11 March 2010
Elizabeth and I had a short 4 day break in Tasmania last weekend. We left our daughters minding the farm, used our card points to fly and car hire (complete with carbon offsets) and stayed with a good friend at Kingston Beach near Hobart. We saw much of the south travelling down to South Port and took in the Taste of the Huon. The food was great, the weather kind, the people friendly, the farming land exceptional, scenery magnificent.
We came home to 100mm in the rain gauges, the water fall falling and the creeks running. I have to say that our farm is as green as the greenest parts of Tassie right now. The morning after our return Millie our whippet decided to take on a big rabbit (a big eastern grey roo) in the house paddock and required 20 stitches to her flank. She's a lovely dog, but stupid! Roos can out run most animals but not a whippet so it stood to fight, the roo managed to grab Millie and tried to give her a disembowelling kick which is their final defence against dogs if they can't drown them in a dam, the roo missed the gut but caught Millie's flank. So after a trip to the vet, and $250 later, she is fine. Has she learnt anything from the misadventure? She's a whippet! I'll just have to keep her on a lead until I am sure there are no roos around.
Disaster struck just before we went away and one of the commercial freezers died and much prime Belted Galloway beef has become dog food! Just the thought of my dogs eating eye fillet, scotch and porterhouse is probably enough to make some of our foodie friends weep! The bad news is that some of you who had orders with us will now need to wait another 6 weeks for the meat - humblest of apologies, I can assure you this was not part of the plan!
1 March 2010
The cupboards are bare! We have sold out of beef and only have a few sausages left, all the pork that is due week after next is sold, and the lamb and mutton won't be ready for at least 6 weeks. We will have nothing to sell in a few weeks time.
More beef will be joining the food chain Sunday week, but allowing for a 4 week dry ageing, it's 7 weeks away. I seriously misjudged the demand for our beef this cycle and will do better in the next few months. Sincere apologies to those of you who prefer to buy our meats. It's some consolation to know that the cattle are looking fantastic and enjoying the grass that followed the rains.
More pork will be on the menu too, but this is 6 to 8 weeks away too, and will be limited.
All in all I can safely say that demand exceeds supply and we are very close to our very own 'limits to growth'. I'll will have to explore options of supplying more people with good clean and fair food. We can't expand, so it may be a co-op model of like minded producers. Perhaps something along these lines www.foodconnect.com.au ? I'll be meeting with Robert Pekin the founder of food connect this week to explore the possibilities.
16 February 2010
This is Nirvana! All our dams are full and overflowing - I have never seen this. The water falls are still running, no erosion evident anywhere (except the driveway), the ground springs underfoot, it's "all good". A week of warm weather coming up and the pastures will grow very fast and take us through winter. In the last 2 weeks we have received 231mm of rain, most of it the gentle soaking variety. Life is beautiful again :-)
14 February 2010
It's 5:30am and it's been raining all night, beautiful soaking rains and it's still going. Another 50mm overnight and for the first time since the January 2003 bushfires (7 years) our top dams are really filling! Of course we have been drought affected for most of that time, but I suspect it was the fast growing regenerating bush that was sucking any and all ground moisture out of the system. The lack of ground moisture meant the our land has rarely reached field capacity (saturation point) in 7 years, but now it has and run off has started. The big house dams water fall has been running continuously for 36 hours and she's nearly full. Haven't seen the big dam full since 2001 - here's hoping.
Off to the farmers' markets now to see our wonderful co-producers :-)
13 February 2010
January was a very dry month for us and we ended up with 3mm in the
rain gauge. My eyes involuntarily chased those storms around the
horizon but they seemed to fall anywhere and everywhere but here! In
comparison February is being oh-so kind. We received over 50mm of good
rain last night with more promised over the weekend. This last rain
has arrived on the back of an earlier storm/rain event so we have now
had over 120mm so far this month :-) The storms that delivered much of
the rain earlier this week also took out the power long enough for me
to consider getting out the generators, but the power came back
on before they were needed.
Here's an observation to confirm the
importance of ground cover on soils. With the arrival of heavy rain a few days ago (30mm in 25
minutes) when our pastures are traditionally sparse, there might have
been an erosion issue or two. Well there was, but not in the
paddocks: parts of our driveway now resemble the Grand Canyon!
Reminds me of a joke I heard years ago. Some Australian farmers are doing
an agricultural tour of the US and took time out to fly over the Grand
Canyon. The Aussies are amazed by the scale of things when
the pilot says, "Bet you boys ain't got nothing like this back in
Australia!" One of the farmers replies with genuine
sympathy, "Nah mate, nowhere is our erosion this bad."
The point
being our driveway which lost lots of soil and gravel has no ground cover, is not as steep
as the paddocks which lost no topsoil because they had good ground cover. The drive also has culverts, wash
ways and pipes under the road to divert water and minimise erosion, but still it lost
a great amount of gravel. A pity there isn't a plant I know of that
would grow on the drive and hold it all together. I'd much rather grow
plants than spend $1,000 on a bobcat for the repairs!
12 February 2010
It's been over a month since I updated this blog, and feeling somewhat guilty - where to start?
In late January the family had a fantastic 6 day houseboat play on the Hawkesbury and loved every minute of it. We did nothing but potter around exploring, read, swim, canoe, eat drink and sleep. The farm was well cared for again by our wonderful neighbours. This is how it works on farms all over the country, you don't get a break unless someone steps in to do the work. Anyway this was probably one of the last family holidays we'll have, as my eldest has started her Environmental Science degree and youngest is in her final year of school.
We are supplying meats (beef and pork) to the Corinbank Festival Banquet. This was somewhat of an unexpected honour, and I have been asked to address the gathering on good, clean and fair food and issues. They almost weren't going to get the pork as we were thrown into crisis by the closure of yet another abattoir - one we don't use.
The Burrungong Abattoir at Young unexpectedly went into the hands of the receivers two weeks ago. Even though I felt sorry for the hundreds of workers who lost their jobs, I thought, 'no problem for us,we don't use them'. Wrong, big problem as this latest of a great many closures in the last decade and the system is severely stretched. The trouble is the abattoirs users had to be absorbed by the system, so a lot went to the abattoirs I use at Cootamundra and Picton. But abattoir capacity wasn't really an issue, but transport is.
As it stands I am getting special treatment from one of the drivers of the refrigerated vans, who delivers our meats back to my butcher in Yass. A big favour really as Yass is not on 'the run'. Anyway instead of his usual run of 15 butcher shops, he's now doing 25 and initially said he could no longer help. Mad panic set in as I rang every transport company and butchers contact and all said no they don't go to Yass or Canberra. I even tried the coastal abattoirs, but they no longer come to Canberra. I was saved at the eleventh hour by my original driver who had heard around the traps that 'this bloke was trying to get meat back to Yass and it was having a hard time'. He took pity and has offered to resume meat carting for me - I am most grateful.
The seriousness of the situation is that if no refrigerated transport was found it put our entire Wessex Saddleback pig and pork enterprise into question. I even started investigating buying a truck or mobile coolroom to do the transporting myself! It serves to illustrate just how precarious the existence of small enterprises like ours are. We operate in an environment that is 100% geared up for the 'get big or get out' mentality of industrial agriculture. This a direct threat to our (Australians) food sovereignty and right to choose.
The maremma dogs are settling in well, I only have to cure one pup of wanting to carry chickens around in his mouth. No physical harm is done, but a slobbered on traumatised chicken doesn't lay eggs! Otherwise they are delightful dogs.
Probably the best beef we have produced has been ageing for 4 weeks and will be ready next week. We have started selling some beef in Sydney via an upmarket butchery, Hudson Meats. I have always said we don't want to supply Sydney due to the food mile factor, but it turns out that when we use the Picton abattoir, the food miles are less to Sydney than to Canberra. You have to see the prices they must (and can) charge in Sydney to stay in business. However we are receiving excellent feedback about the beef from arguably Sydney's best butchers, and the owner of the stores is a former chef.
The raw milk and cheese campaign is progressing well. Talking on an entrenched bureaucracy complete with old paradigm rusted on is not my idea of fun, but someone has to do it. My submission will not be arguing with their science, even though it is demonstrably flawed, that is being done by others. I will tackle the faulty logic of the paradigm which FSANZ is stuck in - wish me luck :-)
That's probably too much for this post - more soon.
7 January 2010
Happy New Year to all. I have nothing to say really except that way back in 1974 when I was stretching my metaphysical consciousness at the tender age of 16, I really didn't expect to be alive in 2010. So every day above ground is a good day :-)
Well to start the year off with our future in our hands please read this The article perfectly encapsulates what I know to be happening. I vaguely remember reading The Limits to Growth way back in 1977 when I was at the ANU (well I didn't spend all my time trying to impress women and drinking too much), so I have probably plagiarised all Dennis's ideas over the years and not realised it. Anyway if you really want to know what the future holds, read the transcript of his address, and I believe it should be required reading at every secondary school in years 11/12.
31 December 2009
Just had to post this. We made a quick overnight trip to Sydney to visit a good friend for his birthday and had a great meal at a pub in Camperdown (can't bring myself to call anything a gastro-pub). Whilst away I asked a friend and neighbour to check on the dogs. Marcus arrived and the dogs were fine, so he threw a line into our big dam. He quickly pulled out a 45cm (nearly 18 inch) Silver Perch! He released her immediately as she was spawning.
The significance of this tale is two fold; first I didn't believe Silver Perch could spawn in dams, and secondly I've never ever seen those hundreds of fingerlings since I released them a couple of years ago. I had assumed the Cormorants, Sacred Kingfishers and Kookaburras had filled their bellies. Anyway, Marcus had his sons as witnesses so it must be true ;-)
Happy New Year!!
