Visit Sandfly Kellie and Nick 2026

Visitors to Kellie and Nick's small farm in Sandfly, 15 minutes south of Hobart, might be tempted to a romantic view of hobby farming.  The sweet faces of the Dorper sheep, the cute flocks of quail and chickens, the ducks and swans on the dam all contribute to an idyllic picture of farm life. But Kellie is quick to offer a reality check; although she and Nick love their life on the land, the work is hard and the list of jobs is long and demanding. Read on to see and hear about some of Kellie and Nick's plans to turn this 34 acre property into an efficient and productive place that can be sustainably managed by two people. 

 

 

When Kellie and Nick moved to the property six years ago, the main plantings were some beautiful Alder trees and a somewhat neglected small orchard of nine fruit trees. Happily, some dedicated attention to pruning, watering and feeding the fruit trees has returned them to productivity - the apple and pear trees are heavily laden with fruit and hopes are high for an excellent harvest.  The Alder trees have been removed; although they were beautiful, their thirsty roots provided too much competition for the food crops, especially on a property not connected to town water.

 

The orchard is underplanted with small shrubs, including many red and blackcurrant bushes. These add to the productivity of this area of the garden, but do make it harder to get the mower in to keep the grass down.  Kellie and Nick are experimenting with letting the sheep graze under the trees; early signs are that the sheep stick to the grass and don't touch the trees.  Preventing the grass from encroaching into productive garden spaces is a major effort at the moment, so any help from the sheep will be welcome!

A key part of Kellie and Nick's strategy for making the workload on the farm sustainable is to focus on perennial plantings as the mainstay of their food production. Although the existing orchard is largely left alone by birds and possums, many of the neighbours have warned that unprotected fruit is often lost to the large flocks of cockatoos that are common around the area.  To prevent this, Kellie and Nick have constructed a large enclosure that will be home to the many additional fruit trees they intend to plant, as well as to most of their vegetable and berry crops. This will avoid the need to net individual trees each year, and provide much easier access for harvesting crops. 

 

Construction of the enclosure is almost complete: the fences and gates are built and all the poles and high-tension wires that will support the reinforced orchard netting are in place. Kellie and Nick are holding off on buying and installing the netting until the new fruit trees are planted and bearing fruit. As Kellie pointed out, it makes sense not to subject the netting to wear and tear until it is actually needed. 

For now, the enclosure is home to masses of raspberries, which were just finishing up for the season at the time of our visit.  The rows of raspberries are piled high with manure from a local riding school, and then topped with silage mulch from spoilt bales.

The fenced edges of the enclosure also provide protection from the wind for some tomatoes and zucchini. Like everyone else's, these plants are yet to really get going for the season - the late summer in Southern Tasmania this year has everyone hanging for the tomatoes to start rolling in! 

The next job on Kellie and Nick's list is to plant out in the enclosure the many potted fruit trees that they have waiting to go.  Some of the trees were purchased bare-root from local nurseries, but many have been grafted onto rootstock. Kellie uses a grafting tool passed on from her grandfather (similar to this one) to produce "omega grafts" (pictured below).  The 'jigsaw' shape of the cuts provides a secure connection between the scion and the rootstock, and according to Kellie, produces a much higher success rate than traditional grafts. 

 

Chickens and quail provide a steady supply of eggs for Kellie and Nick, and are also great for swapping for produce not grown on their own farm at the newly established Allens Rivulet Crop Swap.  Japanese jumbo quail were chosen for their high feed-to-egg efficiency, which is much better than in chickens. 

 

 

The chicken eggs were regularly being stolen by some clever currawongs. Kellie's dad built this rollaway nesting box to protect the eggs -- the hens lay in the nesting box as normal, but a slight gradient on the floor means that the eggs roll down to a covered part of the box that can't be accessed by the currawongs.

 

 

As always, both the produce table and the morning tea table were covered with contributions from people who came along on the day. Thanks to everyone for your contributions!

This was a fantastic garden to visit, with many interesting things to see and learn -- thanks so much to Kellie and Nick for opening their property to us and sharing their experiences and plans. And thanks to Dirk and Pauline for organising the visit, giving us all the chance to spend the morning with other keen food gardeners, catching up over a delicious morning tea, and moaning about our late tomatoes!