Ep 55 Fiona Weir Walmsley of Buena Vista Farm: Living from scratch!

If you consider yourself multipassionate, someone who entertains a vast array of interests (while regularly feeling overwhelmed), then we have the role model for you!Fiona Weir Walmsley of Buena Vista Farm in Gerringong, NSW, has walked a quirky and colourful path, embodying the diversity and adaptability we so desperately need for a resilient future. From running a medieval catering company to earning her marketing stripes, living ‘from scratch’ and leading women in local food, keeping bees, tending goats and, gosh, writing a book while she’s at it… Fiona is our kind of renaissance farmer!Hear how Fiona and her family have created a super diverse existence on 18 acres (think goats, chooks, cows, veggies, cheese, cut flowers + cooking school) -- and enjoyed the kind of riches money will never buy.SHOW NOTESShe is writing a book! Cooking food from scratch.Her “from scratch” life.A background in commercial cookery, medieval history and marketing.Why she locked the front door for this interview…Buena Vista biscuits built a local presenceTransitioning back to her family farmFarming succession planning: five generations of dairy farmersDiscovering Joel SalatinBuilding a commercial kitchen to kick off cash flow“We swore to ourselves we would never take being given a farm for granted.”Diversifying to be financially viable: bees, chickens, goats, market gardening, cooking school, book writing.“Sometimes our heads feel like they're going to fall off and my brains will come out of my ears.”Creating a community of WWOOFers and watching them go on to do incredible things.Getting practical with support from online apps to stay on top of everything.Transitioning her market garden to cut flowers.Ebbing and flowing the various business arms depending on who has the energy, what season it is, what the greater market forces are doing.Her ‘farm native’ babiesGetting a local, weekly farmers market off the ground.“When farmers markets are weekly, it changes peoples food buying habits.”Actively participating in a female led, food-centric community.Is her life photoshopped? How real is the grid?The pain in the arse truth about sourdough.Finding solidarity with others who have a collaborative vision.Helping younger people get a leg up into regen ag.Sourdough was the first “SLOW FOOD”.Living this way is never going to make sense financially; you have to uncouple your thinking from capitalism ways and instead see the rewards as non-fiscal.LINKS YOU'LL LOVEBuena Vista FarmSAGE farmer's marketJoel Salatin + Polyface FarmDeep Winter Agrarian GatheringGerringong farmer's marketSupport the show