Singing the blues

Blueberry farmer Kellie Potts likes to tell her kids that if she were to get a tattoo, it would be a tree with the equation 6CO₂ + 6H₂ O + (light energy) C₆ H₁₂ O₆ + 6O₂ written on the trunk. “Why not?” she says. “It’s the formula for photosynthesis, the source of all energy for life. I have to add that it’s highly unlikely I will ever follow through.”

Kellie lives with her partner, Nigel McIvor, and children, Amy, aged 14, and Lachlan, 13, on a 27-acre (10-hectare) farm at Sandy Beach near Coffs Harbour on the NSW mid-north coast. In the mid-2000s, she and her brothers, Michael and John, were gifted shares in a property that had been in their family since their great-grandmother bought it during the 1930s for their grandfather, who ran a butcher’s shop in nearby Woolgoolga.

“My grandfather had his slaughter yards on the farm, but we grew up on a bigger beef cattle place at Corindi,” Kellie explains. “Our father was retiring when my grandfather decided to give up the farm, so Dad decided to give it to us kids. It was a nifty move as we were all living away and it gave us all the excuse to come home. It’s been rather lovely as we all live near each other and have raised our families together, so I realise were are very lucky.”

BLUEBERRY & THYME COCKTAIL

(Serves 2)

2 sprigs fresh thyme2 cups fresh blueberries4 tablespoons lemon or lime juice2 tablespoons white sugar Artisan gin, to taste IceSoda water, to