Latest / Salt of the Earth / Ep 120: Jayfields Nursery _ Kelly Glass

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Ep 120: Jayfields Nursery _ Kelly Glass · Salt of the Earth

0:09
SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
0:11
SPEAKER_00: So I can tiny mouth.
0:18
SPEAKER_01: If you dreamt of ditching the T on the land, Caleglass and the husband team did exactly that.
0:26
SPEAKER_01: They packed it up, threw it to the eight coast, and eventually landed just therefore.
0:32
SPEAKER_01: What happened next?
0:34
SPEAKER_01: Well, they bought a nursery and built it into one of Australia's biggest hostile nurseries.
0:45
SPEAKER_01: These days, Jayfield Nursery grows an astonishing 6.7 million seedlings.
0:52
SPEAKER_01: Native planets destined for projects right across the country.
0:57
SPEAKER_01: But this isn't just a story about trees.
1:00
SPEAKER_01: It's about taking a leap of faith.
1:03
SPEAKER_01: Starting over, finding purpose in unexpected places.
1:07
SPEAKER_00: What you realise is the first loss is massive, and so I want to raise kids so they understood what the land was about.
1:13
SPEAKER_00: The land's about life and death and the circle of life.
1:16
SPEAKER_01: We'll talk native species, the incredible machine that plants thousands of seeds with military precision.
1:24
SPEAKER_01: And discover that Kelly was once ranked number five in the world for ballroom dancing.
1:30
SPEAKER_01: Yep.
1:31
SPEAKER_01: I didn't see that one coming.
1:33
SPEAKER_01: It's a cracking story of resilience, reinvention, and a country dream that grew far bigger than anyone imagined.
1:42
SPEAKER_01: Let's get into it.
1:47
SPEAKER_01: Good morning, Kelly.
1:48
SPEAKER_01: Good morning, Darren.
1:49
SPEAKER_00: How are you?
1:50
SPEAKER_01: Really good.
1:50
SPEAKER_01: Kelly, I'm just looking out here in front of us and I see a beautiful sea of green.
1:55
SPEAKER_01: What do you see?
1:56
SPEAKER_00: I see multiple greens, different textures, and we've got beautiful sunshine shining down at the moment, and I see a sense of peace and doing the right thing in life.
2:08
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
2:08
SPEAKER_01: And life itself, you're growing something.
2:11
SPEAKER_00: I am growing something.
2:12
SPEAKER_00: We're growing lots of little things out there, and it uh that makes my heart feel whole.
2:16
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, nice.
2:17
SPEAKER_01: Where are we exactly, Kelly?
2:19
SPEAKER_00: We are in just north of Holbrook, uh at Jayfields Nursery.
2:23
SPEAKER_01: Pulleytop?
2:24
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, sort of.
2:25
SPEAKER_00: In the middle of nowhere, really.
2:27
SPEAKER_01: Right.
2:27
SPEAKER_01: Now tell us, for those who haven't met you, who is Kelly Glass?
2:32
SPEAKER_00: So Kelly Glass, together with her husband Tim, uh, purchased this nursery over 15 years ago.
2:39
SPEAKER_01: Jayfields Nursery.
2:40
SPEAKER_00: Correct.
2:40
SPEAKER_00: Um, we're city kids that move from the hustle and bustle of that life out to here because the main focus was wanting to raise kids on the land.
2:50
SPEAKER_01: So it was no accident, you really wanted that country life.
2:53
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, we looked up and down the east coast at farms that were appropriate with high rainfall.
2:58
SPEAKER_00: Um, we first came across the property in 2008, and then we finally couldn't forget about it really.
3:05
SPEAKER_00: Credit to the old owner, Noel and Kim Pasilacwa, who built the business, and they believed in us as the future custodians to continue um what they had built.
3:16
SPEAKER_01: Well, it had an impact on me.
3:17
SPEAKER_01: I was here only a week ago for the first time, and I was busting to know more.
3:21
SPEAKER_01: So, this is why we're here today for this chat.
3:23
SPEAKER_01: It's fascinating.
3:25
SPEAKER_01: Can you just remind me the scale of this place?
3:28
SPEAKER_00: So um, our bench space is 6.7 million, so we're a containerised nursery, so that's lots of little babies out there.
3:34
SPEAKER_01: Just remind me, 6.7 what?
3:36
SPEAKER_00: Million seedlings.
3:38
SPEAKER_00: Not everyone makes it out the gate, so we have a stringent um quality control process because we do have to oversow to make sure we can fulfil contract, but there are lots of little plants that we've got to keep alive.
3:49
SPEAKER_01: That's amazing.
3:50
SPEAKER_01: Can you tell us a little bit about your life before Jay Fields?
3:53
SPEAKER_01: What were you doing?
3:54
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so before J Fields, I started out as a young dancer, that's what I thought my life was going to be.
4:01
SPEAKER_01: What sort of dancing?
4:02
SPEAKER_00: Poor room dancing, right?
4:04
SPEAKER_00: Randomly from the age of eight and to uh eighteen, and that took me all around the world, but uh you were good.
4:13
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I got to fifth in the world at 14 with my partner.
4:17
SPEAKER_01: You're joking?
4:18
SPEAKER_00: No.
4:19
SPEAKER_01: Holy hell!
4:20
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so it was intense.
4:21
SPEAKER_00: I moved out of home first at 14 to live with my dance partner and dance teacher, um, which is quite a sort of shock for a young girl.
4:29
SPEAKER_00: But I never really felt connected with what I did.
4:34
SPEAKER_00: I was good at it, but it wasn't what I wanted to be for the rest of my life.
4:39
SPEAKER_01: I thought I'd researched you, but not enough, by the sense.
4:43
SPEAKER_00: And then I went on to university and did an accounting degree, commerce at the time.
4:49
SPEAKER_00: And once I hit the workforce, that was where I found my feet.
4:53
SPEAKER_00: I love spreadsheets.
4:54
SPEAKER_01: Do you?
4:55
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
4:56
SPEAKER_01: I'd rather be out there fiddling around with a few seedlings myself.
4:59
SPEAKER_01: Well, that I do now, but uh before that it was I got a lot of excitement out of spreadsheets.
5:04
SPEAKER_01: Spreadsheets, a lot of spreadsheets here today still.
5:06
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so to manage any business, detailed records are critical and making sure that all your I's are dotted and your T's is across to make sure that everything continues correctly.
5:19
SPEAKER_01: And I guess at this scale margins, there'll be a fine line.
5:22
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, screw it up.
5:23
SPEAKER_00: There is a fine line.
