NSW Bushfires: Sassafras Nuts farmers rebuild after Currowan fire
Nut farmers Richard Moxham and Alison Saunders lost 200 walnut trees in the Currowan fire. But like most primary producers in the region, they’re a resilient bunch.
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Sassafras Nuts farmers Richard Moxham and Alison Saunders lost their entire walnut crop when the Currowan and Tianjara bushfires merged, obliterating 24 homes, livestock and crops.
The couple, who have grown walnuts and chestnuts since 1995, expected any fire threat to come from the west, but on December 21, a strong southerly spread the merged bushfire across the localities of Nerriga and Sassafras.
More than 30 people sought shelter at Nerriga Pub, some stayed to defend property, while the nut farmers chose to evacuate.
“We have a rule that if it’s a catastrophic fire day, we will leave,” Ms Saunders said.
“People who have said they stayed up here, will never stay again. It frightened the life out of them.”
Once they returned to the property after the fire, the farmers found a crop of about 200 mature walnut trees, burnt, blackened and blistered.
The couple also lost a generator, sheds, a tractor and more than 750 grafted trees in their “nursery”.
But they feel for the wider community who have all experienced loss.
“Some people have lost houses,” Ms Saunders said. “We’ve got people over here, who have committed their livelihoods to looking after wildlife. People have put in brand new truffles, people have put up new fencing for new enterprises. So everyone’s lost something that’s important to them.”
“There’s a lot of grief,” Mr Moxham said.
Luckily, the couple were successful in their application for a primary producers special disaster grant from the NSW Government.
Funds allowed them to purchase an air ladder so they could begin the walnut crop’s pruning process, clear burnt trees along their perimeter and install new irrigation.
If they choose to replant the walnut trees, a yield may take nine to 10 years.
“We’re pretty well connected with researchers around the world in walnuts and they’ve experienced fires too in the past, in Italy, where these trees come from,” Ms Saunders, an ecologist, said.
“We spoke to the experts. We took photos. They drew up pictures of how we needed to prune them back to give them their best chance of recovery. So we’ve gone ahead and done that and we now just sit and wait.”
Thankfully, over February and March more than 500mm of rain has fallen at the farm.
Blackened ground has fresh grass growing and the couple are preparing for their chestnut harvest to begin.
And now, Sassafras Nuts faces a whole new challenge with restrictions around COVID-19.
Visitors usually arrive via bus and have the opportunity to mingle or enjoy picnics among the mature nut trees.
There is a picnic shelter, the Nut House where purchases are made, and visitors can freely roam the farm to pick their haul.
“We’re just going through that process now. Obviously everyone’s got to be responsible,” Mr Moxham, an agricultural scientist, said.
Buses are cancelling, so they may encourage car loads.
Despite drought, fire and a pandemic seemingly falling like dominoes and affecting their business, there is a “little corner of hope” at the farm.
The couple are part of a trial in conjunction with the NSW Government on root stocks of walnuts, which remainded untouched by fire.