Kinsfolk Farm:
Out of the city, into the soil
When Bridie Cotter and Tom Gaunt left Melbourne in 2015, they didn’t have a clear plan - just a shared passion for good food, growing things, and reconnecting with community. Fast forward nearly a decade, and they’ve built a thriving regenerative market garden, Kinsfolk Farm, on Victoria’s Surf Coast, supplying local markets and restaurants with vibrant seasonal produce.
In the city, Bridie studied music and Tom, industrial design. “We were renting in Melbourne and starting to grow a bit in our backyard,” says Tom. “Bridie was working in a wholefoods store, I was working in an edibles nursery and building veggie gardens for people, and we gradually became more interested in those sorts of things.”
Around the same time, the couple began spending more time down the coast, where Bridie grew up. When they finally moved to the Surf Coast, they started to look deeper into the food system and food sovereignty.
“We didn’t really have a clear idea of what we wanted to do when we moved down, but it was going to be something to do with food.”
Tom Gaunt
Kinsfolk Farm
Curious about where and how food was being grown, they started researching the small-scale farming movement and chatting to other people around Australia about what they were doing.
Meanwhile Tom started working at Brae Restaurant: “They started their farm and needed someone to take over the garden. I didn’t have much experience at all on a larger scale of growing food but took on the role and went from there. Bridie ended up doing some work at a smaller market garden.”
They spent the first couple of years 'finding their feet', as Tom puts it - doing seasonal work, learning from other farmers, and visiting properties up and down the east coast.
“It was 2015 when we moved down,” says Tom. “By the end of 2016 we’d started the farm. The winter before we did a road trip visiting farms, and we also went to the Deep Winter Gathering - a small-scale farmers’ event in Gerringong, NSW. That was really inspiring. The whole group was mostly people in their 20s, which was really encouraging."
Curious about where and how food was being grown, they started researching the small-scale farming movement and chatting to other people around Australia about what they were doing.
Meanwhile Tom started working at Brae Restaurant: “They started their farm and needed someone to take over the garden. I didn’t have much experience at all on a larger scale of growing food but took on the role and went from there. Bridie ended up doing some work at a smaller market garden.”
They spent the first couple of years 'finding their feet', as Tom puts it - doing seasonal work, learning from other farmers, and visiting properties up and down the east coast.
“It was 2015 when we moved down,” says Tom. “By the end of 2016 we’d started the farm. The winter before we did a road trip visiting farms, and we also went to the Deep Winter Gathering - a small-scale farmers’ event in Gerringong, NSW. That was really inspiring. The whole group was mostly people in their 20s, which was really encouraging."
Regenerative by design
Tom and Bridie’s approach to farming is grounded in regenerative principles. “Most of our inspiration came from farms in the US or Canada - that’s where this movement really spread from,” says Tom.
“There are two main farmers in Canada who became the faces of small-scale market gardening, and we learnt a lot from their systems.”
From the start, they knew they wouldn’t go the conventional route. “The first farm site we started on was already on a regenerative farm,” Tom explains. “We had two acres on an 80-acre farm with pigs and laying hens rotated through pasture. The soil was super fertile. We didn’t really have to do much to start with.”
But regenerative farming goes far beyond healthy soil. “There are different ways to use the term ‘regenerative agriculture,’” says Tom. “For us, it’s about constantly improving the land - growing perennials, introducing native species, creating biodiversity, and managing water better. It’s about turning land into a functioning, resilient ecosystem.”
After five years, they moved to a larger site to allow more room to do just that. They now lease a four-acre block of land, part of a 60-acre farm. “The owners just run sheep - it’s more of a hobby for them - so our little corner really stands out. Especially in summer and autumn when everything’s dry, we’re this little green wedge."
"A lot of the farming around us is very conventional, whether it’s stock or pasture. We sort of stand out a fair bit.”
Scaling up without burning out
Their sales now come almost entirely through the Torquay Farmers Market, where Tom and Bridie set up each Saturday morning. “It’s probably 90% of our sales,” says Tom. “We do 10-15 veg boxes a week for people who can’t make it to market. Occasionally a chef might come to us for an event, but we’ve simplified. At the old farm we were doing 15 restaurants and more boxes, but it was too much. Focusing on the market has been good.”
Their first season - spring 2016 at the old farm - was an eye-opener. “We were pretty gung-ho,” Tom admits. “We quickly realised we’d need to scale up. Our first plot was one acre, with half an acre in active production. But on a site that small, you’re turning over beds often, which isn’t ideal. You want to rest your beds and rotate.”
The new farm is broken into four large blocks, allowing for smarter planning. “Now we can grow in one block, rest another, sow green manure, and it’s less stressful for us and the land.”
