The COVID-19 pandemic led to a lot of people testing out their green thumbs. In Michelle Johns’ case, some research into what to grow in her poor soil changed her life. SOPHIE BALDWIN has the story.
There is a bit of a difference between a life in the financial industry and life on the land and Michelle Johns is currently balancing both — although her passion definitely leans toward the latter.
Originally from Mildura, Michelle spent her young corporate life in the city taking on the world. However, she could never quite escape her country roots, and 12 years ago she moved to Kotta, east of Echuca in Victoria’s north, on small acreage with her husband Adrian.
She remained in the industry, working as a director for financial planning in Echuca. It wasn’t until the early arrival of her twin boys Aiden and Liam at 28 weeks that things began to change.
“At the time, the boys were sick and had chronic lung disease and I had to make a decision. I sold out of the business and bought a greenhouse instead,” she said.
While Michelle still works full-time, she works from home, which has enabled her to establish Talara, an Australian native botanical business.
“My uncle had a sheep station out past Wentworth in NSW and I spent my childhood out there looking for and learning all about bush foods and I guess it never really left me,” Michelle said.
“During COVID, I decided to grow some vegies.
“Our soil was so poor and it was difficult so I began researching what I could possibly grow here which led me down the native botanical path and joining the Australian Native Food and Botanical Association (ANFAB).”
After starting out with herbs and spices including ruby and old man saltbush, Michelle now grows Warrigal greens, lemongrass, native thyme and river mint, which she sells to local restaurants.
She has also branched out into wattle trees for seed and finger limes, which she sells individually to restaurants as well.
Her biggest seller by far, though, is her native botanical salt blend, a product which came about by accident.
“We were having a roast and I had some Murray River pink sea salt in the cupboard. Incorporating what I was growing, I ended up with a nice blend,” Michelle said.
“Family and friends really liked it too and it has grown from there, really.
“I started out with small volumes and now I buy my salt in big boxes. People really love their pink salt.”
Michelle air dries all her botanicals in a shipping container that was previously an art studio. The time it takes to dry all her ingredients depends on the season.
“Sometimes I have to get the dehydrator out for the salt bush, but air drying keeps the colour and flavour a lot better,” she said.
She also has a successful tea range which includes native lemongrass and river mint varieties.
“It takes about 1kg of mint to produce 20g of tea and I can’t keep up with demand,” she said.
Michelle grows all her botanicals from seed in her greenhouse, which is an essential part of her management, along with the shade house.
The shade house grows the natives a bit more susceptible to the northern Victorian climate like finger limes, which are normally grown in Queensland.
Michelle grows the green, red and pink varieties and the shade house protects them from both frost and wind.
“We get quite a bit of wind here and finger lime bushes are quite spiky. Windy conditions can damage the fruit,” she said.
Finger limes are high in antioxidants and vitamins and are popular medicinally. They can be used to enhance the flavour of foods like oysters, used in salads, can be found in gin or even just eaten as a tangy snack.
“The flavour and aroma of Australian native botanicals in general are intense and growing in popularity,” Michelle said.
A few years ago, Michelle and Adrian had the opportunity to purchase an additional 2.5 acres next door to their property, this has given them room to expand their operation even further.
Michelle has planted a wide variety of trees, including lemon-scented, strawberry and peppermint gums, along with different varieties of myrtles and 225 wattle trees.
The wattle trees will be used for seed collection.
“I collected 2.5kg from my first harvest and I am looking at selling it, but it depends what market. You can roast it and use it in coffee or grind it and use it in baking,” Michelle said.
“ANFAB had previously stated that the Australian market would need to increase X5 to keep up with international demand.”
Michelle said she would need to produce about 20kg of seed to be sustainable.
“Harvesting is very labour intensive. A couple bigger farms have trialled some different techniques, but they seem to go back to shade cloth, poly pipe and beating the seed off the tree,” she said.
Michelle said they grew everything as sustainably as possible and they had noticed that as their trees grew, wildlife was moving back in.
“We recently found a plains wanderer, which is exciting,” she said.
“I also joined Landcare to learn more about what I should be doing and I have found there are so many other farmers trying to do the right thing out there as well.
“Our next-door neighbours have planted a lot of native trees and we are looking at hooking up our corridor.
“Some of the old red gums we have on our property and nearby have been confirmed by an arborist to be over 250 years old. They’re older than European settlement.”
Michelle has been surprised by the success of her business as time progresses.
“I can turn over more than enough as a part-time gig,” she said.
“It was never on my mind for this to become a full-time job, although we have set it up properly to show our boys how business works and how it can grow.
“I have a few ideas in my mind on how to take Talara forward and into the future.”
For more information and products available, visit talaranatives.com.au