Inviting Strangers To Your Table

Advertising-executive turned self-sustained farmer Tamsin Carvan unearths for us her craving for soil and mud in a world that runs on mostly on concrete. She talks about the relevance and beauty of regularly inviting strangers to enjoy a meal around the table in your home.

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Raised in the Blue Mountains outside Sydney, Tamsin was lucky enough to spend much of her childhood running wild in the bush and swimming in freezing water in valleys and canyons.  

After years of study in Continental Philosophy at the University of Queensland where she spent her time with the likes of Heidegger and Nietzsche, the questions only seemed more intense and unsure of what to do next. Tamsin moved to Canberra and started work at a social research agency doing policy and program evaluations for federal government departments. While challenging and interesting this was a very transient life that involved a lot of travel, and every time she ventured out to the far-flung regions, which she did quite often, Tamsin felt overwhelmed with homesickness for a farm, and a way of life, she didn't have. 

So in the end, she succumbed and bought one, a rundown, difficult, steep but fertile 113 acres on a windy hilltop in Poowong East. Although Tamsin had never done a day’s farming in her life, she learnt how much you can get done when you have no idea what is meant to be impossible.  

These days Tamsin runs a small business on the farm called Tamsin’s Table, and lives with her eight and a half-year-old daughter Martha and, after many years on her own, she shares her life with her companion Allan.