Each year as the month of November comes to an end I am always amazed to discover some significant aspect has been added to our peaceful observance of the costs of war borne not only by those who leave their homeland, but their dependants who remain and wait.  As you saw in my previous post we were visited by Amanda McLeay of TVTen and that night our floral tribute to the fallen was shown wide and far across Queensland and northern New South Wales. The immediate result was that holiday makers travelling north, who had overnighted in towns like Uralla in NSW called in to photograph our Remembrance Field and to ask for a packet of Flanders poppy seed. Then I received a request from a soldier’s wife, who had seen the TV presentation, asking if her husband could be photgraphed with her and their children in the Remembrance Field prior to his departure for Afghanistan.  I was told that when our men and women of the Australian Defence Forces are about to be deployed overseas the Department arranges for them to receive a selection of family photographs taken in the venue of their choice. This young soldier has already served in East Timor and Iraq. Of course I agreed to this request.

A soldier's family

These photographs were taken on the 19th November by which time time we had experienced three weeks of hot weather and the poppies were running to seed.The photographer then arranged the family in several other formal positions.

The Australian flag

At this time of year our Granite Belt countryside has much to offer a photographer and Sam Tutton of http://samtuttonphotography.com/blog/?p=721 quickly recognised this and arranged other informal photographs.

Grassland

Every November the golden correopsis bloom across the Granite Belt and Sam Tutton captured a wonderfully relaxed view of the children running through these wildflowers on our farm.

Golden wildflowers

I was away at the Glen Aplin Market the morning that these photographs were taken so I had given my camera  to a nine year old boy, whose family are now living with us to assist Eberhard and I to maintain our lifestyle. He had great fun clicking away.  The wonderful thing about a digital camera is that I could then edit his photography and save the photographs that captured the mood of the day.

Now the heat and dry days have ripened off the poppy seed and in the next week I will begin harvesting seed so that once more I can offer it to others for them to plant Flanders poppies for Remembrance Day next year.

Dry poppy capsules

Wildflowers, wilderness and wine

The story of how and why we established this Remembrance Field in 1996 is told in my book Wildflowers, wilderness and wine written about the years that Eberhard and I hosted Das Helwig Haus B&B on the Granite Belt of southern Queensland, Australia.

Wildflowers, wilderness and wine is available on http://www.australia-book.com.au or may be downloaded from http://lulu.com/spotlight/strictlyliterary

Today at the 11th hour on the 11th day of the 11th month it will also be the 11th year of this century. 11-11-11-2011

It was at 11.00am on the 11th of November 1918 that the Armistice Treaty was signed at Versailles. The guns fell silent across the battlefields of The Somme and the awful conflict of World War One ceased.

I quote the editorial of my local Border Post newspaper, written by Ewan Leighton:

It’s almost been a century since more than 60,000 of Australia’s finest died in World War One. Since that time, countless more have been killed in conflicts around the world. It is this time each year that communities across Australia come together to remember our fallen soliders, and to pay tribute to the price they paid for the life we live today. On Friday November 11 the Last Post will play through the Stanthorpe CBD. This significant date marks nine decades since the armistice that ended World War One. It is time not to remember the conflicts but to pay our respects to past and present soldiers werving overseas. It is hard to escape the violence that is war when we still have thousands of our best men and women risking their lives everyday. Younger generations don’t seem to realise the importance of Remembrance Day and the significance it holds for many Australian families. It’s important to ensure younger generations grasp the fact that thousands of our best men and women are risking their lives everyday. On a positive note, Rememembrance Day parade numbers appear to be on the rise both locally and nationally. On a local level residents should go and see the amazing poppy field cultivated by Fay Helwig at Glen Aplin. It is crucial for all Australians to take one minute out of their lives tomorrow to remember those who have given theirs – lest we forget.

Michael & Lauren 2003

Michael and Lauren are seen here raising the Australian Flag above our Remembrance Field at Glen Aplin in 2003. This year Michael graduated from the Brisbane Boy’s College yet I am sure he will still remember this special honour.Every year it is a challenge to germinate the Flanders poppy seed in the soil of the Remembrance Field during July so that the field will reach its blooming peak for 11th November. In my September post I published photos of the progress we had made weeding the thinning the poppy crop. The first poppies opened their buds on the 9th October.

First poppies

A sunny morning in mid-October

By mid-October the preparation of the field had been completed and and I flew off to Hong Kong for a short holiday with my son and his family. By then a dozen red Flander poppies were scattered amongst the green foliage.

During my absence there were a couple of wet days to nourish the crop. I returned at the end of the month to a glorious and rewarding sight.

First day of November

What an amazing transformation! Yet it is what I have come to expect since we first established this Remembrance Field. The first year that we opened it to the public was in 1996. But this is the first year that I have incorporated water absorbent crystals into the soil and relied entirely upon natural rainfall to grow the poppies.

Fay amongst the poppies

With the poppies waist height on me it was then time to contact media outlets and generate some publicity to advise people that this living memorial was open to the public. Anyone is welcome to drive in along our entrance road and park their cars beside the Remembrance Field while they photograph this tribute.

TV Network Ten helicopter

Amanda McLeay from TV Channel Ten flew in with a photographer and spent just over an hour here recording footage of the scarlet Flanders poppies and recording an interview with me.

Amanda McLeay

Today arrangements have been made for me to be interviewed by telephone for ABC radio this morning. Later in the day I will be welcoming bus groups and other visitors.

I’ll leave you now with a couple of views of the Flanders poppies which have been taken from within our garden.

Over the garden fence

From the veranda

The Remembrance Field will remain open to the public until 20th November.

