I guess we are accidental farmers; I bought a farm at Tom's Creek, NSW, to run and write, and Ged had his bush block up the road to retreat to and raise cattle on.
I met Ged when he came to quote an upgrade of the tiny solar system; he told me I would never be able to use a hairdryer, toaster, electric kettle or vacuum cleaner again.
Back then we used 1 kilowatt with 15kw/hour of battery storage, now it is 8kw of solar with 100 kw/h of storage that runs two houses, six freezers, fridge, lights, hoover, electric kettle and toaster and air conditioner.
As a vegan for more than 20 years, I had no intention of raising animals for food, but after the arrival of my son things changed.
We started with alpacas and our foundation cows Daisy and Paddy - and we have slowly built from there.
We have slowly grown into a business as our friends urged us to take our products to market.
The name The Naked Farmers came from a photo of toddler Ben and I on a hot summer’s day, naked at the wooden fence of the house paddock.
But also because we believe farming should be as natural or 'naked' as possible - and that’s how we like our food - no chemicals added.
For now, we are concentrating on the pantry products including salad dressings, dukkah and honey as we add value to our home grown chillies, garlic and honey, and pork and beef.
Our main business is online with free local delivery into the surrounding area.
We are passionate agvocates and started running bee courses with experienced trainer Ben Laybutt in 2014 to encourage others to Get Started with Bees.
We have regular open days with farm fresh food.
Honey Marinade Recipe:
- Place 1 tbsp of honey and 80g of vinegar in a large bowl and mix well
- Add chilli flakes
- Skin and chop 900g of cucumbers into cubes and place in bowl
- Mix thoroughly, coating with the dressing
- Place in fridge for a few hours before serving
