We are a 100 acre hobby farm in Tasmania’s Tamar Valley. We are currently converting our property from traditional to regenerative farming practices. This includes making bio char, tree planting, mulching, worm farming, vegy growing, fencing, etc. I run an equine assisted skills development business on the farm facilitating improved mental health and wellbeing so although I might be busy I’m mostly here. Ian sometimes works ‘off farm’ as he drives ships part time. Our animals include ponies, horses, dogs, poultry and sheep. There is private accommodation suitable for a single person or couple available in a small but very well appointed cabin. Work here is often hard and dirty but we spend our days off bush walking, kayaking or bouldering. Vineyards, berry farms, the river, the beach, mountain bike tracks and rock climbing are all within 20 minutes drive so there is something for everyone. We have a small, old style, manual car available for people 25 years and over.
We’ve farmed this property for 35 years and have developed it from a tea tree swamp into a productive concern. Now we’re embarking on the next phase of its transformation and it would be both helpful and enjoyable to share ideas, visions and learnings. Both our boys live internationally so having young vibes on the farm is missing. I love the energy that younger people bring to daily work so long as they are happy to work hard, get dirty and have a laugh.
Organic/Biological methods we use
We are currently converting our farm to regenerative practices which involves planting and mulching additional trees, continual reseeding of cover crops and green manure blends. We are in an experimental phase trying lots of different strategies to maintain and improve pastures while not resorting to chemical use. I do have horses on the property and could potentially take participants for a ride but only if they have considerable prior riding experience. I am also in the process of training a young dog for competitive sheep dog trials which could be of interest to some. We are pretty keen bush walkers and head out to the mountains as often as possible. We have 10,000 acres of forest behind our farm so we run our dogs and do walking training through out the week.
