DEREK AND KIRRILY Blomfield and their son Reilly are in their element, gently moving a mob of cattle onto fresh pasture after the rain. Sandy, Derek’s father, is harvesting fruit from several hundred olive trees — frantoio (or paragon), manzanillo and correggiola — planted for table oil in 1997. It is a welcome wet spell in the season and Derek, smiling at mention of the recent rainfall figures, is looking forward to observing changes in the native and introduced grasses, and biological activity in the surface soil.
‘Colorado, a 987-hectare property near Caroona on the Liverpool Plains, an hour south-west of Tamworth, has been in the Blomfield family since Derek’s American grandfather, Alfred Blomfield, bought the land in 1946. It is now home to three generations: Sandy, Derek and Kirrily,…