Fudging it with a function

“We’re the hub for the region’s dairy industry,” Lynda says.

“One of the reasons we started this shop was to make sure there’s a place to go if local farmers need to have a chat.

“Every Sunday we have a get together with a different cake and some jigsaw puzzles to work on. All the farmers come here so we hear all the news of what’s going on in the area.”

Lately that discussion has centred on the green drought, and while things are tough, local farmers appreciate the opportunity to share their experiences and concerns.

Lynda and Peter tell of a local farmer who has laid pipes to share his water with a neighbour whose dams are running dry.

“That’s what this community is like – everyone helps out,” Lynda said.

“This has become a spot for people to come to. Even people from Melbourne come back here.

“It’s important to be here for the dairy industry and reflect what it does.”

Although her work background was mostly in dress making, including wedding dresses and onesies, Lynda loved making wedding cakes as a sideline and always dreamt of having her own confectionery shop.

She grew up on a local dairy farm and the area never left her heart, so when it came to setting up a business, Jancourt East was the perfect spot.

“We’re on the main road from Port Campbell back to Melbourne,” Peter said.

“That’s why we chose this site because we knew it would be a prime spot. There’s nothing else between Port Campbell and Colac.”

Lynda’s parents were among the original farmers allocated land in the Heytesbury Soldier Settlement, with her family moving from Healesville in 1962 to start dairy farming.

Her mother, coming up 94, is still on the family farm and is believed to be the one of the oldest of very few settler wives still living on the original family farm. Her brother is also on the farm, and his two children work in the dairy industry.

Always entrepreneurial, Lynda started her own clothes label with her sisters Sandra and Dianne as a 15-year-old.

“We went for years and had our own shop and three big sheds full of clothes on the farm,” she said.

“All of my family was creative. I loved sewing but I always wanted to be a cook and loved decorating cakes.”

Lynda has been making fudge and sweets with her mother on the farm since she was eight years old.

Peter also had a close connection to the dairy industry. He worked in rural advertising for 20 years and was part of the foundation of Dairy News Australia and the first advertising representative for the publication.

The couple met at a field day about 16 years ago and decided to set up business.

While Peter was renovating their new home on their four-acre block, Lynda launched a onesie business.

She eventually had to teach Peter the finer points of cutting and sewing and enlist his help as the business boomed, but she still had the urge to bake confectionery.

She started baking and selling cakes in 2015 and they designed and built the two-storey farm shop with a large upstairs function area in 2018.

Apart from sugar, all the ingredients for the fudge are sourced from local farms, including Specialised Powder Milk from Saputo, cream from AG Warehouse and milk for the coffees from Otways Pastures, which consists of three local dairy farming families.

“Everything I use comes from Australia; I’m very conscious of that,” Lynda said.

She’s also conscious of her farming environment.

“Being one of the first Settlement kids, I want to promote the Heytesbury Settlement area and dairy farming in general, and remember the lives of the people who turned this land into a profitable area.

“It’s now a great dairy area. I saw my dad work so hard on the farm and all the ups and downs that went with farming, and I wanted to give back to the dairy area that I loved so much.”

She admits life wasn’t easy during those early days.

“Many kids had to milk before school and they’d be on the bus still smelling like cows. The Timboon Consolidated School had to put on lunches at 11 o’clock for families that couldn’t afford them.”

But the sense of community was as strong then as it is now.

The shop is surrounded by dairy farms and Peter and Lynda have had some cattle on their four acres, but now leave the land for parking and a paddock for a neighbouring farmer to raise calves – which are a bonus attraction for international visitors.

The dairy industry also helped when it came to setting up the fudge enterprise.

“We went to dairy farmers and got old fat agitators that were in their sheds not being used anymore,” Peter said.

“We got paddles made and set up six small mixers. The key was the slow agitation that you have in a dairy vat.”

Dairylicious has fielded a lot of inquiries about potential new markets over recent months, but they’re content with their current workload.

“Over summer we’re so busy and we have some new contracts coming up, but we’re at the stage in our lives where we don’t want to go huge,” Lynda said.

Part of the reasoning for that is that Lynda likes to be hands-on with all the cooking.

“I don’t use recipes in anything. I just feel it, taste it and get the balance right,” she said.

“Real fudge is all about a balance of dairy and sugar. Most you find today are packet mixes but I want to have my own recipe – the real deal. It’s got to be creamy and smooth.”

South-west Victoria’s dairy produce has never tasted so good.