We have a passion for sustainable farming and great food. On our farm at Koonya, in Tasmania’s far south-east, we grow spray and chemical-free garlic and produce a range of garlic-inspired gourmet delicacies.

We have a unique range of value-added artisan products using naturally grown Tasmanian garlic and other ingredients sourced locally. We sell at Hobart’s internationally renowned Salamanca and Farm Gate Markets and Tasmanian garlic festivals. There is a strong demand for our products both from visitors, many of whom repeat order by email, and locals who purchase regularly. We attract considerable interest from chefs and others who love gourmet cooking and often engage with customers in discussion of recipes and possibilities for using our products to create fine foods.

In the Beginning

DR Garlic began as a project initiated by good friends, Geoff Dugan and Rob Rolfe. While living and working in Hobart, they also grew garlic on their small neighbouring farms at Koonya on the Tasman Peninsula. They planned to develop a business based on garlic and, in due course, to live and work on the land Both were involved in the Koonya Garlic Festival from its inception in 2014. Geoff began experimenting with Black Garlic, Rob—an excellent chef amongst a myriad of other talents—developed great recipes for garlic in many forms, and they began to develop various artisan garlic-inspired products.

They came up with the idea of taking the D from Dugan and the R from Rolfe and naming their garlic products DR Garlic. With a little help from their friends, they designed the first logo which set a photo of a view of Norfolk Bay from their Koonya farms in the centre of a circle in colours reminiscent of traditional Tasmanian apple box marketing.

Geoff continued to develop both his farm at Koonya and garlic-inspired products and he began selling regularly at the Farm Gate Market in 2015. Sadly, Rob was very ill and he passed away in 2017. Just before he died, Geoff asked him if he would mind if we kept the name of DR Garlic going, and Rob liked the idea.

Geoff and Mahni and Jesse Dugan

Living and working in Sydney for many years, Geoff was a registered nurse, counsellor, trainer, linguist, and organic horticulturalist with more than ten years in the Australian public health system; and Mahni, with a background in journalism, had trained and worked in the human potential field since 1976. In 1983, Geoff and Mahni developed Neuroads—a consulting and training business—counselling, coaching, and presenting personal and professional development seminars in Australia and internationally, particularly in Hawaii during the 1990s and in Japan since 2001.

In 2005, they visited Tasmania for the first time and fell in love with it. In 2006, they put a deposit on a block of land at Koonya, and in 2007 made the big move to live here permanently. The plan was to build on the land and develop a farm. With the GFC in 2008, work in Japan stopped for a considerable time. Geoff and Mahni moved into Hobart. For the next five years, Geoff worked for the Phoenix Centre as an advocate and counsellor for survivors of torture and trauma—asylum seekers from the recently opened Pontville Detention Centre and others—through the Migrant Resource Centre. During that time, Geoff worked together with Sustainable Living Tasmania and Hannah Maloney on several projects involving refugees, including setting up backyard vegetable gardens and running a vineyard. As well as enabling refugees to provide home-grown food for their families, Geoff used gardening as a method of supporting people suffering from PTSD to recover, and he continues to research connections between neuroscience and horticulture. Mahni did a PhD in Human Geography at UTAS, graduating in 2015.

During that period, Geoff also continued to work at the farm when he could, growing garlic and developing product. In 2015, with the detention centre closed, the couple decided to move back to the Peninsula and to find a way to build their house Their son, Jesse, joined them and worked intensively with Geoff on building the house under the supervision of a builder, and Geoff started the stall at Farm Gate Market. In 2017, the house was approved for occupation, and for the first time Geoff had the luxury of being able to work on the farm while living there. The house has an approved commercial kitchen for making the DR Garlic products, a large workshop, and good storage.

Since 2018, Geoff and Jesse have worked together to develop Dr Garlic product and, as well as the Sunday stall at Farm Gate they started a stall on Saturdays at Hobart’s Salamanca Market. Jesse and his partner, Katie Robertson, also live on Tasmania’s southeast coast, with their baby son, George.

Geoff and Mahni are strongly involved in local community affairs. Geoff is vice-president of the Koonya Garlic Festival Committee and co-ordinates the garlic competition judging. He is also a member of Aikikai Tasmania, and helps teach aikido classes for children. Mahni is on the festival committee and is secretary of Tasman and Forestier Art. In 2019, Mahni also had a book published internationally,Mobilities of Self and Place, Politics of Well-Being in an Age of Migration.

Future Imaginings

We have a love of organic growing, and of garlic as a key in many and various cuisines; and a preference for local produce, and sustainability. We keep on coming up with new ideas. Over the past year, we have been experimenting with a Black Garlic Stout in partnership with our neighbour, Paul Sutton, and have set up the Tasman Brewing company.

We desire to create a strong family business that might also, in years to come, provide employment and training opportunities for disadvantaged people, including refugees, through all stages of the process from growing to selling, so that more people can be involved, and supported by this endeavour in future.