Why a young family swapped the city for off-grid country living

Lisa Mumm was in labour with her second child when she and husband Greg found out their offer on a regenerative farm in the lush Kangaroo Valley in New South Wales had been accepted. “I’d done the Calmbirth course and obviously it worked so well that I had time to check my emails,” laughs Lisa. “The obstetrician came in to check how things were going and we blurted out: ‘We just bought a farm!’”

That was in 2017 and it was the realisation of a dream that had been years in the making. Lisa, a primary-school teacher, and Greg, a rugby coach and specialist in helping athletes transition into life after sport, had been living and working in Sydney’s north-west while harbouring ideas about a more sustainable, simple life.

“I’d become very interested in the idea of regenerative farming,” says Greg. “Once we became parents, we got a lot more interested in the types of food we were feeding our family and where that food was coming from.” A friend’s wedding more than a decade ago had left the couple’s hearts set on Kangaroo Valley as a location. “We got flooded in so we had to come back in the middle of the week to collect our car,” recalls Lisa. “It was a beautiful day—the sun was out and everything was just glistening green. We were sold.”

Changing pace 

With no farming experience—plus toddler Juliette and newborn Eddie in tow—the Mumms sold their Sydney home, which fetched enough to buy 48.5 hectares with a little change left over. “It was part of an old dairy farm that had been divided into three and sold off in chunks,” explains Greg. “What we liked best about it was that it was just one giant paddock that had basically been let go.” They also immediately fell in love with the dilapidated cottage on the land.

After spending three years slowly renovating the cottage while leasing the farm to another dairy farmer, 2020 arrived—shifting the family’s plans, along with the rest of the planet’s. “I had been commuting back to Sydney for work three days a week,” says Greg. “Once that stopped during COVID and I started spending every day with the kids, I realised I couldn’t go back to spending so much time away.” On 1 January 2021, he became a full-time farmer at Rosewood Farm.

“I used to sleep with blackout blinds. Here, we wake up with the sun or usually before it.” - Lisa Mumm 

Sustainable living 

These days—in between adding a third child, Rosie, to the mix—Greg and Lisa farm retired dairy cows (which lowers the animals’ emissions footprint), run the cottage as a guesthouse and grow flowers for sale locally.

There are thousands of dairy cows between Wollongong and Bega, says Greg, and most of them are sent to the abattoir the minute they stop producing milk. “A portion of that meat goes to the US for burgers,” he explains, “because it has a lower fat content than a lot of the feedlot-finished meat in the States.”

But consumers here are slowly becoming aware of the benefits of ex-dairy meat. “Not only is it more sustainable but it has a better flavour profile because it’s slightly more aged,” he explains. This approach to farming permeates the philosophy at Rosewood Farm, from the way they see energy to the way they treat the soil and all that comes out of it. Living off-grid has also begun to shape their lives each day, as they discover more about energy consumption. “We’ve learnt that it’s better to cook the roast at lunchtime, to make the most of the solar, rather than having it for dinner,” says Greg.

Natural rhythms 

“I used to sleep with blackout blinds,” says Lisa. “Here, we wake up with the sun or usually before it.” There are also other ways the elements influence how the family works and rests. “You get that daily cycle but then there are your work cycles, too. Like right now, we’re seeing really wet autumns so tourists slow down and the farmers do less because the paddocks are wet and everything’s growing. In the city, it felt like it was just work, sleep, repeat—365 days a year.”

For Lisa and Greg, the beauty and simplicity they see unfolding in their lives—and the lives of their children—are a constant reminder they made the right decision. “It’s a small community but it’s full of really beautiful people,” says Lisa, while Greg loves the way small class sizes at the local school means his kids socialise across all year levels.

Farm life

Then, of course, there are the daily interactions with the farm animals. “Rosie’s the only one who likes coming along to move the cows with me,” laughs Greg. “The others are a bit over it.” They still pitch in, though: Eddie visits the hens each morning to pick up supplies for his dippy eggs and Juliette, their eldest, loves to walk the 300-metre driveway to check the mail. “It makes her feel very grown up,” says Lisa.

“Sometimes we wonder how much they really appreciate the farm and this life,” concedes Greg. “But then we have people visit and the first thing the kids do is take them on a full tour: ‘Come and see the donkeys! Come and see the sheep! Let’s collect the eggs!’” He pauses. “So yeah, I think it’s sinking in. And that’s a pretty great feeling.”

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