WELCOME to Jen’s fresh off the farm. It’s not your average food blog and, quite frankly, it’s just a wee baby in blog-years so be patient as it’s a project constantly evolving.
I grew up in regional NSW but now live many kilometres from the mud and guts of the family farming origins. So, instead I get my farming hits from farmers markets and visits to regional producers. The why is explained at About Jen but, suffice to say, I write stories about food producers. There may be the odd recipe or food travel moment (one day) but there’s more likely just a yarn and a few photos. I’d like you to meet some of the food producers I have the pleasure of meeting, understand what they love and why they do it. Maybe then we can all learn and appreciate a little something more about what we choose to feed our friends and families.
September 2012
Oh crap… could I be destroying the planet
EVER have those moments when you’re stopped in your tracks and forced to reconsider an opinion or a decision that just a few seconds before you had been so certain about? One of my paid gigs at the moment has me researching South Australia’s food production efforts, and as such I’ve been browsing the library shelves and catching up on some agriculture news and opinion sites. A slight mental stumble on a topic I’ve clearly become a little passionate about. Read more
Say Cheese
HAD YOU told Geoff Chesworth six years ago that he would one day import a fibreglass interactive milking cow and know how to make handmade artisan cheese he would have probably run you off his dairy farm with a large shovel. In 2006, Geoff had been a dairy farmer for 25 years, having followed four generations of dairy farmers before him. But the best laid plans don’t include a six-year drought. Read more
A beautiful day in Prospect
YESTERDAY, I ran away and hid in a community garden. Spring turned on the most amazing day in Adelaide and every ounce of my being said ignore the work, the emails and the desk/office that looks as if it’s being used as headquarters for ‘Hoarders Anon’. So, I did and I took the opportunity, while I remained untethered, to go visit the Prospect Community Garden – something I had been wanting to do for a really long time. Read more
A Murrurundi moment
MURRURUNDI nestled at the base of the Liverpool Ranges at the northern end of the Upper Hunter, is one of my favourite towns. I can’t explain it, it has one of those blink and you’ll miss it main streets. I always stop (mostly for the coffee & food at the scrumptious Café Telegraph) and every-time I do, I realise I’m not the only one who has succumbed to the charms of this little town. Several artists have made their base in Murrurundi and, so too, Luigi and Kristy Papagni – owners of Bacco’s Bakeries. Read more
August 2012
Food, show some respect
Just a quick update, with something I wrote for the news and opinion site The Hoopla. I recently went along to a public meeting in Adelaide, about the Federal Government’s National Food Plan. It was pouring rain outside and generally a miserable winter’s night – but about 60 people turned up to add their comments and discuss the role food has in our society, and what they think a National Food Plan should look like. Not a bad turn-out, for the type of night it was. The general consensus, was in my opinion, that food has some serious image problems to overcome.
The column, published today at The Hoopla, is my take. What are your thoughts?
Paddock to plate in Merriwa
FARMING can be a pretty anonymous gig. Unless you happen to visit the local saleyards or live in a rural community, most farmer-types keep pretty much to themselves. But there are some pretty clever farmer-types out there who have, often through necessity and a truckload of bravado, combined farming and marketing to develop a unique product and brand. Robert and Kerry Gill wake each morning, overlooking their property Alexander Downs, located at the south-west edge of Merriwa. Read more
Making history & egg noodles
WITH the current popularity of boutique food and farmers markets it’s easy to think of the industry as ‘new’ or label it a fad of an alphabetised generation. But then I met David West, owner of Wiech’s Barossa Valley Egg Noodles, which has been producing traditional German egg noodles since 1935. Read more.