29 December 2009
The tail end of cyclone Laurence gave us 107mm (a little over 4 inches in old speak) of beautiful soaking rain over 4 days, and the whole farm looks, smells and feels better for it. The dams all have more water in them, and most importantly our roof no longer leaks!! This rain has washed the new roof so that I'll be able to connect the new tanks as soon as they arrive in late January. I even have plenty of clean water to pump into them.
The Maremma dogs have settled in well. The pups are simply delightful and have already bonded to the chooks and us. Sasha the 1 year old bitch is a big sook and has bonded to us as well. I have established myself as pack leader so all should be well from now on. One pleasant and unforeseen consequence of the dogs being in the house paddock is that they keep the peacocks a good distance from the house :-)
I have sent an email to the slow money alliance http://www.slowmoneyalliance.org/ asking a few of questions raised by the enquiry, and also how I might promote the ideas and alliance here in Oz. If they reply I will post the info on this blog.
As promised here is our Terra Madre day video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8dlEdCH6s8k and a big thank you must go to Fred Harden of Regional Food magazine for the filming - a man of many talents. I managed to hide in the background at the event and had a ball talking and promoting Slow Food.
This is probably my last post for the year, so I hope you and yours all had a great Christmas, and that the new year fulfils all your desires and dreams.
26 December 2009
The Gods (aka cyclone Laurence) have been smiling on Mountain Creek Farm. We have received 80+mm of gentle soaking rain in the last 48 hours, and still it drizzles. Simply magic!
Santa gave me lots of books for Christmas, because I have been mostly good all year. Actually Santa has been renamed Amazon.com and I ordered the books myself ;-) I used Amazon because the books I read are somewhat eclectic and not usually available in Oz. Anyway I strongly advise, recommend, no, insist that you read "Slow Money" by Woody Tasch. This book encapsulates a lot of what I have been banging on about on this blog and shows that we are at the start of a new world paradigm - simply brilliant, a must read, et cetera et cetera. Leaves many questions unanswered, but that is the nature of the enquiry which does not pretend to have all the answers.
24 December 2009
A wonderful, happy and, most importantly, a wet Christmas to you all! We are hoping that we cop the tail end of cyclone Laurence and receive some 50mm of rain from the heavens between Christmas and new Year :-) If it rains between Christmas and New Year it means that we can all relax, and I won't spend the days scanning the horizon and sniffing the breeze for smoke. There is so much tinder dry grass around the farm after our wonderful spring, that fire is a greater risk than usual.
Exciting news!!! We have purchased a 10 kilowatt grid interactive solar power system for the farm! This system is big enough to cope with all our freezers and generate a surplus that we will sell back to the grid as 'clean electricity'. Even though we purchase 100% green power from the grid, I have long felt guilty about our excessive power consumption due to our frozen meats and extravagant 1st world lifestyle. So I have assuaged my guilt somewhat :-)
More exciting news - well it is for a farmer. I have purchased water tanks (some 100,000 litres worth) to capture the new house roofs run off. These tanks won't arrive until the end of January, but this will allow the new roof to be cleaned by the copious rains that will happen before the new tanks arrive - such is life.
Anyway it's "all good" here at Mountain Creek Farm, and we sincerely hope it is for you too.
19 December 2009
The year is almost over but things don't stand still here on the farm. Last Saturday we acquired not one but three Maremma dogs; an 11 month old bitch (Sasha) and two unrelated 8 week old male pups (Fred and George, so named after the Weasley twins from the Harry Potter series - well I have two daughters who read a lot). I'll choose the best of the dog pups and join him to Sasha in a year or so - so puppies will be appear in 18 months or so.
I have had a lot to do with dogs over the decades and (I just realised that I have half a century of dog experience! Bloody hell, just realised I'm old!) the Maremmas are different. These are working dogs and will live permanently outside in the house paddock. They will guard the chooks, pigs, sheds and us. The pups are already watchful and I can see that with very little training they will make excellent general purpose stock and farm guardians. Having lost our first two batches of incubated pullets to foxes in the house paddock, the Maremmas are a necessity - well OK I like dogs too.
We have almost finished re-roofing the house - the house was an old aluminium shearing shed, and roof was pitted and leaking. We've added battens, two layers of insulation, and a white roof over the existing; the difference is amazing and easily 5 to 10 degrees cooler inside. Now to connect up the downpipes, buy a another rainwater tank or two and we will have a surplus of potable water at half our average rainfall!
Over the next few months the house paddock (+/- 5 acres) will be transformed into an oasis of green as I bring the pigs in closer, move the chooks to a new home, build new roo and rabbit proof fences, and plant hundreds (maybe even thousands) of trees. The trees will be mostly fodder and fruit trees, for human and animal consumption, and will be drip irrigated by one of dams.
We will be very low on beef in January, not because we don't have the animals, but because our butcher can't do any cutting until late in the month. So our market visits will be irregular. Our egg production which should have doubled in January as the pullets started laying will be less than usual due to foxes decimating the pullet/chicks that my daughter raised from our fertile eggs. Pork will be back on the menu in February and lamb too. This seasons lambs look superb, and the porkers do too.
15 December 2009
This Financial Times article http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/48fe4fb0-e516-11de-9a25-00144feab49a.html captures perfectly the allure of Slow Food - for me anyway. I know rant a lot about the ills of our industrial food system on this blog, and in so doing I sometimes forget to mention the pleasure of food and it's conviviality. Self evidently eating is an agricultural act and by direct connection an environmental act. Importantly though it is a cultural and social act that should never have been turned into a commodity to be exploited.
It says a lot about a people, society and culture when they see food as means to an end, a product to sustain them whilst they do other "more productive" things. Sucked in by the protestant economic utility argument, food is thus transformed in to an industrial product from which profit must be maximised and the cultural, social and environmental costs externalised. And we wonder in Australia , why the life of our rural heartland is failing, why once vibrant country towns are failing, why the Murray Darling is drying up, why vast tracts of country are lost to salt, and on and on and on. The answer is quite simply really, treat food as if people, culture, land, diversity, fertility and the environment really matters. Don't just pay lip service to it - actually walk your talk, and don't do it with your mouth full of agroindustrial edible food like substances. Here endeth the lesson :-)
10 December 2009
Lots has happened in the last few days. On Saturday and Sunday Slow Food Canberra held it's Terra Madre day celebrations. Terra Madre means Mother Earth or Nurturing Earth in case your Latin descended language skills are a little rusty. We held two 'Slow Soup Kitchens' at the farmer's markets and they were a great success, selling out both days, and we had a ball. All the food was locally sourced, donated or at cost, and tasted fantastic - good, clean and fair. Five soups were on offer with wood fired breads, but the difference was we were asking people to pay or donate "what you think the food is worth and you can afford". In essence we asked people to have food with thought, food valued and not at a price, and the responses were interesting. We received anything from 50 cents to 20 dollars for our cups of soup and a slice of bread. The nett result is that we raised over a thousand dollars which will go to various food related projects such as edible school gardens. A youTube video of the event will be up soon.
The Karen refugee are having transport issues in taking up our offer of land water and infrastructure. They are very keen to grow vegetables on our farm, but cars and the distance are an issue in spite of the wonderful help offered by Catholic Care. So I am now investigating land options in the heart of Canberra on public transport routes and so on. Some big hearted organisation and or business will step up to the plate, and I am talking to a few at the moment. More on this, probably post Christmas.
Talking of big hearted people and organisations, I had a very interesting meeting with Michael Jeffery our former GG and head of state on Tuesday. I have to say it was fascinating to meet someone who thinks and talks big picture issues as I do. I went with my Slow Food hat on, and we spoke for the best part of one and half hours on things agriculture, food and the environment. I was pleasantly surprised to find that Michael was up to speed on nearly all big ideas relating to food and agriculture, but very pleased that he has reached very similar conclusions about the state of play. Michael has travelled extensively throughout the country over many years and has seen many of the problems getting worse first hand. He has also seen some of the solutions, notably Peter Andrews and his Natural Sequence Farming, and Holistic Resource Management in practice.
Through 'Outcomes Australia' Michael plans to strategically tackle our water, food security, land and environmental problems. He is assembling a task force and has much support from some very influential people and businesses. It's early days in the organisations life, but it holds much promise so I plan to help where I can.
4 December 2009
First things first. We have limited amounts of beef left to take us through to the new year, and no more will be available until February 2010. Not because we don't have the stock, but our butcher can do more until late January. So due to circumstances beyond our control we will have to take a break or two in January. This means we are unlikely to be at the markets for much of January, so stock up while you can.
About 2 years ago I was highly sceptical and critical of the ETS and following CPRS as solutions to carbon emissions. Now it appears that Jim Hansen agrees with me - he didn't at the start. http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/12/04/2761602.htm
I'm blowing my own horn loudly here!!! Jim Hansen's thinking is still not as advanced
as mine was two years ago when the ETS/CPRS was first proposed for
Oz. Admittedly he does have a slightly higher profile than me though :-)
For Australia I perviously stated the GST is the perfect mechanism for any new carbon tax. Simply include all goods and services in the tax, so kill the exemptions
for agriculture etctera, and add a small percentage initially, and more
as required - bit like the reserve bank 'controlling' inflation by
adding 0.25% to the cash rate as they did this week.
