For Rosie, growing saffron was a natural progression from her many years working as a chef in the kitchens of Melbourne and the Mornington Peninsula. Her focus was to grow the kind of chemical free food she wanted to eat. Rosie also wanted to grow a food crop that other adventurous cooks would be excited to use. Saffron ticked all the boxes- an incredible versatile ingredient with low energy and water requirements and well suited to Central Victoria frosty winters and hot summers.

Unlike other saffron farmers Rosie has chosen to grow her saffron in raised wicking beds. By growing her saffron in this manner, she is able to micromanage her soil and water usage and use vermiculture to create a sustainable eco system in each of the garden beds without the need for synthetic additives

Now in her fifth year of production, she looks forward to each Autumn as an exciting time when her hard work blossoms. She gathers every single strand of saffron gold by hand, check each one for its colour and condition to ensure every strand is the best it can be. Each strand is then dried to keep its perfect condition. She doesn’t add anything artificial from planting to packing so she knows it will arrive to you the same way it left the farm. This is why getting your saffron from Squirrel Gully is such a gastronomic pleasure. No middle man, no herbicide’s, no pesticide’s, nothing but the best, taken directly from the flower as soon as it opens.

 Join Rosie on her journey to produce quality local saffron and share her stories about living life to the fullest on her off-grid farm.