5:24
SPEAKER_00: You know, we everything's around volume, production costs, efficiency, doing things better, risk management, hugely about risk management in a rural area because the thing you can't control is the seasonality.
5:36
SPEAKER_01: That's farming, and I hear that in all these podcasts.
5:39
SPEAKER_01: It's the they're the biggest gamblers, aren't they?
5:41
SPEAKER_00: They are, but I also think that's the best thing.
5:43
SPEAKER_00: That's what I personally love about our environment is that you can do the same thing each year and the season will throw your curveball.
5:50
SPEAKER_00: So you've got to be thinking and moving all the time with each little seasonality impact.
5:56
SPEAKER_01: And tell me about your husband Tim.
5:58
SPEAKER_01: He was a commodity trader.
5:59
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that's right.
6:00
SPEAKER_00: So Tim and I met at our in the city at our workplace, and he yeah, he's a commodity trader.
6:07
SPEAKER_00: And together we went overseas and lived in Switzerland for three years.
6:11
SPEAKER_00: Doing what?
6:12
SPEAKER_00: But working for the company, so a grain trading company over there.
6:16
SPEAKER_01: Did you talk numbers the whole time?
6:18
SPEAKER_00: Or no, we buttted heads quite a lot, and we still do now.
6:22
SPEAKER_00: But that's the thing that makes us grow is when you um have challenging views.
6:27
SPEAKER_01: What was Switzerland like?
6:28
SPEAKER_00: Beautiful, it's the most beautiful place in the world.
6:31
SPEAKER_00: You have three and a half thousand metre mountains.
6:34
SPEAKER_00: We're in Geneva, and then beautiful lakes, and then vineyards, and they have cows with bells on them.
6:41
SPEAKER_00: Yes.
6:41
SPEAKER_00: That they walk down from the mountain.
6:43
SPEAKER_01: Yes, I went to the Coming Home with the Cows Festival in 1998.
6:47
SPEAKER_01: And actually, talking about the mountains in Switzerland, I parasailed off one and it was 900 metres, the most beautiful, peaceful feeling.
6:55
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that's my favourite place in the world.
6:57
SPEAKER_00: Like um, we unfortunately didn't have a good French, still don't now, but visually I think it's the most beautiful place.
7:05
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
7:05
SPEAKER_00: How can it not be with cows and bells?
7:07
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that's it.
7:08
SPEAKER_01: I don't know, it's pretty spectacular here, right?
7:10
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
7:11
SPEAKER_01: So how does a city couple end up at near Pulitop running one of Australia's largest native plant nurseries?
7:19
SPEAKER_00: So we looked up and down the East Coast for a farm and settled on on this farm.
7:23
SPEAKER_00: This was a good balance between farming operations, uh, sheep farm here, and the nursery as well.
7:29
SPEAKER_00: So when you're in an agricultural area, it's really important to have diversity of income because there's there can be unders and overs throughout.
7:36
SPEAKER_01: And when you arrived, this was a pretty big thing.
7:39
SPEAKER_01: Were you pregnant at the time?
7:41
SPEAKER_00: I had one baby already on the ground, so and then I was seven and a half months pregnant at the time.
7:46
SPEAKER_00: So that was pretty intense.
7:48
SPEAKER_00: Timing you can never pick timing, you've got to ro roll with it.
7:52
SPEAKER_00: It was intense because we were just about to have a baby, but the good thing is I came to the nursery very naive, and sometimes when you're naive, you bring no expectations, so that allows you just to run without any preconceived ideas what you're doing.
8:06
SPEAKER_01: Was there something around too like coming out of the city and living life all of a sudden amongst nature?
8:14
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so it was our families' wish to raise kids on the land, but I think also it's important that you have your own desire and reason for it.
8:24
SPEAKER_00: And so for me personally, that was I'd lost my parents when I was 20.
8:29
SPEAKER_00: And so losing your parents that can be a pretty hard hit.
8:33
SPEAKER_00: Both at once uh within three years of each other.
8:35
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
8:36
SPEAKER_00: So it was quite intense.
8:39
SPEAKER_00: And so what you realise is your first loss is massive.
8:43
SPEAKER_00: And so I want to raise kids so they understood what the land was about.
8:47
SPEAKER_00: The land's about life and death and the circle of life.
8:50
SPEAKER_00: So that was my personal reason to get connected to the land.
8:55
SPEAKER_00: Feels real.
8:56
SPEAKER_00: There's always hard work to do, but if you don't do it today, it's there waiting for you tomorrow.
9:02
SPEAKER_01: Exactly.
9:03
SPEAKER_01: And four kids now, is that right?
9:04
SPEAKER_00: Three kids.
9:05
SPEAKER_00: I do include my husband sometimes in that mark.
9:08
SPEAKER_01: All right, three uh all boys.
9:11
SPEAKER_00: Three all boys.
9:11
SPEAKER_00: So there's a lot of rumble and tumble in our household.
9:14
SPEAKER_00: It's really important that you learn how to wrestle properly.
9:16
SPEAKER_01: How old are they?
9:18
SPEAKER_00: Um, a 16-year-old, a 15-year-old, and a 12-year-old.
9:21
SPEAKER_01: All right, and I was just hearing they've got a big track into school each day.
9:25
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so um the boys go into Aubrey at Scott School.
9:30
SPEAKER_00: So we have to leave home at 6 45 in order to get the bus.
9:34
SPEAKER_01: That's a big day.
9:35
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
9:35
SPEAKER_01: Did you ever have a moment when you thought, hell, what have we done?
9:40
SPEAKER_00: Probably the very first year we arrived.
9:43
SPEAKER_00: Arrived here in February and in March we had a weekend where there were 250 mil of rain.
9:48
SPEAKER_00: It was intense.
9:48
SPEAKER_01: What year was that?
9:49
SPEAKER_01: Sorry.
9:50
SPEAKER_00: 2011.
9:51
SPEAKER_00: And so we had these big floods and we had plants that were just getting sodden.
9:57
SPEAKER_00: And at that point I was a little concerned of, oh my god, what have we done?
10:00
SPEAKER_00: But we were able to turn things around and get out of that season okay.
10:07
SPEAKER_00: The plants sort of dried off and recovered from that rainfall event.
10:12
SPEAKER_00: So that was probably the first one where I thought, oh god.
10:15
SPEAKER_01: I thought you were going to say drought, but no, it was the other way around.
10:18
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
10:19
SPEAKER_01: How many plants were you growing in year one?
10:22
SPEAKER_00: Uh, we only had about 400,000 on the bench.
10:25
SPEAKER_01: See, 400,000 still amazes me, but yeah.
10:27
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, we had some really awesome staff that continued on from the changeover in the business, and that allowed us to settle our feet.
