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“We were both on a spiritual and personal journey coming to deeper clarity on our purpose in life, having parallel life experiences in many ways, including offices in Idaho 40 minutes apart from each other for more than 10 years and never crossing paths,” Ly said.<\/p>\n
“We both arrived at a time in our lives, going through great successes and deep struggles, where we knew living in service to the land and the growth and healing of humanity through food was what we came here to do.”<\/p>\n
Torgersrud had previously been diagnosed with stage-four cancer that doctors deemed inoperable, and he was given just two months to live. After finding a surgeon willing to operate, his life was saved. He went on to undergo chemotherapy and radiation therapy, despite doctors believing he would not survive beyond two years. That prognosis was made nearly 15 years ago.<\/p>\n
“Food and food healing was critical,” Ly said. “Richard self-taught and researched his way to health and is still working through healing the damage from the cancer treatment.”<\/p>\n
“The universe sent him a buyer for his telecommunications company and set things in motion. He sold everything, came to Australia with his backpack in search of the right piece of land.<\/p>\n
“He looked to bring in experts to create a space that enabled learning and reconnection through food after his own food healing journey. The climate and landscape drew Richard to the Northern Rivers.”<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Ly, meanwhile, already had tickets booked to return to Australia the month after they had met. “It was an easy move with such an alignment in our vision and life purpose,” she said.<\/p>\n Over the course of his life, Torgersrud worked as a mechanic, truck driver, accountant, photographer, consultant and for a technology company. He had never been to Australia or grown food before, but he had a vision to grow food here.<\/p>\n He was introduced to the property before it went on the market through a chance encounter with a stranger on the streets of Byron Bay, after the two struck up a conversation about Richard’s toe shoes.<\/p>\n The former citrus farm had everything he was looking for \u2013 fertile soil, water access, a favourable climate, and an idyllic location to attract other farmers to work and learn \u2013 leading him to found Conscious Ground in 2018.<\/p>\n “We joke and call Richard the YouTube farmer,” Ly said.<\/p>\n “He learnt everything on YouTube, including digging swales to redirect water on the land to flow in a more beneficial way and protect our growing space from flooding.”<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/29\/2026\/01\/RichardTorgersrudand_02576.jpg\")
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