What New market gardeners need to know
Stan Robert
Stan is a small-scale vegetable grower at Fat Carrot Farm in Oyster Cove, Tasmania. With his partner Briony, they grow with deep care for all the biological systems on their property and admiration for the long line of people who bred and grew the vegetables before them. They supply restaurants and a CSA subscription.
Prior to becoming a farmer, Stan led the microbial ecology research group at CSIRO in Hobart. Prior to that, in the early 90’s, he was a cook and was most influenced by a stint at the Uraidla Aristologist, one of the first farm-to-table restaurants in Australia
What New market gardeners need to know
Fraser Bayley
Fraser Bayley runs a small mixed vegetable farming business with his partner Kirsti Wilkinson and their family at Old Mill Road on Walbunga and Brinja Yuin country, on the South Coast of NSW. The pair are driven by a desire to run a farm on ecological principles connected to both the local environment and the local community. For their most recent season of veg boxes, resilience in supply and excellent flavours came through collaboration with nearby BooBook Hill Farm and with regular and special contributions by colleagues around Moruya.
The Mayhem of Goat Kidding Season
Kate Field
Kate is half of Leap Farm/Tongola Cheese, which is located in Copping. She and her husband, Iain, have a small herd of cattle for beef, and a herd of Swiss Toggenburg dairy goats that they milk and then manufacture cheese. She also manufactures Leapful Skin products from the whey left over from cheesemaking. In her spare time, Kate works as an Emergency Specialist at the Royal Hobart Hospital, and also oversees the training program in Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand for doctors becoming Emergency Specialists. Kate is passionate about small producers’ role in food production and food security, in addition to how farmers can be part of the climate solution utilising agroecological principles.
What Can I Do Today To Heal Country? Indigenous Knowledge and Land Stewardship
Jason Andrew Smith
Jason is a Palawa man, traditional fire practitioner and descendant of Fanny Cochrane Smith. He is a land-healer and has been putting the right fires back on Country for 13 years. He runs a not-for-profit in southern Tasmania called Patrula Nayri, meaning ‘fire good’; teaching all comers the techniques of burning Country the old people’s way. He is adept at reading landscapes and a strong believer that traditional methods can increase the health of Country and those that inhabit it.
Diversification and Back Again
Hayden Findlay
Hayden Findlay runs Ravens Creek Farm, in Moriac, about 20 minutes outside of Geelong. Having had a passion for farming and working on the land for as long as he could remember, in 2009 he decided to pursue a dream of making a living off his small family farm. He knew that in order to make the farm a viable business he had to think outside the square, using alternative, regenerative farming techniques in order to restore the land as well as earn a profit from it. Having converted a humble beef farm providing minimal income, into a bio-diverse, naturally regenerating environment with a wide variety of stacked enterprises, he now focuses on two main enterprises, pastured eggs and free range pork.
CHECK BACK SOON AS WE HAVE PLENTY OF SPEAKERS YET TO BE ANNOUNCED