10:34
SPEAKER_00: And we've had very long staff with us, you know, up to 16 years, or previous staff member that was here over 30.
10:41
SPEAKER_01: Right.
10:41
SPEAKER_01: Uh how many have you got now?
10:44
SPEAKER_00: It's somewhere between 18 and 24, and it varies based on our production requirements at the time.
10:49
SPEAKER_00: At the moment, we're getting plants ready for dispatch, so we're doing a lot of quality control and ensuring the seedlings are to contract spec, ready for ready to go out to their forever home.
10:59
SPEAKER_01: So there's all these aspects of this company that I don't wouldn't have thought as their quality control, of course.
11:04
SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
11:05
SPEAKER_00: It's the key to define um to make sure that the product that you're sending out has every chance to survive.
11:12
SPEAKER_01: And you were saying the other day, you too, you grow them tough.
11:15
SPEAKER_01: Is that the right word?
11:16
SPEAKER_01: But you grow them so they're going to handle tough conditions.
11:19
SPEAKER_00: Correct.
11:20
SPEAKER_00: So the best plant is one that's going to survive post-planting.
11:23
SPEAKER_00: You know, that's uh that's everything that we aim for.
11:26
SPEAKER_00: So all the things we do um before that is ensuring that the plants, when we um put them out in the benches, we put them out in the hot and the heat.
11:34
SPEAKER_00: And the wind, we've got lots of wind generally in summer.
11:37
SPEAKER_00: So the plants are first being stressed at that early stage.
11:41
SPEAKER_00: So heat, wind, and then as we progress into the cool months, we're wanting those um really cold temperatures, frosts to harden the plants up.
11:50
SPEAKER_00: Then we do our quality control to make sure that each tray going out of the nursery is to spec.
11:56
SPEAKER_00: And so that allows us then, then when they're planted, that we know they're really right and ready for the optimum planting condition.
12:03
SPEAKER_01: I had the drone up last week and it was just spectacular.
12:07
SPEAKER_01: And when you look at it, they're all an even growth, they're all exactly the same.
12:11
SPEAKER_01: There's not big ones and little ones.
12:13
SPEAKER_01: I mean different species, but is that important to have, I suppose, your your media must all be the same.
12:20
SPEAKER_01: The watering must all be the same, I'm guessing.
12:23
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so we do have to tailor our media to each plant and each growth for each plant.
12:29
SPEAKER_00: Um, uniformity is the key.
12:30
SPEAKER_00: Uh, we have overhead irrigation booms, so we have to tailor production cycles as to when a plant should be ready for dispatch and work backwards from that end date.
12:41
SPEAKER_00: It's an ongoing management that we're doing to make sure there is uniformity of the seedlings.
12:46
SPEAKER_01: Right.
12:46
SPEAKER_01: And tell me a bit about the media.
12:48
SPEAKER_01: This is what they're grown in.
12:50
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so often referred to as soil.
12:52
SPEAKER_00: So the media we purchase in from Sydney, so we bring it all the way down.
12:56
SPEAKER_00: It's a specialised J Fields mix, and then we tailor it specifically for each of our species that may require more or less water or more or less fertiliser.
13:06
SPEAKER_01: I just mentioned the drone before.
13:08
SPEAKER_01: Can I put a couple of still photos up on the Soil of the Earth Facebook page?
13:11
SPEAKER_00: Yes, absolutely.
13:12
SPEAKER_01: All right, let's have a look at.
13:14
SPEAKER_01: Would it be fair to call you then a tree farmer?
13:18
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I like growing things.
13:19
SPEAKER_00: I grow trees and shrubs and lots of little pretty garden things as well.
13:23
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
13:24
SPEAKER_01: Uh how many species?
13:26
SPEAKER_00: Um, one of our specialties is the variety of species that we grow.
13:30
SPEAKER_00: And if you think about where we are in New South Wales or in southern New South Wales, and we supply up and down the east coast.
13:37
SPEAKER_00: But if you think about to the west, we've got really dry areas, and then to our east, we've got high country and alpine.
13:45
SPEAKER_00: So the diversity of species within our landscape is huge.
13:48
SPEAKER_00: So we grow over 170 odd different species.
13:51
unknown: Yeah.
13:52
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
13:53
SPEAKER_01: I was thinking a dozen or something.
13:55
SPEAKER_00: No, which is uh lots of pain and suffering, but it's really important that we grow what is appropriate for the areas.
14:02
SPEAKER_00: So you you've got areas that are riparian, which are more wet, versus you've got hills that are more dry.
14:09
SPEAKER_00: You can't plant the same species in the same area.
14:11
SPEAKER_00: So it's really important that we have both of those options suitable for a customer's planting sites.
14:16
SPEAKER_01: And have you seen over the last 15 years or so that some areas are now changing their species because of different temperatures and climate?
14:25
SPEAKER_00: There is a little bit of a movement in that, and it's called the climate adjusted model.
14:31
SPEAKER_00: The problem being is we actually need to be investing in more seed collection.
14:36
SPEAKER_00: You know, we've got a lot of government funding out there that are pushing carbon plantings, but really we can't grow a tree without seed.
14:44
SPEAKER_00: So that's where I think there needs to be a little bit more investment thought of where are these seeds all going to come from to meet the government's demand.
14:52
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
14:52
SPEAKER_01: So who are your typical customers?
14:54
SPEAKER_00: Oh, there's no typical customer.
14:56
SPEAKER_00: No typical person, is there, really?
14:59
SPEAKER_00: Um, no, various.
15:00
SPEAKER_00: We've got landholders or custodians of the land, land care groups that might be distributing trees.
15:06
SPEAKER_00: Uh, we've got private forestry doing single species plantings, and then we've also got um large corporates looking to offset their carbon by doing carpet plantings now.
15:18
SPEAKER_01: And some of these people may have put in an order for like the plantations, a million plants or a land care group, they'll be a thousand plants or something.
15:27
SPEAKER_01: You're not selling to just the home gardener.
15:29
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, we sell to anyone.
15:31
SPEAKER_00: So in a community, in a small community, we don't distinguish who our customer is.
15:35
SPEAKER_00: We're a wholesale nursery, so you can't come and wander and pick, unfortunately.
15:40
SPEAKER_00: But we do have customers that just want to do an infill planting from you know, uh last year and they want to do three more plants.
15:47
SPEAKER_00: So you just price it accordingly.
15:48
SPEAKER_00: We would never say no, they're just as important as our big customers.
15:52
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
15:52
SPEAKER_01: Can you tell us a bit about the journey from the seed up to a plant and then ready for delivery?