Wildflowers, wilderness and wine

My book Wildflowers, wilderness and wine details why and how Eberhard and I established this magnificent display. It is available directly from me, or online from www.australia-book.com.au

Australians and oververseas readers may download copies from www.lulu.com/spotlight/strictlyliterary

As I have mentioned in previous posts I have undertaken an experiment this year using the Remembrance Field to test the usefulness of a product called SAP. On the first day of June we broadcast this  water soluble polymer as dry crystals across the field and turned over the soil. I knew that whenever it rained these crystals would soak up the moisture and expand into a clear jelly like substance. In dry periods they would act as a water reservoir in the soil allowing plant roots to access the moisture. Although I have been using this non-toxic product in my organic garden to assist with water retention for the growing of vegetables and flowers for three years this was the first time I have added it to the soil of the Remembrance Field. We measured only 23mm (it takes 25mm to measure one inch) of rain in June. The field was cultivated at the beginning of July, which proved to be a dry month with only 3mm of precipitation, yet there was sufficient moisture for the Flanders poppies to germinate. After recording that 3mm there was no more rain for five weeks. Then over three weeks we measured a total of 45mm in six small falls and the poppies grew rapidly.

Spring arrives

During the first week of September we welcomed Tina and Julia, two girls from Germany, who came to us as Willing Workers on Organic Farms. The white and pink flowering peach trees were the first blossom trees to herald the arrival of spring. The girls enjoyed working in the cool sunshine, saying our first week of spring weather was like a mid-summer’s day in northern Germany.

Two German girls

Their first task was to walk across the field and pull out all the buckwheat weeds I mentioned in my August post. This took the girls a full day by which time I had decided they were willing workers. I showed them a working position first demonstrated to me by a physiotherapist. The secret is to push out your bottom, while keeping the legs straight and apart, then let your arms drop from a straight back. I have found this working position is a lot easier on the back than bending from the waist.

Keep your back straight!

Tina (in the red top) said, “Oh, but I have such long legs!”

I replied, “And long arms to match.”

When they thought I was no longer looking they quickly slipped back to bending at the waist.

Trixie and Patches regularly kept them company as they worked.

Bending again

By the end of their first day they had sore muscles, but they were Willing Workers who happily spent about six hours each day for five days firstly pulling out the buckwheat and then thinning the poppies. I told them I wanted about 99% of the poppies removed, so that individual plants remained about a hand’s width apart. They need to be thinned so each plant has space and sufficient moisture to grow strongly. As with all my WWOOF helpers, these girls enjoyed breaks like the day I took them to town so they could buy straw hats.  I also taught them to bake bread rolls.

Oiling the bread rolls

The girls had arrived on a Sunday and by the time they departed the following Saturday they had thinned half the area of the Remembrance Field. I was delighted by their effort.

I received this email:

I’m Thomas from Korea. I’m a 23 years old. I’m a university studenet with a double major of philosophy and law.

I’m a positive and friendly than anyone.

Now I’m doing study English in Brisbane CBD. I’ve been here for 2 weeks and I’d like to try new things to see more of Australia. This is why I’m interested in doing woof programs.

By the way, Can i get there on 20th, Sep ? Because, My share’s contract is expired on 20th, Sep. Please reply to me

Thank you! have a good time!

I continued alone to thin the poppies looking forward to the assistance of Thomas. He arrived on the evening of 20th September, worked one day and left the next day. Some young Korean men appear to be rather immature by Western standards. This soft, plump lad had a willing attitude and embraced the ideals of WWOOF, but he confessed that his father had discovered he was in Australia and ordered him to return home immediately. Apparently his father had sent Thomas to the Philippines to learn English. The lad had skipped off to Brisbane to have some fun, had heard about WWOOF, joined the organization and came to me. He wasn’t with me long enough for me to take a photo of him working.

Once more I was obliged to work alone at thinning the poppies, which meant that I spent less time than usual on social media sites like Facebook and writing to my friends. It was a glorious spring with flowering peaches, wisteria, and forsythia blooming followed by the last of the bulbs, the Spanish bluebells.

Spanish bluebells

As I walked past these bluebells to enter the Remembrance Field beyond the fence I would hear the hum of a thousand bees in the pussy willow tree, the trunk of which rises amidst this bed of bulbs. Again there was another dry spell lasting for fifteen days. Then the spring storms arrived and we measured 37 mm in three falls, making a total 52mm (that’s just over two inches) of rain for the month of September. I am delighted with the results from using the SAP. It is certainly helping my poppies to continue growing without stressing through the long dry spells between rainfalls. This is proof that by using this product I can grow a crop in light soil without irrigation. Normally, the farmers in this district maintain that they have to water their crops every third day. In past years I would irrigate the poppies weekly if we received no rain. Using the SAP has saved considerable labour and fuel for a pump.

On the last day of September I took photographs of the poppies now nicely spaced apart and with some developing their first buds.

Poppy plant in bud

These plants will more than double in size during October. Scattered amongst the poppy plants I have also transplanted a few seedlings of blue cornflowers, which is also a weed of the wheat fields of Europe.

Cornflower plant

With longer hours of sunlight and rain from spring storms I am hoping that these cornflower plants will be waist high amongst a glorious blaze of red poppies by the 11th November.

Wildflowers, wilderness and wine

The girls, Tina and Julia, came from North Germany from towns near Lüneburg and Timmendorfer Strand. Eberhard spent a month of his youth in this region and recounts his experiences there in the 35th post of The Forgotten Ones – a book I wrote about his life in Germany prior to coming to Australia in 1950. You can find the chapters of this free book on http://fayhelwigauthor.com or on my website http://www.australia-book.com.au

It gave Eberhard great pleasure conversing with Tina and Julia about his time beside the North Sea.

