Taking the road less travelled: Five Tales Farm

“Neither of us came from a farming background, but when we met, we kind of realised we had the same vision, so we went to the States to learn on farms there,” explains Keren.

“A lot of the younger people in this community of small-scale, organic market gardeners are a new generation,” Keren says. “It’s nice to think we might encourage more of that. I feel like things are changing.”

By the time the two returned to Mikey’s home state of Victoria, they knew exactly what was required to build and run a successful small market garden from the ground up. However, it would be years working on other people’s land before Five Tales came to be.

“We were renting on the Mornington Peninsula for a long time, and it was hard maintaining land security because land is so expensive there,” Keren says.

“We were just looking at real estate for fun but the second we drove in we knew that this was the place. It is absolute heaven and ticks every box that we needed.”

The farm has abundant water, incredible soil for vegetable growing, and a micro-climate that delivers a blanket of fog each morning but insulates them from frosts. When we visit, the transition from summer to winter crops is in full swing; tunnels already bursting with new seedlings.

Two friendly farm dogs are Keren and Mikey’s constant shadows, as is their bright-eyed toddler, who already knows exactly where to go for ripening berries, grapes and cherry tomatoes.

While the farm is a local offering at heart, it has expanded its reach through a partnership with Natoora, a wholesaler that prides itself on direct relationships with farmers and access to novel produce.

“Even large retailers are more interested in our speciality, flavour-driven and nutrient-dense products — these messages take time to reach industry, but you want to be prepared when they do.

“Farming does require a lot of patience – that’s definitely something we’ve been learning,” says Keren.

If patience has been a focus, it certainly hasn’t slowed work on the farm. In just the four years since Keren and Mikey purchased the property, it has undergone a complete transformation — from a struggling domestic vineyard to a thriving market garden. But, in a small-scale, low-tech, open-field environment, every detail matters.

“We do a lot of direct-seeded greens, baby greens and microgreens, so we can’t afford inconsistent germination — Rijk Zwaan seeds give us absolute reliability there,” Keren says.

“We make some of our own compost, and virtually everything is done by hand or with our small tractor.”

Like many small farms, Five Tales embraces diversity and speciality as core strengths. Although Keren and Mikey use a wide range of seeds from different places, each one is specifically selected for the market they have created themselves.

“You kind of have to zig when everyone else zags — you have to have a point of difference,” says Keren. “When we chat to the sales team at Rijk Zwaan we get to understand the varieties — what’s coming, and what might work as an alternative to what we’re currently using.”

Rijk Zwaan’s Salanova lettuces are among the farm’s favourites, as they do a lot of direct-sown greens and raise all their own seedlings inside their centrally located polytunnel.

Rijk Zwaan’s Palermo capsicum is also a contender to become a permanent fixture on the farm, following a successful trial over the 2025/26 summer.

“Last year we grew three colours of Palermo — orange, yellow and red — and it was interesting to get feedback from our chefs about how they used them,” Keren says. “Yellow was exceptionally high-yielding for us, yet it doesn’t hold its shape as well in cooking, so it’s more suited to raw use or lighter cooking.

“Tomatoes are a signature offering of ours — they’re all grafted, and we raise all our own seedlings here,” says Keren. “At this time of year they really lose their flavour because of the cold mornings, so we switch our focus as soon as that happens.

“In autumn, all our main summer crops — salad leaves, cucumber, tomatoes, bullhorns — come out, and we fill the rows with crops that suit our customers, like radicchio.”

Keren and Mikey are always looking for uniqueness and novelty to offer customers. It’s easy to assume a large-scale seed producer like Rijk Zwaan wouldn’t be relevant to a farm operating at this scale — but access to high-quality seed with exceptionally reliable germination, naturally bred resistances and predictable harvest metrics is something every farm relies on.

“We’re really looking into diversifying our income streams with agritourism, bringing people into this beautiful landscape for experiences,” says Keren.

“But the most important thing for us is that the farm is always the heart, it’s always the engine.”

As the autumn sun sets over the forest surrounding the Ada River, the frog song picks up, and everything seems to be smiling. No one at Five Tales Farm would say that farming is easy — but it sure can be beautiful.

Smaller quantities of select Rijk Zwaan seed varieties are available through seed sales partner Active Vista, based in southern Tasmania. For enquiries, visit activevista.com.au