On Monday night at Circa, The Prince in St Kilda, Melbourne, the winners for the 2010 delicious Produce Awardswere announced and we are proud to say that we won a GOLD MEDAL for our beloved GARLIC in the "From The Earth" category. The delightful and creative Matt Wilkinson, head chef at Circa and his team put on a sumptuous cocktail party spread with as many of the Award entrants' produce as they could source this time of year and it was truly lovely.
There was the 'who's who' of top chefs, including the awards' judges. Some we spotted and/or got to speak with were Maggie Beer (Barossa food legend and a hero of ours!), Matt Moran (ARIA), Neil Perry (Rockpool), Sean Preslin (Saki), Cheong Liew (The Grange, Adelaide Hilton), Stephanie Alexander (Stephanie's & the school Kitchen Garden Scheme) and our own Alla Wolf-Tasker (The Lake House). I said to Tim, "I wonder what Sydney-siders are dining out on tonight? Many of their best chefs are here!"
The magnificent Matt Preston hosted the awards presentation in his usual sartorial splendour and great humour. He was very generous in posing for a photo with us and chatting about our work and it was so nice to finally meet him. He is in our esteem a very talented food critic and personally I adore cravats! I have to mention that Matt actually looked damn finer than he has come up in our photo below...sorry Matt...our phone camera is very unkind (the digital camera jammed earlier in the evening).
All the other winners and medalists for the various categories and awards are listed at the attached ABC delicious magazine website. Several of this years finalists and winners are from around our region, which is really lovely to be a part of...Fernleigh Farms, Wurrook Super Fine Prime Lamb, Holy Goat Cheese, Meredith Dairy, Mt Alexander Fruit Gardens, Daylesford Organics, Sher Wagyu, Warialda Belted Galloway Beef, as well as several other great Victorian producers.
We extend our sincere congratulationsto all finalists and the winners and we feel honoured to be amongst such a great bunch of passionate, sustainable producers. We really appreciate how hard everyone works and what kinds of risk factors can be associated with farming and food production, so cheers to all the hard work and big hearts and for the generosity and support a few of you in particular have shown towards us since we started our long held dream of organic farming.
We are also thrilled that the Collingwood Children's Farm Farmers' Market won the 'Outstanding Farmers' Market' award (for all Australia!). Established in 2002, this community-owned market brings more than 70 Victorian producers (such as us) to inner-city Melbourne on the 2nd Saturday of each month and was one of the first farmers' markets to be accredited for stallholder authenticity. It was really wonderful to see Miranda Sharp our market co-ordinator accepting this award, as we truly appreciate the commitment and many hours (years!) of work she has put in towards making this market and others a success and an experience consumers can rely on for quality and integrity as well as an enjoyable environment. Go girl and go CCFM!
As I was discussing with a colleague and friend earlier today, one of the best things for us about winning this award, is that both me and Tim have been 'obsessed' with really good food or ingredients in one way or another (i.e. different aspects at different times) since our teens and although winning awards is by no means our 'why' for becoming organic food producers, it IS very nice to be recognised for being premium produce growers (esp. GARLIC of all things for us and being a 'small holding' farm enterprise). We have dreamed for decades in a number of ways, about becoming premium, artisanal producers, prior to starting Angelica Organic Farm 5 years ago, like our heros in France and Italy, like Maggie Beer and many others here, who have inspired us for such a long time. To be also doing it by biological/organic means is very dear to us. During my early 20s, whilst I was working in Sydney restaurants, I read a book called 'The Chef's Table: an Australian gourmet in the great restaurants of France' by Aussie chef Barbara Ross. In her book Barbara journals her working holiday around France, for which she organised in advance with a number of top restaurants (often Michelin Star or 'hatted' restaurants), volunteer cooking positions, so she could learn from and experience the best chefs and produce France had to offer. The anecdotes about the regional produce and growers and the respect with which the chefs utilised it just made my heart 'sing' and has inspired me forever more. Watch out France when we get over there!!
Thanks to everyone who has supported, encouraged, taught, respected and believed in us - family, friends, colleagues, competitors, customers, local business groups such as DMP and the local community in general. It is cherished and of great help as we 'rock on' into the future with our little farm, lovingly growing our natural produce.
This is just the 'tip of the iceberg' from us folks...we've got a lot more 'in the tank' to come and we can only get better at what we do!
One of the beautiful displays at Circa for the awards.