15:59
SPEAKER_00: So you can generally say it's a 12-month window.
16:01
SPEAKER_00: We we don't do seed collecting ourselves, we buy from seed collectors.
16:06
SPEAKER_00: So once we get our seed, and given that we've got 170 different species, all those species require different seed preparation techniques.
16:14
SPEAKER_00: So it's really important that you understand those, sometimes the time frame to prepare the seed.
16:19
SPEAKER_00: So we will prepare the seed to align with the most appropriate time to sow.
16:25
SPEAKER_00: So optimum germination is created when the seasonal conditions are most suitable to nature.
16:32
SPEAKER_00: So some things like a really hot for them to pop, some things like a snow event.
16:38
SPEAKER_00: So we can mimic a snow event for the snow melts and then the seed will pop.
16:43
SPEAKER_00: So all those things we do in the background to align with the general planting window is from June to September.
16:50
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes further out west, we might bring that in earlier May.
16:53
SPEAKER_00: But it's really as as the moisture, subsoil moisture dries up and finishes in the east.
16:59
SPEAKER_01: I had a look at your seeding machine, I'm not sure what you call it, a grater or something the other day with Siobhan, and like it's no small bit of gear.
17:08
SPEAKER_01: It's been imported, I think.
17:10
SPEAKER_01: And can you tell me about that?
17:12
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so a couple of years ago we upgraded our seeding line.
17:15
SPEAKER_00: Uh, we had a very old cedar that was a little bit temperamental, pneumatic cedar.
17:19
SPEAKER_00: So, this cedar that we implemented, first of all, it looks pretty because it's blue and red.
17:24
SPEAKER_00: It's really great because one of the best things about it is not necessarily production volume, it's been that we were able to move staff around into different positions.
17:35
SPEAKER_00: So unskilled staff can can step up and with that provides variety of what people have to do every day.
17:42
SPEAKER_00: MRL, yeah.
17:43
SPEAKER_00: Yes, correct.
17:44
SPEAKER_00: Now, when you're only doing small amounts, you're often changing seed batches.
17:48
SPEAKER_00: So all our seed is uh given a batch right from the moment that we receive the seed through to when it's sown, through to when it's put out in the bench, through to when it goes to the customer.
17:57
SPEAKER_00: So we can track the genetic um makeup and which batch has been given to which customer so that we give the most appropriate provenance for the landholder.
18:08
SPEAKER_01: But things could go wrong over there, couldn't it?
18:10
SPEAKER_01: Like you have the one seed left in the machine when you're doing the next batch.
18:14
SPEAKER_00: And that's quality control.
18:15
SPEAKER_00: So it's really important that we do clean out our machine between seed batches, but that's it's quite a science what we do, and we treat it like that.
18:24
SPEAKER_00: We we're very good with our detailed reports and data all the way through from sewing to end game.
18:30
SPEAKER_01: Just going back on that cedar, so you've got a conveyor belt coming up and dropping the media or the soil into the pots.
18:39
SPEAKER_01: The seed is shuffled around and dropped out of fine little holes.
18:44
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so the tray is filled and then it goes through a dibbler to create a little indent for where the seed would be placed.
18:51
SPEAKER_01: A dibbler.
18:52
SPEAKER_00: And then we've got a vacuum seeder that picks up one seed, so it picks it up and then spits it out.
18:58
SPEAKER_00: So we're aiming for one seed in every hole.
19:01
SPEAKER_00: And that's challenging because seed is so variable and tiny.
19:05
SPEAKER_00: Tiny versus big.
19:07
SPEAKER_00: So it can be really big and heavy, and it can also be really small.
19:11
SPEAKER_00: And then you also get the ones in between.
19:13
SPEAKER_00: So eucalypt seed often has a seed and chaff.
19:16
SPEAKER_00: So chaff is the rubbish, and often you can't tell the difference between the two.
19:20
SPEAKER_00: So sometimes we might have to sow a pinch because we're not sure whether we're sowing the trash or the seed.
19:26
SPEAKER_01: Fascinating.
19:27
SPEAKER_01: And then something comes and covers it over a little bit.
19:30
SPEAKER_00: Correct.
19:30
SPEAKER_00: We do a little um sprinkling of vermiculite, then we water it in, and then we place it out in the igloos to germinate.
19:38
SPEAKER_01: And are you measuring the pH in the media before it goes in?
19:41
SPEAKER_00: Uh yeah, all our soil is we do detailed recordings at the start and all the way through the life of while we're managing the plants, checking our water quality, checking our media, and doing tests if necessary.
19:53
SPEAKER_01: Checking your water quality?
19:55
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
19:55
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
19:56
SPEAKER_00: So we're very lucky we've got a deselenisation plant, so we purify our water.
20:00
SPEAKER_00: So we are in control of uh the quality.
20:04
SPEAKER_00: We can shandy that with some dam water if necessary and run it through a UV filter, but that allows us quality control, which is you know everything what we do.
20:13
SPEAKER_01: Is there something also a bit better about the rainwater?
20:16
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, rainwater is good.
20:17
SPEAKER_00: A, it um requires no labour.
20:21
SPEAKER_00: So on a weekend I pray that it rains every day, but it also has a little bit of nutrient in that rain, a little bit nitrate, so that does help the plants green up.
20:30
SPEAKER_01: So why is planning ahead so important in your industry?
20:33
SPEAKER_00: Planning's really important, really, for your own project outcomes.
20:37
SPEAKER_00: So it's important to do the time and understand site preparation.
20:41
SPEAKER_00: So the first thing you should be looking at is, you know, what are you what are the outcomes you're trying to achieve, whether it's erosion control, planting for windbreaks, planting for carbon, or even just garden planting.
20:53
SPEAKER_00: You know, what is your outcome?
20:54
SPEAKER_00: And then working backwards.
20:56
SPEAKER_00: Well, site preparation is the key.
20:59
SPEAKER_00: That is ripping where appropriate, spraying to keep the weeds away, and then planting at the right time.
21:06
SPEAKER_00: And then what I provide is the quality seedling to go in at the right window.
21:11
SPEAKER_00: Um, and so at 12 months it takes to sort of grow a seedling.
21:15
SPEAKER_00: So we want to be 12 months before that, and that allows us to give you guidance in terms of you might have a wish list of the seeds you'd like to plant, but sometimes not all seed is available on the market.
21:27
SPEAKER_00: So we might need to go to the market and try and get some more, or give guidance that you know that might be a wish, but the practicality of us being able to grow that seed is very low.
21:37
SPEAKER_01: So it's crucial that your clients then put an order in well in advance, isn't it?
21:41
SPEAKER_00: Correct.
