Dreams becoming a (slightly daunting) reality

If we’d won $100,000 in the lottery the feeling would be very different.

We’ve received a Federal Government grant, and while we’re elated and buoyed, there is a great sense of obligation.

As the apple farmer at the market told me, we’d better spend his tax dollars well.

The other thing is we’ve got to come up with matching funds.

A couple of months ago Guy spent a week writing a massive application for a T-QUAL grant. The grants are competitive and merit-based, and aim to boost the tourism industry in Australia.

As the post office staff starting locking the doors late one afternoon, we pushed 16,000 words into a post bag.

We’ve always wanted to move into farm tourism – and when 650 people turned up for our open day in April, we knew there was real demand.

We can all see the growing interest in real food, cooking, farmers’ markets, ethical production…. but research is showing people also want hands-on farm experiences, so they can get back to the roots of what they’re eating.

And that’s fantastic – because 85 per cent of Australians live in urbanised areas, and are so disconnected from farming.

Farm tourism is a big thing in Europe, the UK, and New Zealand, but it still hasn’t really caught on in Australia.

I imagine it might be because of lack of labour on farms, and lack of farmers’ confidence to market and promote what they do.

But if farmers want to keep their families and businesses going, they’ve got to diversify their incomes.

In Tasmania, 70 per cent of farmers have to work off-farm. From our experience, that’s really hard: you become torn between two jobs; you wish you were at home; and you become resentful.

Onlookers probably wonder why north-west Tasmanians haven’t embraced food tourism.

We grow and make so many products, and we have small farms with soils suited to niche production.

But we’ve been trying to compete on a global market with commodities – and we just can’t keep doing it.

We think food tourism is vital in building the brand of this region.

At the moment few tourists stop as they speed along the Bass highway heading for Strahan or Cradle Mountain.

We’ve got to give them a reason to stop – and not just one or two places offering good food and farm experiences.

We need a whole chain of businesses – farm stays, cooking schools, berry farms, wineries, cheese factories, restaurants using purely local ingredients – to make the trip worthwhile for visitors.

For our part, we’re planning a centre where visitors will learn about rare breeds; we’ll have a butchery and commercial kitchen; and there’ll be a focus on giving our visitors a full paddock-to-plate experience – gumboots included.

And for the full story on what we’re planning, you’ll just have to stay tuned...

Journalist packs in job to go pig farming

“Your dad would be proud you’ve become a farmer’s wife,” the man said in the post office.

The day had been going well: the weight of full-time work had been knocked from my shoulders, and I was enjoying pottering around town ticking off jobs.

But now my cheeks were hot.

I rocked forward on my toes and looked at him.

“We’re not married,” I said.

Generally, the reaction to me leaving the ABC to go farming has been encouraging.

Mum, obviously, was upset she wouldn’t be able to listen to me in the mornings anymore. I told her she could ring me from time to time, just to hear my voice.

Guy’s upset I can no longer be quietened with the volume control, or silenced with the snooze button.

I’ve noticed some discomfort in people when they ask about my plans for the future.

“So you’re going to be a farmer?” they’ll say.

“Just farming?”

And then I feel I have to justify it by telling them about the part time job I’ve picked up at the uni.

“Oh that’ll be interesting.” They look relieved.

No wonder farmers are becoming a rare breed, especially young ones.

It was a big decision for us when Guy decided to stop full-time work, but his heart and head was always with the pigs.

It was an even bigger move for me. I’d been a rural reporter with the ABC for six-and-a-half years. The pay and conditions were good, and the job itself was fantastic. I felt like I sort-of knew what I was doing each day.

I started there where I was 21, and until the last year or so I always thought of myself as ‘Eliza Wood from the ABC’, not just, ‘Eliza Wood’. My identity was completely wrapped around my job.

But you can only survive on adrenalin and mid-morning powernaps for so long. I was tired, and the personal compromises I made in order to work for the ABC had become too much, and I felt my real passion being quashed.

I can now put ‘pig farmer’ [pronounced pug FAAR-mer] on my business card – and proudly.

I have not stepped down the ladder to become a farmer’s partner*.

Dad would be proud of me – not because I’ve paired up with a good-looking bloke who loves animals as much as he did - but because I’m having a go at being Eliza Wood: pig farmer, writer, composter, supreme carrot grower– whoever I want to be.  

*(Guy, I really don’t like that term, can we fix that?)

Taking responsibility

It’s unfortunate that the biggest agricultural news to make the mainstream media lately has been the finding that three-quarters of Australian grade six students think cotton socks come from animals.

And while the image of a sheep (sizes 5 - 7) or a cow (sizes 8 - 10) rolling its socks off at harvest time is rather sweet, it’s all a bit of a worry.

Only half the kids surveyed recognised the bread, cheese and banana in their lunch boxes as farm products. I’ll give them a bit of slack - because mould-resistant bread, un-meltable cheese and banana dried and covered in sugar are pretty unrecognisable as hearty farm fare.

The farm lobby groups were outraged by the survey, of course. There were the expected reactions: “we must educate people where their food comes from”, “we must bridge the gap”, “primary industries must be taught in schools”, “teachers need to learn more about farming”…

Really? Teachers? Are they the ones responsible for bridging the gap?

When will the farmers who constantly complain about the disconnection between consumers and food producers actually take some responsibility?

(Maybe there could have been another survey of farmers asking, “what are you doing to ‘educate’ consumers?”, “when did you last visit your local school to talk farming?”)

At Mount Gnomon Farm, in an effort to show that bacon really does come from Canada – oops, PIGS – we’re having an open day!

It’s on April 1 and we’d love you all to come.

We’ve been putting it off, because as a perfectionist I hate people seeing things half done. But after three years of non-stop work, I’ve realised the farm will never be done: there will always be fences to mend and trees to plant.

We’re bearing-all for a number of reasons:

1. We really love showing-off our animals and we think we live in one of the most beautiful places on earth
2. We want our customers to see that yes, our pigs really are happy and live outside with mountain and sea views
3. Children should have the chance to spend time cuddling piglets, hearing a turkey gobble, and then eat ham for lunch and know exactly who it came from
4. And because we want consumers and farmers alike to understand that we are part of a community chain supporting each other – we do not work in isolation.

So, if you’d like to come for a Rare Day Out, let us know by ringing (03) 6437 1106 or emailing by March 25.

What: Farm open day, Mount Gnomon Farm. Farm tours, gourmet porky lunch by Drift’s Tom Dicker, Seven Sheds brewery, Ritual Coffee, kids’ traditional games and face painting. We’ll be talking about rare breeds (not just pigs!), farm biodiversity, and our farming philosophy.
Where: 886 Ironcliffe Rd, Penguin, Tasmania.
When: 11am – 2pm Sunday April 1, 2012.
Admission: $5 adults, U16 free. Gate fees and profits from the food stall to local charities.

We look forward to seeing you!

* Want to read more about how yoghurt grows on trees? Head to the Primary Industries Education Foundation.

* And while we're talking about communication - have you 'liked' us on facebook, or do you 'follow' us on twitter? Please do!