We recently received the latest newsletter from BFA / ACO, our organic certifier and amongst other articles of interest, was a small piece about the growing curiosity top chefs are showing towards organic produce. We know from our own experience that more and more chefs are trying to source local, organic produce and where possible the colourful, tasty array of heirloom or heritage varieties that some of us small scale artisan producers are growing.
Rainbow Chard varieties - open pollinated heirloom plants A member of the Swiss chard family, (so is 'silver beet'),
rainbow chard comes in several different colours and like all the most
colourful vegies, is rich in antioxidants and more glamorous in our daily meals.
'Russian Red' Kale - - open pollinated heirloom plants On the June 18 episode of MasterChef, award-winning baker, Michael Klausen, used Kialla Pure Food organic flour as his preference for his demonstrated creation and it seems, according to Holly Vyner, BFA's general manager, that Australia is "following a trend identified in the US by the American Culinary Federation (ACF) earlier this year, which revealed organic produce would be one of the “hottest” fine dining trends in 2010 because of better taste, nutrition and environmental sustainability". Apparently, 73% of the 1,800 professional US chefs voted in support of this.
Some of our other heritage veg. on display at a farmers' market
- Scarlet Globe radishes, purple bok choi & baby caulies.
Like other small-scale organic growers we talk to, at Angelica Organic Farm, we grow these unconventional varieties as much as we can because these traditional food plants retain the fullness of flavour inherently acquired over the ages of their existance. They look beautiful, are enjoyable to cultivate and eat and of course we are helping to conserve genetic diversity. The more colourful and shapely vegies and herbs do look so inviting on the dinner plate for sure, whether you're a home cook or a professional!
Angelica O.F. open-pollinated lettuces
The mass produced hybrid varieties most commonly grown commercially, are bred to prioritise 'perfect', predictable shape, size, and toughness for ease of packing, extensive transport and often long term storage. They are often picked green or bred to ripen slowly as well. All of these forced genetic manipulations come at the expense of diversity, good flavour and optimal nutritional value. Poor soils and synthetic fertilisers and pesticides also do nothing to enhance flavour and health giving properties!
Purple Opal Basil - heirloom herb
Also sited in the BFA article, the 2009 Sydney Morning Herald Chef of the
Year, Justin North of Becasse restaurant in Sydney, favours the quality and flavour of certified organic
produce over conventionally grown food, organic food satisfying changing
consumer preferences, as observed in his professional experience. ``As a chef, I have the responsibility to choose
ingredients carefully [and] it is still freshness and quality that has driven us
to source organic produce,’’ he said.
A mosaic of our heritage tomatoes grown last summer/autumn.
A long time personal favourite of ours is British 'wunder kind' chef Jamie Oliver, who has been championing organic, artisanal, heritage foods and cruelty-free-reared meats for yonks now. A little while ago, I read a BBC biog. on Jamie on the Organic (Lmt) site and Jamie was quoted as such: "I am a great lover of organic food, and always try to give my kids organic food as I want the best for them, like so many parents" and "I want to cook with the best ingredients and have food the way it should be: healthy, tasty and grown with nature." We have also heard his Melbourne Fifteen restaurant source as much local, organic produce as they can. Thanks again for your ongoing leadership and inspiration Jamie and crew! :)
The spectacular Quay restaurant on Sydney harbour, really puts their 'rubber to the road' where organic, heirloom produce is concerned, reported as growing much of the restaurant's premium produce on their own organic farm in Blackheath in the Blue Mountains. Quay also sources ethically grown rare breeds of pig, lamb and chicken. These animal species would actually die out if not bred for consumption. Quay's world renowned chef, Peter Gilmore is inspired by a nature based philosophy to cuisine, which is centred on the idea that we can save and protect diminishing or rare plant and animal species by eating them - it sounds a bit ironic or odd perhaps to some but in reality this attitude is a very effective way to fight back against the greedy multinational 'food Nazis' and protect natural diversity of species and our birthright to food choice and safety! (I went to primary school with Peter...after all these years, I recognised him on MasterChef...I was gob-smacked to see him and delighted to see he'd done so well AND is an environmental conservationist to-boot!!)
Angelica Organic Farm Produce April 2010
Australia's small producers, who are committed to innovation and environmental conservation are also now being nationally recognised and celebrated in the food media. The ABC Delicious Magazine Produce Awards (formerly Vogue Entertaining & Travel Produce Awards) have encouraged Australian small producers, premium food regions and seasonal food produced with integrity since its inception in 2005. We feel proud to be rated as finalists with our beloved garlic for this year's award, and it is nice to be recognised in such a forum as judged by widely revered chefs and food critics, who are broadcasting their genuine value for food provenance and growing methods. We are also rapt to 'fly the flag' for organics within a national competition and up against top conventional producers - we sincerely hope it helps make sustainable food production mainstream.
