Why Do I Grow the Organic Way?
The Short Answer?
I can’t see any valid reason in doing it any other way.
The Long Answer?
This is my reasoning – others will say it another way, but this is how I see it.
Like a human being defined by skin, the planet is a finite entity. Both do extend beyond their range, but we won’t go there. I could see this ‘living entity’ comparison quite early on in life.
It was connected to learning how much I had in common with the way all living beings are made. I was lucky enough to have a mild-mannered biochemist as a father. After WWI, food and the making of it was highly valued. As a boy, he was taught to garden the old way at a Yorkshire primary school using muck and the new word employed by Sir Albert Howard, ‘compost’. From my dad, I inherited a small monograph called ‘The Mycorrhizal Association,’ which in his youth was a new thing. Today, all budding soil lovers take to it and nod.
At 16, Dad took me to the Sydney Botanical Gardens and took me through the birth of life on rock to lichen ferns grasses and trees. Walking around the gardens, he showed me the botanical notion of Gwandanaland before it was named as such. He showed me the commonality of shared plants in the countries that we had lived in. He taught me that life chemistry is shared between plants and creatures and between animals amongst themselves. The relationship between plant cycles and our lives was there to be understood and appreciated. To mess this complex and evolving ancient way of sustaining the mantle of the earth seemed foolhardy to me, even then.
I finished off my self-education in our molecular relationship with Planet Earth when I learnt about buffering, which is too technical to look at here but highly important.
At 30, I encountered the agriculture of modern chemical use of industrial wastes and the development of applying blanket poisoning of the soils in the name of food production. You kill one beetle you kill them all – so what!? This type of agriculture is heavy-handed from an intracellular viewpoint. Introduced chemicals will upset the equilibrium of continuing buffering in a chemical sense – be it plant or animal.
This seemed nonsensical to me.
So in my small one-bit way, I started growing sub-tropical fruits and vegetables, native trees and a nursery for regenerating a dry rainforest and raising dairy cows. This plant/animal mix; the way that Mother Earth works, made sense to me. I did not have the entrepreneurial skills to take it to a galloping profit but I could see forest returning, wildlife coming to it, absolutely yummy foods and healthy plants and animals.
Today, it has been very gratifying to see how much more is now known about Mother Earth’s mantle and the clever cycles that sustain life here. Of course, much of it was understood for a long, long time and ignored. But now we ‘know’ from both the old and new: it is best not ignored.
I hope you found that (pretty long-winded) reason for organic farming to be meaningful to you. There are other reasons too, related to the taste and complexity of nutrition and keeping quality high, but that’s for another blog.
Mary Done
Owner, Wymah Organics
2021 Australian Olive Industry Awards
/in Extra Virgin Olive Oil, Table Olive /by MaryExciting News!
The results are in for the 2021 Australian Olive Industry Awards, and we’re thrilled this year to announce that we were awarded GOLD and BRONZE medals.
We won…
Gold Medal: Certified Organic Extra Virgin Olive Oils (Class 2)
Bronze Medal: Certified Organic Kalamata Olives (Class 14)
The AIOA awards are one of the largest and most comprehensive olive oil and table olive competitions in the world and are all about uncovering olive oils and olives with the highest quality and flavour, along with recognising production excellence.
After last year winning several golds for our table olives (Best in Category, Best in Australia and Best Olives Both Hemispheres), we were proud this year to win for our Mid Harvest Extra Virgin Olive Oil. As as a small local operator, this is the first batch I’ve personally pressed so it made this award even sweeter…
Read more about the 2021 Australian International Olive Award.
Click here to shop OILS and TABLE OLIVES.
ABOUT KALAMATA OLIVES
In addition to injecting a unique, salty Mediterranean flavor into your favorite dishes, Kalamata olives provide a number of important health benefits. They are full of rich antioxidants and studies link diets including regular servings of olives with a number of impressive results….
Steamed Baby Cauliflower Recipe with Crushed Nuts and Moroccan Tapenade
/in Tapenade /by MaryTry our favourite cauliflower recipe for a delicious vegetarian meal. Perfect for your next ‘Meatless Monday’ or any time you’re craving a wholesome, veg-based meal!
Cauliflower has become one of the trendiest vegetables going, and can
be cooked deliciously in a number of ways. A delicate accompanying dish or a lovely meal in itself.
Ingredients:
Method:
In a mortar and pestle (or other device), crush your nuts and/or seeds. Any you have in the pantry will work, though I used a mix of almonds and walnuts to create this recipe. Combine with fresh green garden herbs – preferably parsley and coriander – finely chopped.
Blitz or crush until a chunky paste is forming, adding in fresh extra virgin olive oil as you go until the right consistency – like that of a tapenade or pesto – is achieved.
Next, steam the cauliflower with the yummy green leaves left on. Before doing this, insert your knife longways into the base of the cauli several times to let the steam in up the main stalk and up into the little branches of the vegetable.
Sit your cauliflower in a saucepan or steamer to steam/boil until its cooked through. Alternatively, you can par-boil or steam the cauli, then roast in the oven drizzled with oil to brown the outside.
