Personal Experience: How They Built a Farm and Now Supply Restaurants with Harvest

The owners of this home, Jade and Charlie, met in university. The couple bonded over their dream of a family and a cozy countryside house surrounded by gardens, vegetable patches, and spaces for domestic animals and livestock. A passion for agriculture runs in their blood — both spent childhoods on farms.

Charlie and I met at university in Melbourne. From the start, we knew that the city wasn't where we wanted to spend our lives.

But achieving their dream didn't come easy. Due to Charlie's work (he works as a visiting environmental consultant and collaborates with numerous organizations across the country), the young couple had to move frequently.

In three years of living in their new place, Jade, Charlie, their sons Harry and Bertie, and daughter Clementina transformed eight hectares of wild fruit orchards into a permaculture farm called Black Barn Farm and a homestead where the key factor is eco-friendliness. Today, the farm site includes a garden, a sheep pen, and even an educational center where Charlie holds workshops and consultations on permaculture farming.

The children are also involved in the work: Harry and Bertie run their own mini-business, while Clementina is a constant client of theirs.

Every time they moved, the couple had to set up the house from scratch. So this time, they decided to buy a fully ready cottage. But fate had other plans.

When the family first moved in, they had to live in tents: they literally set up camp on the farm, living in tents. They immediately started renovations. It took a full six weeks to lay utilities! But afterwards, things went faster: the kids painted all the walls themselves and replaced the floors. Then they set up the kitchen and other rooms.

The kitchen project was Jade's idea. She divided it into two zones: one part held the appliances, work surfaces, and storage spaces, while the other was a pantry where homemade jams, jellies, and preserved berries could be stored.

Natural materials dominate the kitchen interior, mainly wood. The chairs, table, and storage shelves are made of natural wood. The couple also bought an old wooden table at a farmers' market.

The bedroom walls, like in the rest of the house, are painted white. A good backdrop for various colored interior items and dark textiles. Large windows fill the bedroom with light and air.

Once everything necessary was done in the house, the couple focused on the farm. Today, it's starting to bear fruit. The orchard has more than 1000 different types of trees, including cherries and 78 apple varieties. The family also rented and thus saved a neighboring apple orchard that the owners wanted to cut down.

We plan for our orchard to yield harvest year-round by 2021: berries, cherries, early pears in December, and quinces and apples in April.

As of today, the homestead includes geese, a pond with fish, domestic poultry, and sheep. Just three years after moving in, the couple is now supplying local restaurants and small grocery stores with farm produce.