We recently had the pleasure of travelling
to Taranaki Farm, just north of Melbourne. Ben Falloon is a fourth generation
farmer, who practices ‘beyond organic’ farming in the mould of Joel Salatin of
Polyface Farms in America. I urge you to google Polyface Farms, as what Joel
has been able to accomplish is nothing short of extraordinary. He is also one
of the stars of the excellent
documentary “Food, Inc”. Again, if you have any interest in the food you put in
front of your children, I urge you to seek this documentary out.
My Kiwi friends and family will no doubt
think I am a nutter for driving 3½ hours (each way) just to take part in a two
hour farm tour. However, distance in Australia is a notional concept, and the
prospect of the tour was too good to miss. We were part of an 80 strong group
who braved a cold and wet day to walk around the farm. The major attraction for
us was the opportunity to see a farm operating the way we intend to farm in
Canowindra.
On arrival, MacK was excited to see Gypsy
(the Maremma dog) and a cat whom he chased across the parking area. Ben started
the tour by telling us that he was a fourth generation farmer, with a singular
regret being that his grandfather (Jack) had passed away before he came back to
the farm. In front of the group, and very loudly, MacK said “Oh no! Jack’s
dead”, before following that up with “How did he die, Mummy?”. To his credit,
Ben just kept rolling with the commentary.
Ben runs a couple of thousand chickens,
Wiltshire horned sheep, Berkshire pigs, and cows. There are also a number of
ducks who marauder around the farm in a dodgy manner, although I am sure that
their extreme free range diet will make them all the more lovely on the plate!
We looked at the 1100!! Point of lay
pullets, and the three types of homes they will inhabit, dependent on their jobs
on the farm (the chickens are used for pasture sanitisation and manuring, and
others are fattened for meat). From there we walked through the extremely muddy
puddles and pathways to the forest to see the beautiful herd of pigs. Most of
the kids (MacK being no exception) ended up on their backs, having a bundle of
fun! The pigs were all carrying litters, and have enlarged teats. MacK, being
as observant (and loud) as he is felt the need to call out “Mummy, how come
they have so many doodles hanging down?”
The egg mobile - brilliant concept
Don't the ladies look happy?
Jane getting up close and personal with the Berkshire ladies
We had a brilliant time on the farm, and
picked up a lot of really good ideas for our own piece of paradise. From the
farm tour, we drove to Trentham, where I got to tick off another ‘bucket list’
item. We lunched at Red Beard Bakery, which is a fantastic sourdough bakery.
The bread is baked in a century old wood fired scotch style oven. The oven deck
is so large that two VW Beetles could sit side by side, and the bread is just
spectacular.
We overnighted in Bendigo, where we caught
up with Tim and Sharon. I worked with Tim several years ago, and we have a very
similar philosophy to food. He and Sharon now run a very successful café called
Twenty2 in Bendigo. Well worth checking out if you are ever in that part of the
world.
We did take the opportunity to do a little
sightseeing before we left, and visited the Catholic Cathedral. It is a
stunning old building, and Mack was very excited. He kept calling out ‘It’s a
castle. Where’s Mike and the white knight?!”
It was a lovely weekend away, and something
we should do more often. We have had the opportunity to get to Beechworth a couple of times this year. They have a fantastic brewery with an in-house pizza kitchen. It is a wonderful places for a quick and very good meal. The picture below is a mid meal selfie-
We can't always get away as often as we would like, but it is lovely that MacK likes to spend time in the kitchen with us. He doesn't quite get why bread has to be kneaded for as long as it does, but he does attack the task with a great deal of energy!
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