They don’t own many hectares of land or operate a dairy farm or beef cattle operation.

Tom Christie and Dominique Northam are farmers of a different kind – they’re boutique farmers proving that four acres (1.6 hectares) is all you need to create a successful business.

Known for their garlic and fresh flowers, this couple and their young daughter, Evelyn, are part of a new trend that is seeing more people focusing on small-scale farming.

Fairfax Media is featuring the family’s farming enterprise as part of National Agriculture Day. 

The flower operation helps them pay the bills and the garlic crop, which is harvested between September and November, is their annual bonus. 

They also grow a range of heirloom vegetable varieties including pimply squash, which was very popular in the old days, and dabble in salad greens and homemade cordial when their citrus trees are loaded with fruit.

The couple are relatively new to farming. Five years ago they bought their farm at Marshdale farm, about 40km north-east if Maitland, after a life-long dream of moving from the city to the country, and they are quick to say they’d never go back.

Mr Christie was completing a masters in philosophy when they pulled the pin on life in Newcastle. 

He wanted to create a farm that respected the land and the environment. Mission accomplished: they don’t use any machinery, except a rotary hoe, and they tend to all of the crops by hand, just like farmers did in days gone by.

“Farming this way is one of the ways we can positively interact with our environment,” Mr Christie said.

“There’s so many opportunities for that in small-scale agriculture.

“I never think about going back, it’s been a lot of hard work, but it’s worth it,” he said. 

A flower subscription service helps them guarantee that their flowers are sold, and it helps them reach a broader audience.

Their customers enjoy accessing a wider variety of flowers and how fresh the product is when they pick it up.

“We pick them that day or the day before, so they are very fresh,” Ms Northam said. 

“The flowers look like something you’ve just picked out of the garden, and people like that.”

They sell their produce at the Slow Food Earth Markets in Maitland CBD – Australia’s first Earth Market. That outlet has allowed them to develop a relationship with their customers and help educate them about small farms.

It’s also allowed them to meet other farmers, some who have been on the land for decades.

Visit www.agday.org.au ​for more information about National Agriculture Day.