Kandanga Farm

“Without agriculture, we have no civilisation, it’s that fundamental.!” “We should all give a s*** what we’re eating and where our food comes from, it’s so fundamental to life and it’s what brings people together - food is what makes us healthy.” Said, Amber‍“My parents were early adopters of being certified organic, they were early adopters of cell grazing and that’s where it started for me in the regenerative space about 25 years ago but I have been actively learning since.” Said, Tim‍Tim is from Western Queensland and grew up on a cattle farm with his parents and Amber is originally from the city and grew up around Brookfield, QLD. ‍“I love farming because of the connection it gives to life!” Said, Amber‍Tim and Amber met at university with similar interests in Agriculture, studying rural management and business agricultural degrees and both moved on to manage distribution businesses and always had a passion for cattle along the way. ‍Moving down near the coast to Kandanga, was a lifestyle change they wanted to make to start producing beef for themselves, introducing organic farming to the area. ‍“We were the first ones to do certified organic farming of livestock in this region.” Tim and Amber said. ‍They started the journey fifteen years ago and emerged as fully chemical-free eight years ago. Then two years ago they have been recognised and presented with their full organic certification. They run a mixture of Red and Black Brangus cattle with Senepol & Belmonts, all grass-fed (no grain finish), handling them in a low-stress environment. Tim and Amber supply to their local community and greater SEQ region via other organic grocery stores under their local brand called K2 Beef. ‍“I just love the lifestyle really, there’s nothing better than listening to animals eat or seeing land actually fix itself up from a management choice and then tasting the result in the food produced.” Said, Tim‍Tim and Amber are located 40 minutes from Noosa in the heart of the beautiful Mary Valley at Kandanga, QLD. It is considered a non-brittle environment which basically means things grow and happen quickly on the land when they are working in a direction that is regenerative. ‍They sit on 84 hectares split into 54 paddocks and another block 7kms away at Amamore, which is 22 hectares (split into 24 paddocks). You might ask why they have split the blocks into so many paddocks. … Well it helps with rejuvenating the soil especially when they run almost 300 head of cattle. When the cattle are continuously moving from paddock to paddock, it allows nature to restore the ecosystem through animal impact, and recovery. One of the upsides for the animals is they get to enjoy new pastures every day. ‍When Tim and Amber first bought the property, it was badly degraded and really overdone with conventional farming practices. It took a long time for even weeds to start sprouting again. However, this has led to huge improvements and they have introduced Natural Sequence Farming with added contouring to manage rainfall & runoff, and planted more trees, vegetation and native bushfood to increase biodiversity. The remarkable changes have seen increased insects, a variety of new bird species, koalas and soil friendlies. The idea is that their farm sanctuary will be able to feed 1000 people. ‍When Tim and Amber aren’t out in the paddock they are plucking produce from their farm to create healthy simple meals in their cafe for the widespread community, and tourists who are travelling through. ‍“We don’t do flash stuff in terms of recipes, we just do very simple meals but some people would go bananas over kale and I think maybe it’s because people haven’t tasted real food before.”“…people can’t believe the taste it has and it’s not because we’re amazing cooks or anything, it’s just because of the quality of produce and that it's all produced naturally.” Said Amber. ‍The Kandanga Farm Store was established in 2016 and opened up to the public with a goal to not only showcase organic and/or local food but to also stock non-synthetic and non-chemical farm inputs that help support other farmers on their journey towards a more regenerative farming practice. They stock organic inputs for plant and animal health as well as infrastructure, water pumping, electric fencing, water pipe and tanks plus artisan and lifestyle products with a focus on supporting other small businesses. What sets their farm store apart from others are they really take care in consulting and use their products on the farm first as a testing ground before stocking them on the shelves. ‍“We’re creating a model that doesn’t exist yet… we are values-driven!” Said, Amber ‍The Kandanga Farm store is backed by long-lasting values to support health and the environment. A vision is to restore nature back to what was and to heal the population that has been sick for some time due to overused chemicals and unnatural production of food and inputs in conventional farming practices. ‍They have really maximized the regenerative circle by showcasing the life cycle of food from the ethical production of how it’s made to presenting on the table for customers to eat and then giving them an outlet to buy products directly.  ‍If you have any questions, feel free to get in touch with Tim and Amber through the message button at the top of their profile. You can also join them on their ‘everyday journey’ through Instagram and Facebook. ‍