And so begins the GFP

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wildflowers

The wild flowers were out in bloom when I was home, I was expecting a mass of them after the winter rains but I think the density of grass built up over the last couple of summers has reduced the soft winter annuals that usually supply the colour show. Still, it is looking lovely there.

evening light at Myrnong, by Matilda

After a 4 day “break” at home after arriving home from Mongolia it was time to pack my bags and head out on the next leg of my Nuffield adventure. There’s been a lot of pre-planning and organising to be done to allow me to get away again and I’m grateful for the support of friends and family that have allowed me the privelege of this travel.

met up with the other 4 Australian scholars in Canberra for briefings and then we flew out to the USA, arriving in LA an hour before we left on Saturday thanks to a good tail wind. We have spent this week in the state of Oklahoma and it’s been a great start to our trip. The Irish chapter of our group joined us here and has added the seemingly required dairy farmer mix to the group. The Australians include two vegie growers from South Aus, a crustacean farmer from Tassie and a beef feed lotter from Queensland. It’s a great mix of industries and personalities and we have some pretty lively and interesting discussions. The productive nature of this soil and climate has made a few of us drool a bit, makes you wonder why you’d be scratching out a living in a bit of worn out dirt with little water when there is just so much beautiful country here.

We’ve had some great meetings and have been a bit humbled at how the red carpet has been rolled out for us, Nuffield certainly opens doors for us.

Nuffield scholars version 3.1

Pecan Trees

Stockyard City Oklahoma

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