My book Wildflowers, wilderness and wine is available on www.australia-book.com.au

It can also be downloaded for $5.00 from http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/strictlyliterary

I will remember the winter of 2011 as being a cold and dry winter. It was the coldest winter on the Granite Belt for eleven years. Such cold winters are always good for the orchards as they ensure the apple trees get sufficient hours of winter chill, needed to produce blossom.  Despite a dry July in 2011 the Granite Belt farms and our garden continued to carry over moisture from the soaking the district received July 2010 through to the floods of January 2011. This will be the first year since we moved to the Granite Belt in 1992 that the gully flowing between our dams and down to the river has run continuously.

Patches amongst the daffodils

The first sign of spring is when the daffodils bloom in my garden. I grow a number of different varieties of daffodils which means that I will have a display of blooms for several weeks. Whenever I or my Wwoofers are working the garden my cat, Patches, keeps us company. the Wwoofers call her their supervisor. Following an August show of rain I decided that I must begin thinning the Flanders poppies in the Remembrance Field. Every year the poppies germinate thickly and it becomes necessary to thin the crop.

This year I am also conducting an experiment to see if it is possible to bring the Remembrance Field to flowering in November without watering the crop. Last year was an exceptionally wet spring when irrigation was not required, but normally in other years I have been obliged to irrigate the poppies a number of times. This winter in June I added water soluble gel crystals (polyacrylamide) to the soil prior to the final cultivation of the field. I kept my fingers crossed throughout July that the gel would act as a water reservoir and provide sufficient moisture in the soil to germinate the poppies.  See the post for 3rd July titled THE YEAR 2011 (12)

A green tinge

By the 15th August, six weeks after the cultivation of the Remembrance Field, a green tinge was visible across the ground. I recognised the plants with bigger leaves as a weed often found growing in wheat crops as a vine called buckwheat. This is a strangling plant that must be eliminated each year, but invariably after the poppies flower and we allow them to run to seed some of these weeds also manage to survive and drop their seed. Looking at clusters of these broad leaved weeds in the field it would appear that about a dozen such plants managed to thrive. Commercial wheat growers would eliminate such weeds by using a pre-emergent weedicide designed to prevent the germination of such seeds, but as an organic gardener I must ensure they are removed manually. Secondly, the poppies, which were originally weeds of the wheat fields of Europe, are also a broad leafed weed and would be susceptible to the same chemicals.

A weed called buckwheat

The broad leaves of this weed make it easily identified. Happily I noted also that there had been an excellent germination of poppy seed. With fifteen years of experience of growing this field of red Flanders poppies to bloom for 11th November I now know what must be done.

My supervisor

I brought out my Honda tiller and promptly cultivated strips across the field. In doing so, I believe I destroyed about 75% of all seedlings. Now it will be necessary to remove at least another 90% of the plants.

A walking path.

My final task after cultivating the rows across the field to was to turn over the soil in a strip in the centre of the field to create a future pathway.  Once I would have needed this access path to reach the three overhead irrigation sprinklers but they are no longer in use. It is part of my endeavour to minimize my carbon footprint that I have removed the petrol driven pump that once would have brought irrigation water to this field and have instead turned to incorporating the water soluble crystals into my soil to see if it will be possible to grow this crop on rainfall only. This access path also enables visitors to the field in November to be able to stroll in amongst the poppies to take photographs or be photographed.

Each year I advertise on the bulletin board of the WWOOF website for workers willing to assist me in this way. Last year Lolita from Taiwan worked alone in the field and did an excellent job. That year I cultivated the field in lengthwise strips and planted wheat along these rows because I wanted to be able to incorporate straw into the soil to increase the humus content, so Lolita had to learn not only how to distinguish the difference between weeds and poppies, but also to leave the wheat in place. Such a task would appear easy to most gardeners, but I find that many of these young urban travellers have great difficulty seeing the difference between plants and the first thing I have to do is to teach them to recognise a poppy seedling as opposed to weed or wheat seedlings.

Computer aerial

I must apologize to all my readers that you have had to wait so long for this post. I upgraded my computer and changed my email address to helwig113@bigpond.com only to find that I couldn’t get satellite connection to the server Bigpond. After several delays obtaining the correct aerial it was installed on our roof and I again have a computer connection.

Wildflowers, wilderness and wine

Overseas readers may download a copy or obtain my book Wildflowers, Wilderness and Wine via this link http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/strictlyliterary

Australians have the additional opportunity of ordering it via www.australia-book.com.au

My readers may well ask, “Why is this week so important?”

My reply, “This is the week the Remembrance Field must be cultivated to enable the Flanders poppy seed to germinate thus ensuring the field will be ablaze with red poppies in full bloom for eleventh November.”

Following on from the slashing of the wheat and poppies at the end of 2010 we have this year cultivated the field three times with our little rotary tiller. I rely on wwoofers - Willing Workers on Organic Farms – to undertake this work every year.

The first turning over of the soil is the hardest work and this year that was done by Charlie from Austria.

Charlie had the muscles needed to turn the soil and incorporate the straw. I then allowed the field to grow a crop as green manure.

Brad, from Canada, was the next wwoofer charged with cultivating the field.

Firstly Brad had to broacast dolomite, as a fine white powder, across the soil. Dolomite is not a fertilizer but aids in the decomposition of humus and adds some additional mineral. As such it is considered to be soil conditioner. Brad then broadcast SAP -  a water soluble polymer – as dry crystals across the field. Whenever it rains these crystals will soak up the moisture and expand. In dry periods these act as a water reservoir in the soil allowing plant roots to access the moisture. Although I have been using this non-toxic product in my organic garden to assist with water retention for the growing of vegetables and flowers for three years this is the first time I have added it to the soil of the Remembrance Field.

