Scenic Rim Farm Gate Trail

​​View from Oaky Creek Farm Harvest Café overlooking their farm with fields of garlic and an orchard with lemons, limes, grapefruit, finger limes, and more! 

The Scenic Rim Farm Gate Trail is an easy one hour drive from both Brisbane and the Gold Coast and provides an opportunity to meet farmers, shop locally and go home with a basket full of local produce and goodies! I was super excited to be in the area when one of the twice-yearly trails were running and had a hard time selecting which farms to visit! But I worked out an itinerary that made the most of the day, finished me up heading south, and took in the diversity on offer. 

Cheese plater from Towri Sheep Cheeses (left), in the garden at Elderflower Farm (centre), and cookies by Scenic Rim Cookie Co which had a market stall at Tommerup's Dairy Farm (right) 

My first stop was to Tommerup's Dairy Farm where there was an array of market stalls, live music, a farm walk feeding the animals, the cutest homemade cookies, and their farm larder was open selling their divine dairy products. I recommend the ice cream! Tommerup's is a family Guernsey dairy that regularly opens up for visitors with a farm stay, long lunches, open days, farm gate markets, school excursions, and participating in the Scenic Rim Farm Gate Trail. Their set up was very well done and informative.

Next stop was to Oaky Creek Farm & Harvest Café in the heart of the Scenic Rim custom built as a one-of-a-kind destination. I loved that as part of the Farm Gate Trail they had a map of their farm with the crops and items of interest noted. It was cool to see just how many different fruits, vegetables and herbs were grown on their land and used in the café. Next on the itinerary was a quick stop into Bee All Natural Honey in Jimboomba to take a look at their honey products from hives located across South East Queensland.

I was blown away by the set-up at artisan sheep dairy and cheesery, Towri Sheep Cheeses. The 300-acre farm has a purpose built dairy to milk 350 sheep, which they open to the public every Saturday kicking off with a milking demonstration. The farm set-up was so well done, had the best farm shop (hello cute sheep things), and cute real sheep, plus delicious cheeses!

Summer Land Camels is a camel farm producing camel milk, cheeses, gelato, and a range of skin and hair care products, as well as a farm café and shop. They are a popular tourist destination throughout the year hosting tours on most weekends and school holidays, as well as school excursions and camel rides. They sold out during the Farm Gate Trail and had additional market stalls and live music. I loved their passion to connect visitors with Australian camels and the industry.

The Scenic Rim Farm Shop was a hive of activity during the Farm Gate Trial. Not only is it home to a bustling café under towering Jacarandas which were just beautiful, but it also is home to the Elderflower Farm, and the Scenic Rim Farm Box. The Scenic Rim Farm Box is a collaboration between farmers and the local council to connect producers and consumers by delivering fresh, healthy produce into Brisbane every week.

My final stop on the Farm Gate Trail was Scenic Rim Mushrooms. And it blew me away for ingenuity! The town's disused Bowling Club is now home to a mushroom farm, producing an array of mushrooms for locals and restaurants, and providing growing and cooking classes. Again, there was additional market stalls on site, opening the opportunity for more businesses to be involved in the Farm Gate Trail then just those with a farm.

The day was great insight into the diversity of produce from the Scenic Rim (and I didn't get to every open farm)! I was very fortunate to be travelling through when this event was on, and to see how as a collective they're engaging and inviting the public on-farm.