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A Victorian farm is determined to redefine silk farming for Australia, but for now, it 's wine and liqueur

where they started tl1e mulberry plantation in 2005.

BY DHANYA SAMUEL

Silk Estate, a beautiful twohectare expanse on the South Gippsland Highway, is the dream project of Sarita Kulkarni, who is determined to help Australia rediscover its long lost silk growing industry

In a bid to showcase that growing mulberries can be a commercially viable and sustainable crop industry, apart from its sericulrure use, Sarita began growing mul berry trees on her estate. Today, i t makes for a breathtakingl y beautiful sight in summer, w ith trees laden with thousands of sweet berries. The fruit evenruaUy gets bottled as mulberry w ine or liqueur and as pure mulberry syrup.

A native of Karnataka, Sarita arriv ed in Melb o urne in 1987 following her engineer husband. Armed with a l\fasters in Z o ology (specialisation in sericulmre from Dharwad University, Karnataka) , she also had ample experience teaching and working in the sericulrure iJ1dustry in India.

Sarita was ver y passionate and ambi tious about her sericuJmre work, so she dec ided to further her expertise b y doing a PhD.

Bue, unfortunately, Australia's sill, industry had died Jong ago and no one seemed to know an ything about it. Quite often, she was taunted when people responded that they knew only 'Aussie culture' and not 'sericulnue'.

Not one to accept defeat, Sarita went on to get a second Master's degree in Applied Agriculture/Entomology from l\fonash University, and in 1994, began work with the Agriculture Department working her way up to be a quarantine officer. It is here chat she got the opportunity to work closely with, and understand, tl1e farming practices and in dustr y with.in Australia, also working extensively with the grape vine industry here.

Being knowledgeable about Australia's golden silk era, Sarita was positive that it was only a matter of time before she would find mulberr y trees here. J\J1d that o pportunity came after a chance encounter with Monnie Penner who used to maintain si lkworms to spin silk for her weaving and craft activities. Sarita's excitement knew no bounds wben she came across a n ursery which was selling two-year- old mul berry trees to the public who were interested in growing these in tl1eir backyards for tl1e sweet fruit.

This relentless enthusiasm and passion for her subject made her p lace an order for 20 mulberry trees, a personal attempt co prove that the silk industry can be revived and commercialised in tbis country. This eventually led co the Silk Estate farm, which Sarita and her family purchased i.n 2003 and lo an attempt to prove that it can be a cash crop and mulberry cultivation is an organic and sustainable venture, she began to package and sell the berries to markets across Australia. \'v'hile Sydney cook to these delicious berries in a big way, Melbourne markets were a bit sceptical. And this presented another chaUeoge; mulberries have an extremely short season. Sarita was forced to research bow to preserve these for longer, and th.is led to the mulberry liqueur, wine, syrup and ;am project. ot one to sit still, she also runs a successful b usiness and is the Quality Assurance Inspector and Entomological/ Quarantine and Sericulrure Consultant at Brij BugTrap Consultancy Pry Ltd. She also works as Communi ty Development Officer/Trainer/ Life coach with the Victorjan Immigrant and Refugee Women's Coalition (VIC & RWC). She is also a trainer with Learn Locals in the community in many discip lines, to keep the p roject afloat and viable '1 am extremely thankful to each and ev ery one for the ir effort in rnakit1g this venture possible," she told Indian Unk.

Sarita refused to accept the fact that silk does n ot fare well here as depicted in the history of Australian silk, but her repeated anempts to get the universities or tl1e gov ernment interested fell on deaf ears. Projects and studies were taken up and discarded for the silk venture; so she decided that it was time to showcase the versatility of mulberry as a fruit and in a different light to the public.

When the Sil k Es tate Mul berry Liqueur won a bronze award at an international wine show iu 2011, Sarita knew she was on the right path. Today, the liqueur and s yrup is produced in small batches ever y year, dependii1g on the crop, in associa tion with a V ictorian company an d is available for sale on request A boutique product handcrafted with loving tender care, the liqueur is sweet and vibrant on the palate reminding you instantly of port wmes.

The \VU1e makes an excellent pairing with poultry, seafood , desserts and can a lso be used in making cocktails. The s yrup is thick and sweet from the namral sugars presen t in mulberries and would be an incredible addition to any baking project.

In spite of a major health set back, Sarita is still passi onate about taking her sericul nire work forward in the hope that the silk industry of Australia can be revived. Silk Estate a lso grows otl1er produce, has a small templ e on site and Sarita also has plans co build a museum co educate, it1crease awareness and showcase her studies with silkworms.

While the mulberry liqueur and other byproducts make excellent business sense, Sarita's real passion remait1s for sericulture.

"Sericulrure i s a vibrant, incredible, prodigious, sustainabl e, environmentally fr iendly and miraculous commodity given to mankind b y accident, which should give our agriculmre industry a boost not only in the wine industry, bm also in the fruit, health, and well-being of mankind," Sarita observed, her passion for tl1e fruit coming through clearly "The gurus of the sill< world once said to me when I was in their co untry, to give them 100 hectares of land and they will make sure that Australia will be seen as one of the cop prod ucers in the world marker of silk production. le is this dream that keeps me a li ve. One day, I wish co see the silk industry of Australia get up on its feet again witl1 a lot of help from familie s, government bodies, venture capitalists, and many entrepreneurial dreamers who have a vis ion and similar goal."