On the first day of June, Brad turned in the green manure crop with the dolomite and SAP, which again required a bit of muscle.

Four weeks later a French youth arrived with the aim of wwoofing for two weeks.

Gilles dArcimoles is an adventurous youth with a flair for languages who has already travelled throughout much of Europe and now wants to spend six weeks holidaying in Queensland. I was delighted to have such a French connection at this time of the year and entrusted him with lightly turning the soil to germinate the poppy seed.

As you can see the soil was in fine tilth and no muscle was require to follow the tiller across the field. As previously done by both Charlie and Brad, Gilles worked the field lengthwise and then across the width, turning the soil over twice.

It is my expectation that within two weeks the tiny poppy seedlings will be visible.

As this was the first time I have had a French wwoofer here at this time of the year to till the soil, I invited the editor of our local Border Post newspaper to send out a photographer to record Gilles at work. She came herself. Gilles is now looking forward to this newspaper story to take home with him as a souvenier of his time in this part of Queensland.

The same day that Gilles arrived, Vivian Chan, a wwoofer from Hong Kong arrived. At this time of year there is much pruning needing to be done in my garden.

In summer these Isabella grape vines ramble over this car parking shelter providing welcome shade  and an abundance of grapes for jam making.

This was the next task for Gilles and Vivian to prune back these grape vines.

Those tasks were completed on Thursday and Friday. On Saturday Vivian helped me to cut back the herbaceous border of catmint overhanging our front path and replace cracked bricks in the the path, while Gilles pruned back a flowering prunus and the elderberry trees.

Light weight and agile, Gilles was like a monkey in the tree. The freshly cultivated Remembrance Field can be seen behind our garden fence.

Anissa Williams the marketing manager of the Granite Belt Wine and Tourism Association requested a photo of Gilles for publicity purposes, so I posed him against the Rosemary hedge, where he looked quite the young Adonis in the afternoon sunlight.

Today, Sunday was their day of rest, so this morning I drove with them down to the Girraween National Park. On open grassland, before we reached the precincts of the park, I sighted a mob of kangaroos reclining in the warmth of winter sunlight, so stopped the car. Much to the delight of Gilles and Vivian the kangaroos stirred themselves enough to stand, hop around a little and pose for their cameras.

The last I saw of my wwoofers was Gilles enthusiastically leading the way as they crossed the rocks and headed off to climb the Pyramid.

This afternoon I returned to collect them. They had climbed the Pyramid, taken the side track to the Granite Arch and then treked all the way to Dr. Roberts Waterhole.

As they were a little late returning from this walk I occupied my time photographing the almost tame kangaroos and the kookaburras looking for a free feed in the picnic ground.

I have made many trips to Girraween with wwoofers in past years. One such visit is recounted in detail in my book Wildflowers, wilderness and wine.

My book is available within Australia on http://www.australia-book.com.au and internationally it can be downloaded or purchased print on demand from http://stores.lulu.com/strictlyliterary

Below I share with you an extract from my book Wildflowers, wilderness and wine.

My first great marketing success happened when I was fifty-five years old and my dark hair was starting to grey, but I knew myself to still be a good-looking woman. I paused, stood loosely away from the lectern and sought eye control with my already sympathetic audience. When every eye was focused on me and every woman feared I would
be unable to speak, I announced forcefully, ‘I am passionately interested in tourism!’
I do not remember what more I said, but I topped the poll and became a Director on the Board of Queensland’s Southern Downs Tourist Association.
The association had received a grant of one hundred thousand dollars for the development of a Tourism Strategy Plan for Toowoomba-Golden West and the Southern Downs. At one of the first meetings I attended as a Director, one of these strategists, Dr Hugh Lavery, an environmentalist, asked the question, ‘How can we in tourism capitalise on the history of the seven Flanders battlefields place names on the northern end of the Granite Belt?’
The light bulbs flashed and I knew I had the answer: In 1920 five hundred returned servicemen, who had served in France during the First World War, won blocks of land in a ballot. The Queensland government surveyor determining the course of a branch railway line to service this community gave the seven railway sidings the names of Amiens, Messines, Bapaume, Passchendaele, Bullecourt, Pozieres and Fleurbaix.

Seventy years later those siding names are now to be seen on a signpost at the Stanthorpe Museum and there is very little to mark some of the districts. A road traverses the region and it was portion of my suggestion that this road become a memorial drive.

Railway siding names at the Stanthorpe Museum

The second part of my suggestion came about due to my knowledge of history and horticulture.
In 1990 Eberhard and I had spent five months travelling through Germany, Switzerland, Canada and the USA. During this period I photographed the scarlet poppies growing in the wheat fields of Bavaria and Switzerland. See http://fayhelwigauthor.com to view these photographs. Then in the Ottawa war memorial I photographed the poem written by the Canadian doctor, Colonel John McCrae, at the second battle for Ypes in France; first published in London on December 8, 1915. This was inscribed in marble on an internal wall of the war memorial.

