Ellinbank farm boasts 40 varieties of apples plus walnuts, chestnuts, persimmon, peaches, and plums

The couple planned to convert the 37-hectare, former dairy farm into a demonstration tree farm to encourage local farmers to plant more trees on their own properties.

Mrs Alexandra said the early days required a lot of work and could be stressful.

"I'd say for half the farm the fencing was on the ground," she said.

"The bores that we'd been led to believe worked didn't work, so we planted up probably five acres of one-year-old seedling trees and found we didn't have any water.

"We had to quickly get in a guy who could dig a hole and luckily water came up in the hole."

The couple had brought a re-vegetation and food nursery with them, and it was the nursery that became the powerhouse for developing the farm.

"We ended up putting in extensive windbreaks and woodlots and an orchard on probably 20 acres, which is predominantly apple trees," she said.

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The farm now grows 40 varieties of apples that are used to produce both cider and apple cider vinegar, as well as walnuts, chestnuts, persimmon, peaches, and plum trees.

There are also two oak forests where a neighbour grows shiitake mushrooms on the logs.

Produce is sold at farmers' markets and delivered to local customers, and apples are also supplied to local restaurants and organic shops in Melbourne.

Their biggest customer is the Centre for Education and Research in Environmental Strategies or CERES.

"We've been certified organic for over 30 years," Mrs Alexandra said.

"We were kind of thought of to be a bit strange, wanting to put in wind breaks and filtration plantations for the water running into the dam, and then going organic.

"But now most of our neighbours are going organic and there's organic vineyards that have gone in all the way up to the ridge.

"We're pretty well the norm."

Organic labelling was gaining in traction in Australia but not to the same extent as countries in Europe.

"Europe's banning a lot of chemicals that are still registered in Australia," she said.

"You can grow food organically, there's just no doubt about it, but when we started there was a lot of skepticism of whether it was even possible to do."

During coronavirus restrictions the couple stopped going to Melbourne for farmers' markets and instead joined the Prom Coast Food Collective, a hub where consumers can purchase produce from family farms and ethical producers.

Mrs Alexandra said there was growing interest from consumers about where their food was coming from.

"I think it's really growing, especially for urban people," she said.

"A farmers' market allows them to have contact direct with the farmers - they know that it's fresher and they get to meet who it's from."

Mrs Alexandra said the apple cider vinegar was particularly popular.

"I only started doing that in the last few years and that has taken off," she said.

"I don't fasten up the fermenting so it's a slow process and because we've got so many varieties of apples it's really got that depth of flavour."

The apples also remained a staple of many people and the farm had quite a following.

She said it was rewarding to get direct feedback from customers who sought out their products.

"We're meeting people from all over the world and swapping recipes, it's quite special," she said.

The healthy soil and absence of chemicals contributes to the flavour of the produce, but the property had also turned into a haven for native species.

"Having planted so many trees on this property, the bird life is just absolutely phenomenal," she said.

"There's lots of insects, the biodiversity is just amazing.

"For us it's about creating a diverse ecosystem - biodiversity is absolutely alive here."

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