GEOFF’S JOURNEY
I was lucky to grow up on this property with my beloved Granpa and Granma living right next door. I spent many happy days with my Granpa who would carve me toys and make his own walking sticks from our fallen timber. Growing up surrounded by a forest teeming with native wildlife and the creek and river bountiful with native fish and platypus, my love of nature and my home was forever cemented.
Being farmers, making and mending is second nature. If you need something for a job that you don’t have, you make it, if something breaks, you fix it! My skills with timber and metal were already developing throughout childhood and were further honed at my secondary Technical School in Wangaratta. It was there that I had my first exposure to environmentalism, through an inspirational teacher. This further nurtured my own ideology and that philosophy has strengthened throughout my life.
My apprenticeship in a Trade saw me work in many and varied industries, all the while still working on the farm in my spare time. The family trade of Dairy Farming did not appeal to me, so I planted a small Vineyard and grew native grass for seed and fodder. Patches of salinity on cleared land gave me an opportunity to revegetate the area, returning it to a more natural state and fixing the erosion. I loved that experience of growing a forest from seed and wanted to do a lot more of it, so we opened an eco-friendly B&B to raise funds for more revegetation works.
It was always my dream to work fulltime from the farm (just not in dairy), working fulltime both off and on the farm was not ideal. I had seen many of our hundreds year old majestic red gums fall and die over years of cyclical drought and flood. This natural attrition sowed the seeds for a different venture, the ultimate in sustainably produced timber furniture and a new lease of life befitting such regal giants. When the opportunity to purchase a Lucas Mill (plus workshop equipment) presented itself, I took the leap to live my dream – combining my passions for the environment, recycling and timber to create beautiful pieces that don’t harm the earth.
Geoff Simpson
Fallen Timber Furniture Company