A Goods,Services and Carbon tax (GSCT) gives the
government the monies to tackle the issue. A GSCT also captures all imports
as they are not exempt from the GST, so levels the playing field. Also
the existing GST refund system/mechanism already exempts exports which in turn
kills the 'it will hurt trade' argument. The bureaucracy and
infrastructure already exists to administer the scheme, so there would
be no new bureaucracies to invent and pay for. The monies raised go to
the public purse and are easily isolated for greenhouse gas abatement
schemes. There are so many benefits to my scheme it will never be adopted!
Politicians of all colours can't see the forest for the trees!
Governments are best at tackling major infrastructure projects for the
common good - something at which private enterprise has routinely failed.
This is because the issue is public good vs private profit, and the public good will
not be best served via the private profit motive no matter how
'efficient' the trading scheme - period. All very well to be efficient,
but it's absolutely useless being efficient when the scheme is not
effective. OK rant over ;-)
24 November 2009
I hear on the grapevine that New Zealand will be producing all types of raw milk cheeses very soon. This includes the high moisture content Brie, Camembert and mould ripened blues. Fantastic news for our Kiwi cousins, but even with our special bilateral trade agreement, these cheeses will not be available in Australia due to our archaic regulations.
So the Kiwis are breaking away from Australia on the raw milk cheese issue and the NZ raw milk cheeses will be destined for the best Asian restaurants, those serving Kobe beef and top Australian wines. So I ask you, if the Kiwis can do it, why can't we? Well, apparently it's all about maintaining the safety of Australian cheese eaters.
Safety?
The best source of information I've found regarding dairy and raw milk
cheese safety is by an American law firm - a law firm that specialises in
food poisoning outbreaks and litigation. Now if anyone has a vested
interest in being 'right' and pursuing raw milk cheese 'safety', it is a lawyer
whose firm specializes in suing companies whose food products make
people ill.
So, to reduce this legal and reputedly best researched,
most detailed, most referenced and impartial legal risk assessment study down to a very brief executive summary:
- The dairy industry is the safest food sector
in the USA and approximately 1% of the population
(3 million people) drink and eat raw milk and products.
- For the
total US dairy industry, all products and derivatives, pasteurised and non, over a 23 year period
there were 134 disease outbreaks traced back to dairy products.
- Of these outbreaks 4% were traced to raw milk cheeses, or 5 outbreaks
- Each outbreak affected less than 50 people and no one died
- The figures are from official and verified US data covering the years1973 to 2005 or 23 years.
- In total less than 250 people became ill over a 23 year period, which is less than 11 people per annum on average in the USA
NB these figures include cheeses that were predominantly unregulated i.e. black market cheeses.
Now,
extrapolating those figures for Australia, where Australia's population
is 22 million vs the USA's 308 million and with all other parameters
remaining constant, Australia would have less than 0.8 persons per year
becoming ill from raw milk cheeses! But wait there's more. The US
statistics included predominantly unregulated cheeses, which would not
be permitted hence minimised in the Australian context, therefore the
risk
would be minimal to the Australian public - certainly a lot less than a
great many other foods currently available.
So it is my contention that with appropriate Australian quality
assurance programs including HACCP, monitoring, testing and labelling,
raw milk cheeses, made to international standards in Australia, could
easily be deemed 'safe' by Food Standards Australia and New Zealand.
I won't enter the debate as to the reported health benefits of raw vs pasteurized as these are hotly contested. Suffice to say that from a risk mitigation perspective, which is what FSANZ is meant to be about, it can be demonstrated that raw milk cheeses are 'safe' for public consumption. There are always exceptions, and pregnant women are currently advised not to eat soft and mould ripened cheeses no matter the type of milk they are made from.
19 November 2009
What a great season this is turning out to be. The ground moisture is holding despite the run of hot weather with temperatures daily in the mid 30's. Th pasture is still green with only the wild oats and barley grass having hayed off. If the rain predicted for the next few days materializes, we will be set for summer. The neighbours won't be impressed with any rain though, as they are cutting hay.
Been rather busy getting up to speed with the raw milk campaign, and it is a simple issue made too complex government. I believe FSANZ (Food Standards Australia and New Zealand) can't see the forest for the trees. With the best of intent FSANZ is being prescriptive in it's regulations which is hamstringing our cheesemakers - the bureaucracy is telling our cheese-makers how to make cheeses, right down to the temperature and number of seconds cheese and milk producers must heat treat milk to reduce the pathogen count to a level deemed of 'acceptable' risk. When what FSANZ should really be doing is setting the 'acceptable' pathogen count of the end product and not determining the method of production. In other words FSANZ should telling the cheese makers the outcome they want, not the process to get there. In fact that is what a 'standards' organization should be doing, setting the 'standard' and not determining how industry goes about reaching it.
In prescribing methods of production FSANZ is strangling innovation and the development of our cheese industry. Bureaucrats, no matter how well intended, should not be telling any industry how to do it's job, they should be focused on outcomes and results, and then monitor performance and compliance. Delivering outcomes and results is one of the few things that a free enterprise system is good at, and something bureaucracies are universally recognised as being poor at.
Anyway, FSANZ has a list of 'acceptable' bacteria counts, by known species potentially harmful to human health if found at certain levels or concentrations for cheeses, which is great. Counts for: Escherichia coli, Salmonella species, Staphylococcus aureus, Listeria monocytogenes and Campylobacter jejuni/coli - the usual suspects. Who cares how the product was made, and whether is was raw milk, pasteurized, or ultra pasteurized, fresh, aged, salted, high or low moisture content, and so on, provided the product meets the bacteria counts deemed 'safe'? FSANZ should set the 'acceptable' count for the pathogen in question, and then let the market meet the standard , and not be telling industry how to make cheeses. I don't believe the making of cheeses falls within their charter or expertise - I might be wrong but are any of the members of FSANZ cheese-makers? Can any individual within FSANZ produce a delectable mould ripened blue cheese? I don't think so, and academic expertise is no substitute for hands on experience.
On the basis of performance rather than prescription based standards, the New Zealand cheese-makers will now leave Australians behind in their wake as they race to develop fantastic products destined for export. Our antipodean cousins are once again beating us to the export punch.
5 November 2009
For those who missed the ABC's 7:30 Report segment on Slow Food it's here http://slowfoodaustralia.com.au/2009/11/abc-730-report-probes-food-awareness/
4 November 2009
I think the open day went well. You never really know with these things, as people come and go and little feedback is received. As it was close to 30 degrees Celcius the animals weren't very animated; the pigs barely moved which was disappointing. The good news is we raised several hundred dollars for the Karen group. This will go towards seedlings and other things they need to start farming.
Some idiot called Michael Croft was on the ABC's 7:30 Report a few minutes ago talking to his pigs and saying positive things about Slow Food. Alex Herbert, Michael Champion and Carlo Petrini all came across well in the piece, Carlo making intelligent comments about 'austere hedonism' - we Slow Foodies seek sustainable pleasure at the table and are not 'sad environmentalists' - environmentalists yes, but not the slash your wrists type. We are 'saving the planet, one meal at a time'. For those that doubt this food = 40% of Australia's total carbon emissions, and over 80% of all potable water usage. So your food choices change the environment more than any other choice you are likely to make.
Now I await a call from Radio Adelaide where I talk live to air on raw milk cheeses and the importance of choice and diversity in the dairy industry. Just unearthed a fact about raw milk cheeses, the French consume more raw milk cheeses than Australians consume cheeses of any type. Obviously the French people are made of better stuff than Australians, because I don't see them dropping like flies due the consumption of raw milk cheeses. Food Safety is the reason we are being denied the variety and pleasure of raw milk cheeses, and yet the evidence says food safety is easily and effectively dealt with in other countries - why not Australia? Obviously French bacteria must be superior to Australian bacteria.
2 November 2009
Just had to show you this link http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/11/02/2731014.htm because it shows two things I am passionate about.
Firstly the independence of our scientists to speak publicly on issues which they are expert. The CSIRO maintains that the individual and corporate opinions are inseparable, so 'their' scientists can't speak publicly without the corporate nod. I'm sure you can see the error in logic here.
Secondly, Dr Clive Spash and I are in agreement. Way back when the CPRS was first mooted, I blogged it would be ineffective and that there was a simpler and more effective way to reduce carbon emissions.
My suggestion was the ultimate in simplicity, so simple it would actually work. By incorporating food into the GST, and raising the GST rate by 1% all industry sectors would be incorporated, including agriculture and imports. The extra funds raised could be easily quarantined for the use carbon reduction schemes and clean technologies and development. But most importantly it would be cheap and easy to implement, as it uses the existing GST system for collection and administration.
Other measures and policies such as a gross feed-in tariff that favoured clean, green, renewable electricity generation, a sincere public transport infrastructure rethink, and private car tax incentives to reduce our fossil fuel use, are all doable without reinventing the wheel. The funding of these measures would come from the expanded GST. All too easy and all so simple, it will never fly.
2 November 2009
Please note we are fully booked for our open day thanks.
76.5mm of rain for October. Can't complain about that! The farm is looking quite good for the open day tomorrow. Am I ready for the open day? Well let's just say that the place doesn't look too bad after 7 years of drought. In fact the pastures and soils are the best I've seem them. Mind you the house and infrastructure needs attention, but that's a few years of hand feeding for you.
I've keep the steers in the sacrifice paddock longer than anticipated, so that they are close for the open day, and this has allowed much of the pasture to go to seed. I'll move some of the cows down to the paddock above the house which means they'll be nice and close too. The pigs will be on pasture next to the cows, and the sheep, lambs and Llamas will be in the front paddock. The chooks will be under foot as usual, and ducks and geese on the main dam. All this means that it will be a very short walk and our guests will be able to see all the species we farm.