21:42
SPEAKER_00: And so what we do is we run a forward book, but we always get those little farmers in April that are waiting for the uh autumn break to come before making a decision.
21:51
SPEAKER_00: So when they come to the table, we do our best to see what we can do in terms of maybe some excess stock.
21:56
SPEAKER_01: I don't know how you juggle that because you might have you know an extra.
22:00
SPEAKER_01: 500 plants going out next week that you didn't expect.
22:03
SPEAKER_00: And there comes down to the spreadsheets.
22:05
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
22:07
SPEAKER_01: Can the weather throw a spanner in the works?
22:09
SPEAKER_00: The weather always throws a spanner in the works, and that's the one thing I love because you can't predict it.
22:15
SPEAKER_00: I've got staff that work outside, so I'm constantly looking at weather and the risk associated with that, particularly now as we're going to the winter months, cold, wet, and we've got a heavy dispatch load, so we've got to get plants ready.
22:27
SPEAKER_00: That might be loading trucks, that might be loading small trailers for people when they come to pick up.
22:33
SPEAKER_00: So it's really important that we're managing that weather, managing the staff morale for the outcome and time because the dispatch period does not wait for no one.
22:44
SPEAKER_01: I'm feeling a bit guilty now, Kelly, because you're looking after your staff in bad weather.
22:48
SPEAKER_01: And last week I was shooting a doco with you, and I'll put you out in the rain while I was undercover with the camera.
22:53
SPEAKER_00: Oh, that's all right, that's the way it should be.
22:56
SPEAKER_00: Rain doesn't bother me.
22:58
SPEAKER_01: Um now you're all native plants here, aren't you?
23:01
SPEAKER_00: We do do some radiator pine as well for pure forestry.
23:04
SPEAKER_01: So with your native plants, is there much science involved?
23:09
SPEAKER_00: Oh, there is actually more than people realise.
23:11
SPEAKER_00: Working backwards, we need to understand the um germination required of each seedling.
23:17
SPEAKER_00: As I mentioned before, 170 does make that slightly complex.
23:20
SPEAKER_00: We have to look at the growing media, what's appropriate for each plant.
23:25
SPEAKER_00: Some plants like more free-draining mix, others like a more water-holding mix.
23:31
SPEAKER_00: Then we have to look at a timing of our watering, our fertilising, and then the hardening off, so making sure that the plant is of the right development before we start getting those frosts and we need them at the time to harden the seedling for the customers.
23:45
SPEAKER_00: We're also looking at pest and disease management.
23:48
SPEAKER_00: Um, that's something we micromanage all the time with lots of inspections.
23:51
SPEAKER_00: And so it is a little bit of a blend of science, experience, and a bit of intuition as well.
23:56
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
23:57
SPEAKER_01: What's the hardest species to grow?
23:59
SPEAKER_01: Put you in a difficult spot here.
24:00
SPEAKER_00: Acacia decora.
24:02
SPEAKER_01: Ah, okay.
24:03
SPEAKER_00: He's just a little painful one.
24:05
SPEAKER_01: Right.
24:05
SPEAKER_01: I think problem child.
24:07
SPEAKER_00: Problem child.
24:08
SPEAKER_00: He is generally each year.
24:10
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
24:10
SPEAKER_00: I like him because he challenges me.
24:13
SPEAKER_01: Right, okay.
24:14
SPEAKER_01: Well, what's the easiest?
24:16
SPEAKER_00: Carajongs, which is called a brachycarton.
24:19
SPEAKER_00: They're quite easy, and if you think of where they grow, they grow in rocks on hues.
24:24
SPEAKER_00: Um, so they're amazing.
24:25
SPEAKER_00: They're they're big seeds, and they just yeah, they like to grow.
24:30
SPEAKER_01: And the birds love them too, don't they?
24:31
SPEAKER_00: They do.
24:31
SPEAKER_00: Actually, magpies like having a play with my seedlings too, sometimes.
24:34
SPEAKER_00: Do they?
24:35
SPEAKER_00: Very naughty things.
24:36
SPEAKER_01: What other pests are we talking about?
24:38
SPEAKER_00: Depending on sometimes what my husband might plant in a paddock next door, I might have some caterpillars.
24:45
SPEAKER_00: So it's really important that we are looking at the seasonality.
24:48
SPEAKER_00: Like this here is very dry.
24:50
SPEAKER_00: So we actually had a lot of um a lot less pests in the nursery because of that.
24:54
SPEAKER_01: And talking about Tim, he manages another part of the farm.
24:57
SPEAKER_01: Can you tell me a little bit about that?
24:59
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so we um we're a sheep farmer.
25:01
SPEAKER_00: I think we've got uh a few cattle hanging around.
25:04
SPEAKER_00: So he manages that.
25:05
SPEAKER_00: I manage the nursery and he manages the farm.
25:07
SPEAKER_01: And Tim's he plays a big role here though, too, at the nursery as well.
25:11
SPEAKER_00: He's the rock, he's the one that has to uh keep me sane throughout all this, and he does do that very well.
25:17
SPEAKER_00: Does he?
25:17
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
25:19
SPEAKER_01: So I just want to go back to the scale once again because this just fascinates me.
25:23
SPEAKER_01: 6.7 something million.
25:26
SPEAKER_00: That embarrasses me.
25:27
SPEAKER_01: Does it?
25:28
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, does it?
25:29
SPEAKER_00: Why?
25:30
SPEAKER_00: Just sounds like a big number.
25:32
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, all right.
25:33
SPEAKER_01: I might be pushing it too hard, but um, some people struggle to keep even one pot plant alive.
25:39
SPEAKER_01: How do you keep this many alive?
25:41
SPEAKER_00: It is a challenge.
25:42
SPEAKER_00: It's the the biggest challenge of my life is keeping the plants alive, particularly as we put that many plants out during summer.
25:49
SPEAKER_00: So it's a really it's it's intense operation.
25:53
SPEAKER_00: There'll be times if the wind is up at night that I'll be coming back to the nursery to put over a water because the little seedlings just won't cope through through the night because of the wind and the heat.
26:03
SPEAKER_00: So it is everything that is in my mind all the time is how do we keep these seedlings alive?
26:09
SPEAKER_00: Christmas Day when you're preparing lunch.
26:11
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
26:12
SPEAKER_00: Also, the first thing is how do I keep the seedlings alive on that day?
26:16
SPEAKER_01: Things we don't we take for granted too when we go and buy a plant from the local nursery.
26:20
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, there's a lot of blood.
26:22
SPEAKER_00: Well, not so much blood, maybe just sweat and tears sometimes.
26:25
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
26:26
SPEAKER_01: You said before about inspecting the plants.
