How did we get here?

Sometimes, instead of choosing big life decisions outright we slide into them sideways, barely knowing what we’re doing yet riding high all the same on instinct and beginners’ luck. This is how Oliver and I became farmers. I think I’ve mentioned previously that we had no intention of being farmers. When we bought our property in the Dandenong Ranges, our only hopes were for more space to start a family and for a veggie patch of our own. When we first viewed the property that would one day become Ramarro Farm, I wasn’t overly enamoured. There was space, sure, but not much else except acres of grass and waist-high weeds. The house was small and in need of renovation which wasn’t something we could afford to do straight away. I barely bothered looking at the house actually, as I knew we weren’t going to buy it. And then …

Moving in day! Mostly grass and weeds.

The house was unoccupied, so the managing agent let us take our time walking around the property without him. Half the land was cleared and sunny, the other half bush leading down to a small but swiftly flowing creek. We watched kookaburras dive for worms and come to rest on eucalypt branches. We watched magpies chase bower birds and wattle birds away – the patch of land we now call ‘ours’ has always belonged to the magpies. Oliver stuck a spade in the earth and marvelled at the rich mix of volcanic soil combined with eons of forest mulch. ‘We can grow anything here,’ he said, as though he’d just discovered gold deposits. His smile contained such enthusiasm it was infectious. I believed in him and still do. Once we’d secured the owners’ tractor in the property price, the deal was sealed.

The first tree we planted was a Meyer lemon Oliver had already owned for years. We would go on to plant hundreds of fruit trees of all varieties.

We settled in spring, a great time to start farming – although, we still didn’t know that’s what we were doing. We had one prolific lemon tree, but that was about it, so in the first few days of unpacking we made a trip to the local nursery to buy more citrus: limes, oranges, grapefruit. We now had a handful of citrus trees in addition to the waist-high weeds. I’ll never forgot Oliver practically disappearing beneath the weeds the day we first got our ride-on mower. With the citrus in place, we turned our attention to the veggie patch. Oliver sowed that year’s tomato seeds and tended to the seedlings while we were still living in our Carlton apartment. I remember the day we planted those tomato seedlings. Oliver’s friend Alick had some experience with tractors, so he helped us turn over the soil, and our friends Morgan and Jayden joined us in a day of planting. We knew Morgan and Jayden from our days working at Cumulus Inc. The first time I met Morgan, she was working as event manager in an office no bigger than Harry Potter’s bedroom under the stairs at the Dursley’s. Jayden and Morgan still part-own Cumulus, but they also make beautiful wines and run Jayden Ong Winery in the Yarra Valley. But back then, we were all pretty green when it came to growing tomatoes. Fortunately for us, as Oliver suspected, the soil was so damn good everything grew.

The tomato seedings that started it all.

Summer arrived hot and dry that year and we had way more tomatoes than we could possibly eat or process into sauce. And we’re partial to a caprese salad and a pasta sugo, but this was too much even for us. At the time, Oliver was working with chef Josh Murphy at his recently opened dining room Moon Under Water (still the most poetic restaurant name I’ve come across). Josh has a creative agility that allowed him to change his menu weekly. And so, it didn’t matter that we were only growing on a tiny scale, Josh (who has recently opened the delightful Beautiful Jim Key – seriously great brunch/lunch spot) was able to work with what we grew and turn it into something refined and delicious that respected the quality and freshness of the source ingredients. We started with tomatoes, but with excellent feedback we branched out into other lines: mizuna and zucchini, rainbow chard and herbs. We started small, we started with things that are easy to grow, and we kept working our day jobs, but slowly our reputation grew. Not long after, we were waking up early on Saturday mornings to harvest orders for multiple restaurants and then Oliver would deliver them as soon as they were washed and packed. The freshness of our vegetables set us apart and to this day it’s one of our core values: freshness, flavour, consistency and beauty.

Early harvests small but lovely. Sometimes I was grumpy ;)

It hasn’t always been easy. In the early days, we had to do it all ourselves – rain, hail or shine. Often, we’ve fantasised about giving up. But we never considered it seriously. In our experience, being your own boss is a demanding yet rewarding pursuit and we haven’t looked back. Not really. Because we no longer do it all alone. We have an incredible team of about 16 enthusiastic farmers these days. We keep going, even when our backs ache and our fingers are freezing, because farming provides a great lifestyle for us and them. What did we learn in those early days? So much. Too much for this newsletter. I’ll go into more detail next time.

Until then … eat well!

Lisa, Oliver and the Ramarro Farm team