Bruce Rock and she married a farmer, and so the connection continues. I love going there, driving those wheatbelt roads through the salmon gums, walking in the paddocks, over the granite outcrops and getting back to the earth.
When our kids were young it was a great opportunity for them to run wild with their country cousins on the farm (they always seemed to know when it was mealtime), and now these all have children of their own, and so it goes on.
It is late spring here, but we still saw some wildflowers along the way - I always say that there is always something flowering in the Western Australian bush).
Clockwise from top left - Pop Flower (Glischrocaryon), yellow everlastings, unknown blur flower, Blue Leschenaultia (Lechenaultia biloba). one of the yellow pea flowers, wild Cauliflower (Verticordia eriocephala), one of the firebush family (Keraudrenia), and white everlastings (or possibly Waitzia suaveolens - fragrant waitzia)
We stopped at Lake Yealering for lunch as dark rain clouds were approaching across the salt lake. We have often stopped here. It is a good place to stop for lunch with picnic tables, shade, ablution block and playground, and a small shop across the road. There is a caravan park if you want to while away some time. Yealering - shire of Wickepin
Back on the road again it wasn't long before it started to rain and it was fairly obvious we weren't going to see any harvesting over the weekend.
This is not what the farmers want this time of year as they have to halt harvest until the grain dries out. If they get too much rain the grains start to sprout and the wheat is degraded.
However, for us visitors, we had a lovely weekend with family with plenty of get togethers, dining, walks and touring. You can't see it in this photo, but this is 1000 acres of solar panels just south of Merredin. They also have a wind farm.
Located on former farming land, and developed by Risen Energy (Australia), it is the largest solar farm in Western Australia, with 360,000 panels which will generate enough power for approx 42,000 WA homes. You can read more about this project and see a video here: Merredin solar farm
A few pics from around the farm.
This is Leroy Brown and Blizzard - two bull calves - I think you can guess which is which.
And a few wildflowers - salmon gum (Eucalyptus salmonophloia), Granite kunzia (Kunzia pulchell, Green Mulla Mulla (Ptilotus polystachyus) and two pink and grey galahs
Too soon our weekend was over. A few more wildflowers on our way home.
Clockwise from top left - white everlastings (or possibly Waitzia suaveolens - fragrant waitzia), one of the pink feather flowers (Verticordia), not sure of the yellow one, one of the mallees, one of the red flowering gums, nuts of the Mottlecah (Eucalyptus macrocarpa), and the native hibiscus (Alyogyne hakeifolia)
I am linking up to the link-ups below. Please click on the links to see fabulous contributions from around the world - virtual touring at its best!
My corner of the world through my camera
Wednesday Around the World at Communal Global hosted by Randomosity.
Thankful Thursday
Der-Natur-Thursday
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