Church Farm is one of those successful little businesses that just evolved – well, organically.
Market-goers would be familiar with the beautiful big soaps, the sauces and curry pastes,
but it all started out as a way to use up excess garden produce at the Billinudgel home of
Andrew and Amanda Callan. A hobby, really, as Amanda tells it, which ‘turned…into a full-
time thing.’
It's been going for nearly ten years now, employing eight in all, including themselves: ‘cooks,
labellers, wax dippers, soap makers, market legends, order slayers, email wizards’, says
Amanda. ‘We absolutely adore our team’, she adds.
One market legend I’m talking to is James Lange, longest running employee according to
him, five years largely manning the stall, shock of blonde curls and a cruisy affable manner
belying his full knowledge of all the products he sells. There were only three sauces when he
started out, the Hot Smoked, the Brown and the Green, but since then pickles, ketchup, BBQ
sauce, red and green Thai curry pastes and now mustards have joined the range, the latest a
Honey and Pepperberry one (‘which is delish’, says Amanda.) Andrew is, James tells me, ‘an
amazing chef.’
Amanda’s the one behind the soaps, telling me that when it comes to ‘artificial ingredients,
seed oils, thickeners, preservatives, fake fragrances etc etc’ , she is very strict, opting instead
for garden-grown herbs and other natural ingredients. ‘We love making things from scratch
with beautiful local produce’, she says, ‘and having full control over the ingredients that go
into our products.’
The couple have four boys so Amanda is always looking for nutritious meals she can whip up
using their own products, one being a glorious Butter Chicken utilizing their Indian Curry
Paste, available on the website.
Church Farm is at New Brighton every Tuesday from 8 – 11am and Mullumbimby every
Friday from 7 – 11am
Victoria Cosford
