#115 Extra - Mountainside to Oceanside ... & Back
Tanya Massy on heartbreak & home
Part 2 of this episode with Tanya Massy was recorded in two locations. The first half was recorded back at the farm in Western Australia, on that hay bale. We delved further into Tanya’s deep personal journey of leaving Severn Park and starting up a new farming enterprise on the other side of the country. That was recorded back in January, as that enterprise was just going to market. Then came heartbreak. Soon after we left, Tanya and Kris had to pull the plug on it all and return to the Massy farm at Severn Park.
The ‘treehouse’ – Charlie Massy’s office, inside which this conversation was recorded (pic: Anthony James).
“There’s this really difficult thing that we’re facing in all aspects of the world at the moment, when there are people we encounter with a completely polar opposite viewpoint on the world, on the treatment of land, on the treatment of animals. How to meet that? I think often we feel like it takes courage to fight that. But sometimes it takes just as much courage to meet that with respect.”
As fate would have it, come late March, Tanya and Kris had just arrived back at Severn Park when we were in northern Victoria visiting Ian and Courtney (my guests from episode 89). So we followed the Murray River for a while, wound our way through the Snowy Mountains, and reconnected with Tanya back at Severn Park for the second half of this episode. We talk about what happened, how they’re recovering, how the land is thriving, and what they’re starting up now.
The first half of this conversation was recorded at Wildewood Farm near Denmark in Western Australia on 23 January 2022, and the second half at Severn Park near Cooma in New South Wales on 3 April 2022.
Click on the photos below for full view, and hover over them for descriptions where they’ve been added (all pics by Anthony James except where noted).
Find more:
You can hear the rest of Tanya and I in conversation in the main episode: ‘Farming Wonder: Tanya Massy on growing up, starting up and scaling up regeneration’. You’ll find a few links in the show notes, and a few more photos on that episode web page too.
And if you’re interested, you can hear the WOMAD event I hosted with Charlie Massy, along with Anika Molesworth and Bruce Pascoe, on the WOMAD podcast.
Music:
Stones & Bones, by Owls of the Swamp.