From Small Beginnings: Adsum Farm

What do a couple of city slickers know about running a market garden? Thirteen years after turning the first sod at their two-acre farm in southern Victoria, it turns out— quite a lot.

Located in the quiet village of Glenlyon, Fiona and Edward of Adsum Farm have contributed far more to the local food scene than their modest footprint might suggest.

Adsum Farm is now undeniably one of the region’s most admired small-scale farms— and it’s not hard to see why.

Edward, full-time farmer, owner and one half of the Adsum team, says: “People are genuinely grateful for the food we produce.”

“I’ve had so many people tell me how much healthier they feel by having access to high-quality organic produce, but it is a seven-day-a-week job for a big chunk of the year … it’s not your average job.”

The farming couple’s two daughters have gone from toddlers to teenagers as the farm has grown into a thriving ecosystem that now feeds a dedicated queue of customers each week at the Daylesford Market. Visitors to some of the region’s best restaurants also enjoy their produce, including the two-hatted Lake House Restaurant and local foodie institution Bar Merenda.

“We really just started with the goal to feed our own family when we came here,” says Fiona.

“We basically had the empty shell of an 1880s farmhouse, and a gorgeous 80-year-old mulberry tree and that was it.”

The transformation is all the more remarkable when you consider that neither Fiona nor Edward came from farming backgrounds.

“I was a national sales rep for an organic food supplier and Fiona was in events when we moved here,” says Edward.

“I always grew things, but never on this scale. There’s nothing like becoming a farmer to make you appreciate how hard it is to grow food!”

Everything is grown using organic principles and is maintained with a large library of hand tools rather than hefty machinery.

The farm’s thousands of seedlings are raised from seed on site, and every plant is fed a diet of compost and worm juice on their low-till, biologically active volcanic soil. The cold, frost-prone location doesn’t allow for year-round production in their low-tech set up, but expanding protected cropping areas and developing micro-climates within the farm has made it possible to grow tomatoes here for a full six months of the year.

“We lost a lot of crops to frost when we first started— we were learning,” says Fiona.

“We know what works and what doesn’t now, but let’s face it, farming is constantly challenging everything you think you know!”

It’s the focus on value-adding, diversity and the relentless pursuit of distinctive crops that has shaped Adsum into the farm it is today. Their philosophy is simple: grow local, buy local, eat local.

They grow and supply Rijk Zwaan’s Salanova and other leafy greens as part of their locally renowned salad mix - but after more than a decade growing a wide range of crops, it’s gherkins that the farm has increasingly turned its attention to.

“We’ve carved out a local niche in pickled and fermented gherkins, and it’s where we’re focusing more of our time and growing space,” says Edward.

“Gherkins are flown in from all over the world for Australians to eat, and I love that we can provide a high-quality local option.”

Turning their grassy town block into a farm that produces more than 40 crops and four preserved products has required both creative vision and plenty of muscle.

With its endless rows of leafy greens, root crops and fruiting vegetables dotted with native plants and flowers, visitors to Adsum’s farm accommodation are transported to a horticultural wonderland.

“I want to be growing food when I’m 80,” says Edward. “There are hard days, and it’s relentless, but there’s no other work I’d rather be doing.”

Walking through the rows today, it’s hard to believe the whole place was growing only grass and a few mulberries just over a decade ago. Now, it’s a farm that truly feeds and nourishes its growing community— as well as the family that tends it day in and day out.