There is a scene in the 90s classic film You’ve Got Mail, where the owner of a children’s bookstore says, “When you read a book as a child, it becomes a part of your identity in a way that no other reading in your whole life does.” This speaks to those early and enduring experiences we have that evoke wonder, imagination, joy, connection to each other and the world- and love. Those real things that we carry with us and remember, as they leave a mark upon us. In that same vein, the founder of Little Farmers playgroup hopes that the children that come along to her patch remember these hands-on experiences in the years to come.
We are welcomed at the playgroup by a grass verdant green after a winter with fresh rains. The ground squishes beneath our feet and you must be careful not to slip. Chooks peck and ducks waddle. A wren lands on the wire fence and sings. Big flapping wings of larger birds pass overhead. A noisy goose lets us know that he means business, patrolling the periphery of the paddock he calls home. Behind the playgroup stand two sheep and a baby lamb. The lamb was a surprise as they didn’t know the sheep was pregnant. For quite a time, the sheep loudly bellows ‘baaaaaaa!’ as if to say, ‘'Let me out to play, too, please’.
It is a sensory wonderland beyond the winding driveway of this property. On this generous blue sky August day, skin hidden from the winter cold is doused in rejuvenating sun.
“It’s nourishing for the soul,” said mother Lauren who attends as much as she can with her son.
“We just keep coming. We love it.”
Playgroup founder Shel and her partner found the farmhouse and property in Boneo, in the Mornington Peninsula. The back beach is five minutes drive in front of them, the front beach five minutes behind, though you would never know it was so close when here, it feels inland. Together with Shel’s Mum, they made the move.
Bought after having her daughter Isla during the pandemic, Shel said that she wanted to be her own resource, in a way. Her family had already begun growing vegetables and they had chickens and ducks but were running out of space. They would love to be self-sustainable, in time. Her partner has planted sequoia trees and is tending to a substantial veggie patch. With the help of the animals they are turning over the soil, feeding it. They’ve got compost bins and are not short of ideas, with a barn and teepee in their sights.
The biggest thing, Shel said when deciding on this change, was the upbringing of her kids.
“Isla’s three and a bit and I wanted her to have this type of lifestyle, so it started with her.”
“As soon as we moved here she was into gardening, loves her animals and all that sort of stuff. I was watching her do these types of things on the property and I thought, I need to share this, I need other kids to be able to have this kind of experience, so that’s when we began Little Farmers.”
The farm currently has around 60 animals, 14 of those being ducks, two geese, sheep, chickens. Shel says that she loves to go and say “hello” to all her animal friends and they are relatively content with the visitors.
Within the playgroup space, four baby chickens settle into the background away from the action.
For the children, the imaginative part of their brain is let free to roam. There’s a mud kitchen, several cubbies, a little tractor and several small cars and bikes. A smaller veggie patch is developing and the kids plant strawberries and pansies in a little recycled tub. The fragrance of orange, mint, dill, lemongrass and honey rub off hands as homemade concoctions are made and liberally poured into colourful teapots and pottery mugs, little things Shel has collected overtime.
There are many layers of stories to the items that the children run their hands over and carry around, filling and pouring and incorporating into their play.
Everyone takes a turn at choosing a flower in the basket. Small hands lift hammers and bang the flower, pressing it down onto calico, transferring the colour and patterns onto the white surface. Transformation. The children watch closely, touch and look to their parents to make sure that they are seeing the wonder that they are.
Playgroup attendees Jess and her partner are holding and patting a new baby goat, fittingly called a kid.
“I’m super grateful to live close by to something like this. We moved down from Melbourne and it just feels like it’s awesome that we have the opportunity to come and find community and meet new people and it’s just five minutes down the road.”
“I just love the fact that they’re free to do what they want but Shel creates something new each week and there’s something new to do,” said Jess.
“Sonny, our son, just loves being outside so it has been fun getting out and doing different things. He likes planting the herbs and the veggies and today we planted some strawberries. There’s something new to do each week but it’s also a really comfortable space.”
