In 1989 we bought a rundown dairy farm covered with weeds like camphor laurel and lantana. We set about restoring the land planting over 40,000 native trees, and restoring rainforest. Today we have created a regeneratively farmed macadamia orchard and a haven for native wildlife.
In 1999 we planted over 40,000 rainforest and eucalypt trees. The rainforest regeneration continues today as we plant new areas of land and continue to remove any camphor laurels, (which are weed trees in our area). The rainforest is a rich source of insects and wildlife to balance our farms ecosystem. We think the dense rainforest helps attract rainclouds over our farm. The creek that runs through our farm is fed by water filtered by the rainforest to make it a safe haven for frogs, turtles, freshwater crayfish and platypus
Rainforest Regeneration
A Haven for Wildlife
On our farm native wildlife abounds on the ground. We have over 27 different bird species at last count plus wallabies, echidnas, birds, water dragons, duck bill platypus and many more including some beautiful snakes and pythons.
We’ve recently installed wildlife boxes high in the trees to create homes (a safe refuge) for owls and other birds, sugar gliders, micro bats and native possums.
photo Martin Brook
Regenerative Farming
Regenerative farming is farming that leaves the soil and our planet in a better place after the food they’ve grown is harvested than before. Regenerative farmers learns to work with nature rather than against it. They build soils rich in organic matter like carbon and soil hummus to retain the moisture in the soil after it rains. They farm to make their soils rich in microbes like fungi, micro rhizomes and healthy soil bacteria
photo from an article by Moises Velasquez-Manoff | New York Times | April 20, 2018
We use the compost we make on our farm under our trees. We encourage plantings (insectaries) that allow insects to thrive like this delicious patch of native raspberries.
Integrated pest management (IPM) helps us track and count the good bugs and bad ones on our farm We use predator bugs to manage nut borer and spotting bug when their populations rise. We are developing a sustainable ecosystem across our farm.