When the cauliflower is cooked to your liking, top with the nutty tapenade in the green leaves.
We like to serve this cauliflower recipe with potatoes boiled in turmeric-laced water, with our zesty Moroccan Tapenade for an extra kick.
Olive Paste AKA Olive Tapenade Recipe Ideas
/in Tapenade /by MaryThere are so many delicious uses for olive paste (also called tapenade by us Aussies) so we thought we’d share some of Mary’s favourite recipe ideas with you this month.
There is more to be done for sure than simply using it on a cheese platter! Olive pastes have been used as a way of boosting flavour and goodness in foods – in a similar way to pickles and chutneys – for centuries.
Olive pastes are great for enhancing vegan and meat dishes alike, and can add a welcome depth and richness to simple ingredients.
Plain fermented and pasteurised olive paste gives those with food allergies and other specific dietary requirements a way of making their food not only less bland – but also more flavoursome and nutritious.
Here are five useful ways in daily life to take what’s in the fridge or locally available, and turn it into a gourmet meal!
Serving Suggestions for Olive Paste / Tapenade
Don’t overdo adding it to prepared food, because while it is certainly better for you than tomato sauce, it’s still a concentrated food.
Other Tips
We hope these ideas gave you some encouragement to get in the kitchen and start using your olive paste or tapenade in many more new and delicious ways.
Why is Dexter Beef Better?
/in Uncategorized /by MaryHave you wondered in the past exactly why is Dexter Beef better? Better in terms of taste, better to farm, and even better for the environment?
Allow us to explain – as farmers of organic Dexter Beef (along with our olives, olive oil and lamb), we know a thing or two about it!
Organic grass fed beef is a healthier choice, in general. It contains over 3 times more Omega 3 fatty acids than grain fed beef, and it is overall lower in fat. Organic grass fed cattle have a lower carbon foot-print than grain fed or finished conventional beef. In addition, at Wymah we use rotational grazing, and we also don’t use dogs to boss our cattle around, causing stress. Instead, the cattle move themselves around or we walk behind them to encourage if needed. Less stress = more tender beef.
The breed we farm is the smaller Dexter cattle, originating from Ireland. The cuts of meat yielded are smaller, it’s cheaper to buy, and is celebrated as one of the most delicious beefs you can taste.
Being smaller, Dexters are also less damaging to the soil because of their lower weight. They perform a special job at Wymah Organic; by rotating them with our Wiltpol sheep, it allows us to reduce the intestinal worm burden for both mobs. Fun fact: Dexter cattle are generally docile creatures and if they’re around people a lot, they’re easy to halter-train. Kids enjoy walking them like a dog!
By choosing this meat you are ensuring less chemicals are being used on the planet, the soil is less compressed and as well, you’re getting a good feed! As Butcher Magazine explains, ‘Dexter beef is the right choice when choosing high-quality, environmentally-friendly meat.’
OUR DEXTER BEEF PACKS
Wymah Organics sell fresh and frozen cryovac packaged individual cuts of Dexter Beef.
CLICK HERE to see our bulk packs. Individual pieces and other cuts are available during our annual event of selling this lovely meat which begins late July and runs until sold out.
SERVING SUGGESTION:
Drizzle with Wymah Organic Moroccan Tapenade for extra flavour and beautiful presentation!
Better Homes & Gardens Meets Wymah
/in All Lamb Products, Table Olive /by MaryRecently, I was very excited to be approached by the team behind Better Homes & Gardens Australia. They were planning a special focused on the mighty Murray River, and were looking for farms in the area to include.
I was happy to have them (naturally!) and hosted host Johanna Griggs and chef Karen Martini at the farm shortly afterwards.
They were very complimentary about the farm and loved tasting the olives in the brining room, at different stages of fermentation. Karen Martini even created a beautiful recipe using my lamb and olives, which tasted as good as it looks.
To view the segment and to download Karen’s recipe, please click the image below.
To shop the olives used in the recipe, please head to our SHOP.
Consumer Demand Confirms Organic Farming is No Longer a Niche
/in Uncategorized /by MaryFrom article published in NSW Farmers website blog, Oct 2019.
THIRD-GENERATION farmer Stuart Larsson was greeted with puzzled looks and the occasional “hippie” reference when he ventured into organic farming more than 20 years ago.
Today, he and wife Katina are the proud creators of Mara Seeds, a diverse 3,240-hectare family enterprise that produces certified organic soybeans, livestock feed, fertilisers, pasture seed and beef at Mallanganee, near Casino on the NSW North Coast.
Stuart is now regarded as a pioneer in the NSW organic industry and the modest Larsson farm that started in 1914 now supports the careers of daughters Holly and Louise, and its products are the backbone for businesses operated by son Ross and nephew Paul.
“We replaced the dairy herd with beef cattle in the early 1970s, but the cattle market crash in 1974 forced us to look at other options, and soybeans was the first choice,” Stuart says.
Soybeans were a new crop for the region and proved to be a worthy first choice, he explains. But rising input costs and flat yields eventually led to an investigation into new farming methods.
Inspired by a working holiday on Amish farms in the United States and follow-up discussions with scientists, Stuart’s organic path started with using compost to improve soil biology and structure.
