Life’s idyllic living in a home amongst the gum trees

SITUATED on 80 spectacular acres in Outtrim, Ebony Knox and Scott Morrison are raising their two daughters Harriet (2) and Clover (4 months).

Purchased in 2018 before the pandemic, the pair set out building their dream life amongst the rolling green hills and wildlife.

“We met at the start of 2018 at Koonwarra Parkrun and quickly worked out what we both wanted,” Ebony said.

“I think our families thought we were crazy because we’d been together for six months and were starting to look at farms together.

“I sold my house in Korumburra and we made an offer here.

“Scott would say that there’s no such thing as luck, but I beg to differ – it just worked out for us. My two older sisters and a younger brother all live within about 30 kilometres as the crow flies.”

Together the pair grew up in Loch, on either side of town on 300-acre beef farms.

“We never crossed paths because Scott went to Korumburra Kinder and Primary School before Newhaven College, I went to Loch Kinder and Primary School then Korumburra Secondary College…

“We both sort of did the Melbourne thing; he went to university, I did 12 months, just to try it out.

“I needed to get it out of my system – I’m so glad I did because I came back, and I knew exactly that I wanted to live in the country.”

Raising their daughters on a spectacular pocket of South Gippsland, a quarter of the land is bush with an old council quarry.

“It’s beautiful up there, you could be anywhere in the world.

“When I first started maternity leave at the beginning of lock down, I’d wander up and watch the birds; it’s so tranquil.

“The wildlife sometimes drives us crazy,” Ebony laughed.

“It’s awesome when you’ve got international visitors and kangaroos in the front paddock, but they go through fences and eat all the grass. 

“There’s a friendly wallaby we watch out for in the driveway with the kids and resident possum in the garden…

“The first Christmas we lived here we heard footsteps on the veranda and I’m like, it’s eight o’clock in the morning who comes around on Christmas Day? What neighbourhood have we moved into? Anyway, we go outside and there’s a koala just on the deck.”

A dreamer Ebony likes the thought of one day having an alpaca or llama in the paddock and a big Clydesdale horse, the menagerie.

“Scott puts a stop to my dreaming, ‘an alpaca is not going to make us money like a cow does’,” she smiled.

“We’ve got experience with cows and horses; and we’ve got a horse arena from the previous owners.

“We’ve also got an orchard. For every birthday, Christmas, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day we buy each other a fruit tree.

“When we first moved in, we had too much grass so we brought sheep and had some orphan lambs given to us as well and they did a good job of pruning the fruit trees.”

An awe-inspiring veggie garden that has produced excess stock for the young family and their neighbours, and led to a roadside produce stall and chicken coup with plenty of eggs, the focus now is on regenerating the land.

“Looking after the land, getting the pastures better. I’m involved in Korumburra Landcare Group and my mum is the president of the Loch-Nyora Landcare Group – so we’re always planting trees and trying to be as sustainable as we can.

“Last time we had oodles of tomatoes, zucchinis and cucumbers that I put in our roadside stall, and bunches of native flowers.

“Our neighbour is into veggie garden growing as well, so quite often I’ll come home and there’ll be bag of apples just hanging on my mailbox or a packet of seeds, we’ve got a bit of a swap. We’ll wander over and he’ll just pluck out a carrot and give it to Hari, just washed from the hose – it’s good.”

Inspired by their parents gardening and farming skills, they’re their go-to for berry patch inspiration and advice.

“Having the space – being able to ride my bike up and down the driveway, and imagination to play farms and buy a cow – just be a kid.

“I go for a walk most days with Hari to the mailbox and back – it used to take me 30 minutes to run the 5km, whereas now it takes two and a half hours for the 2.5km – she pokes in the puddles and sniffs the flowers.

“She loves the tractor, and talking to the cows – she says, ‘get up you buggers.’

“She was pointing out a bee on a flower the other day and the worms.

“She’s just starting to get into farm life.”

The open space for the girls to grow up and other young children nearby to play with is pivotal to kindergarden teacher Ebony alongside the incredible wildlife including wombats, wallabies, koalas, echidnas and birdlife.

“I was a bit reluctant to start an Instagram page, but it helps me feel like I’m doing something and a great way to connect.”

Knomor Park as their property is aptly named is not only a combination of their surnames but a pun of no-more and know more.

A large list of ‘Jobs to Do’ fills a small nook in the kitchen.

“Scott’s looking forward to finishing our list of jobs off! We said that 2022 was the year for ‘finishing’ jobs not starting them – Knomor Jobs!”