26:28
SPEAKER_01: How do you inspect them?
26:29
SPEAKER_00: Is it looking at a tray of plants or inspections are key, and that's probably where our quality stands above others.
26:38
SPEAKER_00: Is we're not an automated nursery.
26:40
SPEAKER_00: So there's a lot of manual practices that we have to do.
26:44
SPEAKER_00: And what that does, it allows us to keep that touch and feel.
26:47
SPEAKER_00: So every plant that we put out in the bench, somebody has touched and decided that plant's going to live and move to its container.
26:54
SPEAKER_00: It's called plugging.
26:56
SPEAKER_00: And then every day we're inspecting the seedlings.
26:59
SPEAKER_00: So it might be what's happened overnight.
27:00
SPEAKER_00: So now that we're getting the frosts, you know, having a look at how the frost has impacted the seedlings.
27:05
SPEAKER_00: Have there been any low points?
27:07
SPEAKER_00: But quality control, looking and inspecting is the differentiating factor.
27:12
SPEAKER_01: And you said before about the acacia can be a bit of a problem, child.
27:17
SPEAKER_01: Do plants ever become like children?
27:19
SPEAKER_01: Some need constant attention while others thrive on neglect.
27:22
SPEAKER_00: Oh, absolutely.
27:23
SPEAKER_00: And if you think of a rocky hill, so pea species, we really struggle with those because they grow naturally on really tough conditions.
27:33
SPEAKER_00: So in a nursery environment, they're not that happy because in nursery we have free reign of water.
27:39
SPEAKER_00: So whilst we do, it's just too much love, is what I say for those plants.
27:44
SPEAKER_00: They want to be out up on a rocky outlook, just getting the tiny little bit of water and surviving by doing it tough.
27:51
SPEAKER_00: So, yeah, there are lots of problem children.
27:54
SPEAKER_01: What role do trees play on farms, Kelly?
27:57
SPEAKER_00: Trees can provide shelter for livestock from the wind, heat, and rain.
28:02
SPEAKER_00: They reduce soil erosion if you're planting in a gully or something like that.
28:07
SPEAKER_00: Wind rates can also protect crops and pastures from the prevailing wind.
28:13
SPEAKER_00: They also can help improve your biodiversity by providing habitat for some insects and birds.
28:20
SPEAKER_00: We often advocate, you know, you said a tree but shrubs as well for the birds, so they have a little safe haven.
28:27
SPEAKER_00: And they have the opportunity to increase farm productivities and potentially maybe land value are we just down the track.
28:35
SPEAKER_00: Aesthetic.
28:36
SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
28:37
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
28:38
SPEAKER_01: And you'll give advice to farmers or land care groups on what species to plant in a certain area?
28:44
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, we love doing that.
28:45
SPEAKER_00: We love working with the customers, and that's why that sort of 12-month lead time, we can actually be of help.
28:51
SPEAKER_00: By contacting us, we can provide guidance on what are the local indigenous species to your area.
28:57
SPEAKER_00: Because it's really important you stay close to that.
28:59
SPEAKER_00: Um, I always say no farmer knows what's growing in their land better than them.
29:04
SPEAKER_00: So it's a mix of what the books say as well as the landholder.
29:08
SPEAKER_01: Is there one species you wish people grew more of?
29:11
SPEAKER_01: Once again, the area.
29:12
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, one of our most diverse species is Bacera spinosa.
29:16
SPEAKER_00: It can be planted in so many different areas.
29:19
SPEAKER_00: It's a really tough species.
29:21
SPEAKER_00: Planters don't like planting it because it's spiky.
29:24
SPEAKER_00: But it does provide lots of little havens for birds.
29:27
SPEAKER_00: For the little birds.
29:28
SPEAKER_00: For the little birds and protection.
29:29
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
29:30
SPEAKER_00: Um, it's flowering.
29:32
SPEAKER_01: How big does that grow?
29:33
SPEAKER_00: About one to eight metres.
29:34
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
29:35
SPEAKER_01: Are farmers thinking differently about tree planting today than they were, say, 30 years ago?
29:41
SPEAKER_00: Um, yeah, there's probably been a significant shift maybe in attitudes.
29:45
SPEAKER_00: 30 years ago, trees were often seen as obstacles to clear.
29:49
SPEAKER_00: And today farmers are recognising the value of trees and the asset that they're they're seen.
29:55
SPEAKER_00: And now, you know, with the carbon markets, they literally are an income-producing asset on farm.
30:01
SPEAKER_01: When you're out driving some days, you drive past some, you know, some plantations or some areas where farmers have planted out, and you know, a few years later it's just looking fantastic.
30:11
SPEAKER_00: It's probably been one of the most rewarding bits is I do have a large planting close to us.
30:17
SPEAKER_00: As I said, we came to the nursery with no um, you know, city kids.
30:21
SPEAKER_00: So when you buy a nursery, it's initially, I should say, the goodwill that the previous owners had built.
30:28
SPEAKER_00: But after years and starting to see some of my plants that I specifically grew on farm growing, then I realized that I'm doing a good job because they were thriving, they were growing.
30:44
SPEAKER_00: And so that's when I finally took real ownership of and maybe a little bit of recognition to myself that what you're doing is good.
30:52
SPEAKER_01: I guess there's probably emotion involved there too, because you know, the difference that you've made in a landscape, just aesthetically for one thing, but also for the birds and the shelter and so forth.
31:03
SPEAKER_00: And it doesn't just stop there in the landscape.
31:06
SPEAKER_00: We're um a large employer, so we have lots of kids that come through.
31:09
SPEAKER_00: They might be doing gap years, they might be doing holiday work, and that's just as important in a community is providing safe work environments where kids can learn how to turn up to work every day and learn different things.
31:22
SPEAKER_01: I was chatting to one of your staff the other day, Siobhan.
31:25
SPEAKER_01: She's got an interesting story.
31:26
SPEAKER_01: I think she was here as a backpacker many years ago.
31:29
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, correct.
31:30
SPEAKER_00: We've got so many backpackers that have come through, and Siobhan stayed on, she's in our marketing role, and then we've got other backpackers out there as well who I've sponsored.
31:40
SPEAKER_00: The hardest thing about being in a rural area is labour.
31:43
SPEAKER_00: Not many people, uh, we don't get access to many people in this area.
31:47
SPEAKER_01: So, is there something special about growing a living thing?
31:51
SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
31:52
SPEAKER_00: It's probably the key thing that makes me happy.
31:55
SPEAKER_00: It does make me feel good.
