Louise Aston of Newlyn Farm in Merricks and daughters Morel and Lucie at Mount Eliza Farmers’ Market.
Talk to Louise Aston about the family’s Newlyn Farm Avocados enterprise in Merricks and you’ll get an enthusiastic yarn about trees – but not necessarily avocado trees. The Newlyn crew are planting thousands of native trees for shelter belts, which are becoming vital wildlife homes and corridors enabling animals, birds and other critters to safely move around.
Peninsula Koala Conservation members planting tree corridors for native animals at Newlyn Farm last winter.
The family is part of a growing philosophy of returning farming land to its natural state while keeping parts of a property for primary production. In the case of Newlyn, the production part is tending and harvesting 900 Haas avocado trees that produce three tonnes annually as well as running 70 head of Black Angus cattle on the 80ha property.
In the past few years the family has planted more than 2000 trees and shrubs in three corridors with the help of Landcare volunteers. About 3000 more will go in this year – manna gums and other natives once common in the area.
Louise and partner Tim Allen now lead the team of four generations. The farm was bought in 1941 by Robert Wilkins, Tim’s grandfather on the maternal side. Tim’s mum Roslyn and dad Kingsley Allen still live on the farm, as does Roslyn’s older brother Michael, a spritely 90. Louise and Tim’s daughters Morel and Lucie help during avocado season from early December to April.
Louise hails from Blairgowrie but her father’s family were farming pioneers in the Orbost district of East Gippsland. “For so long, farming and conservation have been at odds,” she said, “but we’ve concluded that although the relationship between the two is symbiotic, it’s essential there is harmony and balance to protect the environment.”
The long-term tree project started in 2011 when Newlyn Farm combined with Melbourne Water and Landcare to plant 25,000 trees on both sides of Merricks Creek, the eastern boundary. The revegetation program gained more impetus when Newlyn started working with Mornington Peninsula Koala Conservation, a Landcare group founded in 2019 by Dirk Jansen.
“We’re so grateful to the koala folks led by Dirk Jansen and Michelle Hardie as well as Wetland & Wildlife Creations, and Red Hill Scouts,” Louise said. “Every paddock now has a biolink running through it, which enables birds and animals to easily move about.” Other pro-environment initiatives include encircling the property’s largest dam with vegetation and turning it into a lake.
About 60 eastern grey kangaroos call Newlyn home, a far cry from how some Peninsula landowners treat this emblem of Australia. From his house, Uncle Michael can watch the greys sunning themselves like tourists on holiday. The corridors when grown will support koalas, echidnas and other mammals.
The tree amigos will be back at the farm on the weekend of June 3-4 to plant more gums and other species. And the avos? Well, the season is done, but watch out for Newlyn’s Haas avocados at Mount Eliza Farmers’ Market in December, or visit the farm at 29 Stanleys Rd, Merricks, during one of its farmgate days, which are promoted on the Facebook page @newlynfarmavocados
Newlyn Farm’s Tim Allen works in one of the avocado and cattle property’s paddocks.
Recent Comments