Speaking of dams, a few more 30 degree days and we'll be able to go swimming. My neighbour says he's seen some monster fish in the house dam, so perhaps the silver perch I put in a few years ago have grown after all. Either that or there is a Murray Cod in the dam who has been feasting on my Silver Perch.
Fred Harden of Regional Food Magazine will be filming and taking stills of our open day. Hopefully he will get some good material for the doco/series. We have had some fantastic experiences doing this - all very exhausting though.
As some of you are aware the Slow Food raw milk cheese campaign is gathering momentum. Much work remains to be done, but it's happening!
25 October 2009
A great day at the markets today, lots of friends and customers dropping by to say hello, some of them bought some meat as we nearly sold out.
It's raining again as I write this and it's making for one of the best springs since we moved on to the farm in 2001. But of course it's raining, as another lot of twin lambs arrived just as the rain started - mum's and bubs all well.
Our open day! Please RSVP and register by sending us an email letting us know you are coming and how many will be with you. This is because we are catering sausages and bread and it would be terrible if we ran out, and you and yours missed out. Also it's just plain civilized to RSVP.
At last I have some CO2e figures for food as a proportion of Australia's total carbon emissions, and at 40% it's worse than I guestimated. So the Slow Food call to arms of "Save the planet one meal at a time" rings true. The food we eat is the major ecological driver in this country, particularly when 70% of fresh water in Australia is used in agriculture. Again as we know agriculture to be but a component of food consumption, then the actual percentage of our fresh water being used to produce and consume food will be much higher than 70% !! I won't even mention biodiversity loss due to land clearing.
So it is evident that eating is the primary ecological act, driver of CO2e emissions, water consumption and biodiversity loss. Therefore change what you eat and you change the outcome. Eat less and eat less meat, and start at the other end of the food chain. Or as Michael Pollan says in Omnivore's Dilemma, "eat food, mostly plants, and not too much".
21 October 2009
Went to a good talk last night about climate change and food security, and it seems that scientists are finally getting the idea. http://www.science.org.au/events/lectures-and-speeches/gregory.htm
20 October 2009
Spent the weekend in Sydney filming what seemed like continuously. The Carlo Petrini welcome dinner on Friday night went so smoothly with Alex, Sophie and Vince as chefs doing a superb job and our pigs proud. I got the chefs and Carlo to sign the menu and I'll take it to the markets for those who are interested in what they did.
Saturday was the Slow Food conference at the UWS Hawkesbury campus. A feedback and planning day which proceeded smoothly and concluded in a dinner of; roast lamb and goat on two spits, some fabulous wines, cheeses and salads also spoiled the attendees. I talked on the biodiversity of farm animal genetic resources with a borrowed and modified power point courtesy of Fiona Chambers. It went well I think, but I had to rush it a bit due to time restrictions.
Sunday we filmed and interviewed Peter Andrews in the Botanical Gardens, before going to Carlo's Opera House address. We have complete footage of the address, including his singing La Traviata at the Opera House at the end of proceedings, which we will post on UTube. There was a standing ovation at the end, so obviously all went well.
Sunday night I attended a private dinner function with Carlo and selected guests which was simply wonderful - good company, intelligent conversation, good food, good wine. I sat opposite Carlo and Margaret Fulton, both of whom are charming and don't suffer fools gladly (obviously made an exception in my case). Peter Andrews was at one end of the table and had some loud and friendly exchanges with Maraget. Kylie Kwong sat diagonally across from me and Inidra Naidoo sat to my left. Indira is the most charming, intelligent and articulate dinner companion one could hope for, and very beautiful too!
Indira commented that the dinner was like being in a pleasant dream, I agreed, it was hard for us to articulate what that quality was, but it was like being part of a filmed dream sequence in soft light and focus, surrounded by warmth - and love I guess. Now I am getting real soppy, so will stop, but it was a very special evening.
OK, now the work begins. The fight for Raw Milk Cheeses in Australia has been taken on by Slow Food and announced at Carlo's address to the Opera House. The raw milk cheese battle will be our beach head for many more much needed changes to the food regulation system that forces small producers out of existence and even prevents them from starting.
We have a limited window of one month before the regulators (Food Standards Australia and New Zealand) hand down their First Assessment Report about raw milk cheeses in Australia. I have been asked to help make it work and I will need help as I have a farm to run, am in the middle of the doco, have the DGR status of the Rare Breeds Trust to secure and a family. What I need are volunteers to help with co-ordination of petitions etcetera (I am thinking of you as you read this). The bonus will be contact with many of the cheese producers and farmers in Australia, and contacts with the great restaurants of Australia - most of which support the production of raw milk cheeses in Australia, but are forced to used imported raw milk cheeses instead.
So, supporters of Mountain Creek Farm, I call on you to help us with this endeavour because, "from little things big things grow". Ring or email me if you can help - any and all donations of your time will be most gratefully received.
16 October 2009
Dear oh dear. We had hoped to film various scientists at the Yass Area Networks (YAN) Soil Carbon Seminar, but no go to our request. We received a legalese and
29 December 2009
The tail end of cyclone Laurence gave us 107mm (a little over 4 inches in old speak) of beautiful soaking rain over 4 days, and the whole farm looks, smells and feels better for it. The dams all have more water in them, and most importantly our roof no longer leaks!! This rain has washed the new roof so that I'll be able to connect the new tanks as soon as they arrive in late January. I even have plenty of clean water to pump into them.
The Maremma dogs have settled in well. The pups are simply delightful and have already bonded to the chooks and us. Sasha the 1 year old bitch is a big sook and has bonded to us as well. I have established myself as pack leader so all should be well from now on. One pleasant and unforeseen consequence of the dogs being in the house paddock is that they keep the peacocks a good distance from the house :-)
I have sent an email to the slow money alliance http://www.slowmoneyalliance.org/ asking a few of questions raised by the enquiry, and also how I might promote the ideas and alliance here in Oz. If they reply I will post the info on this blog.
This is probably my last post for the year, so I hope you and yours all had a great Christmas, and that the new year fulfils all your desires and dreams.
26 December 2009
The Gods (aka cyclone Laurence) have been smiling on Mountain Creek Farm. We have received 80+mm of gentle soaking rain in the last 48 hours, and still it drizzles. Simply magic!
Santa gave me lots of books for Christmas, because I have been mostly good all year. Actually Santa has been renamed Amazon.com and I ordered the books myself ;-) I used Amazon because the books I read are somewhat eclectic and not usually available in Oz. Anyway I strongly advise, recommend, no, insist that you read "Slow Money" by Woody Tasch. This book encapsulates a lot of what I have been banging on about on this blog and shows that we are at the start of a new world paradigm - simply brilliant, a must read, et cetera et cetera. Leaves many questions unanswered, but that is the nature of the enquiry which does not pretend to have all the answers.
24 December 2009
A wonderful, happy and, most importantly, a wet Christmas to you all! We are hoping that we cop the tail end of cyclone Laurence and receive some 50mm of rain from the heavens between Christmas and new Year :-) If it rains between Christmas and New Year it means that we can all relax, and I won't spend the days scanning the horizon and sniffing the breeze for smoke. There is so much tinder dry grass around the farm after our wonderful spring, that fire is a greater risk than usual.
Exciting news!!! We have purchased a 10 kilowatt grid interactive solar power system for the farm! This system is big enough to cope with all our freezers and generate a surplus that we will sell back to the grid as 'clean electricity'. Even though we purchase 100% green power from the grid, I have long felt guilty about our excessive power consumption due to our frozen meats and extravagant 1st world lifestyle. So I have assuaged my guilt somewhat :-)
More exciting news - well it is for a farmer. I have purchased water tanks (some 100,000 litres worth) to capture the new house roofs run off. These tanks won't arrive until the end of January, but this will allow the new roof to be cleaned by the copious rains that will happen before the new tanks arrive - such is life.
Anyway it's "all good" here at Mountain Creek Farm, and we sincerely hope it is for you too.
19 December 2009
The year is almost over but things don't stand still here on the farm. Last Saturday we acquired not one but three Maremma dogs; an 11 month old bitch (Sasha) and two unrelated 8 week old male pups (Fred and George, so named after the Weasley twins from the Harry Potter series - well I have two daughters who read a lot). I'll choose the best of the dog pups and join him to Sasha in a year or so - so puppies will be appear in 18 months or so.
I have had a lot to do with dogs over the decades and (I just realised that I have half a century of dog experience! Bloody hell, just realised I'm old!) the Maremmas are different. These are working dogs and will live permanently outside in the house paddock. They will guard the chooks, pigs, sheds and us. The pups are already watchful and I can see that with very little training they will make excellent general purpose stock and farm guardians. Having lost our first two batches of incubated pullets to foxes in the house paddock, the Maremmas are a necessity - well OK I like dogs too.
We have almost finished re-roofing the house - the house was an old aluminium shearing shed, and roof was pitted and leaking. We've added battens, two layers of insulation, and a white roof over the existing; the difference is amazing and easily 5 to 10 degrees cooler inside. Now to connect up the downpipes, buy a another rainwater tank or two and we will have a surplus of potable water at half our average rainfall!
Over the next few months the house paddock (+/- 5 acres) will be transformed into an oasis of green as I bring the pigs in closer, move the chooks to a new home, build new roo and rabbit proof fences, and plant hundreds (maybe even thousands) of trees. The trees will be mostly fodder and fruit trees, for human and animal consumption, and will be drip irrigated by one of dams.
