Full time farming

When Will finished school, he had no idea what he wanted to do. He began studying network engineering at University of Wollongong before working in IT repairs, hotel management and then a marketing role with Microsoft.

He also worked in the family business in Mittagong called The Woodage, which began in 1993 as a timber supplier and evolved into a furniture manufacturer. In 2009, he and a friend, Steve Fitzgerald, purchased The Woodage from his father and his father’s business partner.

Connie, meanwhile, had been hired by Westpac immediately after she completed her degree in maths and finance.

Soon after they increased their business to 1,500 chickens, Will decided to take a year’s break from The Woodage. Connie continued working at Westpac, returning to the office earlier than planned after the birth of their third child.

“I loved The Woodage and building furniture, but it was a lot of hours and it didn’t involve the family at all,” Will says of their decision. “With the farm, I was at home with my family. At the beginning, Harry [the youngest child] was literally with me, strapped to my chest.”

In late 2018, Will sold his half share of The Woodage to his business partner and focused full time on the farm.

Regenerative farming models recommend a three flock system, with each flock six months apart in age to ensure a consistent supply of eggs throughout the year. The oldest chickens are sold at about 18 months of age and there is little difficulty finding buyers.

Mussett Holdings’ eggs are described as “pastured”.

“The difference between pastured and free range is that to be pastured the chickens must always have grass,” Will explains. “You have to keep them moving so they are on pasture. Free range is usually in fixed sheds with a fixed fence around a dirt lot.”

So Mussett Holdings expanded from 500 to 1,500 chickens – and their research into regenerative farming led to expansion plans.

The business mushrooms

“If you are making all this beautiful grass from chickens you should use it, otherwise you have to mow it,” Will says. “You could have livestock eat it, but an organic farm had the stall next to me at Bondi markets and the guy manning it told me about growing gourmet mushrooms in 20 litre buckets filled with straw. He decided to come and work with us.”

They bought two old, insulated shipping containers and started growing a variety of oyster mushrooms on straw from the farm.

“We would cut the grass from the chicken areas and leave it to dry out in the paddock. We would then soak the dried grass in a limewater solution, to pasteurise it, then drain off the excess water and mix it with grain spawns from a variety of oyster mushroom. We then stuffed the mix into 20 litre buckets with holes in them or giant hanging bags.”

The mushroom business started well but was forced to pivot when drought meant there was a dearth of grass to convert into straw.

They changed from a straw-based system to a hardwood sawdust system which allowed them to grow a wider variety of gourmet mushrooms that could be sold to providores and restaurants. These include chestnut, lion’s mane, coral tooth, black pearl as well as king and gold oysters.

Surprisingly, eggs and mushrooms are similar to farm.

“It is daily work for both,” says Will. “You have to collect eggs every day and you have to harvest mushrooms numerous times every day because they grow so fast. You harvest the bulk of the mushrooms first thing in the morning, but the most important harvest is last thing at night because they can double in size overnight.”

The new branch of the business excited Will’s love of problem-solving.

“The heating system for the mushrooms has been repurposed from an old steam boiler from a timber kiln,” he says enthusiastically. “We run the wood boiler during the day and that fills up these old electric hot water storage tanks that were being thrown away with piping hot water. They are not wired up, they are just there as a hot water buffer. A tiny pump then slowly trickles that hot water into radiators in the mushroom rooms.”

COVID booster

Mussett Holdings was one of those businesses that prospered during the COVID-19 pandemic. Before COVID, they were making about 60 home deliveries each week – and that number jumped to about 200.

“Home deliveries exploded,” Will recalls, “but at the same time everything we had been sending to cafes, restaurants and retailers just stopped.”

Sydney’s farmers’ markets also benefited during COVID because people were permitted to shop for food during restrictions and lockdowns.

“It went bonkers. Before COVID we would turn over about $1,100 or $1,200 on a good day at the markets and that went to about $4,000.”

COVID behaviours have stuck and home deliveries remain a substantial part of Mussett Holdings’ business – at more than double pre-COVID levels. The volumes became too much for Will to do on his own, so they now use a contractor.

The growth in the business, and the growing demands on Connie, resulted in her resigning from her financial job three years ago.

“I was working for Westpac from home four days a week, the kids were at home because the schools were closed for COVID and I was cleaning eggs at night,” she says. “It was too much and I’d done my time.”

Garden to table

Two years ago, the Mussetts’ interest in regenerative farming led them to look for ways to use their mushroom compost productively. They now offer boxes of seasonal vegetables including carrots, broccoli, cabbage, lettuces, boy choy, broad beans as well as garlic. They are also now experimenting with a range of specialty herbs.

At about the same time, they started farm tours during school holidays and these have proved very popular, despite numbers being limited to 20. The demands of the farm mean that tours are now only offered on Saturdays.

For Will and Connie, regenerative farming is a continuous learning process.

“Every day’s a school day,” says Will. “I don’t think we can take on a whole new category but we would like to continue refining what we are doing and also try specialties that are suited to the by-products of the other elements of the farm. I am fascinated by obscure herbs, so we are seeing if we can make them work in our conditions.”

Their accidental journey didn’t begin with a grand plan and has involved several twists and turns.

“We have just gone with the flow,” says Will, “and it’s fun because you have to think about everything. With farming you encounter heaps of problems and we’re off grid, relying on solar and wind, so there are even more problems to solve.

“To be able to produce your own food is just phenomenal and we get to share it as a family.”