TRANSCRIPT
Purple lavender is in full bloom at a property just outside the historic town of Hahndorf in South Australia’s Adelaide Hills. Fifty-thousand plants are almost ready to be harvested for essential oil later this month.
However, before that happens, this summer farm owner Thomas Mahar decided for the first time to open the farm gates to the public. He was surprised by the response.
“We’ve gone from having 20 people a day to over 200 people a day to the point where we even had to close the gate some days because, which we could not fit another personal car onto the farm. So, it's been a great success from interstate to even international tourists.”
From mid-December, Hahndorf Lavender Estate offered people the chance to stroll the lavender fields and pick their own bunch. Fritzi de Leon is among those visiting.
“It’s very beautiful the colours are really great and the smell if you are here it really amazing and I immediately felt relaxed being in the fields. And I encourage them to come and visit and see it because it’s really nice, um it’s good to take photos and also to learn more about how they convert lavenders into oils.”
Lavender essential oil is distilled on site and sold wholesale. Valued for its antibacterial properties, lavender oil has been used for centuries, and its unique smell is popular in massage oils and hand creams.
This business grows four varieties of oil producing lavender plants used to make a range of cosmetics that are sold online, as Mr Mahar’s wife Nicole Jordan explains:
“The smell itself is just really soothing and relaxing and it just really helps to calm people. So, going out there and picking the lavender and knowing that the lavender out in the fields we use in our oils, it makes a huge difference at the end when they look at our product, it makes it really exciting for them.”
Cosmetics are not their only new business concept. The lavender fields are a stunning visual backdrop for photography, and Mr Mahar says bookings have taken off.
“We've had people come do all sorts of things from eternities to families to couples, even shoot for equestrian horses. So, it is really been great.”
Ben Olivera is a photographer visiting from Brazil, and among those keen to capture the fields in bloom.
“It’s such a beautiful vibe you know I am a photographer – this colour and the vibrance that I can see, make me excited to take shots. And I hope I can some back soon. When I am here my head gets a lot of ideas and I want to express with photos and videos.”
Owner Thomas Mahar is a contract construction worker, and a boiler maker by trade. For the past seven years he has worked tirelessly with dad Peter, converting the 17-hectare former grazing property in to a lavender farm.
“We have very rich soils up here in the Adelaide Hills, so the land that we've built this farm on is perfect to grow lavender, and we've had great success with all the varieties that we're growing.”
The Mahars say their business is thriving despite challenging economic conditions. Not all owner-operators are so lucky, according to a recent independent survey by Precedent Productions.
Australia has 2.3 million small businesses, and of those surveyed last November, 65 per cent were concerned about their future and 40 per cent reported declining profits over the previous 6-12 months.
Almost half cited profitability and cashflow as their top concern, according to managing director Steve Loe – who also founded the Australian Business Champion Awards.
“From high inflation to steep increases in operating costs, to challenges associated with staff hire, productivity and the overall ongoing high cost of living, there’s no disputing that Australian small businesses are currently doing it very tough – potentially, tougher than any time before.”
Resilience is key to survival as lavender grower Thomas Mahar well knows. Cultivating thousands of plants is hard work, and challenges include changeable weather conditions.
“It is definitely been a labour of love building the business. There's been a lot of challenging times where y’know as any small business owner would want to give up. Lavender can be quite tricky to grow. You need to have the right pH levels in your soil. It is a quite hardy plant, but it does need to be watered. So we spent two years getting all the soil ready, soil preparation. But the weather has been very challenging for us over the years because when we go to make the rows for our mounds, we do raised beds with our lavender plants, we have to have the right soil moisture in the ground. If it's too wet, our machine won't work. If it's too dry, the machine won't work.”
Despite the difficulties, Mr Mahar has big plans to grow the venture into one of Australia’s leading lavender farms.
“Our plan was always to become a major tourist attraction for South Australia and also the biggest lavender farm in South Australia, which we've achieved by a long shot. So, once we do plant the next 70,000 plants, there'll be nothing else like it!”
