A Plot Worth Bottling

This small farm is in the business of growing and preserving little moments in time

- Chris Stafford

Fullerton Cove is a rural suburb of Port Stephens in the middle of the vast Hunter alluvial plain just north of Newcastle. To the east are the Stockton sand dunes; to the west a mangrove forest that wraps around the cove itself, a large backwater offthe Hunter River’s North Channel.

There you’ll find Fat Wren Farm, a long, narrow 10-acre property with a dam running most of its length. At the eastern end is the farmhouse, a towering converted horse shed now divided into living and working areas, where the farm’s business goes on: cooking award-winning preserves on a modestly industrial scale.

Melinda and Nick Morris are the workforce; their young son Leo and two dogs free-range around the place. The Morrises, together with their chooks, have spent the past few years working up the soil in their acre of garden.

“The property was previously a horse stud and was raised above the floodplain with clay and fill about 30 or 40 years ago,” says Mel. “This means we inherited a compact soil with a thin layer of grass on top — that’s pretty much it.

“Through the use of compost and the chooks, though, we’re gradually transforming the soil around the property by moving the composting activity and the chook house to different areas, say, about every two years.”

The plan is to plant a large orchard — they already have a row of citruses as well as apples, figs and quince — and this is where the chooks come in, doing their bit to make the soil soft and loamy.

“The quality of the soil has improved dramatically over the past five years,” Mel adds, “so we know we’re on the right track.”