A typical week is a mix of sowing, planting, harvesting and prepping. “The nursery is a big part of our system,” says Tom. “We grow most of our seedlings. We’ve got three polytunnels for tomatoes, peppers, and cucumbers. Someone’s usually in there seeding, while others are harvesting.
"The chef’s harvest happens mid-week, then we harvest for market on Thursday and Friday.”
Time management is crucial as, like many small businesses, the couple do all the admin, marketing and social media themselves - and the weekly market involves a lot of work. “Market day is a complete brain switch. You’re up at 5:30am, open by 8am, and home by 3pm. It’s a big day. By the end of summer markets, we’re totally wrecked.”
Fortunately, community support has helped keep them going. “We’ve got a great group of people helping out. We run volunteer harvest days and trade veg boxes for their time. Some just come for the social side or to be outdoors. Even my mum’s been helping at markets - she loves it.”
Radicchio and other joys
Of all the tasks on the farm, Tom finds planting the most satisfying. “A big planting day is really rewarding,” he says. “When you’ve got a nursery full of seedlings and a whole team planting out 10-15 beds - it’s a great feeling.”
The hardest? “Harvesting zucchinis in summer,” he laughs. “It’s hot, physical, and relentless. But I’m enjoying the slower winter harvest at the moment!”
When it comes to favourite crops, Tom lights up talking about radicchio. “We get pretty excited about them. They’re beautiful, and each variety has its own unique leaf shape and story. They all come from different regions of Italy, and we love that cuisine. Right now we’re doing a radicchio salad mix - just stunning.”
And his tips for enjoying radicchio at home? “We keep it simple with a bit of olive oil, balsamic, citrus, and fennel. You don’t have to do much.”
Bridie and Tom have plans to broaden their system even further, introducing perennials - berries, fruit trees and more native species. “We want hedgerows between veggie blocks as windbreaks and habitat. The idea is to turn the farm into a more biodiverse whole.”
They’ve also experimented with unusual crops in the past, often in response to changing customer tastes and restaurants’ preferences. “We’ve gone through phases…now we still grow the staples - carrots, beets, lettuce - but with a twist. For example, we grow red, gold and candy-stripe beets and bunch them together. They look amazing at the front of the [market] stall.”
Some vegetables even trigger nostalgia among their customers. “People say, ‘My grandparents used to cook this for me,’” says Tom. “That’s the kind of food we love to grow - things that make people feel something.”
And their creative backgrounds definitely help when it comes to making the most of their market displays: “People certainly take notice when they’re walking past…people shop with their eyes.”
Farming in a changing climate
Like most farmers, Tom and Bridie are adapting to an increasingly unpredictable climate. “This past year was taxing,” says Tom. “We’ve seen so many different conditions - wet winters, hot summers. But this last summer was a dramatic shift when the rain finally came.”
They’re fortunate to have access to town water, but it’s expensive. “Other farmers down here were really struggling - buying feed, running out of water. It’s why we farm the way we do. If you look after your soil, it holds water better and buffers you against extremes."
That resilience is hard-won, and it brings up a conversation Tom thinks we all need to have.
“People don’t realise how hard farming is. You can’t expect good food to be cheap. Even the conventional stuff in supermarkets is far too cheap for the work that goes into it.”
Their customers, he adds, generally understand that. “We’re preaching to the converted at the market. But we still need more people to understand the real cost of production.”
Defining success
Success, for Tom, doesn’t mean scaling up. Instead it’s continuing to do what they do, but with balance. “Being able to enjoy it, step away from it, and be part of our community. We learned early on how easy burnout is. There’s no point pushing it so far you stop enjoying it.”
The Surf Coast lifestyle helps. “We’ve got amazing beaches. We love to surf, cook good food, hang out with friends. Pretty simple things.”
For anyone thinking about farming, Tom has one piece of advice: “Do a full season, or at least a three-month internship. Some people think it’s frolicking around in a field - but it’s probably harder and more demanding than they expect.”
But while the work can be hard and, at times, isolating, they’ve found strength in collaboration.
“We started the Growers’ Gathering here,” says Tom. “There’s a growing community of small-scale farmers down this way. We meet quarterly, rotate farms, bring something to eat, share ideas. The first one at our place had ten people - now it’s more than twenty. We’re even talking about a food co-op. That’s the future, and it’s really exciting.”
And he says there’s more interest among young people too: “We always get asked by people wanting to volunteer, visit, or just get advice. There’s a bit of a groundswell happening, which is great.”
It’s a long way from where they started. “Nine or ten years ago, we felt pretty on our own,” says Tom. “Now, there’s a whole new generation coming through. It can only get better from here.”
Images: Bec Hudson
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