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Three Blue Ducks heading to Byron Bay

Scott Bolles
Scott Bolles

Spreading wings: LaBrooy's Three Ducks team will be on the farm by Christmas.
Spreading wings: LaBrooy's Three Ducks team will be on the farm by Christmas.Steven Siewert

Three Blue Ducks has journeyed a long way from the pint-sized vegetable patch behind the cafe in Bronte.

The Ducks team is now set to run a farm in Byron Bay with its own restaurant.

"I believe it is the largest food-related project of its type in Australia," co-owner Mark LaBrooy says of The Farm by Three Blue Ducks, which is slated to open in December.

Five kilometres north-west of Byron Bay, the collaborative project with local farmer Will Cotterill will cover more than 30 hectares.

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The equivalent of six to eight football fields of space has been set aside to grow produce for the 100-seat restaurant, which is being built in an agricultural shed.

If that sounds like a kitchen garden on steroids, there will also be pigs, cows and 1500 chickens for organic egg generation.

"Everything we grow there, including strawberries, blueberries, avocados and ginger, will be available for sale. Long-term we are looking at doing our own trout," LaBrooy adds.

If that isn't ambitious enough, a cheese factory will take up residence on the farm, and there are plans for a sideline business in cut flowers.

He says they are also exploring tea production.

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Sounds a bit like Woodstock for food. They'll continue to operate at Bronte, but LaBrooy says the senior team will relocate for the launch.

"It'll also be a nice time to get up there for a surf," he says.

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Scott BollesScott Bolles writes the weekly Short Black column in Good Food.

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