The Carrington Inn is a sibling enterprise to the 10,000 acre Landtasia Organic Farm Pty Ltd (Landtasia) located at Mulloon Creek, just 15 minutes from the Inn. Landtasia was founded by Richard Graham in 2001 to establish and operate an exemplary organic mixed agricultural enterprise.
Richard came to agriculture later in life as a ‘second career’, and driven by the health potential exceptional food can have in the lives of people who eat it. It was with that dearly held principle, that he assembled a team and established a property managed according to organic food agricultural methods and is certified by Australian Certified Organic (ACO) as a fully Certified Organic property.
Now the farm is a supplier to the Carrington’s Wintergarden restaurant, providing high-quality, locally grown, certified organic beef and lamb for some of its food offerings.
Since its founding, the farm’s committed team has laid down the structural foundations for the property to realise its objective of exemplary organics. They have converted and improved over 5,000 acres of pasture lands and meadows to organic. These larders have now sustained its livestock for nearly two decades without chemicals. Soils were reinvigorated, permanent grasses planted, water management strategies put in place and over 30 kilometres of grazing management fencing was installed.
In addition, the farm has established a 5-acre apple orchard and a 20-acre vineyard. The apple varieties are Pink Lady, Golden Delicious, Jonathon, and Granny Smith. The organic vineyard, which was established around 2005, has proved to be more arduous than expected. The management team is presently considering a replanting of the vineyard, based on the experience they have gained to date. They are confident the next time will be successful and they will produce an exceptional cold climate vintage. Time will tell.
The practical side of organic agriculture recognises that Nature has a role to play in healthy farming. In fact it has the starring role with the farmers being just the stage hands, so to speak. This recognition of the genuine role between man and Nature shows up throughout the work at Landtasia. They’ve cross bred their Angus stud herd to develop stronger constitutions and natural immunities through hybrid vigour. This eliminates the need to give them prophylactic pharmaceuticals.
You can hear the absence of herbicides and pesticides in the environment in the buzzing of the native and honey bees across the property whom have plenty of flowering plants to sustain their pollination performance of abundance. And you can look in the sky and see each spring more small birds, butterflies and lady beetles flying than the year before.
An environmental centrepiece at the property is the Landtasia Wetland Park Sanctuary. It was started in 1996 to remediate a large erosion gully and to arrest a wide head-cut that was making its way up the valley. While drought had slowed its evolution several times, drought was not able to suppress its natural ability to heal. Amphibian life abounds in its waters and we are seeing more birds. As organic farmers they are eager for more small birds to join the work force of insect control.
The Landtasia team believes that organic foods, especially Landtasia Certified Organic Beef and Lamb, provide healthy benefits to consumers who want certainty in how their food was bred, reared, and prepared for their table. These beliefs led them to the realisation that eating truly healthy food is able to help heal-thy self. According to Richard, no truer a realisation has there been.
