13 years ago Jodie and Michael purchased a run down 54 acre property that had been walked away from after Cyclone Larry in 2006. As with so many farms in this area farmers walked away from the land, not able to pick back up after the heartache of the destructive forces of the category 5 cyclone that smashed through the area. The farm is located 1 hr south of Cairns and 1 hr North Mission Beach in Far North QLD. It sits on the edge of Queensland’s tallest mountain, Mt Bartle Frere, standing at 1622mt high with Wooroonooran National Park behind the property. The farm consists of 34 acres of rainforest and 20 acres of cleared land for farming. The pristine rainforest is bordered with waterfalls and crystal-clear creeks running though the property – a wildlife gateway to the farmlands below.
This landscape is why Jodie and Michael took on the mammoth job of restoring the land. A lot of hard work has gone into bringing this farm back to life. The property was completely overgrown with raspberry, old sugar cane clumps, wait-a-while and wild guava trees. As the property came to shape the first flower rows went in November 2011. Jodie remembers sitting with a glass wine in the middle of the row and marvelling at the work that had been done and crying at the work yet to be done.
Jodie has a passion for flower farming and has 20 years’ experience with this being her and Michaels third property. Jodie has now established 15 of the 54 acres into a flower farm of over 45 varieties of Heliconia and Ginger plants for the cut flower market in Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne as well for the local Rusty’s market in Cairns.
Using a holistic farming practice the soil and its regeneration was key to producing first grade flowers for market and to cut waste in half. Jodie went to many workshops in the area on Transition to Soil Health, run by Terrain, where she met like-minded people from a range of industries (eg cane, banana and cattle for example) all trying to do better for the land they were caretaking. Learning about biology and fungi and the relationships between all of them was the turning point to Jodie’s farming practices. She stopped using chemical fertilizer and moved to organic practices. Jodie now looks to use the natural resources around her, as an example using wasp and green ants instead of pesticides to keep pests under control.
The past 2 years has shown a down turn of the tropical flower market due to ongoing rising costs. This led Jodie to look at what she could grow to add to the farm diversity. She decided on establishing grow tunnels of Vanilla Beans. As a member of the orchid family they fit in well with the tropical flowers. Again, Jodie faced the challenge of growing organically and being a commercial farm of vanilla. She is self taught by watching loads of YouTube videos and talking with other vanilla growers. Jodie looked at holistic farming on a how the plants and environment work together approach and decided to grow the vanilla on hard wood fencing posts under shade tunnels. The posts are home to many insects and Jodie uses the post as an irrigation. When the post are damp the irrigation is turned off but the vanilla plants can still access water from the damp post for many hours after the irrigation is turned off, which also helps keeping the humidity high in the shade tunnels.
All Jodie’s vanilla pods are supplied green to a family company called Wild Vanilla on the Atherton tablelands who process and market a multitude of vanilla products. While she has the perfect climate to grow vanilla pods, her area is too wet for drying and processing them. Teaming up with other growers to supply amazing vanilla products was a must for her.
Hosting WWOOFers since 2018 Jodie says it has been critical for her survival of the farm to help continue developing. The views and ideas that having WWOOFer’s brings open minded people who have skills to the farm. ‘It has been amazing being a WWOOF Host ‘ Jodie says.
Jodie has hosted WWOOFers from France ,Germany, Uruguay just to name a few places. She offers a beautiful guestroom set up for her WWOOFers downstairs in the main house. She finds it crucial that she work alongside her WWOOFers and she really gets to know them over their 2-3 month stay. To find out what their views and skills are and to use these skills on the farm finding a job that suits them practically or creatively. But she reminds everyone there is still weeding to be done by everyone. Some jobs just have to be done.
Work on the flower farm is very seasonal, there are always plenty of jobs year round on the farm. In the winter months the flowers grow very slowly (June July August) this is the time for removing the irrigation and any older, scraggly plants. The busiest months are September through to March. Current WWOOFer JJ from Germany (May 2024) was planning on setting up vegetable gardens with Jodie but with over 20mm of rain per day during the wet season it has been a washout! Instead, JJ helped over the Mother’s Day lead up learning floral skills for flower arrangements and looking after the vanilla mulching and looping vines. There is flower picking year-round but every 2-3 years the plants are removed, rhizomes are collected and new plantings are made.
Jodie and Michael believe their property is a diamond amongst gems, it is completely off-grid with composting toilets, solar and hydroelectric power produced by gravity fed water from the natural spring and waterfall. There are horses in the paddocks to help maintain the grass (not for riding) and as you would expect plenty of wildlife.
To add to the already busy farm Jodie has a private camping spot you can book though hipcamps and is about to reopen the Airbnb Tropical Flower Lodge in September this year.
For further information on becoming a WWOOF Australia Host or WWOOFer please visit our website: wwoof.com.au
Reviews
Raymond H : Really enjoyed working with Jody and Michael (Sack). Food was really great and the Downstairs room was spacious, airy and private. It was beautiful seeing new types of flowers and helping Jody with harvest and markets. Loved the creek, cleanest water you’ll ever find! Recommended
Adrian F : It was absolutely amazing! Jodie and Sack were so welcoming, making me feel like part of the family. They introduced me to their friends, and I had the chance to meet some locals my age. I was lucky that their children were there around Christmas time and they showed me around, integrating me into their local teenage life. I thoroughly enjoyed the work; of course, there were some tasks I didn’t enjoy, but that’s part of farm life. I learned a lot about different flowers and vanilla, as I could ask them many questions. Plus, having the dogs around while working was a big bonus. Their pets, two cats and two dogs, made it feel like heaven. The dogs, in particular, were incredibly friendly and loved going for swims in the creek with me. Staying with Jodie and Sack was the best decision I made. I had an amazing time and found lifelong friends in Jodie, Sack, Tom, and Luke!
