Homing Instinct: Life on a Macedon Ranges farm “I just had to come home”

RETURNING TO HER ROOTS LED DANIELLE WHITE TO A PROPERTY IN PIPERS CREEK WHERE SHE NOW GROWS ROSES AND PINOT NOIR GRAPES.

LIKE THE ROSES blooming at Crofters Fold, Danielle White’s own roots are buried deep in the soil of Victoria’s Macedon Ranges. Six generations of her family farmed the low hills outside Kyneton, a place she calls her spiritual home. “I think in my soul I never left here,” says Danni. “While in Melbourne I came back most weekends. I always had a strong affection for home.” Like many young people in regional Australia, Danni’s decision to leave her hometown was pragmatic rather than personal. Study aspirations meant relocating to the city where she gained a PHD in women’s health at Melbourne University and pursued her career. But in 2004 Danni returned to the area she loved, purchasing a cottage in Kyneton. Five years later she met Ashley Wren, originally from Ballarat, who was growing organic orchard fruit, berries and garlic in nearby Spring Hill. “Ash and I knew straight away it was the right thing for both of us, and we got married in 2010,” says Danni, now 53. Ash, also 53 and a PE teacher, sold his property and set up a garden in the backyard of their Kyneton cottage. “We swiftly outgrew that and bought the cottage next door,” says Danni. “Ash started growing organic garlic there but as the crop size grows exponentially each year we decided to start looking for no more than 20 hectares not too far from town.” They found that place in 2012 at Pipers Creek, 10 kilometres east of Kyneton. Crofters Fold, as they called it, was on 12 hectares of pastoral land that had been settled in the 1850s and came with an old pumphouse, a mid-20th-century timber farmhouse, an older brick gabled cottage and a shearing shed. “We had one look at it and bought it,” says Danni. To Ash’s delight, there was also a small plot of pinot noir vines. “Ash worked in vineyards in his younger years and had always wanted to grow his own wine grapes,” she says. Their initial plan was to establish an organic garlic crop. However, after a year or so they realised the granitic soil of Pipers Creek wasn’t ideal for garlic, but it was perfect for the roses that the couple both loved. “There were already some roses in the vineyard as indicators of vine health,” Danni explains. “So, we decided to grow them as the pruning fitted in well with the vines. Garlic is known as the ‘stinking rose’ — we went from the stinking rose to the perfumed rose!” In 2016, the couple planted 350 roses and now have about 1000. Danielle says the aim is to be a small-scale artisanal farm, growing bee-friendly flowers without chemicals. “We are not certified organic, but our practices are, and we are fairly closed-loop farming here.” To ensure their business is sustainable, the pair also focused on selecting roses that are proven performers as cut flowers. “We wanted healthy vigorous plants with a stem length that was useful and perfumed flowers, and that rules out quite a few [varieties],” Danni explains. When asked to name her favourite rose, Danni is initially reluctant to choose, but eventually settles on ‘Addictive Lure’ for its luxuriant soft pink cupped blooms and sweet scent, the lavender ‘Blue Moon’ with its citrusy aroma, and the café-latte-toned rose, ‘Soul Sister’. However, for Danni roses are more than just a pretty bloom. In 2017 she was awarded an Agribusiness Fellowship by the International Specialised Skills Institute in Melbourne. Her project centred around raising awareness of bee-friendly flower farming and establishing its place within the agribusiness and agritourism sectors in the region. “I believe small-scale agriculture, floriculture included, has a place in an economy that cares not just about profit, but people and the planet.” While they were establishing their business, Ash and Danni initially moved into the main timber farmhouse and, >

“We wanted to see what the seasons brought, how it felt and where the sun rose and fell in the spaces.”

“Sarah is an adventurer who is prone to spontaneous decisions — buying a run-down cottage thousands of kilometres from her home in WA is just the latest one.”

despite the orange walls and purple carpet, they resisted starting work on it immediately. “We wanted to see what the seasons brought, how it felt and where the sun rose and fell in the spaces,” Danni says. In the end, the building’s high ceilings and ‘good bones’ meant they have been able to renovate without changing the basic footprint. Improving the insulation was a major imperative, as was installing solar panels to improve the energy efficiency. The kitchen was also refurbished, with Ash adding a personal touch by making the kitchen benchtops, plus the barn doors into the mudroom. Reflooring meant they could say goodbye to the lurid carpet, while new paint and decorating touches completed the transformation. During the renovations they moved into the property’s brick cottage and gave it a quick face lift. Over time the pair decided they preferred it’s cosy, rustic atmosphere so that’s where they have stayed. The renovated farmhouse is now available for guests to stay, forming part of Crofters Fold multi-faceted business model, which includes selling roses to floral designers for weddings and events, and farm-gate sales by appointment. “We’ve also started a DIY package collaborating with two other flower growers in the region so people can get flowers from all of us at one spot,” Danni says. They also grow peonies, whose flowering season ties in nicely with the roses, and produce premium sparkling wine from the vineyard, which they offer to local restaurants. A small mob of Suffolk sheep and four docile Highland cattle also manicure the property’s pastures, and Danni and Ash love to visit them in the paddocks with their two kelpies, Magoo and Mudgee, at their sides. While using livestock as lawnmowers and wrangling roses may not have been the traditional farming activity Danni grew up with, she still has a strong affinity with those rural roots. “Growing roses feels like a farming activity as it is very much linked to the soil and rain, so I feel like our language is what I’ve heard all my life,” she says. “The connection feels like second nature, it just happens to be roses.” Crofters Fold Farmhouse Lodge is on Airbnb. For further information, visit croftersfold.com.au

PHOTOGRAPHY LISA COHEN STYLING TESS NEWMAN MORRIS

PIPERS CREEK VICTORIA HOME Ash made the barn door using timber from the shearing shed on the property, while a local stonemason built the wall behind the wood burning heater. FACING PAGE A vase of purple bush dusty miller from the garden sits on a silver tray from Antiques in Woodend. For stockists details, see page 136.

CLOCKWISE, FROM ABOVE Ash in the courtyard behind the brick gabled house where he and Danni now live; the refurbished kitchen has a farmhouse sink and grey cabinetry from Ikea. Ash made the recycled timber benchtops; a staircase leads to the guest bedroom. The framed vintage artwork is one of Danni’s many collectables. Oak parquetry floors from Schots Home Emporium; mustering the Suffolk sheep is easy as they just follow Ash and the kelpies, Magoo and Mudgee, past granite outcrops in the paddock.

The attic guest bedroom in the farmhouse has a rattan Byholma chair from Ikea and a combination of bedlinen from Cultiver, Aura Home and Ikea. The cage pendant lights is from Fat Shack Vintage.

CLOCKWISE, FROM ABOVE Danni with one of the David Austin roses they grow, ‘Scepter’d Isle’; buckets of roses, including ‘Mister Lincoln’, ‘Blue Moon’, ‘Perfume Passion’, ‘Just Joey’ and ‘Scepter’d Isle’. The work table is a family hand-me-down, while the old trade step stool came with the property; an outdoor shower and claw-foot bath are screened by a Mediterranean-inspired garden; Danni and Ash at the potting shed, Wren Pottage, a nod to Danni’s previous home and Ash’s last name; Deva, one of the Highland cattle.