Permaculture farmers Mark Brown and Kate Beveridge have not been too affected by the pandemic because they've been working for years to build resilience in their own systems and communities. They founded Purple Pear Farm in 1998 and designed their lives expecting disasters like fires, floods, climate change and peak oil. From a business perspective, they've suffered, but food-wise, they're fine.
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"We'd already thought about these things. You get landed into a pandemic like we did, and people are quickly realising the things that are going to impact them the most," Beveridge says.
In 2006 they left their Dungog property and headed to Beveridge's family horse property in Anambah. The 14-acre farm was close to Maitland and had been rented. They came back so they could grow their produce closer to the buyers.
"When we moved back to Maitland, it was all about growing food. Purple Pear has evolved from people being interested in what we're doing. We found when we both gave up our incomes, we had to do things like preserving food, making cheese and canning. People wanted to learn about this," Brown says.
Since then, their land has evolved into a place not only for permaculture and biodynamic farming, but also an educational opportunity where people can learn.
The couple started running courses on sourdough breadmaking, cheese making and soap making.
"We've both had a real interest in gardening and farming. Since I was a little girl that's all I've ever wanted to do is live on a farm and have animals and cook and preserve," Beveridge says.
"Mark had an interest in permaculture and food gardens as he comes from a cattle station in Queensland as a child, so he has that background of living on the land."
The two first met at the Hunter Organic Growers Society. Previously she'd been a teacher and he'd been a coalminer.
On their land you'll find many vegetables and a few animals. The two are vegetarians and have a dairy goat and two dairy cows, for cheese, ice cream and yogurt. They don't sell it; it's just for them.
They grow their vegetables in a garden designed as a Mandala. Their chickens give them eggs and their bees give them honey.
"I think we get something like 250 kilo of honey a year, and that goes to the subscribers and I eat a lot of it," Brown says.
The subscribers are members of the community supported agriculture (CSA) model of food production and distribution which connects farmers and eaters. Their community supports them to keep growing food. People pay in advance and Purple Pear know up front how much food they need to grow. Every week their subscribers get a box of food, and the amount of food varies depending on the season. The idea is to supply supporters with what they need for the week - Purple Pear try to have 10 different items in the box.
It allows their customers to learn more about seasonality and where their food comes from. If something goes wrong, they're part of that risk.
They've had up to 35 subscribers but numbers dropped during the drought and slowly picked up again. Currently, Beveridge and Brown are happily sitting around 15.
They mainly grow vegetables, fruits and nuts.
"It's all seasonal, a lot of brassicas, kale, mizuna, beetroots, shallots, lettuce, snowpeas, peas," Beveridge says.
"We've also garlic coming on. With the CSA box, we're obliged to do a wide range of things, those everyday things like carrots and onions and as best we can, potatoes. We have to have a proper range. The idea is that people don't need to shop which is not absolutely the case sometimes," Brown says.
Their fruit ranges depending on the season, but over the year they have citrus, stone fruit and berries.
They still go to their local shop, Organic Feast, for flour and lentils, but 80 per cent of their food they produce themselves.
"The chickens do a lot of the work in preparing and fertilising the beds," Brown says.
"Animals need checking on every day. Even if they're part of the system, they still need to be monitored and looked after; the cow and goat need milking," Beveridge says. "It's not a lazy man's thing."
They have plenty of work but they can also teach you about how permaculture systems are self-maintaining.
Now that Covid-19 restrictions are easing, the two are happy to get back to the education side of the business.
They have some advice for permaculture newbies.
"Start a worm farm," Brown says.
"Sprouts are always a good thing to grow inside," Beveridge says. "Sprouts are highly nutritious a wonderful way to supplement your food in an apartment, getting yourself as resilient as you can."
