Our story so far
In the beginning
Hi, I’m Greg and as a city kid, I spent most of my childhood holidays at my Aunt Joan’s sheep and beef property in Ensay, in the high country of East Gippsland Victoria. I loved my time at the farm so much that I remember regularly hiding in the machinery shed when it was time to go home to Melbourne. These family holidays fostered a love for farming. I went on to study Agriculture at Uni and work within the Ag industry, eventually running my own consulting business. But the dream was always to be a farmer… one day. In the meantime, Felicity and I had three girls and continued to visit Joan’s farm as often as we could.
Moving to the country
We spent the early years of our family life in the city, but it was always the plan to eventually move to the country. So in 2007, after spending the summer fire season on Joan’s farm and discussing our options, we decided Bairnsdale would be a great spot to live. We packed the family up and moved to the country. Once the kids were settled into school and Felicity and I had found jobs, the next step was to finally buy our farm. The search was on, but it took a few years to find something we could afford.
'One day farm'
In 2009, we purchased a neglected 256-acre property in Rosedale and called it “One Day Farm”. The block had little going for it, but as first-generation farmers with a huge bank loan, it was all we could afford. The fences were buggered and trees were uprooted all over the place. There were no services, buildings, or yards, salt-damaged soils, low fertility, and barely a blade of grass in sight. But for some reason, we thought we could make a go of it. At the time, we were not yet ready to be full-time farmers, so we cleaned up the paddocks and planted a crop. But it all proved disastrous when floods wiped out our crops in 2011 and 2012, and our dream for “One Day Farm” was more like “One Big Nightmare”.
The dark years
We decided to stop spending money on the farm and regroup. Our dream of farming had turned into a nightmare. Should we push on and make a go of it or sell up now before we have nothing left? We researched all different types of agriculture during this time, went to workshops, read, and watched YouTube videos. We settled on Holistic Farming and Regenerative Ag. It fitted with our beliefs and values and provided a way to fix our soils while making a living off the land.
Converting the farm
We completed a whole farm plan for the property and set about converting the farm based on our regenerative beliefs and values. This led to big changes, from creating smaller paddocks for rotational grazing, laneways and shelterbelts to fencing off the 200-year-old remnant gum trees. The shelterbelts cover a third of the property. Over a few years, I planted more than 25,000 native trees and shrubs from 13 different indigenous species. This also created habitat, wildlife corridors, windbreaks and shade, real regenerative Ag.
Jumping in the deep end
By 2015, the time was finally right to move the family closer to the farm and have a real go. We bought our first mob of cattle, and then later in the year, we purchased our first mobile chicken caravan and flock of hens. Cattle and hens, as it turns out, are great farming companions. The cattle eat the grass, and the chickens follow behind them and engage in natural behaviours such as foraging, scratching, dust bathing, eating bugs, and fertilising the soil. In the process, the hens improve our soil so we can grow more pasture to feed the cows. It’s a beautiful circular system. Years of planning and hard work had finally come to this moment.
That's a lot of eggs!
Greg’s Eggs was born and the reality of egg sales set in. As introverts, it’s pretty scary going out in public and selling your product. However, despite our lack of confidence, we persevered, and soon one van became two, three, four, six, ten. Days are long, and grading eggs at 10pm is nothing unusual…in fact, nighttime egg grading became ‘date night’ because there was no time for any balance in our lives.
All eggs are required to have a code stamped on them as a way to identify the farm. We chose ‘Greg’ because, at the time, we thought it was cute and quirky. Nowadays, it’s an easy way for the consumer to know that what we sell comes from our farm.
Name change
Our plan was and is to have an integrated farming system that supports diversity in biology and enterprises. It was also clear it would take Felicity and I as a team to run the show. So in 2017, we changed the name to ‘Gippsland Pastured’ (gp) but kept ‘Greg’ as the egg stamp.
Winner, winner
In 2017, Felicity started entering our eggs in the Australian Food Awards. We entered mainly for the independent feedback on our eggs. The first year we didn’t win any medals, and in the second year, we won a Bronze. By the third year (2019), we won four medals, including a Gold and ‘Best in Class’. We were thrilled to be recognised in this way for producing a quality product for our customers to enjoy.
One day...
One day we will market other products under the Gippsland Pastured brand. When we do, the focus will remain the same: natural regenerative Ag systems producing high-quality products consistently and reliably.
