George the Farmer

Phew!  It’s been a busy week in the Fealy Family house as I spent two full days out listening to Joel Salatin talk at a couple of different events around Cairns & Mareeba.  A big thank you to both Grammy & Grandma for looking after Kipp for us with a day each of babysitting duty – we are very lucky!!  I’m feeling a bit knackered and my head is still spinning with all the information I’ve had to take in and thinking I’ve done over the last few days, so my wrap of of Joel Salatin’s visit will have to wait until next week’s Farming Friday.

Instead, today I thought I’d share the short little interview Matt did for ‘George the Farmer’ this week which was featured on his Facebook page.

“George the Farmer is a fun-loving character who is everyone’s friend. With his trusty dog Jessie by his side, George tackles the day to day activities of Australian farming life with enthusiasm, a can-do attitude and most importantly a big smile”(that’s direct from the George the Farmer website).  There is a George the Farmer iPad and iPhone App and story book, the primary focus of which is Australian farms and farm life, educating children on farm practices and in particular food and fibre production.

After reading that ‘George the Farmer’ is going to be included in the Australian School Curriculum for 2015, I decided to downloaded the app to have a look at it – a full review to come in the following weeks.  I’d love to hear what non-farming families think about it!  Drop us a line if you have used it!

Anyway – we were thrilled to be asked to be one of ‘George’s Mates’ and feature in his ‘Farmer Spotlight’ this week – here’s the story.

QUESTIONS

NAME : Matthew Fealy – Farm Manager on family owned farm, Blue Sky Produce

Farmer Matt – selfie in the Avocado Orchard

LOCATION: Mareeba, Far North Qld – about 1hr inland from Cairns

Blue Sky Produce

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF WHAT YOU FARM: We grow all the yummy stuff! Mangoes, Avocados, Limes and Passionfruit!

Blue Sky Produce Limes

WHO FARMS WITH YOU: The farm is owned by my Uncle Ross and my Grandmother, Shirley. Ross and his partner Glynis spend their time between here and the other family farms doing lots of bits and pieces. I do the day to day work with the help of Charlie, our full time farm hand. We also have backpackers and other transient workers to help us out with picking and packing our fruit throughout our peak mango and avocado season, as well as during the year on some of our bigger jobs like pruning and planting.

INTERESTING FACT ABOUT YOUR FARM OR WHAT YOU PRODUCE (EG. LOCATION, HISTORY, SOMETHING UNIQUE OR FUNNY)
Up until 18mths ago I had spent the last 10 years as a travel agent working in Brisbane! In the couple of weeks before I started at the farm I was googling you tube videos to try to learn how to drive a tractor – I had no idea!!

Unloading hay and using our bale buster up in the avocado orchard.

WHAT DO YOU LOVE MOST ABOUT BEING A FARMER?

The thing I love most about being a farmer is the variety of work! One day you’re repairing a wiring harness on the tractor, the next you’re stripping down a chainsaw, the day after that you’re pouring over soil and leaf analysis – a good thing for someone who gets bored easily!  I also love being able to take my kids with me to work sometimes!

Kids at work!

WHERE DO YOU SELL YOUR PRODUCE?
Most of our produce gets taken by semi-trailer trucks to the big fruit & vegetable markets in Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne. During the mango and avocado season we sell our ‘second’s’ fruit (fruit too ripe to transport or with some marks on it) direct to locals from the farm gate.

Trucks in the Blue Sky Produce driveway waiting to be loaded up with fruit for the city markets

WHAT IS HAPPENING ON YOUR FARM AT THE MOMENT?
We have just finished our very, very busy mango season and just about to start picking and packing our avocados. We are also planting 200 new lime trees at the moment.

Mango shed in action at Blue Sky Produce

All hands on deck to plant new lime trees.

DO YOU USE ANY SPECIAL EQUIPMENT OR MACHINERY?
Most of our work is done on tractors or quad bikes. However, we did have to build a machine called a bale buster that chops up big round bales of hay and shoots it out under the trees.  Oh and we do have a big pruning machine that comes in once a year to give our orchard trees a ‘haircut’!

Pruning in action at Blue Sky.

IF YOU COULD TELL A KIDDIE ONE UNIQUE THING ABOUT WHAT YOU FARM, WHAT WOULD IT BE?
Mangos were first grown in India over 5000 years ago! A basket of mangoes is considered a gesture of friendship in India. Mangoes are one of the most popular fruits in the whole world!

Gotta love mangoes – especially Blue Sky Produce ones!

Happy Friday everyone – hope you’ve got a good weekend ahead!