The State of Origin
21-Apr-2006No, not Rugby League football. Last weekend I attended the Annual State of Origin Ploughing Competition in my old home town of Armidale.
Competitors from NSW and Queensland were battling it out for the title with draught horses and old-style shiny ploughs. Literally tens of people had turned out to spectate. There was even a display of Stump-Jump Ploughs. I finally figured out why they’re called that and why they’re considered innovative — the plough shares are each on a spring-loaded arm, so they can “jump” any stumps that you plough over. Sweet!
The kids enjoyed it. The horses were nice. The competition was… slow.
I wondered whether the ploughing competition was more or less interesting than watching grass grow?
Conveniently, there was a turf farm right next to the ploughing competition.
A farmer was unrolling green fabric over his freshly tilled paddock from the back of his big red tractor. The fabric was a flexible film of water-soluble nutrients inset with grass-seed — perfect for germinating the grass seeds before birds eat them.
It turns out grass growing is pretty interesting.