31:57
SPEAKER_00: Some of my best days are on the weekends when I'm wandering around watering and inspecting the seedlings and just taking a moment to breathe and a small little recognition of keep going, keep doing it, um, get up from the tough days, bounce back.
32:14
SPEAKER_01: It's come up in a few episodes where we talk about um nature and mental health, and trees obviously play a part in that.
32:22
SPEAKER_01: You're you're starting that off, you know, and then it's going out into other places where they're improving mental health.
32:28
SPEAKER_01: But I guess at some point it's good for your mental health too.
32:31
SPEAKER_00: Oh, absolutely.
32:32
SPEAKER_00: It's been tough.
32:33
SPEAKER_00: You know, we've been here 15 years going through early baby stages.
32:36
SPEAKER_00: We went through bushfires, we've been through COVID.
32:40
SPEAKER_00: Uh, so it has been challenging.
32:42
SPEAKER_00: But in the end, it's always good to know that you're what you're doing is making a difference somewhere along the chain.
32:48
SPEAKER_01: Uh, going back to your boys, what a life to be growing up out here.
32:52
SPEAKER_01: Is there any signs there that they might take over the nursery one day?
32:56
SPEAKER_00: Oh, I hope so.
32:57
SPEAKER_00: But they're very different.
32:58
SPEAKER_00: It's amazing how the same genetics can create different children.
33:01
SPEAKER_00: Our eldest loves the farm.
33:04
SPEAKER_00: Uh, he's got very good husbandry skills and he's got very good observational skills.
33:08
SPEAKER_00: So I think he'll definitely be a farmer.
33:12
SPEAKER_00: Um, our middle child has got a real engineering mind and he loves growing things.
33:17
SPEAKER_00: So he used to have a veggie patch when he was young.
33:20
SPEAKER_00: So he's the one potentially for the nursery.
33:23
SPEAKER_00: For the nursery, yeah.
33:24
SPEAKER_00: The key is how do you build a business that your children want to take over?
33:30
SPEAKER_00: That's one of my key issues that I'm facing, you know, because technology is so advanced now.
33:38
SPEAKER_00: So kids are generally computer oriented.
33:42
SPEAKER_00: So, how do you how do I make a business that is sexy enough, that's not too manual, that they want to build on?
33:50
SPEAKER_00: Got any tips?
33:51
SPEAKER_01: No.
33:52
SPEAKER_01: Because I've offered my business to both my boys and they're both on different sides of the country right now.
33:58
SPEAKER_01: Now we've missed your youngest.
33:59
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so youngest, he's very sport oriented, so quite good on the uh cricket and football.
34:05
SPEAKER_01: All right.
34:05
SPEAKER_00: Um, and he likes riding motorbikes, so hopefully it doesn't damage anything.
34:11
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
34:12
SPEAKER_01: Um, looking back, was buying the nursery the best crazy decision you've ever made?
34:18
SPEAKER_00: The best crazy decision.
34:19
SPEAKER_00: Yep, definitely.
34:21
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, whilst challenging, it's provided our family the opportunity to live rurally, to have a business rurally, and to be living a real life connected to the land.
34:34
SPEAKER_00: So like salt of the earth garner connections.
34:37
SPEAKER_01: Thank you, yeah.
34:38
SPEAKER_01: All right, Kelly, we're up to the off-the-wall questions.
34:41
SPEAKER_01: These are short answers.
34:43
SPEAKER_01: You can answer as many as you like.
34:44
SPEAKER_00: Can I say pass?
34:46
SPEAKER_01: Yes.
34:47
SPEAKER_01: If trees could talk, which species would be the biggest gossipers?
34:52
SPEAKER_00: Oh, maybe the she oaks, because they talk a lot.
34:56
SPEAKER_00: Um, so you can hear hear them in the wind.
34:59
SPEAKER_00: So I think they would be the talkers because you can't shut them up when it's windy.
35:03
SPEAKER_01: So this is not a female oak that's the biggest gossiper.
35:06
SPEAKER_01: This is a she oak.
35:07
SPEAKER_00: This is a she oak, correct.
35:09
SPEAKER_00: That can be male and female.
35:12
SPEAKER_01: Which native tree best describes your personality?
35:17
SPEAKER_00: Probably maybe the lemon-scented, lemon-scented gum.
35:22
SPEAKER_00: Why?
35:22
SPEAKER_01: Um smell nice.
35:24
SPEAKER_00: Smells nice, beautiful on the outside, but a bit soft and tender.
35:28
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
35:29
SPEAKER_01: Silky, smooth skin.
35:31
SPEAKER_01: Yep.
35:31
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
35:32
SPEAKER_00: Yep.
35:32
SPEAKER_00: And um can be a little sensitive.
35:38
SPEAKER_01: Um, any injuries?
35:40
SPEAKER_00: Uh yeah, I did um uh a few years ago.
35:44
SPEAKER_00: I unfortunately had a little accident jumping off a trailer.
35:47
SPEAKER_00: I had a um a ring on my finger and I had a gardening glove over the top.
35:52
SPEAKER_00: Anyway, I jumped down and the ring got caught.
35:55
SPEAKER_00: Uh, so it uh ripped it off.
35:57
SPEAKER_00: Uh luckily they were able to put it back on.
35:59
SPEAKER_01: Rip the finger off.
36:00
SPEAKER_00: Yep.
36:01
SPEAKER_00: I was just hanging on by some skin.
36:03
SPEAKER_00: And I was at a field day in orange.
36:06
SPEAKER_00: So 600k's away from home.
36:10
SPEAKER_01: So you got to hospital quickly?
36:11
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, luckily my colleagues took me there.
36:14
SPEAKER_00: So we had to stay another night while I had it put on and then came home.
36:18
SPEAKER_00: And that rocked me because when you have an injury, a debilitating injury like a finger, you can't do normal things.
36:25
SPEAKER_00: I couldn't put my hair in a ponytail.
36:27
SPEAKER_00: I couldn't stir pasta.
36:28
SPEAKER_00: I was in a lot of pain for six months while I had surgeries to try and surgeries and hand therapy to try and get it going again.
36:37
SPEAKER_01: And I guess this is another reason why you look after your staff so well.
36:40
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's important you look after staff people.
36:43
SPEAKER_00: Makes you feel good too.
36:45
SPEAKER_01: And Kelly, what's harder?
36:47
SPEAKER_01: Ballroom dancing or growing six million trees?
36:51
SPEAKER_00: I'd say growing plants and managing staff just because you're at the whim of the seasonality.
36:56
SPEAKER_00: Uh and as I said, that's one of the things I like whilst challenging, but that's probably definitely harder.
37:03
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
37:03
SPEAKER_01: I can't believe you were fifth in the world for ballroom dancing.
