Margie Maccoll
Newcomers to the Cooloola Farm Trail, Eastwell Farms, were overwhelmed by the numbers of people who visited their Kin Kin property over the weekend to join in a farm tour or take home some of their gourmet mushrooms and grass-fed beef.
The 400-acre farm has been run by Bryant and Susie Ussher and son Alex since 2018 when they took over from Bryant’s father Arland who bought it as a dairy in 1969 and turned it into a beef farm, beginning a process of regenerative farming that the family has built on.
Arland planted different plant species to increase biodiversity and introduced the tick-resistant breed of Brahman cattle, eliminating the need to spray them with tick-resistant chemicals.
When Bryant and Susie took over they divided the property into about 40 paddocks with plumbed troughs to support rotational grazing of their 270 cattle and prevent the animals drinking from and eroding the banks of Kin Kin creek that passes through the property. They introduced an African breed of cattle, Nguni, which are more parasite-resistant as well as easy to manage with their amiable temperaments.
The family interest in fungi led them to establish a mushroom farm out of four repurposed shipping containers.
In their first farm trail experience, the couple told guests about their cattle and took them through the mushroom process, explaining their need to maintain a constant temperature, humidity and oxygen-controlled environment to grow the various species which can take from three to five weeks for oyster mushrooms up to three to five months for shiitake, with the waste included in their compost.
“We’re part of the slow food movement,“ Susie said.
“We’re very conscious of the miles and not having to travel too far.“
Eastwells send a beast a fortnight to Nolan’s at Gympie for processing and their beef is being used by local restaurants including Embassy XO. Chef Matt Golinski chooses their meat for events, Noosa Cartel uses it to create delicious pies and it is sold to locals at the Noosa Farmers Market. Their mushrooms are also sold at the market when they’re not snapped up by restaurants including Sofitel, View, Boathouse and Le Monde.
The Cooloola Farm Trail held on September 10- 11 welcomed three new agri-businesses to the weekend that provided the opportunity to get close up to where some of the region’s quality food comes from.
Now in its sixth season, the farm trail offered the chance to explore the hinterland and meet with those who provide us with products from the land, to ask questions, to understand what is involved in getting our food from the farm gate to the plate.
