About Us

Welcome to Woodside Hobby Farm!    

This hobby farm was started in June 2009 when my fiancée and I moved from a suburban block in Melbourne to the country side yearning fresh air and country living.  We went from a normal small house size block of land in Reservoir, Victoria, Australia, to 80 acres of land out of Bacchus Marsh, Victoria, Australia.  We moved with 25 rabbits, 2 ducks, 3 chickens and a maremma puppy that was the tipping point for our landlord in Reservoir.  Most people would just get rid of the puppy in order to keep a roof over their head but not us.  The landlord didn’t mind the fact that in part we had the beginnings of a zoo in his yard but the fact that we had a puppy sent him to boiling point.  He demanded the dog must go or we must move.  To us the choice was obvious.  The thought of getting rid of ‘Donato’ (our puppy) upset us both terribly so we decided it was time to search for something bigger for us and our entire menagerie.

  Despite the comments and crazed look in people’s eyes (especially family members) when we mentioned that we were thinking of moving to 80 acres of land out at Bacchus Marsh we made the move.  We met with the real estate agent one late afternoon and had a look over the property.  On our initial look around the property I felt this feeling that this was right for us.  I can not tell you if my fiancée had the same feelings or not.  The burnt landscape, dust and cracked earth were evident and such a big change from the lifestyle my  fiancée had once lived and been brought up with in The Netherlands.  Of the two dams on the property and the creek running at the back of the property, all looked like they hadn’t seen a drop of water in years.  No grass, no green, no water to be seen.  Instead great loads of rocks covered the earth’s surface and in one direction you could see the quarry.  From one angle you see beautiful mountains, the national park and trees.  It is something I can stare at for hours on end but if you slightly glance in the other direction you are faced with man’s destruction – the quarry.  The house is an old weatherboard house that has almost been built on the road.  I remember the real estate agent saying ‘this is the laundry’.  The laudry was in the old shed attatched to the house.  When I saw it I nearly died.  How could you wash clothes in a shed with inches of dust, spider webs, grime, falling down rotted wood? Things were falling down everywhere and even on that initial tour when I somehow fell in love with it all you could see was a mountain of work had to be done both inside and out.  Sheep wool, cow dung, broken fences, metal and junk lying all about the place.  I remember leaving that initial viewing with the real estate agent and my fiancée saying ‘well that was a waste of a drive’…  I remember saying well I think it has a certain ‘character’.  We both slept on it.  In the morning my fiancée woke and said ‘I have thought about it, had dreams about it and I think we should go for it’.  I couldn’t believe it and I can’t tell you what I was exactly envisioning or thinking at the time… but there was something strong that drew me to the place. 

The few months that we have been here so far have been full of hard work, tears, joy and laughter.  At times I have thought ‘god what have we both got ourselves into’ but at the end of the day when the sun sets there is no greater achievement than what I see when I walk around outside.  Sure the road is going to be long and hard but we are both up for the challenge we have taken on and I look forward to sharing our adventures with you.Over time I hope to develop this site with interesting and unusual farm stuff.  I will post funny movies, pics and stories of life at Woodside Hobby Farm.  If you bookmark this page and visit again I am sure if will provide you with a laugh.  Feel free to leave any comments and we will be sure to reply.

Cheers,

Nerida