Gourmet Farmer...I wish I was

In my little inner suburban block, I do just really wish that I was a farmer. In fact, my 3 boys all talk about the animals they would have; the cow to give us milk, the chooks to give us the eggs, the sheep for wool, and then meat, a goat to eat everything we don't want...and so it goes on.

We try our hardest on our tiny little block to grow as much as we can, but, it is a small block. Matthew Evans, on the other hand has done just what we dream of. He has moved to the farm and is cooking up a feast. SBS is running a ripper of a show about him, "The Gourmet Farmer Series 2" on Thursdays at 7.30pm that only makes me want don my gumboots and get right in there with his family, eating all that great food.

 This is the second season of Gourmet Farmer that continues to follow Matthew’s journey from living in Australia’s biggest and busiest city (Sydney - not my city) to a country life in an isolated part of the island state (Tasmania, and also the coldest state).

He was once a single guy trying his hand at pig farming and experimenting with making artisanal produce and has begun a new focus being fully fledged family man with partner, Sadie, and son, Hedley. It is time for him to get serious about bringing home the bacon. Matthew starts up-scaling his farm, expanding from two pigs to 22.

He sets about coming up with ways of preserving and selling the extra pork produce from more than just his market stall. An invitation to Slow Food’s Salon in Turin affords him the opportunity to travel abroad to Italy and France. There he learns skilled ways of preserving meat which could help him balance his ‘drought or glut’ issues. With his good friends Nick and Ross, a new business idea is born – A Common Ground.

The aim of his new business is to travel to remote locations around Tasmania to set up a long table, and cook multiple course menus from produce sourced solely from the area. Whether or not locals and mainlanders will travel the miles and pay the price for a genuine locavore experience is yet to be seen.

However it’s not all hard work. Matthew continues his boy’s own adventures that include a Kayak trip down the Picton River with Nick and Ross.

Definitely worth a looking at for the views and to wish that you were there. Start dreaming and planning...