From strength to strength, that’s been their trajectory for the past few years. Woodland
Valley Farm’s list of awards – for, variously, their custards, their pastas and Excellence in
both Small Business and Manufacturing – continues to swell. Fabian Fabbro and Jodie
Vickers are the regenerative farmers at the heart of the Fernvale-based operation in the
Tweed Valley, one that began with the supply of eggs at markets and has since then
expanded to include a deli in Murwillumbah. Pasta’bah came about, Jodie tells me, as a
result of the floods in February last year which inundated the farm’s commercial kitchen,
necessitating a search for a new production facility. ‘We lost most of our equipment’, Jodie
says. ‘The current home of the Pasta’bah was the perfect location …so we decided to open
the doors and sell our products directly.’ Those products include sauces, custards, biscuits,
ready-made meals and their famous pasta, whose manufacture can be viewed through a
large in-store window.
But not only that. ‘Our business,’ Jodie tells me, ‘came about initially to ensure we had zero
waste with respect to the eggs we produce.’ In addition, their hens contribute
approximately one tonne of fertiliser to their land, ‘providing a slow-release source of
macro and micronutrients, acting as soil amendment’, says Jodie.
Most significantly, in the past two years they have achieved 350 tonnes of Soil Organic
Carbon Sequestration, carbon drawn from the atmosphere and stored in the earth, through
practices such as rotational grazing and native riparian zone management. It’s a triumphant
story but the ever-modest Jodie, who’s so much more than a pretty girl selling eggs, says
that ‘we are truly thankful to our customers…as it is their support that allows us to continue
the work we do to rebuild the ecosystem on our farm…’
Woodland Valley Farm is at New Brighton every Tuesday from 8 – 11am and Mullumbimby
every Friday from 7 – 11am
Victoria Cosford
