Honeysuckle Produce distributing ethically and sustainably grown beef

Honeysuckle Flat is home to producing delicious and ethically grown beef under 'Honeysuckle Produce'.

The cattle farm, located on Portland Sunny Corner Road is run by Maree Evans and her husband Pete along with the help of their three children.

The family have owned the property for seven years and have been living on it for three, according to Maree.

"Pete comes from a farming background and we always had the plan to live rurally," she said.

She said they had always eaten their own meat and decided they had a good product which caused the business to come about.

"We wanted to do it in a sustainable way and that's what we're doing," she said.

Around 90 head of Angus cattle enjoy 350 acres at Honeysuckle Flat where they are grass-fed.

"We have our own bulls so we grow our calves out and they're the ones used for meat," Maree said.

While the growing side of things is done at Honeysuckle, the slaughtering and butchering takes place in Oberon.

"They're probably a year to 18 months old and we wait until they get to a decent size and send them off at about 400kg so they're nice and juicy.

"Once the process is complete we go pick the meat up, bring it back and distribute it," Maree said.

She said the market was local, small and currently done online.

"I do the selling via Facebook which has been pretty good and we get repeat customers as well as new people.

"There's lots of interest," she said.

She said there were plans to stock it locally in the future.

"My family own the Wallerawang Bakery and Wollemi Bakery so we could stock meat packs there in the future but for now we're just kind of seeing how it goes and what works best for us," she said.

Maree said the Covid-19 pandemic had actually been a positive for the business, being able to work from home.

"Pete and I both have off-farm jobs but because we've been home there's been more time to get heaps of farm work done."

She said drought and bushfires knocked them around earlier in the year but things were looking ahead.

"Definitely had our challenges with drought and lots of smoke with the fires.

"We were due to sell meat in January but we couldn't because we didn't know if we could get it out, get it back, but we're looking ahead," she said.

Maree said what made Honeysuckle Produce different to your average Woolies steak was that she knew where it was coming from.

"We know exactly what we're getting, we've seen them [cattle] since they've been born, we're going around them every couple of days. we know what they're eating, we know what we are putting into them as well," she said.

She said they were low impact and sustainably and ethically grown.

"They're healthy and happy cattle."

Maree said she loved that her land was being used in a sustainable way and that her family could be involved in the business.

"Everyone chips in on afternoons, weekends and holidays and we have a good product which is rewarding," she said.

She also said her land was well looked after with thousands of trees planted.

"We're looking after our land, we've planted thousands of trees and we look after it in a best practice kind of way, we're not flogging it to death," she said.

As well as the beef product, Maree also has a large veggie garden which she used to make tasty pickles, jams, relishes and chutneys.

"I'm hoping to sell them in the near future," she said.

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