Hi! I’m Paola…

When I first returned to live in Australia after an 18 year corporate career, newly divorced with a small child; I knew that something had to change. I had a small child who would only eat bread, porridge and tuna burgers. He had several health issues as well. When I was growing up I remember that my parents had a small farm and we always spent holidays at my grandparents dairy farm. I remember this time fondly, time spent with cousins and my grandparents digging in the garden and eating fresh produce. I decided that is what I wanted for my son to have that connection, which he was obviously missing with his food.

I commenced my search for a property that was close to Melbourne and that I could afford. I landed in Romsey, I didn’t know anybody or very much about the region. I purchased a small 9 acre farmlet which already had some fruit trees and space for a veggie patch. My son Ethan agreed that he would eat everything that was grown on the farm. The challenge had been set!

I purchased a chicken tractor, an electric drill and set to work putting the chicken tractor together. It took several phone calls to friends to work out how to use the drill ( I did say a corporate career). We still have the chicken tractor from all those years ago. We then set off to buy some chickens and this commenced my love of chickens. We purchased heritage hens my son loved chickens especially a beautiful white fluffy silkie called snuffy! From there we progressed to many other heritage breeds and electric net fencing and having chickens everywhere on the property. What I started to see initially was the benefits to the fruit trees and the land. Lots of research and meeting my best friend Maree I have learnt a lot, most importantly that an egg is not just an egg!

NOT ALL EGGS ARE EQUAL
I wanted to make sure initially that the eggs we were eating were healthy, this led me to ensure that the feed used for the chickens was organic, that is no roundup, no GMO. Further research led me to discover that I also didn’t want soy in my chickens diet*.

BEEF
After leaving home I had become a vegetarian as store bought meat had a funny smell and taste, compared to the beef I had been brought up on. I wasn’t sure if this is because I was living outside of Australia or not? I was resolved that my son was going to learn to eat everything we grew.
Initially we had Angus steers, they were difficult for me to manage and not very friendly, also when we processed our first steer we had a LOT of meat. I started to look for another breed and came across Dexter Cattle. They are naturally small and dual purpose, I thought I would be milking the cow as well as beef. I contacted a reputable breeder and my first Dexter cows arrived, they are quiet, intelligent and easy to handle. The cattle are so used to moving around the property that they will follow me if I am by myself, if I am with someone else, they say what is going on? and are not interested in following me at all! I knew that grass fed and grass finished beef was what I had grown up on, it tasted like beef should and the Dexter cattle will naturally marble on grass.

REGENERATIVE AGRCULTURE
I had the bug I wanted to give up the corporate life and become a full time farmer much to my parents dismay! – I enrolled in the first REX run by the Regrarians and what an eye opener that was! I started to practice what I had learnt. I read all of the books written by Joel Salatin and then I found the Savory Institute and completed the course run by an approved Savory Institute trainer. I purchased a larger property and Tall Poppy Farm was born. I am enjoying watching the fertility of the property improve as each year passes and getting to know my customers. We are taking drone videos with the help of my friends Ian and Maree and it is interesting to watch how the property is changing over time. I have learnt that it is important to have multi species on the property to ensure that we are mimicking nature to build soil fertility and sequester carbon from the atmosphere. We are currently restoring a vineyard, and hope to have natural sparkling wine soon!