There's something unique and welcoming strolling amidst outdoor, rural farmers market stalls, especially if the sun is shining. The combination of radiating colours, freshly baked treats and the wafts of delicious aromas tease and excite our senses. The greenery, the music, the simultaneous echoes of happy conversations, the diverse, local products and beverages all contribute to the endearing, uplifting and personal ambiance of a community hub. One stall holder, who regularly frequents Foster's monthly Prom Country Farmers Market in South Gippsland is Betsy Evans, typically accompanied by one of her two helpful sons.
Betsy is a delight. Her approachable, friendly manner emanates her enjoyment of market days as she cheerfully engages with fellow stall holders and customers. Betsy along with her husband, Greg, are wholesalers and meeting customers is a rare opportunity, especially loyal, reoccurring ones.
"That's why market days are very special," Betsy claimed.
Betsy and Greg along with their three children are the proud owners of Oak & Swan Sourdough – a small family-owned and operated, organic wood-fired bakery on a beautiful, undulating, one hundred acre property in Mirboo North.
Betsy was born in Leongatha and grew up eating delicious, homemade bread emerging fresh and hot from a combustion stove. Her English grandmother, who sadly passed away two years ago, was Betsy's most significant influencer in life and, along with Betsy's mother, passed down her knowledge and skills. Consequently, Betsy learnt and loved to bake bread at a young age.
Having lived in various parts of Gippsland over the years, Betsy and Greg were continually drawn to return to the familiar rolling, green hills of South Gippsland. It was seven years ago they moved back from East Gippsland to create a permanent paradise for themselves, and for their children to grow up in.
Betsy voiced, "It's hard work striving to be self-sufficient, while managing a business and maintaining a regenerative farm model, but such a privilege to live on a rural property. Our children, Liam 12, Lucas 11 and Stella 9, love spending time outdoors and each are a wonderful help on the farm. That's when they're not tearing down the driveway on a mattress-topped billy cart!"
The lush, picturesque land boasts a substantial fresh-water gully, a large, spring-fed dam (great for swimming in during long summer days) and native trees. Aged pines stand proudly on top of a hill, while young planted trees grow between paddocks. The farm also showcases a large vegetable garden, approximately fifty fruit trees - from citrus to nuts to avocados - and beef cattle. The family laboriously plants over one thousand native trees each year to continue the regrowth cycle of wood burnt in the bakery's wood-fired oven.
The Oak & Swan Sourdough manifested through Betsy's love for bread, while Greg's handy plumbing background proved vital to bring the project into fruition. Sourdough - made from unsifted, freshly-milled flour, which makes the bread much tastier and more nutritious - became the speciality through a growing awareness and passion for good food. The bakery was named in light of two beautiful, one hundred and twenty year old oak trees growing beside the farm dam, which host the nesting of swans.
The Evans family create their sourdough from scratch using only organic flour, rain water and salt. Each week the flour is freshly stone-ground milled in an Austrian grain mill, ensuring its natural goodness without additives. It is then added to a starter culture, initiated from organic wholegrain flour and rain water, before each bake. Depending on which type of bread it is to be, organic wholegrains, seeds, nuts, vegetables, herbs, fruit, spices, rain water and salt are added. The ingredients are then slowly and gently mixed in a one-arm mixer before the dough is long-rested. It is then divided and shaped by hand before being long-rested again. Once ready, the loaves are loaded into the wood-fired oven for baking.
The oven is a forty loaf Allan Scott oven. Built into the side of the bakery, it is fired with the farm's pine and scrap hardwood before each bake. Once the oven is heated and the fire burnt away, the ashes are raked out and the internal bricks are cleaned with a damp cloth. The dough loaves are then loaded inside with a wooden peel. Several batches of bread are baked by the residual oven heat. In between firings, the oven's retained heat is used for drying fruit, toasting ingredients and other baking requiring a lower temperature.
The Evans family has come a long way establishing their lifestyle, business and their sales of goods through retail stores. Besides sourdough breads, they also offer muesli crackers, pancake mix, an assortment of sweet buns and milk-fresh flour. As a wholesaler, their popular products are requested from areas of Warragul to Kilcunda and back to Meeniyan.
However, Betsy confesses, "Small business owners are challenged in these pandemic times. It hasn't been easy and the unforeseeable future is impossible to read. I feel for all the small operators, but we need to stay positive and hopeful."
Betsy's beloved, ever-encouraging grandmother instilled in her to follow her dreams. Betsy was taught, anything is possible if you have the confidence to believe in yourself and the courage to take risks. With this inspiring guidance the Evans family's aspirations will surely continue to blossom, while we have the opportunity to reap the delectable rewards.
Stunning Mirboo North property in South Gippsland.
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