Future Proofing
“Anticipating change and strengthening what is vulnerable before it becomes a crisis.”Future Proofing in Practice
Future proofing at Elderglen is not about anticipating every event, it’s about building capacity before we need it.
Our share interest in sustainable design began long before the farm. Paul developed practical carpentry and metal work skills that continue to shape our infrastructure, while Karen deepened her understanding of systems thinking through permaculture and later emergency management. Over time, these disciplines converged into a simple principle: resilience grows when we identify a vulnerability and strengthen it steadily.
Working in recovery and emergency management reinforced how quickly shocks can disrupt a household or enterprise. A shock does not have to be a fire or flood, it can be an injury, illness, income interruption or unexpected expense. For rural families especially, capacity matters.
With this in mind, future proofing our income and enterprise became central to establishing Elderglen. We focused first on ensuring the essentials – food, water, shelter, income and community, and built from there. Rather than expanding rapidly, we prioritise what limits us most and strengthen it incrementally, whether it is water security, enterprise structure or infrastructure resilience.
Through our journey we share what it looks like to farm, live and build viability in a rural setting. Our aim is not perfection, but direction, offering practical insight for those who wish to strengthen their own homes, farms or communities in thoughtful, sustainable ways.
~ Karen and Paul
Future Proofing our INCOME
As much as we love elderberries, building our farm around a single crop would expose us to unnecessary risk. Fire, flood, drought, pest or disease could significantly impact the orchard, and recovery in perennial systems can take years. Income stability cannot rely on one variable alone.
This reality reinforces the importance of diversification, not as expansion for its own sake, but as a deliberate strategy to reduce vulnerability. By layering complementary income streams and strengthening protective measures across the farm, we increase the resilience while improving manageability.
Our approach is to grow steadily without increasing debt or workload beyond capacity. Debt, overextension and complexity can become vulnerabilities in their own right. By designing our enterprise incrementally and within limits, we aim to build financial strength that is adaptive, not fragile.
Future Proofing our FOOD
Food security is not theoretical for us, it’s foundational. Disruptions such as floods, road closures or even COVID reveal quickly how distribution systems faulter. When supply chains are strained, rural communities feel the impact alongside urban communities.
Our aim has been to reduce dependency without attempting total self-reliance. We grow a portion of our own food and try to source the rest locally, recognising that resilience doesn’t require doing everything ourselves, it requires thoughtful interdependence.
With our enterprise we prioritise where to place our energy first. Establishing fruit trees and planning vegetable production has been gradual, balanced against time, workload and farm demands. Buying from neighbours has become part of our resilience strategy, strengthening both food access and community connection.
We also considered storage and continuity: what would we need if power is interrupted or access to supplies are limited? These questions reinforced, food resilience grows strongest when communities cooperate. Preserving harvest, sharing skills and gathering around food strengthens both practical capacity and social bonds.
Future proofing food is about designing systems, household and community, that can adapt and support one another.
Future proofing our WATER
Water is foundational for life on our farm, for our family, our livestock and our crops. In a changing climate, both scarcity and excess carry risk. Drought threatens production and fire defence, while flash flooding in our landscape can isolate us, disrupt access to services and impact animals, infrastructure and soil systems.
For this reason, water security became one of our earliest priorities. Rather than expanding production first, we focused on strengthening storage and management within the capacity of our land. Addressing this vulnerability early has shaped the pace and direction of our enterprise.
Water decisions also require community awareness. Extracting or redirecting water without consideration can shift risk onto neighbours, drying wells, altering flows or increasing downstream impact. Future proofing is not simply protecting our own property, it’s about understanding that landscapes are interconnected.
By designing water systems thoughtfully and working within shared responsibility, we strengthen not only our farm but the wider community. Resilience grows when individual actions contribute to collective stability.
Future Proofing our SHELTER (Home)
Designing efficient and functional housing has always been a part of our shared interest in sustainable living. However, when establishing the farm, shelter upgrades were not our first priority, our basic housing needs were being met. As with other areas of the farm, we began identifying where vulnerability may exist.
Power interruption quickly emerged as a critical risk. Without electricity we would lose access to our water pump, refrigeration, cooking capacity and temperature regulation. A prolonged outage would not only affect household comfort but also food storage, water access and our ability to respond during fire and extreme weather events.
Securing backup power became an early step in strengthening this vulnerability. From there, we have continued to improve our home’s efficiency and resilience incrementally working within capacity rather than over extending.
Future proofing shelter, for us, is about ensuring our home remains comfortable and functional under stress. Not luxurious, but reliable.
Future Proofing against NATURAL DISASTERS
Living in regional Victoria means understanding and preparing for natural hazards. Our landscape carries a risk of fast-moving grassfires, and seasonal flooding can isolate us when the creek rises. Increasing climate variability reinforces the importance of designing for disruption rather than assuming continuity.
We cannot assume external assistance will always arrive immediately in a large-scale event. For this reason, we focus on reducing vulnerability at the property level. Our farm is defendable, we maintain the physical and mental capacity required to respond, and we plan for multiple scenarios, including when only one of us is home. Flexibility is essential, in some scenarios, the safest option is to leave.
When purchasing the property we assessed flood behaviour, and the position of infrastructure accordingly. While high rainfall can temporarily cut off bridge access, our core infrastructure sits safely above flood levels. We plan for short periods of isolation and design our systems to remain functional during those times.
Preparing for natural hazards is not about fear. It’s about understanding landscape realities and strengthening capacity before events occur.
Future Proofing with our COMMUNITY
Rural communities are often described as resilient, and many are. But resilience depends not only on character, but on infrastructure, capacity and support systems. Even strong individuals become vulnerable when services, communications or resources are strained.
Understanding those gaps is essential to strengthening community. Planning, preparing, responding and recovering from emergnecies are a collective effort. As natural hazards and disruptions become more frequent, it has felt important for us to take an active role in local resilience planning, not just for our farm but for our broader community.
Future proofing at a community level means exploring how we strengthen food systems, water security, shelter, local economies and aging in place together. It means ensuring communication systems are clear and accessible so people can stay informed and make timely decisions.
When communities are supported with information, connection and practical capacity, they are better placed to lead their own resilience planning and recovery, working in partnership with governments and agencies, rather than relying solely on them.
Let’s talk about YOUR FUTURE
We believe future-proofing starts with a simple question: what would happen if things didn’t go to plan for a few days?
Karen is the co-developer of the First 72 Hours Program, along with Kate Goldsmith, a practical conversation-based planning tool designed to help people understand their own vulnerabilities and take realistic steps to reduce them — whether that’s related to power, water, health, mobility, income, or support networks.
The program isn’t about fear or perfection. It’s about confidence, connection, and having enough of a plan to make clearer decisions when it matters.
So grab your family, friends, neighbours — or even your workmates — and “have a brew and chat 72.” Videos and downloadable templates are available on the Alpine Shire Website.
Interested in learning more?
If you’re curious about upcoming workshops, would like to arrange a group session, or simply want to start a conversation, you’re welcome to get in touch.