In flanders fields
The poppies blow
Between the crosses
Row on row,
That mark our place,
And in the sky, the larks
still bravely singing,
fly scarce heard
Amid the guns below.
We are the dead.
Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn,
Saw sunset glow,
Loved, and were loved,
And now we lie in flanders fields.
Take up our quarrel
With the foe,
To you from failing
Hands we throw
The torch, be yours
To hold it high.
If ye break faith
With us who die
We shall not sleep
Though poppies grow
In flanders fields.
In 1993 I had asked Eberhard to plough the field in front of our house to allow me to establish a wildflower meadow like I had seen in Europe. I realised that in the cool mountain climate of the Granite Belt I would be able to grow many of the Northern Hemisphere flowers I had so greatly admired in Europe.
Amongst the flowers I sowed in the field were the red Flanders Poppies. My powers of observation came into play and I noted that it took sixteen weeks from when the poppy seed was sown for the plant to reach flowering. I recognised that it would be possible to germinate the poppy seedlings to time the flowering to begin mid October and continue on to the end of November.
This was an important discovery, for it led me to the startling conclusion that no where else in the Southern Hemisphere was there such a grouping of Flanders battlefield place names and a cool mountain climate that would allow the poppies to bloom for 11th November, Armistice Day.
In my report proposing the creation of a memorial drive I suggested that people along the route should grow poppies in their gardens or fields to create a tourist attraction. I envisaged motorists and school groups touring the area each
November.
A meeting of tourist operators and business people from the northern end of the district met to discuss the proposal and again the Stanthorpe Border Post carried the story as a front-page feature. The enthusiasm was contagious. The RSL suggested placing seven memorial crosses on the drive to mark each district, with each cross to carry a plaque detailing the history of that particular battle. Furthermore it was suggested that the school children at Amiens and Pozieres might undertake the planting and management of poppies growing in garden beds under the crosses.
The President of the Lion’s Club announced that the club would consider beautifying a public picnic ground with the poppies. Tony Evans, of Evan’s Seedlings at Amiens offered to purchase bulk poppy seed for distribution and to plant an acre of ground at the front of their business with the poppies. His father had served in France and been one of the original diggers to receive land at Amiens. I was photographed for the newspaper story standing with Mr. and Mrs. Evans. I came home from that meeting on a high!
Then the protesters, like storm clouds, gathered!
Earlier in the year there had been two proposals placed before the Stanthorpe Shire Council for farmers to establish lot-feed facilities for their cattle near the highway at Ballandean. The tourist industry of the Granite Belt opposed these
applications on the grounds that they were unsuitable for environmental reasons. Eberhard and I had signed a petition opposing the approval of the applications. It was a close call, requiring the casting vote of the Mayor to reject the
applications. Immediately there were angry letters of protest to the editor of the Stanthorpe Border Post claiming that farmers were being denied the ‘right to farm’ their land.
It was during this time of simmering resentment that I put forward the memorial drive proposal and the farmers saw a chance to retaliate against the tourism community. Tony Evans was the first to feel the brunt of rural disapproval. Antagonistic farmers told him they would no longer buy their vegetable seedlings from him if he persisted in supporting the proposal to grow poppies along the memorial drive. Furthermore they would sue him personally if any poppies appeared as weeds amongst their crops. Tony withdrew his offer to purchase seed and plant an acre of ground with poppies. Suddenly I found myself being treated like a pariah for threatening the farmers of the district with a weed invasion. The two GBTA members who were also Shire Councillors were unable to sway other members of this rural
Council with the result that the Stanthorpe Shire Council banned the planting of poppies on all district roads.

Melissa's birthday is 11th November.

Some years previously, while still living at Dalby and working my farm there, I had undertaken a plant propagation course at the Gatton Agricultural College. I knew that the poppy was unlikely to spread and become a weed nuisance. As I explained to friends, Cobbler Pegs are known as the Farmer’s Friend because they cling to clothes and are transferred to other sites. Milk thistle seed blows on the wind. The seed heads of both the golden Coreopsis and the pink, mauve and white Cosmos are eaten by the Rosella parrots, which also being a fruit eating bird, distribute the seed via their droppings to vineyards and orchards.

Cosmos

In contrast, the poppy capsule is bitter and no bird eats the seed head. The capsules harden and the fine black seed drops out like pepper below the plant. In years gone by the poppy spread with mankind right around the Mediterranean Sea and across Europe from Russia to Great Britain. Man, with bags of wheat seed, probably carried it across the English Channel, as the poppy was a weed of wheat fields. I believed the only way the poppy could spread on the Granite Belt would be in soil attached to a gardening tool or a farming implement, as wheat is not a crop grown in the region.

Flanders poppies amongst wheat

The other factor that antagonists chose to overlook was that unlike the perennial Coreopsis, the poppies require cultivated soil to germinate and would not survive in bushland. As I repeatedly explained, the battlefields of Flanders had originally been wheat fields. Wheat wasn’t planted during the war, but the soil was disturbed by troops digging trenches, grave digging and shelling, which had the effect of providing cultivated soil.
And then in the horrible wet conditions of Flanders, the poppies germinated and became known to the Allied Forces as the Flanders Poppies.
Knowing I would lose the battle if I continued my crusade for a memorial drive, I did some lateral thinking, and took the heat out of the issue. With Eberhard’s approval I suggested to the Stanthorpe RSL that we should plough up our wildflower meadow and at the end of June seed it with wheat, poppies and cornflowers to represent the way the wheat fields of France had looked before the devastation of the First World War. Then we would open our field to the public for a $2.00 gold coin. The RSL agreed to collect the money and serve food and beverage. They raised a thousand dollars, which was donated to Brisbane Legacy, who normally earns money by selling the artificial poppies.

To read more purchase Wildflowers, wilderness and wine.

Yesterday, 11th November 2010, Amanda McLeay, the weather presenter on TV TEN NEWS, showed photographs I had taken that morning and advised the public the Remembrance Field was open to visitors free of charge until the end of November.

The Remembrance Field 11-11-2010

This morning visitors arrived to film the field because they had seen Amanda’s presentation. Unfortunately they were not given clear directions by the Stanthorpe Information Centre and wasted time finding this destination.

If you read this and wish to view the Remembrance Field, drive to Glen Aplin which is 10km south of Stanthorpe, turn west into Mt. Stirling Road and a kilometre later turn left at the DAS HELWIG HAUS sign, 113 Mt. Stirling Road.

