3. Good Organic Gardening - May-June 2016 AvxHome.in

GARDENING FOLK | Marleen & Ronald van der Winckel
Ronald and Marleen
second time
round
Originally from the Netherlands, these herb farmers moved to Australia
twice to realise their dream of an organic way of life
Words & photos Jennifer Stackhouse
& Emma van der Winckel
Amid fields of medicinal poppies,
potatoes and grazing cattle and
sheep, a patch of vivid purple
lavender stands out against the
red soil. I am in Barrington in northwest
Tasmania about 20 minutes from the port
city of Devonport. It’s a lush region with
rolling green hills and views to mountains. In
winter, those mountains are often snowclad.
As I slow down to admire the straight,
even rows of lavender flowers, I notice
other interesting crops and a small sign
reading “Marleen Herbs of Tasmania”. I turn
into the driveway.
The Marleen of Marleen Herbs is Marleen
van der Winckel. She and husband Ronald live
with their family in a Federation-style timber
house with a cottage garden, vegetable and
herb beds, fruit trees and chooks. There are
rustic outbuildings, including a purpose-built
bread oven, shade houses and a vast but
picturesque timber-clad shed. Huge walnut
trees overhang some of the buildings.
Beyond the house, in addition to the eyecatching
lavender crop, are fields planted
with organic herbs and medicinal plants.
The farm is a beautiful and productive
place with a backdrop of mountains, including
the ever-changing Mount Roland, paddocks
and native eucalypts.
Changing
hemispheres
Marleen and Ronald say they have been
growing herbs organically since they began
farming in The Netherlands in 1982. It suited
their desire to live an organic lifestyle. By
1987, they were able to buy a property.
The family first moved to Tasmania
in 2000. They tell me they settled near
Deloraine in the north of the state but
after three years decided to return to the
Netherlands. Despite moving back to Europe,
their yen for an Australian life didn’t abate.
“We spent lots of time thinking and talking
about Australia,” says Marleen. “In 2008, our
eldest son, Cyriel, travelled around Australia
and when he reached Tasmania, we asked
him to look at land in the northwest, which
we’d seen on the internet.”
The northwest of Tasmania is a rich
farming area with deep volcanic soils and a
usually reliable rainfall of around 1500mm
a year. The climate is Mediterranean, which
means cold, wet winters followed by warm,
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