The foxes' relentless attacks, a bushfire in 2013, fierce summers and early frosts thwarted Ms Kothe and her partner Paul McKinnon's early attempts to turn Caroola, near Bungendore, into a 40-hectare permaculture farm.

But their soil is growing darker and softer with pigs and chickens and ducks to help turn it over, and clover and acacia and cropping have begun to return nitrogen to the compacted soil. A Yeomans plough has cut channels through the land, aerating it and letting in microbes. And after rock phosphate and Seasol were spread, worms and dung beetles are continuing the good work with their endless little tunnels.

"The object is to regenerate and rehydrate everything, to have it functioning as a proper eco system in its own right," Ms Kothe said. "This land was cleared in the 1880s, the paddocks are all bare. Open paddocks are no good for soil, the eco systems or the animals in the paddocks. When we finish we will have planted over 5000 trees across the property, and to get the soil back to life."

Canberra and the region are a huge market for fresh meat and vegetables produced outside of the industrialised farming system. Ms Kothe belongs to South East Producers, a not-for-profit sustainable agriculture movement, which looked at the supply of fresh food several years ago and found the missing ingredient was small producers.

"Everything has gone so large scale that if you have 100 head of cattle, you are not going to sell them locally as beef cut up, you have to ship them off somewhere," Ms Kothe said. "Which is why we have such a diversity."

They process poultry at Bega's small species abattoir. Their pigs go to Picton to be killed, and their lambs and cows go to Moruya and are returned to be cut up by butchers at Braidwood and Bungendore. The food is sold at farmers' markets at Braidwood, the new Southern Harvest market at Bungendore and Southside Farmers Market in Canberra. Restaurants and other retail outlets also take their produce.

Caroola's first open day last year attracted 500 people, with most visitors coming to see how nutritious food was grown. Another open day will be held on Sunday, with tours from 10am, to mark international permaculture day, which focuses on healthy soil for healthy food and people.

The searing summer of 2013 destroyed seedlings. Until oak and hazel trees grow sufficiently to protect their Berkshire cross pigs, the farmers have cut large water containers for their animals to shelter from the biting winds. The pigs make wallows in the mud for the same purpose.

The weather extremes proved too much for the first choice of chooks, a Cornish cross breed that is also the breed of choice in factory farming. "We just didn't like them, they wouldn't forage, they would rush the nets, they didn't know what to do," Ms Kothe said. "Now we have Sommerlads, a cross breed from heritage breeds, which we get from the New England breeder. They are a good natural forager, and this cut our feed bill by a third, because they make use of the pasture."

More cold storage is being built on the farm. When the infrastructure and investment are completed, Ms Kothe and Mr McKinnon hope to demonstrate that organic production and humane animal management can be the foundation for a profitable, sustainable enterprise.