Inside Rachel’s Farm: A Regenerative Journey From Soil to Your Table

Most people only ever see the end of the food journey: a carton of eggs, a tray of beef, a bottle of milk.
But behind every product at Farmthru is a farmer, a philosophy, and a landscape shaped by years of care.

Rachel’s Farm — founded by actor-turned-regenerative-farming advocate Rachel Ward — is one of the clearest examples of what it means to grow food differently. Not faster, not cheaper… but better, for both people and the planet.

Here’s the story behind the farm, the soil, the animals, and the products you are now able to bring home through Farmthru.

At this point I read a book by Charles Massey called Call of the Reed Warbler and watched the Allan Savory Ted Talk. I was immediately inspired and converted to the concept of regenerative agriculture, Luckily my neighbour and farm manager at the time was on the same trajectory and we made the decision to join our herds and convert both our farms.

This shift for Mick, my manager, was harder in many ways than it was for me. He  had grown up with  conventional agriculture and, now, he had to do something deeper than change his techniques — he had to change his mindset.
 He had to go from controlling nature, to working with it. From growing the herd size and maximising financial gain today  to maximising land health for the next 100 years. From chemical dependency to biological resilience. And from “animals as output” to “animals as ecosystem partners”

This mindset now shapes everything that happens on my farm.

Regenerative farming can sound abstract, but its principles are simple and practical. 

Healthy Soil → Healthy Food → Healthy People

Healthy soil holds water, stores carbon, nourishes grass, feeds animals, and ultimately creates nutrient-dense food. 

But years of conventional  farming had stripped my soils of life over the decades. We used herbicides to kill  the pastures so we could plant winter grass, we set-grazed which means that we held cattle in a paddock until they could forage no more. We had poor grass coverage on some areas which meant that when we got big storms the soil would run off and create erosion and our grasses too were short rooted which meant we weren’t holding the precious water that fell in our soil structure. 
Mick and I reversed all that. We Rotational Graze which means animals are moved frequently so pastures can recover, deepen their roots, and capture more carbon.
We prioritise keeping the ground covered. No bare soil — ever. A living plant protects the land from erosion and heat. We use minimal Synthetic Chemicals. We do not spray out our grasses. We slash and use animals to trample the grass and direct drill or spray out seed. Yes, it reduces the yield of whatever we plant but whenever possible, biology replaces chemicals: compost, microbes, worms.  Our aim here is to keep the grass in a constant state of growth, this pulls more carbon and the keeps the grass pulling nutrients. Once it stops growing and throws a seed the nutrients and sugars in the grass decline. We never plant a mono crop. All our grasses are now mixed species and we no longer obsess about weeds. Increasing biodiversity, plants, insects, microbes, birds — all equals more resilience. 

We farm with animals as tools to bolster nature not fight it. A cows saliva stimulates grass growth. Its hoofs trample so the grass has contact with the soil and allows for microbes to break it down quicker. It’s bodily fluids then work like a mobile composter.  

Chickens spread nutrients. Each additional farm species whether domestic or wild plays a valuable role. Limiting chemicals,  allows for the expression of so many natural elements that would other wise be eliminated. As a result regeneratively farmed land becomes richer every year, not poorer.

The evidence of regenerated land is of course very visible to see and that’s what encouraged me to keep going and to make a documentary, Rachel’s Farm, so I could show the difference not only with my farm but others. You can see the impact of regeneration everywhere. The grass grows thicker and deeper, the soil holds moisture longer in drought, birds and dung beetles return, the ground stays cooler in summer, paddocks recover faster after grazing, then as nature starts the build on herself,  land becomes more self-sustaining each year.  Soon, what was once depleted paddock is now a thriving ecosystem.

Non farmers rarely get to see this part of their  food system,  but it’s the foundation of everything and if we don’t get our management right, it effects not only our land and our natural biodiversity but our animal welfare and our health as consumers.

When I first started farming, I had no idea of the relationship I would have with the animals. I was afraid of getting too close as ultimately they are bred to be consumed. But we have both a breeding herd and a paddock to plate herd. My breeders are on the farm to 8-10 years, the calves they produce stay with them for maximum 8-9 months then, without changing farms or going through the very stressful sale yard process, graduate to the paddock to  plate herd where they are fed and finished ONLY on grass for up to 18 months. Both herds  are moved to fresh pasture frequently, This movement mimics patterns of wild herds and restores grasslands instead of degrading them. It also means we are constantly with our cattle which makes for low stress handling, they have plentliful shade and in most paddocks a dam to wade in and lunch on waterlilies.  Our cattle are at the heart of our regenerative systems — not as commodities, but as partners that improve the land. 

The same applies to our pastured meat-chicken enterprise They live outdoors with  grass under their feet, they have access to bugs, worms, seeds, and soil, a portable shelter which is moved regularly across fresh grass and  leaves behind a richly fertilised pasture.

I have witnessed the processing of our chickens and I can tell you their gizzards are full of decomposing grass not grain. And this is what makes all the difference to both the taste and nutrient density. Regenerative farming isn’t just about the environment — it produces exceptional food. Grass fed and finished beef is richer, darker, cleaner (of chemical residue) and much more flavourful. Rarely do we get the opportunity to taste the difference between grass and grain fed (feed-lot beef). I did a blind comparison test recently at a local Ag day and, with one exception, everyone preferred the grass finished product and many expressed surprise at the difference. It seems we have lost our memory of how good grass fed and finished beef truely is. Chickens fed  free range on grass and grain have deeper yellow yolks, and meat birds have a better texture and moisture content. Why?
Because when animals eat a diverse diet of fresh grass, herbs, and forbs — and live low-stress lives — their meat naturally becomes more nutrient-dense and flavourful. This is a flavour that no industrial feedlot or caged system can ever replicate. 

All products from my farm as sold frozen. Even though we have taken our produce out of the corporate supply chain, there is still  a journey to the consumer,  we want the freshness of a recently processed animal to be locked in. There is no difference in the taste of a meat product that has been frozen or a loss of nutrients.  It will keep in your freezer for a year before it reaches it use by date.  It is, however, very important that the product returns to room temperature before it is cooked. You don’t want to muscle contacting too fast from cold to heat.

Choosing regenerative is not a diet trend — it’s a return to how food was meant to be grown. Yes, this is a vote for clean, tasty food but but it’s also a vote for solving the greatest existential crisis of our time. Climate change and diminishing biodiversity. When you buy produce through Farmthru, you support, soil restoration, better animal welfare, more delicious, nutrient dense food, but most importantly you encourage farmers to farm more sustainably because, thanks to you and your purchasing dollar, there is a growing market specific to climate positive agricultural practices. 

Every purchase creates more regenerated land in NSW. 

Happy eating and all the best, Rachel.

Thanks to Farmthru, you can now enjoy products from Rachel’s Farm every week, knowing exactly where they came from — right down to the soil.

→ Explore Rachel’s Farm products on Farmthru