Wildflowers, wilderness and wine

If you like Fay’s style of writing, illustrated with her photography you may enjoy reading her book THE FORGOTTEN ONES which she is publishing chapter by chapter on http://fayhelwigauthor.com

If you live overseas you can obtain Wildflowers, wilderness and wine on http://store.lulu.com/strictlyliterary

The story is told in my book Wildflowers, Wilderness and Wine as to why we established the Remembrance Field of red Flanders poppies on our land at Glen Aplin in 1996.  I would have preferred to establish a memorial drive linking the Granite Belt hamlets of Amiens, Messines, Bapaume, Passchendaele, Bullecourt, Pozieres and Fleurbaix which had once been railway sidings for a soldier settlement where former servicemen who had survived the battles in France settled on rural blocks to grow apples. When farmers feared the poppies could spread and become a weed nuisance, we decided to plant a field with wheat and poppies to show the poppies were not a threat to the rural community.

We first opened our garden and field in November 1996. We charged a $2.00 entrance fee and raised $1,000.00 which we then donated to Brisbane Legacy.

The Australian Returned Soldiers and Sailors Imperial League (the forerunner to the RSL) first sold poppies for Armistice Day 1921. For this drive, the League imported one million silk poppies, made in French orphanages. Each poppy was sold for a shilling: five pence was donated to a charity for French children, six pence went to the League’s own welfare work and one penny went to the League’s national coffers.

Eberhard and I decided that, as a matter of integrity, we must visit the battlefield region in northern France and made arrangements to travel to Europe in January 1997. We were met at Villers-Bretonneux by Jean-Pierre Thierry, O.A.M., President of the Association France-Australie who became our guide for a day in the Somme .

My words will not describe the desolation of the wet, windswept fields we saw that day.

Wheat field near Pozieres

As a farmer I could look at this soil, over seventy years later, and see in the structure of the clods of earth the clay that had been brought to the surface by the trench digging and shelling. It is the clay that shows as white in the field.

Soldiers in the trenches

This clay stuck to my boots and I could only imagine how horrible it must have been to live in the cold, wet and sticky mud of the trenches. As you can see from my photo there is very little higher ground in this region and the highest points were much valued. Battles were fought backwards and forwards across what became barren wasteland with great loss of life. Only in the trenches did the men gain some protection from rife fire, but nothing protected them from the shelling.

Even today unexploded shells like the one I photographed are regularly brought up in the fields during cultivation and placed at the side of the roads for collection by the authorities.

Windmill memorial, Pozieres

Two memorials, The Windmill and the Tank Memorial face each other at the edge of the Pozieres village. Pozieres was the key obstacle which had to be overcome in order to capture first the Mouquet Farm and then Thiepval hill. This encircling plan was largely assigned to Australian troops, the majority of whom had come to the Somme from Gallipoli. The village, lying along a low ridge, was crossed by a double network of trenches that made up the 2nd German line, and flanked by two blockhouse/observation posts dominating the entire battlefield. The Australians arrived on 23rd July 1916 and captured Pozieres then, exhausted by incessant artillery counter-attacks, were relieved by the Canadians at Mouquet Farm on 5 September. Three of their divisions serving in the Pozieres sector had lost more than a third of their men, and the village itself was completely annihilated.

Flanders poppies

During World War One the red poppies were seen to be among the first living plants that sprouted from the devastation of the battlefields of northern France and Belgium. Soldiers’ folklore had it that the poppies were vivid red from having been nurtured in ground drenched with the blood of their comrades. The sight of the poppies in a cemetery at Ypres in 1915 moved the Canadian, Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae to write the poem In Flanders Fields. The poem ends with a plea.

Take up our quarrel with the foe: To you from failing hands we throw The torch; be yours to hold it high. If ye break faith with us who die We shall not sleep, though poppies grow In Flanders fields.

By establishing the Remembrance Field at Glen Aplin, Eberhard and I have kept the faith.

The Remembrance Field

Today I received a poem written by Ray Wilson, which I have permission to share with you.

Poem - The Remembrance Field

Book Cover

Das Helwig Haus B&B owned by Eberhard and Fay Helwig is situated at Glen Aplin, near Stanthorpe on the Granite Belt of southern Queensland, Australia.

This is a region noted for Australian wildflowers, four wilderness National Parks and sixty wineries. In 1997 Eberhard and Fay established the Remembrance Field of red Flanders poppies, a European wildflower.

To obtain Fay’s book Wildflowers, wilderness and wine email Fay on helwig@halenet.com.au

Internationally it is available on the Amazon.com website.  http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002ACXQ0M/sr=8-1/qid=1244294755/ref=olp_product_details?ie=UTF8&me=&qid=1244294755&sr=8-1&seller=

http://stores.lulu.com/strictlyliterary

http://books.google.co.uk/

Most visitors to my garden understand the significance of the red Flanders poppies growing in the Remembrance Field and the edging hedge of the herb rosemary. Rosemary is the token worn on ANZAC Day and the red poppy is worn on 11th November the date the Armistice Treaty was signed at Versailles to end World War One.

“But, what is the significance of the blue cornflowers?” they ask.

Cornflowers and poppies

My answer is of particular interest to the residents of Brisbane, the capital city of Queensland, because the planting of blue cornflowers represents our remembrance of the crew, doctors and nurses of the Centaur an Australian Hospital ship sunk off our coast by a Japanese submarine.

Sinking of the Centaur

The Centaur, 2/3rd Australian Hospital Ship, was a motor passenger ship converted in early 1943 for use as a hospital ship. In November 1941 it had rescued survivors of the German auxiliary cruiser Kormoran after it had  been sunk by HMAS Sydney.