The winners of the 2010 Produce Awards will be announced in the August issue of ABC delicious magazine released on July 20, 2010. We will be attending the presentation night at Melbourne's much celebrated Circa next Monday evening. Matt Wilkinson, Circa's head chef, is another very creative chef who really 'walks the talk', supporting local Aussie farmers directly, he loves to use the best each season has to offer and seeks the top producers for their unusual, ethically grown, premium ingredients, as well as incorporating heirloom herbs and vegetables grown in the restaurant's own kitchen garden. We are very excited about visiting Circa, as it's been on our list for a while now.
I have to wonder whether Australia is "following" the US or whether our interests merely pop up on the radar once a "US trend" is noted in the media? In any case, there are many more quality chefs with an increasing commitment towards supporting Australian farmers, particularly organically grown, non-factory farm raised food, too many to mention here. Several we've met and supply express their excitement about reconnecting with the real seasonality of food and the direct source of their 'stock in trade'...they find organic, in-season, heritage ingredients inspiring to work with and to be able to offer their guests. They tend to also see their use of these products as a means to contribute positively and meaningfully to society, environmental conservation and future food security.
Even though we realise restaurant dining and culture isn't high on everyone's priorities and by no means is the be all and end all of 'good food' or the enjoyment of quality food, it does have a far-reaching audience and influence, often even with those who do not frequent acclaimed eateries. For this publicity we are greatly pleased, as it is partly generating growing awareness of and movement towards reconnecting with our food sources, promoting sustainable food production and fair trade with our farmers, authentic consumer choice and hopefully the preservation of a healthy, diverse food culture for future generations to grow up on and enjoy.
I even read in last Sunday's (July 11 2010) article by Wendy Hargreaves for the Sunday Herald Sun's 'Sunday Food' section that channel Ten's top-rating MasterChef program is being credited with inspiring children to cook AND to eat vegies, as well as more at-home family cooking and shared meal times- if this is so, it's one very positive spin-off effect, effecting a very wide audience potentially.
We've had a new crew member with us on and off the past month. A local grey kangaroo (marcropus giganteus) has joined team-Angelica from the neighbouring Wombat Forest.
I've nicknamed him Regi. He's been grazing around the property (they eat grass and native herbs) and inside our currently vacant polytunnels (as above), which I imagine he finds nice and cosy on some of these rather wintery days and nights we've been having.
Tim was in one of the polytunnels last week cleaning up the spent tomato plants, just working away minding his own business as he moved along the corridor, when he got the shock of his life from a sudden growling/grunting noise...Regi was just saying "Hey dude, I'm just here, mind yourself!". Tim hadn't seen the roo, camouflaged amongst the grass & old tomato plants.
We think he's an aging male, out cast from his mob for some reason (maybe a younger more dominant male muscled in??), as sometimes happens in kangaroo society. In any case, we are happy to share our space with him (Billy our dog may not be so keen or at least a bit confused and defensive if Regi is still around come spring when Billy will be on-farm more), so long as he doesn't bound on top of the garlic! Unlike wallabies, who are a nuisance, eating every plant in sight given the chance.
Male kangaroos are colloquially called boomers, bucks, jacks or 'old men', whilst females are known as flyers, does or jills and of course the young ones are known as joeys. The collective noun for kangaroos is a mob, troop or court.
Greetings everyone! I've had a lot to think about and process the last couple of weeks, hence the absence of blog posts. Here is the first topic of my musings which I'd like to share with you...
Movie Food Inc., (Academy Award nominee - Best Documentary Feature), opened nationally here on May 20 and has so far received a lot of media coverage, rating highly among film critics as well as the rest of us who passionately care about health, the wellbeing/future of our children, our communities and our food supply - i.e. food provenance and the direction our farming and food supply systems have been heading.
We have seen Food Inc. and honestly think anyone who eats should see this - aah yep, that is to say all of us!
It is a very well made, articulate documentary that aims to convey the (frankly) despotic power a small group of large players hold over the majority in our food chain.
"You've got a small group of multinational corporations who control the entire food system, from seed to the supermarket.
