Farm Update- Post Wild Weather

G'Day Folks,

Sorry for the lack of newsletters the past two weeks. I have lacked inspiration and cannot write just for the sake of it. All is well here on the farm, but naturally, when the mind and the heart pull you in a different direction, they often turn your world upside down. And with this comes an emotional ride consisting of fast and exciting rapids, mixed with slow meandering bends which naturally lead to time for introspection. The highs, the excitement — well, they are the easy parts. They are the times when you feel confident and surefooted that the decision you’re making is the right one. In those moments, you feel as if the strongest gale-force wind could not knock you off course. And yet, as irony would have it, it is when the sea is calm and still, like a sheet of glass, when doubt bubbles up from the depths, and we are left sitting in our canoe with nothing but the negative thoughts that try and convince us we are mad or just plain silly.

When we are busy and have goals, plans, checklists, targets to focus on, the deeper parts of ourselves are easy to ignore. It is only when these goals disappear and our lives become a little more simple that the depths reveal themselves. All this turbulence makes things murky, but I know patience will allow the mud and water to separate and I will have clarity soon.

The flooding rains we recently experienced were the final soggy realisation that it was time to stop fighting what has been the toughest time to grow in six years. If it was not for the persistent rain, it was nightly raids from gangs of deer; if not the deer, it was tribes of cunning bowerbirds; and if it wasn’t the bowerbirds, I knew all too well the same rabbits that appeared this time last year were likely decorating their den with new decor, ready for their winter feasting on our vegetables whilst food became scarce everywhere else.

After neglecting everything else on our farm for the past six years, it became clear to us that we would need to spend a lot of our spare time repairing and restoring all that has been neglected. We have focused every ounce of our energy on growing food and growing an online delivery business. And, well, let’s just say I’m sick of cutting down bamboo to hold the gutters up every time it rains and Emily has had the patience of a saint waiting for me to fix everything else’s that has been broken (we are currently dashing through the winter nights over to mum and dads place for a shower!)

So whilst we continue small harvests of the surviving crops, we are hopeful that our friends up the road, roughly 40 minutes away, can supply many of the vegetables we ourselves have always grown. But like us, they have endured many crop losses this year and currently are in the same position we are. So whilst we will not be planting any more vegetables, our friends who grow in soil equally, if not more, full of life and richness will hopefully be able to take up the slack if the seasons ahead are kind.

However, we are extremely lucky to live in such a grand country such as Australia, and to have many wonderful organic farmers who also nurture their soil and environment, that we will consistently be able to deliver fresh chemical- and GMO-free fruit and vegetables to your doorstep or hub until the day we hit the road or some fortunate souls receive the gift of serving the most wonderful and gracious people we have been so lucky to feed for many years now.

Although we are in talks trying to find the right people to continue Sohip after we are gone, the door is still open, so please spread the word so we can keep feeding good healthy food to this deserving community of like minded individuals. You do not need to grow, or have a farm, as mentioned we have access to organic produce from around Australia and from many local farms here on the coast. We are open to groups, not-for-profits, couples, singles anyone with the interest in good food and healthy farms. Our desire is not dollars and cents — it never has been. But we have put everything into this, and the hardest yards have been traversed. All that is needed is someone or a group with the right intentions to keep feeding all you beautiful souls.

Thank YOU for joining us on this epic journey & supporting Your Organic farmers!