Kara Jung: It’s time to help out and buy from the bush, to support our drought-stricken farmers
Many of our farmers are at breaking point as they face the worst drought in generations. No, I’m not talking about NSW or QLD, but right here in SA. And they need our support.
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The land is parched, cracked. Paddocks, once full of grass and wildflowers, are barren.
Every time we roll up to the old holiday home, there’s kangaroo carcasses scattered under the corrugated veranda – their last place of refuge before succumbing to the heat and dust.
A mum and joey have torn down the fencing around the small garden on the side of our little house. The fence that had stood the animal-proof test for almost a decade now not enough to compete with a starving mother’s desperation to save her young.
Their bodies now melding into the dirt.
This is the Flinders. A sunburnt land used to inconsistent rain.
But we’ve never seen it like this.
For years now, it – like many parts of our beautiful state – has been in drought.
Every year for the past five years we’ve waited and the rains just don’t come.
We are lucky – we don’t make a living off the land.
But our neighbours do. And many other bush neighbours, who are doing it really tough.
These are the men and women who produce the food we eat. They have – often for generations – loved the land, nourished it.
Many are weary, many will have to walk away from the land. Some are at great risk of that tragic combination of drought, economic loss, isolation and worry.
But it rained this week, right? It did.
In the Riverland, hail took just minutes to wipe out fruit and cereal crops.
Mother nature can be so very cruel.
And the drought goes on.
We’ve heard a lot about those doing it tough in NSW and Queensland. But it is happening here, too.
Emily Riggs, owner of merino fashion label Iris & Wool, her husband, Tom, and son Sam, 2, live on a farm in Burra in the state’s mid north.
Their farming properties out east of the township are in drought, despite the government not yet officially declaring it so. It’s a similar story around our state, where farmers are reporting the driest conditions in memory, with feed and water shortages forcing them to destock and prematurely cut crops.
“(My father-in-law) says he’s never seen it this dry and he’s been on this land, well, his whole life,” Emily says.
“It’s a worry always hovering over us, wondering when it’s going to rain.
“When it’s windy, it’s a dust storm, it’s awful.
“The government hasn’t declared it a drought out there – and yet it’s the worst many have ever seen.”
So how can you help?
You can make a donation to a registered drought relief charity where money goes to South Australians such as the SA Country Women’s Association’s emergency relief fund (sacwa.org.au) or Helping SA Farmers (search them on Facebook).
With Christmas on the way, we can support our rural communities by choosing country SA when doing our gift shopping.
Maybe a beautiful merino top from Iris & Wool (irisandwool.com) or some amazing artwork by Alysha Sparks in Jamestown, or kids clothing from Love From Frankie, designed and created by Justine Stroeh in Wilmington. There’s gorgeous resin art cheeseboards and coasters by Kate Bellman in Pt Broughton, clutches, handbags and ipad covers by Nina Cousins in Crystal Brook, or beautiful Peg & Vi jewellery by designer Kendall Jackson, who lives on her family’s farm in Warnertown. Or is a bottle of some of the world’s best wines from local wineries in the Barossa, Clare Valley or Riverland more your style?
Search Ladies on the Land and Buy from the Bush on Facebook for more inspiration.
Visit these towns and spend money in their shops, dine in their cafes, buy a pie or a pasty in the local bakery – because when you spend in these communities, the money goes back into these communities.
Stay a while. Have a beer and a meal at the Cradock Hotel as you watch a sunset that will settle your soul. Explore places like the Flinders Bush Retreats, 11,000 acres owned and operated by fifth and sixth-generation graziers, the McInnis family, who have diversified into tourism to help them through “the worst drought our farm has ever seen”.
And, perhaps, while you’re there, head out into those parched paddocks, stomp your feet, wave your arms and do a little rain dance for our farmers.