They're gaining control of our food" - Joel Salatin, ABC Land Line, June 6
The film's introduction contains these lines below, which are rather sobering to say the least, and then the film goes onto explain how this is occurring, :
Voice 1: "This isn't just about what we're eating. This is about what we're allowed to say; what we're allowed to know.
Voice 2: "The companies don't want farmers talking. They don't want this story told." From farm to fork: Do you know what you’re eating?
Much of the information within this film was not new to us, the concerns being raised having had a lot to do with why we chose natural/biological farming and are so passionate about natural food growing, diversity of species and fostering a real connection between consumers to where our food comes from. We consider these avenues to be highly accountable means of organising an honest food supply chain.
We are concerned that largely through an increasing disconnection between people and their food sources (esp. via supermarket shopping & mass processed foods) and the ever louder demand for cheaper food (at any cost!), that faceless, mega profit-driven multinationals are able to hijack the authenticity, even safety of our food supply and that of growers. This ultimately robs us of our birthright to quality, healthy, sustainable food production in perpetuity. Not to mention insideously filching our freedom to choose, whilst forcing into bland conformity a major aspect of our cultural experience and diversity - the fundamental qualities of our food, being it's texture, taste, variety and historical origins.
We saw Food Inc. during our Daylesford-Macedon Ranges Harvest Week Festival a couple of weeks ago, for which regarded organic farmer and food ethics activist Joel Salatin was an esteemed guest speaker on building sustainable local food systems. Joel was also in Australia to help launch Food Inc.. So, we had the advantage of emerging from the sometimes very confronting 'home truths' of the movie to being surrounded by like-minded optimists and an informed forum vibrantly discussing proactive, sound means by which to overcome and prevent the issues raised, including examples of existing practices such as Joel's 'Polyface Farms'and many local (Victorian) farms (& of course other Australian states have their own great, highly conscious producers).
Although we are clearly biased towards organic and small-medium sized growing, we believe the issues raised in this film to be just as valid for conventional farmers and non-organics consumers, because biological, non-synthetic chemical based farming is not the only necessary solution for the future of farming and sustainable food production - for all types of consumers and farmers.
Joel Salatin and Alla Wolf-Tasker after the 'Building A Local Food System & Scaling Up' forum
held at Daylesford's Lake House
We think this is one of the most important films you'll ever see, not because every tiny detail is perfectly accurate (E-Coli is a bacterium NOT a virus as named...'hello' film's sub editor-dudes!) or because every issue is exactly replicated here in Australia at this point in time. However, we shouldn't kid ourselves that this documentary is a mere warning to us here not to follow down the U.S. path of inhumane and environmentally detrimental mass/cheap food production, as dear readers, we ARE already some way down that path within our own conventional food systems and we DO already have cruel 'factory farming' (pigs, poultry, cows...), grain-fed beef (corn - not a natural food for cattle), GM crops (canola already released + other crops being 'tested') and in some cases underpaid and ill-treated farm workers and even cases of serious lack of fair trade practices from supermarkets and wholesalers towards farmers.
Ethical consumerism and fair trade are serious considerations. It's imperative we ask "how our food is grown, at what price and WHO pays the real price for growing it?" This is at the root of sustainability for all folks....it's not 'rocket science'!
One thing Food Inc. raised for us is the need, we think, for funding towards independent research into the Australian food industry and a local expose or documentary to be made addressing precisely what is the state of affairs within our own food systems here. The findings need to be widely broadcast, as we all need to know and we need access to independant (from Govt. & business stakeholders), transparent information and therefore a hope of informed choice.
One reason people eat organic food is to minimise their consumption of synthetic chemicals for a variety of health and ethical choices. One fact already known about our food system here, is that Food Standard's Australian and N.Z.'s Total Diet Study no longer reports on chemical residues in the conventional food supply. Therefore, if you want a choice, you have to take responsibility for your own precautions. However, how many of you knew about this matter and how many other food health and safety matters are not broadly publicised??
The film opens with the line "The way we eat has changed more in the last 50 years than in the previous 10,000"...
surely that raises some questions in any thinking person's mind?? That IS a rapid change and why is it so? The real answers ARE out there if you care to do the research...
Some of the most important decisions we make every day are at the dinner table and whilst doing our food and grocery shopping. Tim and I have certainly been of the opinion for many years that possibly the most power any of us have to effect change lies in our consumer dollar and the choices we make in spending it. No where is this access to people power more prominent than in relation to what foods we choose to buy...we do all eat!