We will be very low on beef in January, not because we don't have the animals, but because our butcher can't do any cutting until late in the month. So our market visits will be irregular. Our egg production which should have doubled in January as the pullets started laying will be less than usual due to foxes decimating the pullet/chicks that my daughter raised from our fertile eggs. Pork will be back on the menu in February and lamb too. This seasons lambs look superb, and the porkers do too.
15 December 2009
This Financial Times article http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/48fe4fb0-e516-11de-9a25-00144feab49a.html captures perfectly the allure of Slow Food - for me anyway. I know rant a lot about the ills of our industrial food system on this blog, and in so doing I sometimes forget to mention the pleasure of food and it's conviviality. Self evidently eating is an agricultural act and by direct connection an environmental act. Importantly though it is a cultural and social act that should never have been turned into a commodity to be exploited.
It says a lot about a people, society and culture when they see food as means to an end, a product to sustain them whilst they do other "more productive" things. Sucked in by the protestant economic utility argument, food is thus transformed in to an industrial product from which profit must be maximised and the cultural, social and environmental costs externalised. And we wonder in Australia , why the life of our rural heartland is failing, why once vibrant country towns are failing, why the Murray Darling is drying up, why vast tracts of country are lost to salt, and on and on and on. The answer is quite simply really, treat food as if people, culture, land, diversity, fertility and the environment really matters. Don't just pay lip service to it - actually walk your talk, and don't do it with your mouth full of agroindustrial edible food like substances. Here endeth the lesson :-)
10 December 2009
Lots has happened in the last few days. On Saturday and Sunday Slow Food Canberra held it's Terra Madre day celebrations. Terra Madre means Mother Earth or Nurturing Earth in case your Latin descended language skills are a little rusty. We held two 'Slow Soup Kitchens' at the farmer's markets and they were a great success, selling out both days, and we had a ball. All the food was locally sourced, donated or at cost, and tasted fantastic - good, clean and fair. Five soups were on offer with wood fired breads, but the difference was we were asking people to pay or donate "what you think the food is worth and you can afford". In essence we asked people to have food with thought, food valued and not at a price, and the responses were interesting. We received anything from 50 cents to 20 dollars for our cups of soup and a slice of bread. The nett result is that we raised over a thousand dollars which will go to various food related projects such as edible school gardens. A youTube video of the event will be up soon.
The Karen refugee are having transport issues in taking up our offer of land water and infrastructure. They are very keen to grow vegetables on our farm, but cars and the distance are an issue in spite of the wonderful help offered by Catholic Care. So I am now investigating land options in the heart of Canberra on public transport routes and so on. Some big hearted organisation and or business will step up to the plate, and I am talking to a few at the moment. More on this, probably post Christmas.
Talking of big hearted people and organisations, I had a very interesting meeting with Michael Jeffery our former GG and head of state on Tuesday. I have to say it was fascinating to meet someone who thinks and talks big picture issues as I do. I went with my Slow Food hat on, and we spoke for the best part of one and half hours on things agriculture, food and the environment. I was pleasantly surprised to find that Michael was up to speed on nearly all big ideas relating to food and agriculture, but very pleased that he has reached very similar conclusions about the state of play. Michael has travelled extensively throughout the country over many years and has seen many of the problems getting worse first hand. He has also seen some of the solutions, notably Peter Andrews and his Natural Sequence Farming, and Holistic Resource Management in practice.
Through 'Outcomes Australia' Michael plans to strategically tackle our water, food security, land and environmental problems. He is assembling a task force and has much support from some very influential people and businesses. It's early days in the organisations life, but it holds much promise so I plan to help where I can.
4 December 2009
First things first. We have limited amounts of beef left to take us through to the new year, and no more will be available until February 2010. Not because we don't have the stock, but our butcher can do more until late January. So due to circumstances beyond our control we will have to take a break or two in January. This means we are unlikely to be at the markets for much of January, so stock up while you can.
About 2 years ago I was highly sceptical and critical of the ETS and following CPRS as solutions to carbon emissions. Now it appears that Jim Hansen agrees with me - he didn't at the start. http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/12/04/2761602.htm
I'm blowing my own horn loudly here!!! Jim Hansen's thinking is still not as advanced
as mine was two years ago when the ETS/CPRS was first proposed for
Oz. Admittedly he does have a slightly higher profile than me though :-)
For Australia I perviously stated the GST is the perfect mechanism for any new carbon tax. Simply include all goods and services in the tax, so kill the exemptions
for agriculture etctera, and add a small percentage initially, and more
as required - bit like the reserve bank 'controlling' inflation by
adding 0.25% to the cash rate as they did this week.
A Goods,Services and Carbon tax (GSCT) gives the
government the monies to tackle the issue. A GSCT also captures all imports
as they are not exempt from the GST, so levels the playing field. Also
the existing GST refund system/mechanism already exempts exports which in turn
kills the 'it will hurt trade' argument. The bureaucracy and
infrastructure already exists to administer the scheme, so there would
be no new bureaucracies to invent and pay for. The monies raised go to
the public purse and are easily isolated for greenhouse gas abatement
schemes. There are so many benefits to my scheme it will never be adopted!
Politicians of all colours can't see the forest for the trees!
Governments are best at tackling major infrastructure projects for the
common good - something at which private enterprise has routinely failed.
This is because the issue is public good vs private profit, and the public good will
not be best served via the private profit motive no matter how
'efficient' the trading scheme - period. All very well to be efficient,
but it's absolutely useless being efficient when the scheme is not
effective. OK rant over ;-)
24 November 2009
I hear on the grapevine that New Zealand will be producing all types of raw milk cheeses very soon. This includes the high moisture content Brie, Camembert and mould ripened blues. Fantastic news for our Kiwi cousins, but even with our special bilateral trade agreement, these cheeses will not be available in Australia due to our archaic regulations.
So the Kiwis are breaking away from Australia on the raw milk cheese issue and the NZ raw milk cheeses will be destined for the best Asian restaurants, those serving Kobe beef and top Australian wines. So I ask you, if the Kiwis can do it, why can't we? Well, apparently it's all about maintaining the safety of Australian cheese eaters.
Safety?
The best source of information I've found regarding dairy and raw milk
cheese safety is by an American law firm - a law firm that specialises in
food poisoning outbreaks and litigation. Now if anyone has a vested
interest in being 'right' and pursuing raw milk cheese 'safety', it is a lawyer
whose firm specializes in suing companies whose food products make
people ill.
So, to reduce this legal and reputedly best researched,
most detailed, most referenced and impartial legal risk assessment study down to a very brief executive summary:
- The dairy industry is the safest food sector
in the USA and approximately 1% of the population
(3 million people) drink and eat raw milk and products.
- For the
total US dairy industry, all products and derivatives, pasteurised and non, over a 23 year period
there were 134 disease outbreaks traced back to dairy products.
- Of these outbreaks 4% were traced to raw milk cheeses, or 5 outbreaks
- Each outbreak affected less than 50 people and no one died
- The figures are from official and verified US data covering the years1973 to 2005 or 23 years.
- In total less than 250 people became ill over a 23 year period, which is less than 11 people per annum on average in the USA
NB these figures include cheeses that were predominantly unregulated i.e. black market cheeses.
Now,
extrapolating those figures for Australia, where Australia's population
is 22 million vs the USA's 308 million and with all other parameters
remaining constant, Australia would have less than 0.8 persons per year
becoming ill from raw milk cheeses! But wait there's more. The US
statistics included predominantly unregulated cheeses, which would not
be permitted hence minimised in the Australian context, therefore the
risk
would be minimal to the Australian public - certainly a lot less than a
great many other foods currently available.
So it is my contention that with appropriate Australian quality
assurance programs including HACCP, monitoring, testing and labelling,
raw milk cheeses, made to international standards in Australia, could
easily be deemed 'safe' by Food Standards Australia and New Zealand.
I won't enter the debate as to the reported health benefits of raw vs pasteurized as these are hotly contested. Suffice to say that from a risk mitigation perspective, which is what FSANZ is meant to be about, it can be demonstrated that raw milk cheeses are 'safe' for public consumption. There are always exceptions, and pregnant women are currently advised not to eat soft and mould ripened cheeses no matter the type of milk they are made from.
19 November 2009
What a great season this is turning out to be. The ground moisture is holding despite the run of hot weather with temperatures daily in the mid 30's. Th pasture is still green with only the wild oats and barley grass having hayed off. If the rain predicted for the next few days materializes, we will be set for summer. The neighbours won't be impressed with any rain though, as they are cutting hay.
Been rather busy getting up to speed with the raw milk campaign, and it is a simple issue made too complex government. I believe FSANZ (Food Standards Australia and New Zealand) can't see the forest for the trees. With the best of intent FSANZ is being prescriptive in it's regulations which is hamstringing our cheesemakers - the bureaucracy is telling our cheese-makers how to make cheeses, right down to the temperature and number of seconds cheese and milk producers must heat treat milk to reduce the pathogen count to a level deemed of 'acceptable' risk. When what FSANZ should really be doing is setting the 'acceptable' pathogen count of the end product and not determining the method of production. In other words FSANZ should telling the cheese makers the outcome they want, not the process to get there. In fact that is what a 'standards' organization should be doing, setting the 'standard' and not determining how industry goes about reaching it.
In prescribing methods of production FSANZ is strangling innovation and the development of our cheese industry. Bureaucrats, no matter how well intended, should not be telling any industry how to do it's job, they should be focused on outcomes and results, and then monitor performance and compliance. Delivering outcomes and results is one of the few things that a free enterprise system is good at, and something bureaucracies are universally recognised as being poor at.
