We grew up on farms and always wanted to be farmers…
Over the past thirty four years, Meredith Dairy has evolved from being the enterprise that allowed a naive young couple to obtain a farm on which to raise their family, to a lifelong quest to develop a sustainable farming system; a system with minimal impact on the local and wider environment, and yet is highly productive – a necessity as the global demand for food rises.
Almost by accident, we discovered that on-farm processing improves the quality and flavour of the food we produce and retains resources on the farm to the benefit of the people, animals and local environment.
We have always enjoyed producing our sheep and goat milk products and eating them with friends and family. Recently, we have developed an on-farm meat processing facility, aimed at ethically managing our male goats.
We also have a lot of fun trying to develop a circular economy on the farm; growing trees, producing much of our heat and power from scrap wood, harvesting and recycling water, and returning nutrients to our paddocks as natural fertilizer.
Often it’s two steps forward, and one step back, with many mistakes along the way. Still, the challenge is half the fun, and being part of an informal global community of like-minded people encourages us to believe humanity and the earth can still have a bright future.
Within months, we will announce the opening of our farm produce shop, where we will showcase our produce and the diverse ways it can be used as part of a healthy, tasty diet.
Sandy & Julie Cameron
Meredith, Victoria, Australia
