Hillside Acres

17/07/2026

A great idea to support

YIMBY is excited to be part of the new Mount Alexander Organics Partnership...

Read more about this at https://drive.google.com/file/d/1BQFDA6oA7EQCnsyZoa7xG0OoX_4j_0DY/view?usp=sharing

30/05/2026

Hello Hillside Acres supporters,
Sorry we've been quiet on this site. It's been a bit of a struggle since the fires to find the energy for social media and farming in general frankly.
However, there are some slow wins. We've fixed enough fences to bring both lots of sheep home - the ewes, who should be lambing soon, and last year's lambs. Still don't have the cattle back and still have a lot more fencing to do - but it's coming along.
The remains of the burnt shed have finally gone which is also psychologically a great improvement. No more driving up the driveway past the burnt out remnants.
The paddocks look green but there's a lot of w**d that's come up. Haven't made any plans to tackle this yet.
We haven't been back to the Castlemaine Farmers' Market and are still thinking about our long-term plans.
Sadly some of the big trees are looking very unwell.
In the interim, we are selling boxes of 1/2 a lamb, available in the next couple of weeks. Please message me if you're interested.

25/02/2026

It’s seven weeks or so since the disaster.

From the outside, people think everything is “back to normal.”

The cameras are gone.
The headlines have dried up.
The politicians aren’t walking the streets.

But here’s what I’m seeing:

Recovery isn’t linear. Some are moving forward. Some have gone backwards. Some are steady. Some are barely holding it together, smiling in public, falling apart at home.

Resilience? Don’t get me started. Resilience can f*&k off.

What matters is capacity before crisis. Emotional, financial, social, and community capacity. If that was thin before, the disaster exposes it.

Low capacity? That’s not failure. It can be rebuilt, slowly, deliberately, with support. Honest conversations, asking for help, reconnecting with your community. Small steps. That’s where hope lies.

The cameras may leave. The world may assume it’s over.
But the real work? That’s only just beginning.

If you know someone impacted, check in again. Recovery doesn’t follow a news cycle.

27/01/2026

Survivor guilt doesn’t care what you lost.

After the 2019–20 fires in Sarsfield, Victoria, I sat in a community meeting I’ll never forget.

The room was full of people who had lost everything. Homes. Stock. Machinery. A lifetime of work reduced to ash.

And then there was a young woman.

She hadn’t lost her house.
She hadn’t lost family.
She’d “only” lost a shed.

And yet she was the most distressed person in the room. Inconsolable. Shaking. Unable to speak.

I watched people shift uncomfortably.
I could feel the unspoken comparison hanging in the air.

Why is she this upset? Others have lost so much more.

This is survivor guilt.

Phoenix Australia and trauma researchers like Dr Kate Brady remind us that trauma isn’t measured by the size of the loss, it’s shaped by threat, fear, helplessness, and the way our nervous system processes danger.

Survivor guilt often sounds like:
• “I shouldn’t feel this bad.”
• “Others had it worse.”
• “I don’t deserve help.”

And that guilt can silence people. It can delay recovery. It can make people feel weak when they’re actually injured.

This is what I really want people to hear: it doesn’t matter how big or small your disaster or challenge is, if it is impacting your mental health and wellbeing, you are worthy of seeking help.

That young woman wasn’t overreacting.
Her system had been overwhelmed.
And guilt was making it worse.

If you survived a disaster and you’re struggling, even if your losses feel small compared to others, you are not broken. You are human and worthy of help and support.

Recovery isn’t a competition.
Pain is not a ranking system.
Compassion, for others and for ourselves, is part of rebuilding capacity and recovery.

If this resonates, you’re not alone. And you don’t have to carry it quietly.

15/01/2026

Many of Hillside Acres' followers will already know about the impact on the fires on our little farm. In short, while the house has been saved, the historic apple packing shed and its contents, some farming equipment and all the fences and pastures have been burnt. It was a miracle the house survived. Jarrod beloved aviary needs repairs but almost all the birds didn't make it.
Almost all the stock has got through more or less unscathed. We think they stood on dam banks or an area of earth which had been bulldozed and didn't have grass on it. We have had the vet out to a steer and have given one limping lamb some pain killers, but again, a miracle. We have been inundated by support from neighbours, strangers, the community and businesses. It is humbling and awesome all at once. We will move all stock off the farm over the next few days (the ewes have already gone). Unfortunately, this will be in three different locations, but they are all within 10km. It will be so good for the animals to be on unburnt land. It's sad seeing them standing in the ashes.
Because we came back to the property on the night of the fires and were able to get a generator going, we have not lost any meat from our freezers.
Sadly, we have lost some of the beautiful big ancient trees we have been caretakers of. That loss is still to fully hit us.
It will impact the business in the short term but hopefully not the long term (although it is making us have a re-think about what's important to us). We didn't go to this week's Castlemaine Farmers' Market and may give it a miss for a short time while we regroup.
Thank you everyone for your support.