Anyway, FSANZ has a list of 'acceptable' bacteria counts, by known species potentially harmful to human health if found at certain levels or concentrations for cheeses, which is great. Counts for: Escherichia coli, Salmonella species, Staphylococcus aureus, Listeria monocytogenes and Campylobacter jejuni/coli - the usual suspects. Who cares how the product was made, and whether is was raw milk, pasteurized, or ultra pasteurized, fresh, aged, salted, high or low moisture content, and so on, provided the product meets the bacteria counts deemed 'safe'? FSANZ should set the 'acceptable' count for the pathogen in question, and then let the market meet the standard , and not be telling industry how to make cheeses. I don't believe the making of cheeses falls within their charter or expertise - I might be wrong but are any of the members of FSANZ cheese-makers? Can any individual within FSANZ produce a delectable mould ripened blue cheese? I don't think so, and academic expertise is no substitute for hands on experience.
On the basis of performance rather than prescription based standards, the New Zealand cheese-makers will now leave Australians behind in their wake as they race to develop fantastic products destined for export. Our antipodean cousins are once again beating us to the export punch.
5 November 2009
For those who missed the ABC's 7:30 Report segment on Slow Food it's here http://slowfoodaustralia.com.au/2009/11/abc-730-report-probes-food-awareness/
4 November 2009
I think the open day went well. You never really know with these things, as people come and go and little feedback is received. As it was close to 30 degrees Celcius the animals weren't very animated; the pigs barely moved which was disappointing. The good news is we raised several hundred dollars for the Karen group. This will go towards seedlings and other things they need to start farming.
Some idiot called Michael Croft was on the ABC's 7:30 Report a few minutes ago talking to his pigs and saying positive things about Slow Food. Alex Herbert, Michael Champion and Carlo Petrini all came across well in the piece, Carlo making intelligent comments about 'austere hedonism' - we Slow Foodies seek sustainable pleasure at the table and are not 'sad environmentalists' - environmentalists yes, but not the slash your wrists type. We are 'saving the planet, one meal at a time'. For those that doubt this food = 40% of Australia's total carbon emissions, and over 80% of all potable water usage. So your food choices change the environment more than any other choice you are likely to make.
Now I await a call from Radio Adelaide where I talk live to air on raw milk cheeses and the importance of choice and diversity in the dairy industry. Just unearthed a fact about raw milk cheeses, the French consume more raw milk cheeses than Australians consume cheeses of any type. Obviously the French people are made of better stuff than Australians, because I don't see them dropping like flies due the consumption of raw milk cheeses. Food Safety is the reason we are being denied the variety and pleasure of raw milk cheeses, and yet the evidence says food safety is easily and effectively dealt with in other countries - why not Australia? Obviously French bacteria must be superior to Australian bacteria.
2 November 2009
Just had to show you this link http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/11/02/2731014.htm because it shows two things I am passionate about.
Firstly the independence of our scientists to speak publicly on issues which they are expert. The CSIRO maintains that the individual and corporate opinions are inseparable, so 'their' scientists can't speak publicly without the corporate nod. I'm sure you can see the error in logic here.
Secondly, Dr Clive Spash and I are in agreement. Way back when the CPRS was first mooted, I blogged it would be ineffective and that there was a simpler and more effective way to reduce carbon emissions.
My suggestion was the ultimate in simplicity, so simple it would actually work. By incorporating food into the GST, and raising the GST rate by 1% all industry sectors would be incorporated, including agriculture and imports. The extra funds raised could be easily quarantined for the use carbon reduction schemes and clean technologies and development. But most importantly it would be cheap and easy to implement, as it uses the existing GST system for collection and administration.
Other measures and policies such as a gross feed-in tariff that favoured clean, green, renewable electricity generation, a sincere public transport infrastructure rethink, and private car tax incentives to reduce our fossil fuel use, are all doable without reinventing the wheel. The funding of these measures would come from the expanded GST. All too easy and all so simple, it will never fly.
2 November 2009
Please note we are fully booked for our open day thanks.
76.5mm of rain for October. Can't complain about that! The farm is looking quite good for the open day tomorrow. Am I ready for the open day? Well let's just say that the place doesn't look too bad after 7 years of drought. In fact the pastures and soils are the best I've seem them. Mind you the house and infrastructure needs attention, but that's a few years of hand feeding for you.
I've keep the steers in the sacrifice paddock longer than anticipated, so that they are close for the open day, and this has allowed much of the pasture to go to seed. I'll move some of the cows down to the paddock above the house which means they'll be nice and close too. The pigs will be on pasture next to the cows, and the sheep, lambs and Llamas will be in the front paddock. The chooks will be under foot as usual, and ducks and geese on the main dam. All this means that it will be a very short walk and our guests will be able to see all the species we farm.
Speaking of dams, a few more 30 degree days and we'll be able to go swimming. My neighbour says he's seen some monster fish in the house dam, so perhaps the silver perch I put in a few years ago have grown after all. Either that or there is a Murray Cod in the dam who has been feasting on my Silver Perch.
Fred Harden of Regional Food Magazine will be filming and taking stills of our open day. Hopefully he will get some good material for the doco/series. We have had some fantastic experiences doing this - all very exhausting though.
As some of you are aware the Slow Food raw milk cheese campaign is gathering momentum. Much work remains to be done, but it's happening!
25 October 2009
A great day at the markets today, lots of friends and customers dropping by to say hello, some of them bought some meat as we nearly sold out.
It's raining again as I write this and it's making for one of the best springs since we moved on to the farm in 2001. But of course it's raining, as another lot of twin lambs arrived just as the rain started - mum's and bubs all well.
Our open day! Please RSVP and register by sending us an email letting us know you are coming and how many will be with you. This is because we are catering sausages and bread and it would be terrible if we ran out, and you and yours missed out. Also it's just plain civilized to RSVP.
At last I have some CO2e figures for food as a proportion of Australia's total carbon emissions, and at 40% it's worse than I guestimated. So the Slow Food call to arms of "Save the planet one meal at a time" rings true. The food we eat is the major ecological driver in this country, particularly when 70% of fresh water in Australia is used in agriculture. Again as we know agriculture to be but a component of food consumption, then the actual percentage of our fresh water being used to produce and consume food will be much higher than 70% !! I won't even mention biodiversity loss due to land clearing.
So it is evident that eating is the primary ecological act, driver of CO2e emissions, water consumption and biodiversity loss. Therefore change what you eat and you change the outcome. Eat less and eat less meat, and start at the other end of the food chain. Or as Michael Pollan says in Omnivore's Dilemma, "eat food, mostly plants, and not too much".
21 October 2009
Went to a good talk last night about climate change and food security, and it seems that scientists are finally getting the idea. http://www.science.org.au/events/lectures-and-speeches/gregory.htm
20 October 2009
Spent the weekend in Sydney filming what seemed like continuously. The Carlo Petrini welcome dinner on Friday night went so smoothly with Alex, Sophie and Vince as chefs doing a superb job and our pigs proud. I got the chefs and Carlo to sign the menu and I'll take it to the markets for those who are interested in what they did.
Saturday was the Slow Food conference at the UWS Hawkesbury campus. A feedback and planning day which proceeded smoothly and concluded in a dinner of; roast lamb and goat on two spits, some fabulous wines, cheeses and salads also spoiled the attendees. I talked on the biodiversity of farm animal genetic resources with a borrowed and modified power point courtesy of Fiona Chambers. It went well I think, but I had to rush it a bit due to time restrictions.
Sunday we filmed and interviewed Peter Andrews in the Botanical Gardens, before going to Carlo's Opera House address. We have complete footage of the address, including his singing La Traviata at the Opera House at the end of proceedings, which we will post on UTube. There was a standing ovation at the end, so obviously all went well.
Sunday night I attended a private dinner function with Carlo and selected guests which was simply wonderful - good company, intelligent conversation, good food, good wine. I sat opposite Carlo and Margaret Fulton, both of whom are charming and don't suffer fools gladly (obviously made an exception in my case). Peter Andrews was at one end of the table and had some loud and friendly exchanges with Maraget. Kylie Kwong sat diagonally across from me and Inidra Naidoo sat to my left. Indira is the most charming, intelligent and articulate dinner companion one could hope for, and very beautiful too!
Indira commented that the dinner was like being in a pleasant dream, I agreed, it was hard for us to articulate what that quality was, but it was like being part of a filmed dream sequence in soft light and focus, surrounded by warmth - and love I guess. Now I am getting real soppy, so will stop, but it was a very special evening.
OK, now the work begins. The fight for Raw Milk Cheeses in Australia has been taken on by Slow Food and announced at Carlo's address to the Opera House. The raw milk cheese battle will be our beach head for many more much needed changes to the food regulation system that forces small producers out of existence and even prevents them from starting.
We have a limited window of one month before the regulators (Food Standards Australia and New Zealand) hand down their First Assessment Report about raw milk cheeses in Australia. I have been asked to help make it work and I will need help as I have a farm to run, am in the middle of the doco, have the DGR status of the Rare Breeds Trust to secure and a family. What I need are volunteers to help with co-ordination of petitions etcetera (I am thinking of you as you read this). The bonus will be contact with many of the cheese producers and farmers in Australia, and contacts with the great restaurants of Australia - most of which support the production of raw milk cheeses in Australia, but are forced to used imported raw milk cheeses instead.
