El Dorado

Another day for Em and me spent visiting farms with the Small Farms Network. Today we got a lift with Bev and headed up to Comboyne to visit a blueberry farm, high on the Comboyne plateau with amazing views taking in the hills of Pappinbarra to the north and the ocean to the east. Like with most fruit around here they have to use netting to keep out birds and flying foxes but I was taken aback by the size of their net, probably about two to three hectares. Every speaker we have had is always passionate and generous with their time and the owner Penny continued the trend, showing us around, telling us what they’re doing and answering our questions. Things got even better when we adjourned for a cup of tea and some yummy cakes – chocolate beetroot and lemon delicious.


Next we went to an avocado farm just down the road where they have about 6500 avocado trees. Avocado trees are quite susceptible to root rot or dieback (phytophthora cinnamomi) and being a high rainfall area it was quite amazing to see the lengths that the growers here go to to reduce its impact. The entire side of a hill had been carved up into terraces with a bulldozer, resembling an open cut mine. In amongst the mature trees, like a green el Dorado, the streets were paved with avocados - missed by pickers, ripened too late or not of a good enough quality or size. They were good enough for me though and we had a shopping bag filled by the time we left.


The last farm was a macadamia nut farm down in Lorne with a café for lunch. I am not really interested in having a plantation of either blueberries, avocadoes or macadamias although I will probably try and grow all three. I found it interesting that each of the farms was essentially a big monoculture, influenced I’m sure by the need to streamline production to keep costs to a minimum and remain competitive. None of the people looked to be making millions and I wonder how they keep their enthusiasm up given the lack of diversity in their work. They all seem to be putting in a lot of energy, a lot of time, and a lot of capital.

I came away feeling blessed that I don’t feel pressure to be earning an income from this land and instead can concentrate on self-sufficiency and importantly, diversity. To keep me interested. I’m convinced that a diverse system is a healthy system, mirroring those found in nature and also robust - not as susceptible to disease, disinterest or cheap imports. I want to have pigs, make sausages, grow 50 types of fruit, have a big veggie garden, make butter and cheese and yoghurt, cows, goats, ducks, geese, chooks, rice, bush foods, etc, etc, etc. The other thing I came away with was a big bag of avocadoes.


“I’m grateful that I helped Grandad.”
(Confused? Look)