On 12 May 1943 the Centaur sailed unescorted from Sydney at 0945 hours carrying her crew and normal staff, as well as stores and equipment of the 2/12th Field Ambulance but no patients. It was sunk without warning by a torpedo from a Japanese submarine on 14 May 1943 at approximately 0400 hours, its position being approximately 27°17′ S, 153°58′ E about 50 miles east north-east of Brisbane.

Of the 332 persons on board, only 64 survived. These survivors spent 35 hours on rafts before being rescued. Sister Ellen Savage, the only one of twelve nursing sisters on board to survive, though injured herself, gave great help to the other survivors and was awarded the George Medal for this work.

The ship had been appropriately lit and marked to indicate that it was a hospital ship and its sinking was regarded as an atrocity. The Australian Government delivered an official protest to Japan over the incident. The Japanese did not acknowledge responsibility for the incident for many years and the War Crimes Tribunal could not identify the responsible submarine. However, the Japanese official war history makes clear that it was submarine 1-177, under the command of Lt Commander Nakagawa who had sunk the Centaur. Lt Commander Nakagawa was convicted as a war criminal for firing on survivors of the British Chivalry which his ship had sunk in the Indian Ocean.

Poppies and cornflowers

I have left you wondering about the connection of the Centaur with the blue cornflower. The Latin name of the blue cornflower is Centaurea cyanus. The plants of this genus are said to have healed a wound on the foot of Chiron, one of the centaurs of Greek mythology. It is said that he gave knowledge of healing to mankind.

OPERATORS of deep-water search equipment are wanted to help find the Australian Hospital Ship Centaur, which sank off Queensland in World War II.

The Queensland government will this weekend call for tenders from operators of deep-tow side-scan sonar and remote-operated submersible vessels.
Premier Anna Bligh said the highly specialised job was expected to generate international bids.
“This is the next stage in the Queensland and Australian governments’ $4 million project to locate the AHS Centaur,” Ms Bligh said.
Exhaustive research is being finalized in order to determine the Centaur’s likely resting place, before the search begins later this year or early next year.

Remembrance Field

Above is the path separating the house garden and the Remembrance Field. The bushy green clumps near the garden fence are Shasta Daisies which will soon flower with white daisies to create a patriotic red, white and blue vista.

Come see this garden for yourself. It opens to raise money for the Australian Open Garden Scheme on 7/8th November. Entrance fee of $6.00 for adults. Children and students are free. Food and beverages will be available and Fay will be signing her book. Every book sold that day will ensure a donation of $10.00 to Legacy the organization which cares for dependents of former servicemen and women.

Book cover

Das Helwig Haus B&B owned by Eberhard and Fay Helwig is situated at Glen Aplin, near Stanthorpe on the Granite Belt of southern Queensland, Australia.

This is a region noted for Australian wildflowers, four wilderness National Parks and sixty wineries. In 1997 Eberhard and Fay established the Remembrance Field of red Flanders poppies, a European wildflower.

To obtain Fay’s book Wildflowers, wilderness and wine email Fay on helwig@halenet.com.au

Internationally it is available on the Amazon.com website.  http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002ACXQ0M/sr=8-1/qid=1244294755/ref=olp_product_details?ie=UTF8&me=&qid=1244294755&sr=8-1&seller=

http://stores.lulu.com/strictlyliterary

http://books.google.co.uk/

The spring months in Australia are September, October and November but it is only here on the Granite Belt of southern Queensland that this otherwise sub-tropical and tropical State actually experiences a real spring. This is due to our altitude in the border highlands near the New South Wales border. Within Queensland our district is famous for the cold winters, but this year the weather was pleasantly mild. It was the warmest winter since 1993.

Also, at the end of August southern Queensland experienced a minor heatwave, giving the region the hottest August days since 1946. Wow! What a way to enter spring. Naturally such a mild winter and then the burst of heat in August has pushed my garden and the Remembrance Field of red Flanders poppies into rapid growth.

Rows of Flanders poppy plants

The Remembrance Field was cultivated during the first week of July which germinated the poppy plants. In August I went through the field with a hoe, chipping out rows of poppies to thin them. In the photo above you will see one cornflower plant. In August I transplanted several of these seedlings into to field. They will later provide a scattering of blue flowers amongst the red Flanders poppies. The Latin name of the cornflower is Centaurea cyanus and it was the mythical creature the Centaur who supposedly gave the power of healing to mankind. To Australians the Centaur is also remembered as the name of the hospital ship bringing our wounded soldiers home, which was sunk off Brisbane during the second World War by a Japanese submarine. This year a concerted effort is being made to locate the wreck of the Centaur.

The third component of this Remembrance Field is the hedge of the herb Rosemary, a sprig of which is worn on ANZAC Day, the 25th of April.  Rosemary for remembrance edges the field and was trimmed back in April by mother and son WWOOF members from Singapore.

Trimming back the Rosemary hedge

Heavy rain fell in May soaking the soil of the field, filling our dams and flooding the Severn River ensuring an excellent water supply to irrigate the field should the season turn dry.

Wet field

Jerry Kim, another WWOOF member from Korea, cultivated the field in July. Jerry enjoyed the warm sunshine of this mid-winter day.

Tilling the soil

Frost covered the field several times, but cold weather does not harm the poppies. It was in the wet and cold winters of France where the soil of former wheat fields was disturbed by shelling, trench and grave digging that the poppies flourished and became forever associated with these battlefields by the soldiers of the Commonwealth countries.

Frost on the field

My WWOOF members stay anything from a few days, as did the couple from Singapore, or several weeks. Jerry moved on to be replaced by Jin from Korea who arrived one week ago and was immediately put to work thinning the poppies in the field.

Jin from South Korea

Book cover

Das Helwig Haus B&B owned by Eberhard and Fay Helwig is situated at Glen Aplin, near Stanthorpe on the Granite Belt of southern Queensland, Australia.

