Nothing prepares you for building an organic farm quite like back-to-back natural disasters, according to Lorne farmers James and Emily Smith.
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The couple have endured bushfires, a health pandemic and flooding since they made the decision to quit their Brisbane jobs and start the Sohip Farm in September 2019.
The farm was washed back to a 'blank slate' after more than two metres of rain was dumped on its paddocks of mixed crops such as broccoli, spinach and carrots in March this year.
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"After the floods it was like the market garden was a blank canvas, there was nothing there. All the matting, everything was riddled throughout the trees and we ended up taking a lot to the rubbish tip," Mr Smith said.
"We've learnt a lot this year and the silver lining of the flood is that we had to think really quickly about possible strategies.
"We have done a huge amount of work. We stripped everything, fixed the irrigation first and confronted the biggest cost, the soil.
"We had spent a year and a half building up the nutrients in that soil, that was washed away and new weed seeds flowed into its place."
The pair have dug new drainage ditches around existing produce beds and started a new produce bed on raised ground since the flood.
They have already begun planting new fennel, sugar snap peas, beetroot, spring onion, silver-beet, kale and broccolini crops in a now shortened growing season.
Mr Smith said the farming dream is still 'tough and go' and some important decisions will need to be made at the end of this growing season in October.
"Once we get to October we will forecast what we have made (funding) and what we can do in summer," he said.
"There is a question for me whether we should push through summer knowing that we probably won't make ends meet.
"If we don't do that, probably it would be better to shutdown and do six months construction somewhere else.
"It's a tough decision but we enjoy the challenge. If we can get through this summer coming and crank it out next year, then we will be in a better position."
Sohip Farm produce is sold through their online store and Ken Little's Fruit & Veg in Port Macquarie.
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