The Country smells! Good and bad!
March 1st 2007 08:41
Intoxicating Red Gum Flowers
Enough rain fell today to freshen the air and stop the dry dusty smells of summer. But not enough to allow the earth to release the sweet aroma of promise that heralds a change of season – the smell that awakens grasses to germinate and for the greening to begin.
When a stock truck goes down the main street of town, one does not even have to look up to know if it carries sheep, cattle or pigs!
Other smells come and go: the sweet intoxicating fragrance of red gums with their thick white blossoms – usually smelt before one realizes they are in bloom.
Or the smell of silage when it is being fed out – described by one astute eight year old as the same smell as sweet red wine – good in small doses but not dumped in the paddock five metres from the front door!
Then there are the sickening smells. However house proud one is, there is always the smell of mice in the cupboards and in the shed when one returns from a holiday. The smell of fly blown sheep is never forgotten and difficult to shift from hands and clothes. The only “good” thing is that dogs smell it first and can help single out and run down sick sheep so they can be treated.
There are stories of soldiers returning from war aboard ships who could smell Australia before they could see the land. When one leaves the city, going out over the foothills, the scent of gum leaves remind us to be thankful for the smells of this land.
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