The other major issue of concern to us, is that people expect food to be cheap but how cheap can they realistically expect it to stay or become, and still expect it to be good quality, nutritious food, grown with integrity. As farmers we are repeatedly told by retailers and wholesalers that shoppers are only interested in buying cheap food, but the reality is that it costs what it costs to grow food properly and enduringly and to grow cheap food farmers have to cut corners. People have to get that if they want quality and real value, they have to pay for it (& maybe reconsider their spending priorities too?) .
“Your wallet is a mouth. When you spend money you tell the world how you want it to be.” www.walletmouth.com
As Joel Salatin was quoted on ABC Land Line last week: "Is cheapness everything that there is? I mean, who wants to buy the cheapest car? We're willing to subsidise the food system to create the 'mystique' of cheap food when actually it's very expensive food. When you add up the environment costs, societal costs, health costs...the industrial food is not honest food."
We realise that this documentary or any other book, article or film are not a panacaea, that they do not cover every issue, circumstance or solution and will probably not change the buying and eating habits of the vast majority, but the issues and real personal experiences depicted in Food Inc. are undeniably important and worthy of conscious consideration by everyone who eats and all progress starts with small steps and is most often driven by the determined efforts of a concerned few.
Also on Land LineFiona Chambers of Fernleigh Farms, just up the road from us said: "I think we're at a crossroads where more and more consumers are starting to ask hard questions and if as farmers we can't be transparent and open about what we do and how we farm, then we're going the wrong way."
They take quite a while to grow, but once they're ready, beetroots are such a wonderful, colourful, nutritious and versatile vegetable to have on hand...especially at this time of year, so fab for roasts, soups and pickling.
We've been harvesting our long awaited heirloom beets lately. We've grown Bull's Blood, Chioggia - the cute, sweet ones with pink/white rings inside and Detroits, which you can see above.
We grow other coloured varieties when we can get the seeds.
It's now already 7 weeks since we planted the new garlic crop. It's amazing how much the plants grow in that amount of time, making the most of their opportunities before the full cold of winter sets in.
They're looking really healthy and will soon be due for their first weed.
Their roots have developed a lot and are averaging about 5-6 inches long . That will hold these babies in good stead for their ongoing absorption of nutrients and their subsequent growth spurt come springtime.
As the late autumn sun sets gently over the garlic fields....
The Jerusalem artichokes have been harvested! They certainly are delicious, sweet and nutty...
Before...(around March)
After...fresh dug Jerusalem artichokes still attached to their flower stalks last week.
After they're lifted, we let them dry off (just the dirt & out skin), then we brush them clean, ready for sale.
One of our regular market customers dubbed them "F-artichokes", in reference to an effect they can sometimes have on some people's digestive system. It didn't stop him or others buying more! The main thing to do to avoid the issue of wind, is to make sure they're well cooked. Apparently par-boiling them before baking them or going onto to use them in any recipe remedies the problem. Personally we think it's a matter of quantity consumed per sitting and that not all people are particularly susceptible to the gas effect. It is said to be caused by the inulin (type of fibre) within them, but I have read this is also what makes them a good food for diabetics and controlling blood sugar balance.
There's a really great, traditional French soup recipe that introduced me to J.artichokes and had this humble rhizome impress me. I didn't get the recipe from the French chef I worked with at the time but I have found a rather nice sounding soup recipe, "Jerusalem Artichoke Soup with Bacon" on Chocolate&Zucchini , the excellent foodie blog of Parisian, Clotilde Dusoulier, one of our favourites. I'd be inclined to add a little cream or sour cream to finish the soup off to enrichen it and highlight its silky 'mouth feel', but it's up to you :).
We were featured this week in Tuesday's (May 11) The AgeEpicure (weekly food and wine section), along with some of our Daylesford-Macedon region friends and colleagues.
The Angelicanians amidst their garlic fields with some of their wares!
This write up accompanied Epicure's cover story about the highly celebrated pioneer of natural food, Joel Salatin, who is about to visit Australia. Joel is an American farmer, lecturer, author (The Sheer Ecstasy of Being a Lunatic Farmer; Everything I want to Do Is Illegal; You Can Farm & other titles), and sustainable food activist, who we are fortunate to have visiting here at the end of May as part of the Daylesford- Macedon Produce Harvest Week (May 21-30), in conjunction with Daylesford's The Lake House. Joel will be sharing his stories and information in a series of forums and a dinner/talk, which can can be checked out and booked in for via the Daylesford Macedon Produce website. All of us local farmers are excited about meeting Joel, learning from his shared experience and having our living choices reaffirmed.
