If we haven’t met before – Hi, and welcome to our organic farm!
We’re Hugh and Katie Finlay, and we help people grow their own organic fruit with our Grow Great Fruit system.
Empowering people to grow organic food
Teaching fruit growing is definitely our passion project, but that’s not all we do. No doubt like many of you reading this, we have our fingers in many pies.
We grow and sell fruit trees from Carr’s Organic Fruit Tree Nursery and help to run the Harcourt Organic Farming Co-op on our farm. Hugh also works part-time with an international aid organisation. We have various roles in the community, and Hugh is a keen member of the local SES.
Our lives are full to the brim, but there’s one theme running through most of the things we do, and that’s food. Growing it, eating it, and helping other people to grow organic, nutrient-dense food.
The Harcourt Organic Farming Coop
We enable young farmers to be able to grow organic food by giving them access to lease parts of our farm through the Harcourt Organic Farming Coop (HOFC).
It’s super satisfying. The members of HOFC grow a significant amount of organic dairy, bushfoods, fruit trees, and fruit. Most of it contributes directly to feeding families in our local area.
We also offer occasional skills workshops either on-farm or at local venues. As much as we love connecting with our local community via in-person workshops, it’s not enough.
We want to empower people to grow their own food no matter where they live!
That’s where technology comes in.
Connecting our organic farm to you with technology
One of the fantastic things about technology (when it’s used for the forces of good) is that it lets us connect easily with you.
As farmers and teachers, we’re really interested in making stronger connections between what we do, and the people who want to grow their own food.
But we need to do it in a way that fits in with our farming and teaching work.
So being able to blog and get on the socials while we’re at work on the farm lets us form a dynamic, close link with anyone who wants to learn more about self-sufficiency.
It means that even if you can’t get to the farm, we can bring the farm to you.
Meet the rest of our farm crew
Having our own organic orchard and farm is what makes Grow Great Fruit possible. But we couldn’t do it alone. These days, we’re part of an on-farm community.
The orchard
First up, the Orchard Keepers Collective is the team that runs the orchard on the farm. The main workforce comes from our volunteer exchange program called Fruit Crew. Volunteers from the local community learn about fruit growing and get fruit in exchange for helping to grow the crop.
The team is led by our Fruit Crew Leaders Jill, Jemi, and Bri. We’re still here in the background, offering skills and mentoring. But this hard working team is out in the weather doing the hard yards.
Carr’s Organic Fruit Tree Nursery
The nursery team is very much a family affair. Katie, her sister Liz, and their dad Merv (known by pretty much everyone as Pa) grow about 1,000 fruit trees every year.
They mostly stick to old-fashioned and heritage varieties (many of which are also grown in the orchards on the farm) and sell them mainly to people in the local area.
The dairy
Tess Sellar uses most of the paddocks on the farm to run her 10-cow micro-dairy. She moves the cows every couple of days. They even rotate through the orchards during some times of the year.
Tess milks once a day, then processes the milk and makes yoghurt in the factory she and her partner Oli built in a container on the farm. It all goes to Tessa’s CSA customers and local market shoppers.
The dairy is slowly building a team of part-time helpers who learning the ropes so Tess gets the odd day off!
Grow Great Fruit
You’ve already met us (Katie and Hugh), but there’s more to the team! We work with two fabulous women behind the scenes Jen and Kirri who help us keep the tech running smoothly, keep the socials lively and interesting, and build better connections with gardeners in the real world.
Murnong Mummas Bushfood Patch
Ira (above) grows a range of native food plants in the bush food patch as part of the Murrnong Mamas social enterprise.
Ira is mentored by local elders who share their food growing knowledge. In turn, they welcome young indigenous folk to the patch and introduce them to growing traditional foods.
It’s an exciting project that is slowly maturing and expanding to grow more different types of native foods. Tours, cooking classes using indigenous ingredients, and education are all a growing part of the intention to educate and inspire others about native food and botanicals.
The non-human farm team
Meet our constant farm buddy – the dog. Jedda (above) joined us on the farm in 2023. She loves us, we love her, and she provides us with endless entertainment.
If you’ve known us for long, you may remember our previous beloved Oscar (below on the right) and Poppy (on the left). They’ve now gone to the great kennel in the sky.
The chickens are much more useful farm workers. John is the rooster, who looks out for his flock of girls.
This is John VII (roughly – we don’t actually keep count). We’ve been through many roosters over the years. They’re always white, and they’re always called John.
Why? No-one can remember, it’s lost in the mists of time.
The flock is responsible for egg production and keeping the pests around the garden under control. They also contribute vital nutrition to the vegie garden.
Staying connected
So, that’s the core team.
Many other people are also connected to our organic farm. Family, workers, volunteers, visitors, students, and customers are all part of the community.
We love it and feel that we get the best of both worlds.
We’re part of a busy, active community here on the farm, and we also get to connect with you, our keen gardening family, no matter where in the world you are.
So, welcome to the joyous, interesting, diverse, and often quite mundane world of a small organic farm in rural Australia.
Thank you for being here! We hope you enjoy the ride with us.
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Difficult to believe that things could ever be dull at your place, Katie. You and Hugh are always so busy! Good on you getting the blog going. We hope it helps people understand the pleasures and frustrations of making a living getting food from “paddock to plate”. Looking forward to the ride!