CLOSE TO NATURE
The Lower family moved from Singapore to the Sunshine Coast to make a fresh start with their natural skincare business on their property, Four Cow Farm.
A COUPLE TRADED BUSTLING SINGAPORE FOR A GREEN-ENERGY FARM ON THE SUNSHINE COAST TO MAKE NATURAL SKINCARE PRODUCTS.
THE RUGGED PEAKS OF SOUTH-EAST Queensland’s Glass House Mountains are a world away from the gleaming Singapore skyline. For Delphinia Tam-lower and her family, who moved to Maleny from the bustling city-state in early 2016, the new vista was an unexpected yet most welcome change. “If you told me 10 or 15 years ago that I’d be here doing this, I would never have believed it!” says Del, who, along with her husband Simon, left a corporate job to produce natural skincare at their 25-hectare property, Four Cow Farm, in the Sunshine Coast’s Blackall Range. “We’ve always been a nomadic family,” says Del, 42, who was born in Singapore and lived with Uk-born Simon, 43, in London and Hong Kong — working in advertising and tech roles respectively — before spending a decade in her homeland. “It’s been an interesting journey living in these cities where everything is fast-paced, then ending up here,” says Del. “I did wonder if it would be too drastic a change… It’s about as different from Singapore as you can get.” Raising their three children — Katie, 11, Ollie, nine, and Ellie, four — with a sense of space and connection to nature was a key incentive. Simon’s parents, Wyn and Malcolm Lower, had already lived at Four Cow Farm for a decade, retiring to the Sunshine Coast after falling in love with the region’s beautiful weather and friendly community. The farm was named for the four pet cows on the property. After much discussion, the catalyst to make the move was a business idea sparked by Wyn’s passion for homemade remedies. “My daughter Katie had eczema, and Wyn, being surrounded at the farm by great natural produce, began making herbal remedies,” says Del. “She’d send little pots over to Singapore and I started giving them away to friends — everyone loved them.” What began as a small family project quickly grew, and the couple saw the potential to turn it into something more. “We thought, we’ve got this wonderful opportunity to live in an amazing place and create something we care about. Who would say no?” says Del. The couple now works alongside Wyn on the former dairy farm, where balms, lotions and washes are still made on the stove with a pot and wooden paddle, just in larger quantities. “The only difference in how everything is made is that the pots and paddles have grown much bigger!” says Del. The old milking shed has been converted into a workshop that overlooks a spectacular mountain panorama with regular visits from the family’s four much-loved alpacas. >
“You wake up feeling privileged to be living in a beautiful environment so close to nature,” says Wyn, a former midwife and keen gardener whose thriving vegie patch Del believes has helped the kids develop an appreciation of the seasons. Many of the ingredients in the range are inspired by herbs and flowers that Wyn grows and whose healing properties she believes in. “She’s also a brilliant, intuitive cook and basically transferred her recipes from the kitchen to the skin products,” says Del. “Everything we make is food-grade.” Other ingredients come from local suppliers including pure cold-pressed olive, macadamia, sweet almond and sunflower seed oils. “Sourcing all of our ingredients locally is something we’re really passionate about,” says Del. “We know the quality of what we’re getting and the producers and suppliers personally, which makes a big difference to us. It’s the same as knowing where your food comes from.” Creating an environmentally sustainable lifestyle and business is essential for Del and her family. “We were very lucky that when we arrived, Simon’s parents had already set the farm up with 100 per cent renewable energy,” says Del. “It was important to them to create an idyll where they could live off the land and incorporate their values.” The farm utilises solar panels to provide a significant portion of its electricity, with additional energy purchased from green sources. All the water, including what is used to create Four Cow Farm products, is rainwater that is collected and purified onsite. “It can get a bit dicey at times when it doesn’t rain for a month,” says Del, “But we’re always very careful that we have enough stored to get through.” Just 10 minutes’ drive from the farm, the cafés and co-ops on Maleny’s Maple Street showcase a strong community feeling. “The locals are open and engaged, and very giving of their time and knowledge,” says Del. “Things are simple here because the focus is on family, togetherness, being outside, on nature and animals — it just feels very real,” she says. For more information, visit fourcowfarm.com