Nothing’s as Precious as a Hole in the Ground
When we bought Near River, we had river frontage, could hear water flowing day and night, and assumed water for farming would be straightforward. It wasn't. What followed was a crash course in water licences, uncooperative neighbours, and the unlikely genius of a water diviner who rolled up on a Sunday afternoon looking like he'd stopped at the pub on the way. This is the story of how a hole thirty-eight metres deep became the most valuable thing on the farm.
This Must Be the Place
Despite initial impressions to the contrary, this wasn’t a totally reckless decision to up and leave the big smoke and head for the hills, run away from responsibility, society, and Sydney traffic. So how did we know that this must be the place? And what other matters did we consider? And importantly, what did we discover that we missed considering?
Organic certification, sustainability, and regenerative agriculture – Aren’t they just catchy marketing terms?
We’d start each morning by putting in an hour each before breakfast and chipped away at it. It was tedious and physical, though fulfilling. We have since found out that the locals were running a book on us as to how long we’d last before succumbing to the Dark Side and reaching for the glyphosate herbicide.