When a fight breaks out over the last bunch of parsley on your farmers market stall, you know you’re doing something right.

Leah Galvin, of Fossil Farm Organics, says people have gone to great lengths to get their hands on her organic greens: “A few times, people have come running for the rocket,” she laughs.

The level of enthusiasm amongst her customers is a fitting pay-off for the passion and hard work that Leah and her team put in to their certified organic farm at Mullumbimby Creek.

Everything at Fossil Farm is grown organically and spray-free, with a focus on creating healthy soil to support healthy plants. Leah, who has managed Fossil Farm for the past three years, says it’s all about creating clean, nutritious food and respecting the land it is grown on.

Leah, 34, says her interest in organics was sparked by her earlier studies in nutrition naturopathy, and nursing.

“I didn’t really agree a lot with the medical system,” she said.

“I thought it needed to focus more on health and what we put into our bodies…preventative medicine.”

She completed a permaculture design course, WWOOFED on a farm in Thailand for a year, and then helped set up community gardens on the Gold Coast, before buying Fossil Farm with her parents three years ago.

As well as supplying her organic veges locally, Leah wants to make Fossil Farm an educational hub: “My vision is involving the community… having people come and be involved and learn how to grow food,” she said.

 Leah, who has teams of WWOOFERS to help on the farm, says she has seen people’s perspective on food and health change dramatically after spending time there.

“We’ve had a few people that have come…they’ve never been on a farm or an organic farm, and have never eaten good food.

“By the time they leave they’re a changed person. They say “I feel really healthy now. I feel good.”

• Find Fossil Farm Organics at the New Brighton Farmers Market every Tuesday.

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– Words and photos by Kate O’Neill.

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