Laura and Brooke bought Meandering Farm in Girvan NSW in 2018. "We both needed to escape the rat race, we felt we needed space and air around us to process life to date" they say with a laugh. "We believed that we would find the right place and be good custodians of the land. We could then live our dream life and share it with family and friends. Nothing better than seeing people experience the chill of the farm, eating great produce, sitting in nature".

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Laura and Brooke don't claim to be old hands at farming, they are on a steep learning curve which they find daunting and exciting at the same time.

 

"Every day this place blows our minds, it's exactly the canvas we were looking for to get our own hands dirty and applying regen agriculture principles that can create a better balance in the world.". Laura is excited to share the growth of the egg laying aspect of the farm. "Our flock started off with 5 chickens from a farm up the road.. The goal is to end up with around 250 birds. Apart from the egg laying, the chickens play a key part in providing benefits to soil and pasture health" When asked what small scale farmers out there inspire her, she gets animated "Well, there's many but Richard Perkins from Ridgedale Farm and Gabe Brown who wrote Dirt to Soil are my constants". She then adds names like Bill Mollision, Joel Salatin and a long list of homesteading youtubers. While she is quiet around new people, I get the feeling she could talk about this topic all day.

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Laura sold her Accounting practice because she wanted to spend more time with her son and do what she is really passionate about - making small farms a viable and sustainable way of life. 

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Brooke had been trying to wait patiently to tell me what she loves about being at Meandering Farm. You can tell that patience is not her strong suit, as excitement bubbles from her, resulting in an onslaught of words ("yes, she uses far too many word to say a simple thing" shares Laura). Brooke has a goal of food and herbs for health. "I really want to grow the cleanest and most nutrient dense food and herbs, to keep working on the soil quality and to eventually get into aqua culture". There are large lagoons on the property where Brooke sees a future for water chestnuts, wampee, figs, curry, tamarind, ginger, tumeric, arrowroot, lotus, water cress and silver perch. "I really want us to have a native fruit and nut orchard onsite, to have one garden bed filled with plants that are native just to our little area to encourage that native fauna - except snakes, they freak me out, not in a normal way but in a act-like-a-crazy-person-and-hide-in-the-house kind of way". It doesn't take much to imagine that...

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Brooke works as a Business Advisor to micro and small business owners who want to innovate ways of working in their business, resulting in a sustainable business with efficiencies and more products and services that their customers want.

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So what may happen in the future at the farm? "Goats and pigs will be used for clearing areas of land and we will get a few cows so the chickens can follow them on pasture rotations. Our Farm Friends membership that already supplies eggs, will one day offer full produce boxes".

 

Their smiles say it all - they are glad they gave it a shot and will be working to create their dream in Girvan for years to come.