Sometimes at playgroups, parents and children separate to do their own thing here and there, but at Little Farmers, there is a lot of interaction and togetherness. They are discovering side by side.
There’s lots to uncover. Within the cubby house, there are colourful turning wheels that show different lifecycles of plants. There is a farm market stall with big veggies ready to be sold. Lots of tools and equipment are placed around the garden to dig and explore with. Storybooks are placed on a big mat. There is a bakehouse. Baskets for collecting things. Pots, pans, containers. A swap shop. A sandpit. Little tables and chairs. Toy cars. Wooden toys. A mini shopping trolley. Rakes. Watering cans. Wheelbarrows full of plantings. And space- there is plenty of space to move and choose your own adventure.
One thing that the parents continue to talk about is the easy flow and loose structure of the group. Partly child-led, the activities are prepared and ready but there is no rush. Lauren says they usually get around to all of them in the end because they are so fun, yet it is an unhurried process with a sprinkling of spontaneity thrown in for good measure.
Shel had made tunnels out of bamboo. Bit by bit the group gather to place balls in the top and see if they can get them to trundle down to the ground. Next comes the water experiment. Shel has the watering cans at the ready and the kids follow along, gathering water and taking it in turns to pour into the tunnel.
“Yep, the water has splashed all over me,” Shel says with a laugh, happy enough as the kids continue to splash about and play.
The children are smiling and observing and wanting to get involved.
Lauren remarks how good it has been to come along, no matter the weather.
“It’s been winter and it’s still been so great!”
One little girl has an idea of her own. She reaches out for a hand, determined to take the baby goat out to see the older goat, located in a separate paddock.
“Be cawlful!” one little boy says, “You’ll square him, don’t square him!”
The little girl chases the lamb that is hopping about. The little boy chases the girl. The Mum is following, chasing both. They all end up in a happy pile together, the lamb at the centre of the attention and affection.
A regular attendee, Jess, drives 45 minutes to come along to this group. Her son is always asking when it’s time for playgroup. Often he asks on Saturday and Monday. She laughs and always says, “Wednesday!” Evidently, it’s a long wait for him.
“He wants to stay here all the time. He talks about farm playgroup all week.”
“He loves it so much, just being outside and having so many activities to do. He just loves it so much.”
Shel and her family are falling into a rhythm here after a year on the land. Like clockwork they attend to the animals first thing in the morning and at sundown. You can see how it has captured their creative spirit. The ideas they have are coming to fruition. It’s hard work but satisfying work.
“I don’t like the hustle bustle of any other kind of lifestyle now, just the quietness,” said Shel.
“I love the freedom to be able to expand and grow and do whatever I want to do. And nobody can see me.” She looks around, “They’re never home, they can’t see me- it’s the privacy, the space.”
Isla at three is immersed. This is what she knows.
“She just thinks this is the greatest thing. I don’t think she quite understands that we are running a playgroup, she just thinks people have come to see her.”
“She just thinks, all my friends are coming to the little farmers paddock.”
Like storybooks we read and re-read at an early age, these early connections with the outside world form part of who these children will become, what they love, what they know, what fragrances they recognise, how they come to know the seasons.
At a time when change is upon us, the pressure on the environment increased with our greater wants and needs as a society, there is something profound about taking things back to basics.
“It will continue to grow as they grow older, absolutely,” said Shel.
“I think having the exposure at an early age- a lot of people wouldn’t have put a seed in the ground until they were older and learnt about it, so we get to experience that here. I think it’s really important. Especially to see where the food comes from and things like that. We did seed saving a few weeks ago where all the kids got all the vegetables and opened them like capsicum and beans and saw where seeds come from and learnt that seeds can actually go back in the ground and grow again.”
These little farmers and their families are growing and will continue to grow as they return here. The ground is fertile, both for growing new experiences and lasting connections with the earth.
Article by Sinead Halliday
Photography by Mylie Nauendorf and Sinead Halliday