Drought was everywhere and for Tom's Creek farmers Sophie Love and her partner Ged McCarthy, whose produce is sold under The Naked Farmers label the situation was dire.

Surviving the drought and the subsequent three months of bushfires and now this year's floods has been a truly testing time for this couple and their 12 year old son Ben - as it has been for so many farmers.

Ms Love had arrived at Tom's Creek in 2007 when she bought the160 hectare farm as a then single, untrained in farming woman, who was once a committed vegan.

She came to the district via a circuitous route - living in Sydney's Northern beaches then back to the United Kingdom and then to Tamworth before buying the property which has a four kilometre frontage to the Ellenborough River.

"It was living and working in Tamworth during the Millennium drought that convinced me if I wanted to farm in Australia you had to have access to a reliable supply of water," she said.

"So the property I bought had just that, a long frontage to this beautiful river.

"Locals said until the 2019 drought the river had never stopped running, but this has become the new reality, given the droughts we have now experienced."

The breaking of the drought in the late summer of 2020 was a much needed reprieve for everyone as they started to rebuild livestock numbers and get back into production. But in late March this year the regions along the eastern fall from Taree north were hit with devastating floods.

"The river rose so quickly, metres in an hour, and we spent a frantic and desperate 40 minutes trying to rescue our animals and save our farm buildings, " she said.

"That disaster I think has been the hardest to cope with coming so quickly on top of the drought and bushfires."

Erosion along the river and damage to farm infrastructure has been massive.

"I think we are just exhausted. We lost acres of our river flats, it is very hard to know where to start to rebuild and to be honest some days you do question is it worth it, given what is next in store with climate change," said Ms Love.

But watching platypus', who somehow survived the drought and the flood, breeding in the river is a much needed morale boost for the family. "Swimming with these wonderful creatures is something very special," she said.

The family are continuing to make and market their range of condiments including dukkahs, dressings, honey and lemon butter. COVID-19 has caused interruptions especially for farmers markets but it also provided some quiet times.

Her latest project is a podcast talking to other farmers with the aim of overcoming the disconnect between the producer and the consumer.

Farming for 14 years has given Ms Love a lot to talk about, and many lessons to share. On message in particular she wants to convey, is that farming requires an open heart to grieve and an inner strength to survive, so find and nurture a community to help you through it all.