Slow Acres Blog

As I stepped closer to the tiny pink bulbs, another sense was awoken by the constant vibration of hundreds of busily buzzing bees, legs laden with pollen pouches so heavy they struggled to balance. Soon I realised this magnificent tree was teeming with life. Butterfly wings fluttered, landing ever so lightly, sometimes right on top of the bees as they navigated the gathering colony. From afar, it would be easy to miss this scene entirely; a passerby might notice the bright pe

In an increasingly hyper-connected world, so many of us feel profoundly isolated. We carry a persistent exhaustion—tethered to screens, navigating personal transitions, feeling burnout even, or simply feeling disconnected from our bodies and the natural world. After leaving a long corporate career behind for this very reason, I forged a path aligned with what deeply matters: tending to the land, being in nature, and holding space for community. I recognise the immense privile

This morning, seven deer grazing peacefully across our middle paddocks. Among them were a few young fawns, their spotted coats still visible as they bounded and gamboled through the lush winter grass while their parents kept a watchful eye. They stayed for hours, bathed in the soft morning light. It was impossible not to feel a quiet sense of wonder. Deer carry a timeless, almost mystical aura, steeped in folklore and myth across the European cultures as symbols of grace, gen

Life at the Boonah farm slows down, and after spending a large portion of my life in inner-city Melbourne, the change is dramatic. Perhaps it is the down-regulation of the nervous system you notice first, but it is also the environment, which is mostly wild, that has its own pace and presence, and somehow we become attuned. In the city, my ecotherapy practice was about actively rewilding a small space, clearing away the manicured grass to invite the wild back in. But here at

Hello friends, old and new. For those who don’t know us, I’m Marion. My husband Richard, our dog Lewis (pictured below), and I are the founders of The Eco Retreat. I am currently managing the Boonah farm and the "TER" project, and I look forward to keeping you updated on our happenings! We have officially launched our new website, where I’ll be sharing this farm blog on a regular basis. Many of you may not know that I recently resigned from my counselling and coaching role an