How a love for farming started Canberra's organic revolution

Patrick 'David' Pentony leans on the handrail of his Wallaroo homes and lets out a quiet chuckle as he surveys what's left of the once sprawling organic farm in front of him.

"The first lettuce you planted didn't even sprout!," he laughs as he puts an arm around his wife Hideko, who happily admits she had little interest in farming when first arriving from her native Japan.

Buying the 60 acre property near Hall more than 40 years ago with then wife Margaret, Dave had little idea that his modest plans would spark an organic farming revolution in the Canberra region.

"My intention when we first got the property was basically to have somewhere to raise a family but also to grow a few things - I was always interested in farming."

And grow they did, with the Pentony family eventually going on to develop one of the largest organic farms in the area and establishing the now flourishing Capital Region Farmers Market and outlet store Choku Bai Jo.

But two decades after they started feeding the capital,  the Pentony's are calling time, putting most of the property on the market. The family hopes to sell two-thirds of the property and keeping a small part to grow strawberries.

They have moved into a 120-square-metre unit in Canberra where they plan to retire.

"It was a dream, and we had our dream and we had our vision, and we achieved the vision that we set out to do and now we'd just like to actually retire this time," Dave says.

"Although we'll still have the bit down the back to do a bit on, it's time for somebody else to have their time."

When they moved in, the plan for was David, then 53, to settle down after a busy few years working in Japan for the United Nations as a lecturer in statistics. He was to work on the farm while Hideko would find work in town.

But it was Hideko, frustrated at not being able to find many of the Asian vegetables she missed from home, that found the niche that started them on the road to farming success.

"Back then, there wasn't too many Asian vegetables around so Dave showed me how to grow things," she says.

"I wanted to grow cucumbers and a few Asian greens and things and started planting it."

They started with strawberries and then planted bok choi, Japanese cucumbers, four different varieties of eggplant, capsicum, pumpkins, leeks and broccoli to name a few.

" ... then I found a few Japanese friends in Canberra and a couple of them came and saw our garden and asked if they could buy some vegetables," she says.

"I said - you can have it, I can't eat everything so you can have it and they said, 'no if you give it to me, we can't come back, but if we buy it we can keep coming back'".

So the couple gave them buckets and told them they could pick whatever they wanted and it would only cost $5.

They made about $300 that year from selling to their friends. By the second year they had made $2000.

"The whole time people were asking ...  can you grow this and that so it just kept on snow balling. It was pretty much demand-driven," Dave said.

They even grew salsify, also known as oyster plant, a root vegetable and Mexican tomatillo, but there was no demand for them.

Soon they started to sell the produce at the National Library and the Japanese Embassy.

"When we'd go in, especially at the library we wouldn't be able to get the boxes onto a table and people were coming from every corner pulling things out of the boxes."

They opened stalls at the Old Bus Depot markets, Hall markets and Gormon House markets, but after about two years the couple, along with Dave's sons, Ben, Patrick and Michael, decided they wanted to open a farmer's market.

"I went to a lot of the farmers that I knew that were selling at the markets and said 'how would you go if we set up a special farmers market and they were all pretty thrilled," Dave said.

They approached the Rotary Club at Hall which supported the project and about six months later in March 2004 they opened the Capital Regions Farmers Market at Epic. Two years later, Dave's son Patrick opened the Southside Farmers Markets.

It was all hands on deck at the farm, they had one full-time worker and help from people who were part of the Willing Workers on Organic Farms program, a hospitality service that facilitates homestays.

"We were now picking seven days a week but only selling two days a week and it also became clear that there was a high level of demand for locally grown and organic produce throughout the week."

"Because of this the five of us, myself, Hideko and three sons decided to open our first Choku Bai Jo in North Lyneham in 2008."

Choku Bai Jo means direct selling place in Japanese. The types of stores were a common sight in Japan where small farmers and cooperatives could sell their produce.

"When we opened it was far more successful than we anticipated .. we didn't have enough cash registers or scales and customers were queued up out the door."

"We have always grown organically for ourselves and believe it is much healthier for both the consumer and the grower."

The second store opened in Curtin in 2011.

"When we first started it just seemed like it was just us with organic vegetables, now there are many growers there," Hideko said.

"It's been 20 years and we've achieved our vision to bring organic produce to the region," Dave added.

"We feel it is time to retire and hopefully hand over to someone interested in continuing to farm organically."

The property will be auctioned on Saturday, November 3.