So, supporters of Mountain Creek Farm, I call on you to help us with this endeavour because, "from little things big things grow". Ring or email me if you can help - any and all donations of your time will be most gratefully received.
16 October 2009
Dear oh dear. We had hoped to film various scientists at the Yass Area Networks (YAN) Soil Carbon Seminar, but no go to our request. We received a legalese and negative response from the Organizing Committee citing "without prejudice", "Intellectual Property" and "Copyright". So much for YAN performing as a network and in the spirit of the common good. We had planned to edit the day and interviews down to 5 or 6 minutes, and give all our professional footage to them to use as they see fit.
But not to worry that YAN are playing petty bureaucratic power games in the midst of a climate crisis and mass extinction event - we have bigger fish to fry. We will interview the scientists we want at another time and place and leave YAN to their own confused agenda.
15 October 2009
Just a quick update. Was in Sydney again this morning filming with the ABC 7:30 Report, and it seems there will be a Slow Food, paddock to plate feature on in the very near future. I'll be back in Sydney over the weekend, where the ABC will finish filming the Carlo Petrini Slow Food welcome dinner at Bird Cow Fish. So I anticipate the piece will air some time next week, but I will advise the date and time when I know.
On Saturday we film the Slow Food Australia inaugural conference, with Carlo Petrini in attendance at the UWS. I get to do a 15 minute talk on farm animal biodiversity issues at the conference and then field questions with the panel.
On the Sunday Fred Harden and I will be filming Peter Andrews, of Natural Sequence Farming and Australian Story x 2 fame, at the Royal Botanical Gardens in Sydney. Here we will also get to briefly interview Carlo Petrini and then film Carlo and Peter as the visionaires meet for the first time. After that we film the public address by Carlo at the Opera House and subsequent interview by Joanna Savill.
On Monday we film a rather special meal at Justin North's Becasse Restaurant, with a few celebrities present. Then it's home to do what I love most which is look after the farm. Truly, I have no idea why anyone would choose to live in Sydney, it's OK for a visit, but ....................
As a result of all the above, Elizabeth will be on her own at the markets this Sunday and may not be able to take as much produce as usual, so please be nice to my wonderful and long suffering wife :-)
I missed this one, but Christine Salins had more nice things to say about us http://www.psnews.com.au/dinepsn186.html
By the way, our open day is still going to be November 3, Family Day holiday in the ACT and Melbourne Cup day everywhere else. Be warned we will be filming the event, so if this is a problem - don't come this time. This is going to be a simple affair mainly aimed at children - a gentle "meet your food" event, without it being too obvious. Please register by dropping us an email, and I'll send you a mud map. Our sausages will be cooked and available on the day for a gold coin donation - all proceeds will go to the ACT Karen Refugee group for seeds, seedlings and anything else required to get them started on the farm.
14 October 2009
OK so I am biased about our latest beef and my comments of a day ago are not to trusted, but what follows is part of a reorder email I received last night.
"Wow, we are about to enjoy the last of our 'Slow Pack' when we eat a
lovely slow cooked stew tomorrow night...All I can say is WOW.
I probably haven't done the beef justice with my cooking skills but it
is just so darn tasty. And the sausages...I was lost for words when I
ate the sausages. They are the nicest sausages I have EVER eaten,
without a doubt. It takes me back to my childhood, eating a sausage
that actually tastes like beef, not sawdust...it's unreal, thank you!
The kids are enjoying eating the meat from the 'Happy Cows' (as we call
them)."
We think it's pretty good too, and it's really nice to know our efforts are appreciated. Heritage breeding, grass finishing, extended dry ageing, careful handling, chemical free, and attention to detail all add up to good, clean and fair food.
BTW there will be a few changes to our website very soon as the Big 'O' organic industry, in cahoots with Standards Australia, have legally stolen the words organic and biodynamic for the preferential and exclusive use by their certified members. Of course the move is all covered in spin about preventing the deceptive behaviour of the unscrupulous, and we, and those like us, are merely collateral damage. But I ain't finished with the well intended fools yet!
In essence we will no longer be able to call our product organic or biodynamic unless we are certified as such by an approved certifying body. So hence forth our catch cry will be "Beyond Organics!" and will will join the likes of Joel Salatin in the USA giving the bureaucracy curry for it's innate ineptitude. Much more on this later.
12 October 2009
Just had some of our latest lot of Beltie Beef, and I must say this is some of the nicest beef we have ever produced. I guess it's the difference some good spring grass makes to the finish, and the beef is slightly more tender than usual and sweeter too. We still have some of this spring grass finished beef left, so I suggest trying some while it's available, it's pleasantly different and won't last long.
A bit tired at the moment as the Sydney International Food Festival takes it's toll, but I really feel for the chef's like Alex Herbert who must be running on pure adrenalin after many successive 18+ hour days.
This morning I took what I am calling Carlo's pigs to the abattoir. Two of our Wessex Saddleback pigs joined the food chain for Carlo Petrini's Slow Food welcome dinner at Bird Cow Fish. They were just the best pigs, so well behaved and the kill was quick and humane.
Alex Herbert now knows I'm a real softy when it comes to my pigs. They made brawn form the heads of the pigs at Bird Cow Fish, saved the skulls, then boiled them clean as a display for the Fergus Henderson tribute dinner - which was a total success by the way. Anyway as I was cradling a skull before the dinner, Alex and Fergus came over and asked me something about the pigs. As I was telling them that only days earlier I had been patting and talking to this very pig, as she contentedly browsed in the field, the tears welled. What can I say, except sometimes it's just plain hard to be human.
The pigs however, were much honoured in the eating, and during the dinner I had a revelation. I think it was as the mains streamed past me to the 80 or so diners (Kylie Kwong and Sean Moran were guests) that I suddenly realized that my pigs were making a lot of people very happy. It sounds silly, and hard to describe, but I'd not seen my pigs feed so many people in one sitting, and prepared to such a high standard. It was a good feeling anyway. And no I am not supplying any more pigs to Sydney restaurants!
I now have the skull at home, and I think Alex plans to send another one of the cleaned skulls to Fergus as a memento. Perhaps my pig's skull will end up on display at St John Restaurant in London - now that would be something.
5 October 2009
Wow, oh wow, "you should have been there!" as they say. It's taken me a day to recover form the amazing joy ride that was the opening of the Sydney International Food Festival. 3 of our pigs on spits being celebrated by the whose who of Sydney's chefs/restaurants: Jared Ingersoll, Justin North, Matthew Kemp, Kylie Kwong, Jeremy
Strode, Alex Herbert, Paul McGrath, Martin Boetz, Colin Fassnidge,
Warren Turnbull, Lauren Murdoch and Sean Connolly, all under the helpful hands of Margot and Fergus Henderson.
I was so busy with the filming for the doco that I didn't take any photos, but here's a link with some pictures of our pigs on the spits http://grabyourfork.blogspot.com/2009/10/siff-nose-to-tail-barbecue-with-fergus.html you'll have to scroll down a bit to get to them. Also did an impromptu radio interview with ABC Radio 702 - Sydney and managed to say my rare breeds bit. Here's another food blog that shows the chef's and spit http://fooderati.blogspot.com/
I came home to 16.5mm of rain and it's drizzling as I write this with another 4mmin the guage. Now to help Elizabeth with the gst for the quarter, and then back to Sydney for the Fergus Henderson tribute dinner and more filming. Alex Herbert took pity on me as the dinner is $200 a head, so Fred Harden and I will be relegated to the kitchen to eat at no charge - some hardship! ;-)
1 October 2009
September yielded 86mm of rain, a great result. Pastures are recovering and all is looking better as we head into summer.
The doco idea has wings and I'm off to Sydney this Saturday to film three of our pigs on spits in front of thousands of ravenous foodies at the SMH Pyrmont growers markets. Fergus and Margot Henderson will be doing the honours, which is in turn a great honour for us. The pigs are to be whole, but boned out for easy carving - I can't wait.
Next Tuesday we will be interviewing Fergus at Bird Cow Fish and then filming the tribute dinner which also stars our Wessex Saddlebacks. Mind you at $200 a head I baulked at the price. Yes I know it's Sydney and Fergus and special, but even so It takes your breath away. I suppose I'll just have to curb my composting socialist tendences for the event.
Here's an article that I found interesting on the future of food http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/09/30/2701245.htm
My guess is that it will be used to justify GM crops being further expanded across Australia.
And here's another article, but a good news one that tickled my fancy http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/09/30/2700352.htm As Paul Kelly sings "From little things big things grow". I'll try to get his permission to use his song in our doco :-)
24 September 2009
Our seasonal vegetable 'Plan A' is back on track. I think we first offered the
opportunity back in the spring of 2007, and it is now 2 years
later and we may have real potential for a win/win. It's all very exciting.
To cut a short story even shorter, Amie Hope is a volunteer case manager for Canberra's Karen refugee group, I suggested our Plan A for the growing of seasonal vegetables, she thought it
would be a possibility, and the Karen group are coming to investigate
the farm and possibilities, next Friday (to be confirmed).
The Karen peoples of Burma/Myanmar have suffered enormously under the brutal and self serving military
regime that has been in power for decades. Catholic Care is looking
after the Karen refugees that are in Canberra, and by chance I met Amie at the Food Dialogue run by the ANU and
Canberra Uni.
I can see this working very well indeed. The Karen will undoubtedly be
good farmers and hard workers. We will provide the land, water and
infrastructure for them to grow food for their families here on our
farm. If they are interested, we could develop the growing further
so that the surplus is available for sale at the farmers markets
seasonally. This would have many benefits to the group including:
social inclusion, much English language practice, financial return, and
so on.
