The farm that grows soil first: meet Sharon at Nutshell Farm
The farm that grows soil first
For a long time I've wanted to bring you organic pork. This supplier was introduced to use by David from Hogan Farm who supplies our Certified Free Range Pork from New Italy, NSW. As always, when choosing to align and work with suppliers and growers - I wanted a farm I could visit and people I could pick up the phone to. That I could have full trust in the animal welfare side of things and the full process of true organics.
Up in the hills at Bonalbo, on a farm called Nutshell, run by Sharon and Graham.
A dream that started with a shopping problem
Sharon and Graham are from England, and they've eaten organic food for more than 25 years. Before the Northern Rivers they ran a small organic market garden in the Glass House Mountains in Queensland.
Growing their own fruit and veg was the easy part. What they could never find was really good organic beef and pork. So the plan became a farm where they could raise their own. It wasn't meant to be a business at first. It was about feeding themselves well.
Along the way they came back to a breed Sharon had known as a little girl in England: the Cornish Large Black. She describes them as some of the most affectionate animals you could ever work with. They also happen to make beautiful pork.
Starting from the ground up
When they bought the farm in 2017, it was in a sorry state. A few cattle wandered wherever they pleased. The fences were old and broken. There was no reliable water, and the soil had been neglected for years.
So they started with the soil. They worked with an arborist and a local university to test it, found out which minerals were missing, and put them back.
Then came everything else. Over nine years, almost all of the fencing has been replaced. There are now more than 25 permanent paddocks built so the animals can be moved around easily. They put in a big dam and an 85 metre deep solar-powered bore that pipes water out to many of the paddocks.
Biodynamics goes back to a series of lectures Rudolf Steiner gave to farmers in 1924. The idea is that a farm should be able to feed itself. Instead of buying in fertiliser, you build fertility from what's already there: the animals, their manure, the compost and the plants.
Some of it sounds unusual the first time you hear it. One of the core preparations is cow manure packed into a cow horn and buried over winter. In spring it's dug up, stirred into water and sprayed over the paddocks to feed the life in the soil. Small amounts of herbs like yarrow, chamomile, nettle and dandelion go into the compost.
The pigs are part of that cycle too.
If you ask Sharon what she grows, she'll tell you she grows soil. Everything else follows from that. There's no Roundup or glyphosate on this farm, no pesticides, no synthetic fertilisers. Feed the soil and you feed the animals.
Organic, and then some
Nutshell is certified organic. It's also certified biodynamic, which goes a step further. Biodynamic farming treats the whole farm as one living system, and uses special herbal compost preparations to build the health of the land.
As far as Sharon knows, it's the only certified organic pork in Australia grown on a certified biodynamic farm.
The pigs
Every Nutshell pig is born on the farm. They live in big family groups and roam free-range through the paddocks for their whole lives, eating certified organic feed.
They see people every day, so they're calm and friendly, and Sharon and Graham know their personalities. Sharon even prepares a beautiful ceremony before they are processed and has animal welfare at her absolute highest priority from the beginning until the end.
Cornish Large Blacks are a heritage breed and they grow slowly. Nutshell pigs are processed at eight or nine months. Most commercial pork comes from pigs a good few months younger than that. That extra time is a big part of why the meat tastes the way it does.
There's a small herd of cattle on the farm too, Jersey and Galloway crosses, grazing the same organic and biodynamic pasture.
Why I wanted Sharon on CVO
Sharon is an absolute wealth of knowledge and I cant wait to share her with you!
She's also proud of what they've built, and she's happy for you to see it. Nutshell's pork already goes to organic butchers from Queensland down to Sydney, and now a little of it is coming to the Clarence Valley.
See it for yourself
Sharon is open to farm tours for small groups. You can walk the paddocks, meet the pigs and see how the land is looked after. If you'd like me to put you in touch with her, send me a message and I'll connect you.
Where to find it
Nutshell Farm pork will be on the CVO website this weekend. We buy one pig at a time, so there's only so much to go around. If you see it, don't wait too long.
Bree x
