Simeon Hanscamp finished his university degree and was searching for meaningful work. He took a short business course, worked on a market garden, studied online with Curtis Stone (the urban farmer, not the celebrity chef), watched a bit of YouTube, and decided he would have a crack at setting up an urban farm.
‘Opportunity comes from initiative,’ says Simeon. His business Spoke & Spade in Melbourne’s urban north-east was born from compromise; balancing his partner’s desire to travel, finances and family. Simeon runs his business across three sites in Heidelberg, Ivanhoe and Heidelberg West. He lives in one, and on the other two he exchanges vegetables and water bill money for free use of the land.