For Lexton sheep farmers Rebecca and Rod McErvale, the Talbot Farmers Market is the perfect opportunity to meet their customers face-to-face.

“We’ve been doing markets now for 10 years, it’s one of the best parts of what we do,” Rebecca said.

“The people we meet and friendships we have made along the way are what make the markets so much fun. It’s a chance to reassure our customers that the products they buy are genuinely from our farm and its lovely to share our story.”

The story of Leroy Mac Designs began in 2010, when the fourth-generation Merino wool growers began selling baby clothes made from Australian Merino. Like many great ideas, it was a gap in the market that led to the development of one of the few businesses selling products made with genuine Australian wool.

Rebecca is the first to admit that she has no background in design – or farming.

“I’m a city girl who married a farmer,” Rebecca said. “When my nephew was born, I wanted to buy a Merino wool blanket for him.

“I said to Rod, ‘we have 6000 sheep, but no wool!’”

It took five years of research and planning before the McErvales could launch a product that is made from wool grown on their farm and so ‘Yalong Yarn’ was born.

“Unfortunately, we can’t get the wool processed in Australia, but we managed to find a spinner in Italy who DNA tests our wool so we are guaranteed it is grown on our farm,” Rebecca said.

The latest batch currently on its way back from Italy is a new direction for the McErvales, who have developed a partnership with Schneider’s and Bendigo Woollen Mills. The wool is returning in tops-form (washed and combed ready for spinning) and the spinning, dyeing and knitting will all be done in Victoria.

“Lots of places sell products labelled ‘Australian Merino’, but as most wool is processed in China there is no real guarantee that it is pure,” Rebecca said.

While Rebecca and Rod have been pleasantly surprised by the popularity of their product, it certainly hasn’t been plain sailing for the couple. In 2019, five days before Christmas, fire ripped through their main farm, destroying 1000 acres and killing 300 sheep. Then, just as the couple were attempting to recover from the fire, Covid restrictions hit. What could have been a disaster for many people has actually spurred Rebecca on to not only make sure the business survived, but thrived.

“Of course, lockdown meant that was the end of markets,” Rebecca said.

“I decided that if we couldn’t do the physical sales, we needed to ramp up our online presence. I spent a lot of last year revamping our website and focusing on building the business, rather than just working in it.

“It turns out that last year was actually our most successful year ever. The support we had from people was just incredible. I think it was a combination of people genuinely wanting to help us after the fire as well as recognising the importance of supporting Australian made products.”

While the lockdowns forced people to shop online, the popularity of markets proves that customers are embracing the chance to buy products ‘in person’.

“It’s been lovely to get back to the markets and interact with our customers again,” Rebecca said.

“You can’t replace the experience of touching a product, or chatting about where it came from.”

Leroy Mac Designs have a stall at Talbot Farmers’ Market on the corner of Scandinavian Crescent, just opposite the bookstore.