Figtrees Organic Farms
‘Wilton Park’ – Grafton
Wilton Park is a magnificent property located on the banks of the Clarence River in northern NSW. It is a 400ha farm with alluvial loams and yellow podzolic clay soils and annual rainfall of over 1000mm. It has been proudly owned by the Clinton Family for over 40 years.
Wilton Park was previously a high quality dairy farm, where the cows produced such a rich quality of milk that the farm was fined by the milk company for having excessive cream in the milk! Cows producing an excess of cream is an attribute that we can now turn to great advantage in producing exceptional quality calves to grow out and fatten at Billabong.
A primary goal at Wilton Park is to restore the natural ecosystem processes of the area. The restoration of Wilton Park includes the rehabilitation of the soil and several wetlands. The wetlands and healthy soils act as reservoirs to capture and re-charge the rainfall from frequent Northern Rivers thunderstorms.
When one tugs at a single thing in nature, he finds it attached to the rest of the world.
John Muir
‘Billabong’ – Inverell
Billabong is located on the boundary of the beautiful North West Slopes and Plains, and the Northern Tablelands, approximately 15 kilometres east of Inverell. It is a 1000ha property getting 780mm annual rainfall.
The rich basalt soils of Billabong are high in carbon, calcium and phosphorous. These soils provide the ideal foundation for growing out excellent highly nutritious grass-fed yearlings.
One of the features of Billabong is a beautiful flowing stream called the ‘Swan Brook’.
Through careful planning of the grazing management and enhancement of the soils FigTrees Organic Farms have been able to restore a perennial flow of water out of the landscape into the Swan Brook. This restoration of perennial stream flows is only one example of the environmental restoration which you are responsible for when you purchase beef from FigTrees Organic Farms.
Another feature at Billabong is 5 kilometres of permaculture swales which have been installed to pacify the erosive forces of storm run-off and help build soil fertility. They also act as wildlife corridors for two areas of endangered box gum grassy woodland regarded as an iconic feature of eastern Australian landscape.
The real voyage of discovery lies not in seeking new lands but in seeing with new eyes.
Marcel Proust cited in Suzuki 2010
