Episode 7 - Busting Out

This is one of the best times of the year! There's nothing like the shoots just starting to poke up through the soil. That fresh bright green after so many months of baked, dry, dusty summer! Of course, green is my favourite colour, but even so it makes you glad to be alive! It's happening for almost everyone, you know, stretching your roots down after they've been curled up for so long. Man, that really tingles! Then they start sucking up that water and you can start pushing up towards the fresh air. And when you finally break through the top and see the sky again - its indescribable.

Actually what I just said is not quite true for all the plants on the farm. Of course the crop seeds like Wally Wheat, Chelsea Chickpea, Larry Lupin and Freddy Faba, all come up with the first rains after they're planted, but it's not the same for the pastures.

Have you seen how tough Mike Medic looks? He's a hard seeded guy, and he has to be to do his job properly. Mike's seeds come up bit by bit as their hard seed coats are worn away in the soil. That way there's always pasture seed ready to come up season after season, and if there's a dry spell and plants die, there are still seeds in the soil waiting to come up when it rains again.

Anyway, back to the crops. They've all been sown - what a big operation that was. Tractors going day and night to get the crops in before the soil got too muddy and boggy for them. Larry Lupin's gang went into the sandy paddock up the hill, and Chelsea Chickpea and her friends are in the clay paddock they chose as their home for the season. It's been weeks since they went in, and to tell you the truth, I'm worried about Larry Lupin and his mates. They can stay down in the soil for weeks waiting for the rain, but the break has come and they really should be getting out of there by now.

I went to the sandy paddock up the hill - the one that the new farmhand seeded - and shouted into the soil: "Larry, isn't it time you were popping your shoots above ground? Are you O.K.?" I listened carefully for signs of life. I heard nothing at first but then from deep within the ground Larry's muffled voice reached my ears.

"People don't have a clue how hard this business is!" he grumbled. "If that new fellow on the tractor had known how important it was to sow me at the correct depth, he would have been a bit more careful. What are a couple of centimetres to him? The strength I need to get up to the fresh air would be like a 40 kg kid lifting two tractors!" "Keep pushing Larry " I called out encouragingly. Larry kept pushing and grumbling, grumbling and pushing...

"I'd like to see that guy do this and then still have enough energy to grow and cope with all the challenges of a growing season." he puffed as a tiny green shoot finally appeared above ground.

Well it looks like Larry's made it, but what about Chelsea Chickpea? You know even if that new guy seeded her paddock and planted her too deep it wouldn't have been a problem. Why? Now that's another story...