37:07
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
37:08
SPEAKER_01: There's something else you're embarrassed about, aren't you?
37:10
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I'm embarrassed about.
37:12
SPEAKER_01: If you could swap jobs for a day with anyone in the nursery, whose job would you choose?
37:17
SPEAKER_00: I would probably go weeding.
37:20
SPEAKER_00: Weeding the plants is a really important process.
37:24
SPEAKER_00: It's peaceful.
37:25
SPEAKER_00: And when I'm out there, I tell myself I'm a surgeon where the weed must be removed, but the plant must survive.
37:32
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
37:33
SPEAKER_00: So precision.
37:34
SPEAKER_00: So every time I'm out there weeding, I'm a surgeon on my own.
37:38
SPEAKER_01: Well yeah.
37:39
SPEAKER_01: Usually weeding is a bad word to a lot of people.
37:42
SPEAKER_00: Oh, it's so peaceful and so rewarding because it's an immediate feedback on what you've just done, which is great.
37:48
SPEAKER_01: Good.
37:48
SPEAKER_01: What's the strangest thing you've ever found among the plants?
37:52
SPEAKER_00: So one of my employees once came up to me and he said, There are goats in the nursery.
37:59
SPEAKER_00: And I said, We're a sheep farmer.
38:02
SPEAKER_00: We're not a goat farmer.
38:03
SPEAKER_00: He said, I don't know, I'm a horticulturalist.
38:06
SPEAKER_00: I said, Well, let's go down and have a look at them.
38:08
SPEAKER_00: And then as I was walking down with him, I said, So what colour are they?
38:11
SPEAKER_00: And he's like, black.
38:13
SPEAKER_00: I was like, oh, it's very rare to get two black sheep together.
38:16
SPEAKER_00: Anyway, walked down there and there were two miniature goats, black goats.
38:21
SPEAKER_00: I think they'd been let off by someone that had left a property.
38:26
SPEAKER_00: So they were domestic.
38:27
SPEAKER_00: So they just randomly turned up in the nursery.
38:30
SPEAKER_00: Thank God they hadn't done any damage.
38:32
SPEAKER_00: Our plants are a meter off the ground, provides really good airflow.
38:35
SPEAKER_00: And also security in case a random goat just turns up.
38:38
SPEAKER_01: That's right.
38:39
SPEAKER_01: But a larger goat could make a lot of damage.
38:42
SPEAKER_00: Could have been, yeah.
38:43
SPEAKER_01: Or deer, perhaps too?
38:44
SPEAKER_00: Yes.
38:44
SPEAKER_00: So we've got deer near us as well.
38:46
SPEAKER_00: Uh luckily we haven't had any impacts from those, but I said the plants are off the ground.
38:51
SPEAKER_00: So we're a sheep farmer, so I always tell the staff if you see a sheep in the nursery, if it doesn't look like it should be there, it shouldn't.
38:58
SPEAKER_01: And shut the gate.
38:59
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, correct.
39:01
SPEAKER_01: What's one thing people would be surprised to learn about the nursery industry?
39:06
SPEAKER_00: I think how little investment there is pre-the-nursery production, and that is the investment in seed.
39:15
SPEAKER_00: I really think that people would be surprised that there's not enough government um funding or investment in seed production areas or TAFE courses building it up as a career.
39:29
SPEAKER_01: That's something a message we should get out there, I guess.
39:31
SPEAKER_01: And I know Murray Seed Services do a fantastic job, and they have a lot of people come in casually to go out and pick seeds.
39:38
SPEAKER_01: And I'm thinking when I retire, I want to go and do that.
39:40
SPEAKER_00: That's the problem.
39:41
SPEAKER_00: It is an aging skill set, but why can't we make it a career?
39:46
SPEAKER_00: Why can't that be what someone does?
39:48
SPEAKER_01: And we could lose some of those species, couldn't we?
39:51
SPEAKER_00: Absolutely, absolutely.
39:52
SPEAKER_00: Everything is threatened out there.
39:54
SPEAKER_00: We've seen uh increasing bushfires, pests, things like that.
39:58
SPEAKER_00: So the investment you see is critical for the long haul of the industry.
40:03
SPEAKER_01: Kelly, you've gone from spreadsheets and ballroom shoes to gum boots and millions of seedlings.
40:09
SPEAKER_01: If 12-year-old Kelly could see you now, what would she reckon she'd find hardest to believe?
40:15
SPEAKER_00: Probably how how good I am at fixing things.
40:19
SPEAKER_01: Oh yeah.
40:20
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I quite like fixing things.
40:22
SPEAKER_00: Good.
40:22
SPEAKER_00: Fixing parts or having a go at it.
40:26
SPEAKER_00: And uh I'd probably tell her not to worry about not fitting in.
40:31
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
40:32
SPEAKER_00: Because by the time you get it takes a while to learn that.
40:35
SPEAKER_00: It does, yeah.
40:36
SPEAKER_00: And it doesn't matter if you don't, because you'll find your place.
40:40
SPEAKER_01: And one last question, Kelly.
40:42
SPEAKER_01: If you could live anywhere in the world, where would it be?
40:45
SPEAKER_00: I love the country life, but if I had to be somewhere else, it would probably be Switzerland.
40:49
SPEAKER_01: Really?
40:49
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
40:50
SPEAKER_00: You like the cold?
40:51
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, because you rug up appropriately.
40:53
SPEAKER_00: Yes, of Switzerland.
40:55
SPEAKER_01: Well, Kelly, congratulations.
40:58
SPEAKER_01: This is massive, and it's a fantastic family operation.
41:02
SPEAKER_01: I can see that, and all your staff feel like they're part of it too.
41:06
SPEAKER_01: Thank you for your time.
41:07
SPEAKER_01: I know I've had a couple of mornings with you in the last few weeks.
41:10
SPEAKER_01: You've been very generous with your time.
41:12
SPEAKER_01: Uh, thank you for having me today.
41:14
SPEAKER_00: Thanks, Dan, for coming to see our nursery and our story.
41:18
SPEAKER_01: Bye bye.
41:20
SPEAKER_01: What a story.
41:22
SPEAKER_01: A city couple chasing a country dream, building an extraordinary business and helping shape landscapes across Australia.
41:30
SPEAKER_01: One seedling at a time.
41:33
SPEAKER_01: A big thank you to Kelly Glass from J Fields Nursery for sharing her journey so openly.
41:41
SPEAKER_01: If you've enjoyed this episode, make sure you subscribe and share it with someone who loves a good rural success story.
41:49
SPEAKER_01: Until next time.
41:51
SPEAKER_01: Keep your hands dirty and your spirits high.