“I learned over time that if you look after the soil it will look after you,” he says. “This is a key principle for organic farming, as it is for good conventional farming systems.
READ MORE OF THIS ARTICLE HERE…
READ ABOUT WHY WE FARM ORGANICALLY AT WYMAH HERE…
Why Organic Farming?
/in All Products /by MaryWhy Do I Grow the Organic Way?
The Short Answer?
I can’t see any valid reason in doing it any other way.
The Long Answer?
This is my reasoning – others will say it another way, but this is how I see it.
Like a human being defined by skin, the planet is a finite entity. Both do extend beyond their range, but we won’t go there. I could see this ‘living entity’ comparison quite early on in life.
It was connected to learning how much I had in common with the way all living beings are made. I was lucky enough to have a mild-mannered biochemist as a father. After WWI, food and the making of it was highly valued. As a boy, he was taught to garden the old way at a Yorkshire primary school using muck and the new word employed by Sir Albert Howard, ‘compost’. From my dad, I inherited a small monograph called ‘The Mycorrhizal Association,’ which in his youth was a new thing. Today, all budding soil lovers take to it and nod.
At 16, Dad took me to the Sydney Botanical Gardens and took me through the birth of life on rock to lichen ferns grasses and trees. Walking around the gardens, he showed me the botanical notion of Gwandanaland before it was named as such. He showed me the commonality of shared plants in the countries that we had lived in. He taught me that life chemistry is shared between plants and creatures and between animals amongst themselves. The relationship between plant cycles and our lives was there to be understood and appreciated. To mess this complex and evolving ancient way of sustaining the mantle of the earth seemed foolhardy to me, even then.
I finished off my self-education in our molecular relationship with Planet Earth when I learnt about buffering, which is too technical to look at here but highly important.
At 30, I encountered the agriculture of modern chemical use of industrial wastes and the development of applying blanket poisoning of the soils in the name of food production. You kill one beetle you kill them all – so what!? This type of agriculture is heavy-handed from an intracellular viewpoint. Introduced chemicals will upset the equilibrium of continuing buffering in a chemical sense – be it plant or animal.
This seemed nonsensical to me.
So in my small one-bit way, I started growing sub-tropical fruits and vegetables, native trees and a nursery for regenerating a dry rainforest and raising dairy cows. This plant/animal mix; the way that Mother Earth works, made sense to me. I did not have the entrepreneurial skills to take it to a galloping profit but I could see forest returning, wildlife coming to it, absolutely yummy foods and healthy plants and animals.
Today, it has been very gratifying to see how much more is now known about Mother Earth’s mantle and the clever cycles that sustain life here. Of course, much of it was understood for a long, long time and ignored. But now we ‘know’ from both the old and new: it is best not ignored.
I hope you found that (pretty long-winded) reason for organic farming to be meaningful to you. There are other reasons too, related to the taste and complexity of nutrition and keeping quality high, but that’s for another blog.
Mary Done
Owner, Wymah Organics
Why caring for land matters
/in All Products /by MaryWe provide a standard that can be marked and measured. You know you are getting an honest organic product assessed and verified.
When you eat or use organic products you know you are caring too – caring for your family, your friends, yourself and our small finite planet.
Our 500 ewes and their lambs are cared for: We are humane in approach the care of our animals – no rounding up with dogs. Our Maremma dogs guard our sheep from predators.
Our sheep graze by rotation to simulate herd movements in the wild. This minimises gut worm infections and provides more native pasture which minimal fertiliser needs.
Our 3000 Olives are cared for: Our olive trees are pruned to a sane human picking height and fertilised by animal wastes.
The orchards are mowed in a way that allows the good and the bad bugs to continue their battles in our favour.
We optimise the carbon storage by mulching prunings and grasses.
We handpick and hand process. We employ rather than find a new machine to do the tasks.
So, you know we care. We do our best with the weather as it comes. This means you can enjoy Wymah Organic Olive and Lamb products as their tastiest BEST!
Succulent Organic Lamb
/in All Lamb Products, Integrated Farming /by MaryWhy do people love our succulent lamb? Because it just tastes so delicious. Organic farming practices bring out the best. It’s all to do with our care for our animals. And you enjoy the benefits!
Have you ever noticed that very yummy things are also often good for you? I have also noted they need less embellishment and allow a simpler cooking experience.
Organic farming practices bring out the best of complex flavours in anything grown, be it plant or animal. The organisms in the soil provide more complex flavours to the food. Pasture fed also means there of heaps of good fats (rather than others) in the meat. This is marked when you compare grass fed and feed lot lamb, but can also be noted in grain ‘finished’ stock.
It’s all to do with care for our animals. And we all enjoy the benefits! It’s a pleasure to see the stock in good health as it is a pleasure to observe the meat they provide us with, and to taste it of course.
Mary Done
Wymah Organics Owner and Certified Organic Farmer
Delicious Olives
/in Extra Virgin Olive Oil, Integrated Farming, Table Olive /by MaryWhy does the flavour literally burst out of our olives? Because we grow them with the best time honoured methods of sustainable farming. The goodness is infused! You’ll love them.