The Age Epicure cover, May 11 2010
The local Daylesford-Macedon growers whom Richard Cornish, Epicure journalist, mentions, are all small-scale and mostly certified organic producers and are real life examples of people who run their farms and in fact invest much of their lives/lifestyle in doing so largely by the kind of philosophy Joel Salatin espouses. This includes being mindful about issues such as chemical-free, sustainable farming methods, 'food miles', relocalisation of food and services supply and holistic livestock rearing and processing - i.e. the opposite to mass production and 'factory farming' approaches. We all believe that this approach is an important aspect of the foundations for community strength, building and health.
The Age Epicure Joel Salatin Cover Story - Picture:AFP/Virginie Montet
The Salatin family farm, Polyface, has a remarkable website worth checking out if you want more background information on what Joel and his ways of food production are about. The Polyface farm ethos is stated as this: "We are in the redemption business: healing the land, healing the food, healing the economy, and healing the culture." Polyface produces beef, poultry, eggs, pork, forage-rabbit meat and forestry products. The Salatins describe their farm as a: "Family owned, multi-generational, pasture-based, beyond organic, local-market farm and informational outreach in Virginia's Shenandoah Valley". Fantastic!
Hope you and your family are having an enjoyable and nourishing weekend.
Those of you in 'tropical' (everything's relative!) Melbourne and maybe other locales probably won't believe me when I tell you it has been somewhat wintery around here for several weeks now?? Well folks it really has been, even though on our couple of visits to Melbourne recently we have enjoyed much warmer & dryer days. Up here, in district Daylesford, it has frequently been around 10 - 13 deg.C during the days (colder nights & mornings) with quite a bit of grey and damp weather. Now the point of all this fascinating weather talk is not to bore you into a coma but as a prelude to explaining
how it is that our farmers' market season has now reached its conclusion until our next season.
We reach a point each season when the local climate changes over and the soil cools down, often pretty swiftly, and basically what has been growing slows down significantly or stops and some things, such as our tomatoes reach the end of their time and die off, whilst other plants, such as some herbs go into a dormancy. Of the last week or so we find ourselves without enough produce to furnish ongoing farmers' market stalls. Each season we endeavour to extend our growing season a little but we will always be away from markets for at least 3-4 months each year - such are the distinct local seasons for growing in our beautiful, lush and fertile region.:)
So, thank you ALL very much for your custom and cheery company this market season and we look forward to
seeing you again in the new season, back at farmers' markets from around November onwards.
As finalists for the 2010 delicious Produce Awards(BTW finalists will be listed in the June delicious magazine and 2010 winners announced July 19), we were fortunate to be invited to attend the 7th annual Noosa Food & Wine Festivalover the weekend just passed (April 30, May 1&2).
We were given the much appreciated opportunity to promote our garlic and therefore our online garlic shop service to the thousands of festival goers (about 16000 peops. attend throughout the 3 day event according to 2009 figures), chefs and other participants.
Team Angelica manning their spot on the Regional Vic. stand.
Whatever the final head count was this year, it WAS HUGE folks! We had a couple of very full-on days, which we enjoyed immensely (we didn't even get to the beach in the balmy 27 deg. as we'd expected!). We were so impressed and somewhat amazed at the throng of seriously interested foodies, all enthusiastically checking out the top foods and beverages on display.
We had many enjoyable and inspiring chats with customers and fellow producers. Attending the festival
was an important opportunity for us in a number of ways and certainly not just 'some junket' . Apart from spruiking
our garlic wares to a large and mostly new audience, it was also a rare chance for us to 'lift our heads' so to speak from our often busy (& somewhat secluded) daily farm and Daylesford country life and to reconnect with other aspects of the food community and with other producers who share a similar passion for what they create as well as sharing successes and similar challenges
Farmer Tim (to the right) pressing the flesh with some lovely foodie folk and
Ashley Read (on Tim's left) from the award winning Cobram Estate Olive Oil.
2010 Produce Awards finalists and some 2009 winners' produce was featured in The Great Australian Produce Awards Degustation dinner held on the Saturday night - our very own Alla Wolf-Tasker from Daylesford's The Lake House was among the acclaimed guest chefs cooking for that feast and many other special meals and demos throughout the festival.
All the best to all Produce Awards finalists for this year.
Tim & I would also like to extend a special thank you to Leonie Palmer-Fisher for her support and for helping look after us whilst at the Noosa Food&Wine Festival. Thanks for your hospitality and generosity Leonie!
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