O U R S T O R Y
From farming beginnings.
Rachel (our owner and founder) was raised in Victoria and fondly remembers her regular trips to “The Farm” which was inherited by her grandparents. The space to play, being able to explore – feeling the sheep’s wool in the bags waiting to be pressed, driving in the stationary rusted out 57 Chevrolet, or taking control of the 50 year old excavator that would never run again. To the extremes of helping pull a baby calf from its mum who was having trouble and rewarding yourself by picking wild blackberries from the creek side.
“Being raised on the land runs deep in your heart and it colours every experience. The skills learned and the confidence you get from a young age stays with you. The space, the joy, the animals and the landscape are hard to move away from. I can remember wanting to have my own farm since I was a little girl.”
Direct out of high school and being accepted into Veterinary Science made my family proud but it wasn’t what I REALLY wanted to do. Following my deferral (much to the disgust of her parents). Rachel got into real estate, moved into banking and ended up studying Law at the University of Tasmania.
A real world awakening.
Dreams of making lots of money filled her early 20’s (a prestigious profession must equal “making it”)…only to have her eyes opened to the real world through issues in international law and environmental law. The passion for the environment, the damage that was being done and the incapacity for it to continue on that path then absorbed her career. She went on to complete a Masters of Environmental Law through the University of Sydney and onto a graduate position with the Australian Department of Agriculture in Canberra. Her stint helping in the sustainable agriculture section and directly changing policies to make Australian agriculture more sustainable over the long term ignited her passion for the agricultural industry.
Whilst there she was one of a small team to introduce environmental legislation to stop the flow of illegally logged timber into Australia – a real career highlight. But it wasn’t to be, she quickly learnt that those aspirations of making a difference were hard when you were a little fish in a big pond and the large cogs of government turn so slowly with governments changing policy at a whim and with each election cycle…it wasn’t about what was right…it was about what would get you elected in that particular year. Falling pregnant with her first daughter was the catalyst for change. She and her husband moved to Tasmania where she had earlier completed her studies and searching for their patch of earth to call home…and henceforth Guide Falls Farm was born.
“I couldn’t imagine raising my children anywhere but on the land, having had such rich experiences growing up…if there was the possibility of doing it full time…it was worth giving it everything I have”.
Lessons learnt, and passed along.
My girls have learnt that everyday is a work day when you live on a farm, they learnt to count by collecting the chickens eggs, how to bottle feed a lamb, that the soil gives life to plants with just a bit of sun and water and how sweet the results can be when they bite into a home grown strawberry or tomato. They quickly learnt how to make friends with the school children who regularly visit the farm.
Rachel watched as the customers lit up when talking about their interactions with the friendly animals that she had on the farm. Whilst tending to the animals was a normal daily chore, to some visitors, this was rare experience!
Rachel’s passion for agriculture saw her branching out and trying a bit of everything, following in the footsteps of other small scale farmers like Joel Salatin, Greg Judy and Curtis Stone who were looking for solutions to the conventional food system that had moved food away from something you grow yourself to something to be mass produced – for a profit, and the environment didn’t get a look in on these farming methods.
Change starts with one.
Rachel saw this as her opportunity to make a difference in the world! Animals raised on pasture, treated ethically, moving around her farm like the migrations on the African Serengeti. Allowing them to mimick what nature had intended made the animals start to work with Rachel, rather than against her and this produced amazing results and high quality produce. Marrying farming, education and being part of the climate solution has driven her everyday since.
Farming is tough, it’s isolating, and you work in all weather conditions. Things are born but also things die. It can be so challenging to get right, but so rewarding. Rachel is a hardworking, strong willed and determined female force who wants to educate everyone who visits on this type of agriculture, popularity is growing for the regenerative agriculture movement where over time you are building soil, capturing carbon, and producing delicious, high quality produce along the way – and not an the expense of the environment – but to its benefit.
Her farming methods mean in the depths of Autumn, the loud hum of thousands of dung beetles taking off for their nightly flights fill the air. They recycle dung into the soil, digging deep burrows that eventually allow for deeper water and root penetration – literally thousands of mini-tractors loaded with fertiliser working for free!! Thousands of visitors have come to the farm, hundreds of students learning about the importance of agriculture. Without farmers, people have no food – it’s that serious! Why choose food that’s lacking in nutrients, raised in sheds on concrete, or fed grain in feedlots when there is an alternative?
To reach a wider audience Rachel knew that whilst people love visiting the friendly animals every few months, and people needed to eat 3-5 times a day, right? So the next step in the Guide Falls journey was to add on a farm commercial eatery aptly named The Pantry, with a function venue and butchery to allow the paddock to plate journey to be fully realised – and better yet – shared.
