Conscious meat ‘People are coming back to meat.’

Victoria Cosford

I’m chatting to Nick Tallas, manager of new-kid-on-the-block Conscious Ground, purveyor of grass-fed beef and pork. I’d been curious to know how, in a region as dedicated to veganism as this one is, their products are received. ‘When you offer people an alternative to something that’s good for the planet, that’s when you get a lot of ex-vegans now eating meat.’

On 240 acres of land at Myocum, owner Richard Togersrud started his business about five years ago ‘with the intention,’ Nick tells me, ‘of educating people as well as producing organic food,’ Of those acres, 110 are for grazing while on another 20–30, pigs are rotated. The cows are 100% grass-raised and finished and, unlike grain-fed cattle with their higher methane output, more carbon is locked into the soil. Management is holistic and the animals are moved around regularly, which offers a means of controlling pests in conjunction with the organic apple cider vinegar they are fed, used for internal parasites.

It’s a great challenge maintaining their ACO organic status (‘those internal parasites in a sub-tropical environment’, Nick tells me, deter a lot of other farmers from going fully organic) and yet the selective rotation of animals, the many water catchment areas on the property and its holistic management all assist. ‘Running a diversity of animals – the pigs running around – in that natural environment brings so much joy’, Nick says.

From the little grill set up, he and fellow stall-holder Felix offer samples of meltingly tender beef on toothpicks – for a high vegan customer base the proffered plate seems to empty in seconds! I myself come away with fat Italian pork sausages I devour that night with mashed potatoes, relishing their coarse rustic texture and their very hot spiciness.

Conscious Ground are at Mullumbimby Farmers Market every Friday from 7 to 11am.