Shannon Kelly // Full Circle Farm
It’s a mild Friday afternoon and we are visiting Full Circle Farm to meet up with Shannon Kelly, to have a little chat about his approach to farming. Shannon meets us at the gate and welcomes us as we past the rustic cottage that this family of four call home…
Bohemian Traders: Thanks for having us back. How’s your week been?
Shannon: It’s been nice. It’s been really good to get some workers.
In the one of the paddocks behind us we can see the two young Americans that the family have taken on as farm hands for a few months. They are wandering around barefoot with a camera, mesmerised by the soft golden light of the farm at twilight.
Shannon: I just trained them up yesterday and already I’ve had time today to jump on the trampoline with my kids, so that’s just great!
Shannon momentarily remembers something he forgot to mention to them when he trained them, and calls out loudly “Don’t touch that fence. It’s electric!” they seem to acknowledge the warning, as Shannon turns back to us chuckling lightly to himself. He reassuringly says under his breath “they’ll be fine”.
BT: In a nutshell, what is that you do here on Full Circle Farm?
Shannon: Well, we produce grass finished beef, pasture raised meat chickens and pasture raised eggs for our community. We do this all in a manner that regenerates the land, and in particularly the soil, instead of the ways that destroy it.
BT: So your customers are people in your community from the surrounding areas, what does buying produce locally mean to these customers? How does this approach to the food system differ to simply buying meat and eggs from a supermarket?
Shannon: I believe there is something grounding when people know where their food comes from, know their farmer and how the food was produced… Were there chemicals used? Were the animals treated ethically?
We are also really focused on the consumers health, so we try and produce meat proteins in a way that jam-packs as much nutrients into that meat and into those eggs as possible. A big part of that is getting as much grass into their diet. We’re also producing meats that have omega 3 through the roof.
BT: Now we know that you haven’t always lived on a farm or in the country, only a touch more than three years ago you were living in suburbia. Was it a gradual move or were there defining moments that gave you the push?
Shannon: I remember one of those crazy moments, back when we were living in suburbia… There was a thunderstorm rolling in over our neighbourhood, and I took my son out into the backyard to listen to this frog that was croaking just near our fence. It was obviously loving the rain. And I remember hearing this “k’sshhhhh” sound (Shannon mimics and aerosol spray), and I realised it was my neighbour spraying the frog with fly-spray because the frog was keeping him up at night. It was one of those moments when I realised that there was such a disconnection from nature, and I knew that we had to get out of suburbia… and that was the start of our journey to… well, to the farm!
BT: You’re really only a short drive from civilisation, yet the farm feels like a world of its own. It seems like a pretty magical life you and the family are living…
Shannon: It really is the best life! for my kids, for us. It so… it’s so full on… but at the same time it’s so stress-free. We love it.
Above, Kylie wears the Olive Top in White with the Distressed Denim Short and Amayah wears the Little Pinafore in Rust over the Little Henley Shirt in Black & White Stripe.
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Above, Amayah wears the Little Pinafore in Rust over the Little Henley Shirt in Black & White Stripe.
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Above, Amayah wears the Little Pinafore in Rust over the Little Henley Shirt in Black & White Stripe.
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Above, Rhye wears the Little Henley Shirt in Black & White Stripe.
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Above, Amayah wears the Little Henly Shirt in Buttermilk with the Little Flip Skirt in Rust.
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Above, Kylie wears the Genoa Dress in Tangelo Linen with the Bohemian Traders Distressed Skinny Jean and Amayah wears the Little Henly Shirt in Buttermilk with the Little Flip Skirt in Rust.
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Above, Kylie wears the Elle Cropped Shirt in White Linen and Shannon wears the Mister Linen Blazer over the Mister Hugo Shirt in White Linen.
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Above, Shannon wears the Mister Linen Blazer over the Mister Hugo Shirt in White Linen with the Mister Italian Slim Pant in Khaki.
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Above, Kylie wears the Genoa Dress in Tangelo Linen with the Bohemian Traders Distressed Skinny Jean, Rhye wears the Little Henley Shirt in Black & White Stripe, Amayah wears the Little Henly Shirt in Buttermilk with the Little Flip Skirt in Rust and Shannon wears the Mister Chambray Linen Shirt with the Mister Linen Short in Sand.
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