After a weekend of gentle rain (17th October 2025) the Whyteleaf Planting began… What followed was a week of perfect planting weather (sunny warm days – increasing soil temperatures – gentle breeze) and further glorious gentle rain considerately arriving when the majority of the planting and spraying was done (from Sunday 26th …) . A perfect start to the growing season. Johnston Contracting once again did not disappoint. Professionally getting the job done, even with a minor setback during the week and another one on Friday afternoon (hydraulic hose issue).
And now the mielie pips begin their long, patient journey — a quiet adventure that will end in silage, waiting to nourish the animals through the winter in June and July 2026. For now, they lie beneath the soil, small and full of promise, but already facing battles on every front. Wild creatures nibble on the first signs of life or stroll down the planted rows as if at a banquet, plucking the seeds one by one before they even get a chance. Egyptian and Spur-winged Geese, as well as the two resident Crowned Cranes (taking a break from their dancing rituals) are seen scouring the freshly planted lands. Even the humble gerbil, unseen and tireless, leaves patches of devastation in its wake as it attacks from underground. And when the mielies rise tall and proud, heavy with cobs, a new enemy arrives — the wild pigs and warthogs, who crash through the fields to feast on the sweet, milky pips within.
The mielie plant will also have to contend with its share of domestic terrors during its growing life. There is always the lurking danger of cattle breaking through the fences, wandering into the lands, and feasting on the tender leaves before the farmer and his team can drive them back to where they belong. Then there are the accidental threats — the arrival of a rumbling tractor, a turning truck, or a sharp steel implement cutting its path across the field. A young plant can so easily be caught in the wrong place at the wrong time, crushed not by malice but by the great machinery of farm life moving around it.
Then there is the weather — that great and unpredictable force that hovers over the mielie plant from the day it is sown. A constant and present threat. Is the rain falling with just the right strength, or will it come too hard and cause wash? Will the wind tear through the fields, or will the sun burn too fiercely and dry the leaves? And is that dark cloud in the distance carrying hail? These are the questions the Happy Farmer and his team murmur to one another as they scan the horizon, trying to read the moods of the sky.
Yet for those mielie plants that endure and survive the long, testing journey through to May 2026 — their story ends with purpose. They will be harvested, ferment into rich silage, and be fed out to the dairy cows who will, in turn, give their fresh milk to nourish the nation.
From a tiny pip to a vessel of sustenance, what greater purpose could there be?
Pink Farm Chick 