Katherine and Ian had been working hard establishing their careers. For Katherine, training as a Paediatrician meant long hours, night shift and study for examinations. Meanwhile, Ian was working four weeks away as an Electrician on a mine site, only to have one week to spend together. While working hard to achieve goals was in their DNA, they both dreamed of a better life to raise a family together. Both had memories of growing up on family farms, where days were spent climbing trees, playing with animals, eating fresh fruit from the orchard.

Inspired by a holiday to Tasmania, the pristine natural landscapes, delicious produce, and sense of community sparked ideas of cultivating this rural lifestyle for themselves and their family. Their dream was to live off the land and grow premium produce.

Months away working gave Ian a new challenge, to turn this dream into reality. Then he discovered black truffles! This unique and enticing ingredient was a relatively new industry in Australia, the seed of an idea was cultivated by Ian’s research into how and where to grow truffles in Tasmania. Katherine still remembers the phone call where Ian asked, “How about a truffière in Tasmania?”. After the initial surprise, she began to see how they could create the lifestyle they wanted.

After finding a farm in Pipers Brook, they continued in their jobs, flying back and forth from the mainland spending all their time off learning new skills, renovating the soil, and removing rocks by hand to prepare to plant their orchard. With help from friends and family, they finally planted their truffière. Four years later, on a cold winters day, they noticed a bulge pushing up out of the soil. Brushing away the earth, they uncovered their first black truffle. As they smelt the delicious aroma, they felt a sense of achievement, their hard work was paying off.

These days, truffle dog Diego and daughter Audrey join Katherine and Ian on the truffle hunt and the dream of creating a wholesome rural life for their family is taking shape. They’re grateful to live connected to nature, where Audrey can experience the smell of a freshly harvested truffle, taste juicy homegrown tomatoes, or see a wild platypus swimming in the dam. Through growing premium black truffles, they hope to be able to share this experience with others.