This is a region noted for Australian wildflowers, four wilderness National Parks and sixty wineries. In 1997 Eberhard and Fay established the Remembrance Field of red Flanders poppies, a European wildflower.

To obtain Fay’s book Wildflowers, wilderness and wine email Fay on helwig@halenet.com.au

Internationally it is available on the Amazon.com website.  http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002ACXQ0M/sr=8-1/qid=1244294755/ref=olp_product_details?ie=UTF8&me=&qid=1244294755&sr=8-1&seller=

http://stores.lulu.com/strictlyliterary

http://books.google.co.uk/

As a published author I must now undertake book signings at the shops stocking Wildflowers, wilderness and wine. As many of you know I had a life prior to moving to the Granite Belt with Eberhard almost seventeen years ago and the opportunity presented for me to visit the districts of Dalby and Bell again this past weekend.

BOOK CITY Dalby

I was amazed when a man I had known 50 years ago at a time that we were both members of a Rural Youth organization approached me, with an expression of delight, to renew the acquaintance. We chatted about old times for an hour or so before he bought the book.

An important reason why I had chosen to appear at BOOK CITY on Friday was that I wished to attend the Bell camp draft where my 94 year old father, John Mulcahy, was to be honoured.

The Dalby Herald newspaper had published an article about me, saying I was the eldest daughter of John and Jessie Mulcahy and had come with my parents to live on a cattle property near the Bunya Mountains in November 1944 where I had attended the Yamsion primary school before continuing my high school education as a boarder at the Presbyterian Girls College in Warwick. After marrying Stewart McIver I had lived on farms at Bell and later in the town of Dalby where we reared our five children. It noted that I was always active in community affairs, had been a member of the Dalby Forum Club for ten years and served as the first secretary/treasurer of the Dalby Tourist Association.

There were a few more comments about my achievements on the Granite Belt, a photo of me amongst poppies and the information that I was returning to Dalby for the weekend to accompany my 94 year old father, brother and sisters to attend the opening of the new campdraft arena at the Bell show grounds.

For those of you who live overseas or in our cities I am about to illustrate with photographs this uniquely Australian horse sport. The horses used are a breed developed within Australia as Australian stock horses. They are light on their feet, produce great spurts of speed and can turn on sixpence – a five cent coin.

No sooner had our family gathered than we were met by Ray Hopper the local Member for Condamine in the Queensland State Parliament, who is presently the Clerk of the Course for the Bell races. For those who don’t know the role – the Clerk of the Course rides a horse while keeping control of the racing horses and their jockeys prior to and after the race. He leads in the winning horse of each race.

Dad and Ray Hopper

Ray congratulated my father for his many years of service to the Bell show and community. It was a pleasure to hear Ray say the facilities were a credit to the present committee’s fund-raising abilities. The drive to build the new facilities was driven by Ben Wade and his off-sider, Wayne Caldwell, both local Bell men.

John Mulcahy cuts the ribbon

My Dad was asked to cut a ribbon strung across the double gate of the ‘camp’ – a small yard for holding the cattle used in the event. In 1958 the first yards and arena had been constructed with timber supplied from his land. In 2009 these original structures were replaced with steel.

My brother, John Mulcahy, himself a breeder of Australian stock horses and a National Campdraft champion made a speech on our father’s behalf.

Young John speaks

My sisters and I then took it in turns to sit with our  father in a golf buggy beside the gates of the camp where we had a first class view of the competitors.

Fay with her father

This is a view of the camp holding the cattle.

Young steers wait in the camp yard

Men and women competitors wait outside the rails of the camp for their number to be called.

Competitors

As a teenage rider I had asked my father to be allowed to compete in campdrafts, as had my sisters Gwen and Shirley, but he had always refused our requests. At that time women seldom competed, but over the years women have won equality and I was delighted to observe how many of the competitors on Saturday were women and that the judge, wearing a red coat, was a woman.

Woman rider, woman judge

Firstly the rider must choose a beast within the camp and advise the judge of their choice. Then they must draft that beast away from the herd and point it at the gate. The men manning the gate throw it open and the rider must push their chosen beast out into the open arena. Then rider and horse must manouvre the beast to complete a figure 8 around two small trees before going around and through the gate of another two trees placed close together. The course must be completed within an allocated time.

A lively steer

The judge carries a stockwhip which is cracked to disqualify a competitor.  The judge awards points for how cleanly the rider extricated their chosen beast from the camp and then another set of points for how they completed the course. At no time must the beast get too far ahead of the rider or the judge will crack the whip to signify ‘lost beast’. At no time must the horse get ahead of the beast, although it may shoulder the animal around the tree or through the gate.

Recently in Australia our Prime Minister has been trying to speak strine like the populace and is fond of saying “Give us a fair shake of the sauce bottle.” If he were a country man he would be saying, “Give the man a fair crack of the whip!”

And where was my German born husband during these activities? Cracking jokes with my brother.

Eberhard and John

Das Helwig Haus B&B owned by Eberhard and Fay Helwig is situated at Glen Aplin, near Stanthorpe on the Granite Belt of southern Queensland, Australia.

This is a region noted for summer stone-fruit, autumn apples, winter  Christmas in July dinners and a spring Remembrance Field of red Flanders poppies.

Fay has published a book called Wildflowers, wilderness and wine. To obtain a copy directly email Fay on helwig@halenet.com.au

It is available on the Amazon.com website.  http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002ACXQ0M/sr=8-1/qid=1244294755/ref=olp_product_details?ie=UTF8&me=&qid=1244294755&sr=8-1&seller=

http://stores.lulu.com/strictlyliterary

http://books.google.co.uk/