Our Story
Thriving Foods Farm is a local, family-run business that has produced deliciously fresh, organic, spray-free veggies and free range eggs for more than five years.
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Paul Watzlaff and Clare McCulloch, with their two beautiful daughters, Matilda Rose and Elodie May, are young farmers with a vision to inspire young people to get back on the land. They are actively supported by a willing community of family and farm staff. They practice sustainable regenerative farming, which goes beyond just organic and nurtures and enriches the soil (and therefore, the produce). They are located at Koo Wee Rup, in Victoria, with another property at Iona (20 minutes from KWR).
They provide delicious, fresh, local, seasonal, certified organic veggies & happy free range eggs ~ grown with love.
Our Origins
Thriving Foods Farm began in Sydney in 2013 when Paul started growing food in his backyard for fun. It soon became more serious, and Paul leased a one-acre paddock in Liverpool, growing a variety of veggies and herbs in round beds, rotating the crops with chickens.
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​Building everything by hand and working the soil with a rotary hoe, he was a one-man show. Paul's family helped him bring the veggies and eggs to the Kiama and Marrickville markets each week under the name "Transparent Farms".
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​Then, in 2014 Paul met Clare on the side of a dusty dance floor at a festival called Burning Seed and the rest, as they say, is history.
​He moved to Melbourne, and he and Clare began a life together, determined to grow on their shared passion for sustainable farming and connecting people to beautiful food.
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Paul and Clare purchased their 60-acre property at Koo Wee Rup in 2016. They worked the land for several years, growing a huge selection of veggies and eggs, but their ambitions soon stretched beyond the bounds of what they could achieve on the site, and in 20?? the couple bought a second beautiful property at Iona, with rich soil and perfect sweet water.
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Our Present
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Thriving Foods Farm has since grown into a massive operation that feeds many wonderful folks every week.
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​The farm now includes eight tractors, 2500 chickens, countless sheds and storage rooms and a large fleet of vehicles. The growing team goes to various farmers markets and delivers veggie boxes each week.
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​Paul and Clare are proud to be one of the few certified organic farms in the food belt of Victoria. Their crops are grown at the highest industry standards and they consider themselves to be a market leader, despite being a first generation farm.
