Maurie knows cutting asparagus is a slog – starting as early as 2am, working by torchlight, walking five kilometres a day in diving boots, cutting 300kgs of asparagus – it’s not for everyone.

The idea was if Frank did the harvesting himself bit by bit and Dan bought the logs directly from Frank then most of the tree’s value would stay on Frank’s farm.

Like Baltic pine there are lots of other native timbers we use every day but don’t talk about – Merbau from South East Asian rain forests, Cumaru from South American jungles, even our own old growth Mountain Ash.

On July 1st, eleven years ago at our old warehouse in Beavers Road Northcote, Fair Food received its very first order.

The storm that tore through Victoria a week and a half ago brought down so many mature trees that Hayden Cronin, Fair Wood’s manager, has been inundated by emails asking for help – including one from a landholder in Newbury who had lost more than 100 trees.

On a crisp autumn morning a few weeks ago Wurundjeri elder, Uncle Ringo Terrick, came to the Fair Food warehouse to conduct a Welcome to Country ceremony.