More on this later after the meeting and farm inspection takes place.
22 September 2009
I am getting increasing numbers of daily requests for pork and lamb. This is fantastic and we appreciate your desire to support our farm and enjoy our produce. Unfortunately, and barring a minor miracle, we will have no pork or lamb for six months at least. That's the bad news, but I know you understand that quality takes time and is worth the wait.
The good news is that we have quite good supplies of our beef at the moment, and I must say it's looking really good. This mainly because we have had a mild winter and early spring with almost average rainfall for the last 4 months. The rains have meant good pasture growth, which results in stunning cattle as they finish on the fresh green shoots of spring and early summer. Yes folks even beef is seasonal - or it should be. Oh, and the green shoots are real btw, not the imaginings and spin born of a GFC!
The seasons do make a difference to both the quality and quantity of beef we can produce, not only that but our beef tastes different season to season depending on the composition of pasture species and their palatability. So with beef (and lamb) not only is terroire evident in the aromas and flavours, but also the seasons.
OK I'm back on my high horse now. I'd like to couple food miles, food processing and agriculture into one carbon footprint. At the moment they are accounted for separately, with agriculture contributing to 19% of Australia's carbon emissions, transport about the same, and manufacturing or processing of food another percentage. I suspect if we linked all the carbon emissions of bringing food to the consumer, the percentage would be closer to 35% of Australia's total carbon emissions. Particularly so since the average Australian's shopping baskets 29 most common items travel 70,803 kilometres by the time they reach your refrigerator or pantry shelf. If you are not shocked by this fact, you should be! Flying and trucking food thousands of kilometres is symptomatic of what is wrong with our planet's climate and the reason we are in the middle of a mass extinction event.
Change what you eat, and who, how and where it is grown, and you change the planet - it's that simple. Let the politicians deal with coal and aluminium smelters, simply "be the change you want to see" - Ghandi
21 September 2009
Back to the doco idea. Things are moving quickly on that front as we have a unique opportunity to capitalize on the Sydney International Food Festival bringing various food heros/stars/gods together in one place in October. So Fred Harden (editor of Regional Food Magazine)and I have teamed up with the intention of giving any and all of these famous people another few minutes more of fame by articulating what they are doing, and how this is benefiting the the people, the planet and profit. Profit is essential for the good works to continue and facilitates the expansion of local, national and international movements dedicated to the triple bottom line.
For us the triple bottom line is aptly expressed by the Slow Food movements credo that food should be good, clean and fair, or as Carlo Petrini put it in a letter to me, "the principles that the food we eat should taste good; that it should be produced in a clean way that does not harm the environment, animal welfare or our health; and that food producers should receive fair compensation for their work." OK so the letter was a form letter that went to all Terra Madre delegates, but it's the thought that counts.
We also work our farm using the principles of Holistic Management, and this is best expressed by the idea that businesses should be socially, environmentally and economically viable and sustainable. Furthermore HM states, and we know it to be true, that if you ignore one of the three pillars the business/system/country/planet eventuyally collapses.
This is reflected in the local Canberra group SEE-Change, the SEE standing for Society, Economy and the Environment. Again this is bringing the triple bottom line of people, planet and profit to the fore.
Most people accept the principle of triple bottom line accounting, but in the cut and thrust of a globalized world the emphasis is usually placed on profit with lip service, or minimal attention, to people and the planet. This is hardly surprising as we have been force fed a great deal of economic rationalist dogma poop over the last few decades. As long as governments and corporations refer to their people as a 'resource' to be used in the most efficient/productive/profitable way possible, demanding efficiency dividends for every gain in working condition or pay, we have a major problem. The mere names of Human Resources Department or HR manager tells us we have a systemic problem that won't be easily 'fixed'.
But I digress (as usual). What we hope to do is produce a doco or dvd (perhaps several) that will show people how their simple food choices determines what is farmed, and how, when, where, and by whom. So in essence to educate all comers, that when they spend money on food (or edible food like substances), this leads to social and environmental outcomes of which they are currently oblivious. We hope to use good science (and scientists), celebrity chefs, global food heros (authors and activists) to underline the point. Hopefully all wrapped in an appetising package that ends with a convivial long table meal and a positive message.
The reason I am passionate about this is that food is life, eating is an agricultural and environmental act, and we all eat. The trick will be to give the audience an empowering infotainment experience. The way we source the food we eat can save the planet, AND be a healthy, pleasurable and social experience. What's not to like about that?
16 September 2009
I had the ABC's 7:30 Report at the farm for the afternoon yesterday. They were filming a segment for the Slow Food dinner to welcome Carlo Petrini, founder of the Slow Food movement. This is to be held at Alex Herbert's Bird Cow Fish restaurant on October 17. Apparently they were filming the paddock component of this 'paddock to plate' dinner.
I think the reporter and cameraman weren't sure what to make of our farm, there were animals everywhere, all tame and approachable, and all edible :-) They filmed me driving to the paddock, feeding the animals, talking to the pigs that will end up on the plate and so on. Last filmed was the interview component, and I have no idea how I will come across to viewers. Whilst I think I offered eloquent and intelligent answers, truth is I may sound like the village idiot. It all depends on the editing, so we shall see - I might be edited out altogether.
Anyway I think I was waxing more or less eloquently about rare breeds, Slow Food, etcetera, until one question threw me completely, and I have Alex Herbert to repay for this ;-) The question was "It has been suggested that you yourself are a rare breed, what do you say to that?" No idea what I replied, but thoughts of "they're coming to take me away, ha ha" influenced my answer. Whilst what I do seems odd to the majority, like most people I see myself as perfectly 'normal' so the question gave rise to fleeting cognitive dissonance. But here is something to ponder; convention is merely innovation that was successful. We are successful, so with dedicated effort our type of farming will become conventional, of this I am convinced. I will admit that I can count the people and farms in Australia doing what we do on one hand so, until more farmers rally to the cause, that does make us rare.
Perhaps what I should have said is "Yes our farm and way of farming is rare at this point in time, but the Slow Food Terra Madre experience made me realize that we are part of a large and growing global movement." Ahhh, the benefit of hindsight. Perhaps I'll get to say this on camera at the dinner.
Anyway the experience had sparked an idea (not another one I hear you say) and I will talk to several 'doco' makers we know about putting together a short film about our farm and what we are trying to achieve/demonstrate. This, in case you don't realize, is a small scale working and replicable example of a socially, environmentally and economically viable farm. A farm that will remain viable in a carbon constrained and climate challenged world.
15 September 2009
A wonderful article about us has appeared in the Public Service News http://www.psnews.com.au/dinepsn185.html It is written by Christine Salins a food and travel writer and her site is at www.foodwinetravel.com.au .
14 September 2009
Some of the 12 day old chicks have been sold and Briana has another sixty eggs in the incubator.
The lambs have formed a brat pack and are running, jumping and playing together all over the front paddock.
The piglets are healthy and growing fast.
The cows are due to drop calves any minute and I'll head out soon to check on them.
I love spring and the promise of new life.
4 September 2009
Twenty chicks and still more hatching! Twin lambs have started to appear too. Two sets arrived last night and, as it was raining, is further proof that sheep prefer to birth in foul weather.
Some talks I think you may enjoy from the TED site. The first is by Cary Fowler about crop diversity and it's importance to our survival. It is here.
The second is by Michael Pollan who wrote Omnivore's Dilemma. He talks about Joel Salatin's farm which is the one we try to emulate allowing for climatic differences. Michael's talk is here.
The third is by Mark Bittman and is about what is wrong with what we eat (and how it is farmed) and is here.
I thoroughly enjoyed and commend these talks to you. All make salient points about what is wrong with the agro-industrial food system that dominates globally. More importantly they all make suggestions for change for the better.
2 September 2009
There is much excitement in the household this evening, my youngest daughter fired up the egg incubator 21 days ago and baby chicks are appearing. We have had baby chicks before of course, hatched and raised by broody chooks, but this time we are watching them break out of their shells. Briana is quite literally counting her chickens before they hatch, 7 so far and possibly 53 more to go!
Briana selected the eggs vary carefully from only Australorp chickens, and as we only run pure bred Australorp roosters the theory is we will have pure bred chicks. So far so good, as the chicks are black with the markings that indicate purity.
31 August 2009
Looks like we finished up the month with 66mm of rain, and I'm happy with that. It's still below our monthly average for August, and we are at 43% of our annual average rainfall when we should be at 66%. Still, we have faired better than most and the pastures have some ground moisture to carry us through spring. Summer will be another matter.
Lambs are appearing at a rapid rate. I have no idea why they seem to chose the coldest and windiest periods to make their first appearance, but it seems to be that way. Last week it was 18 degrees and sunny and no lambs arrived. Over the weekend it sleeted, rained, the winds blew and a dozen or so lambs decided it was time. All arrived without need of my intervention, which is as it should be.
We are out of pork by the way, and it will be 6 months before there is more. I am still working on getting a Wessex Saddleback pig breeding co-op going in our region. It's early days but I have two others interested in sharing genetics and marketing of the pork. A third farmer breeds a very nice breed of outdoor pig and I hope to convince him to start with the Wessex. Divided we are weak and combined we are not much stronger, but the survivability of the Wessex will be better served if we join forces.
27 August 2009
It appears that the pork label mentioned yesterday is incorrect. It is simply not possible
as no live pigs come in and out of Australia, there are even
restrictions on processed pork products entering Oz.
So either the label is a hoax, or was mislabelled (deliberately or
otherwise) in Belgium. Either way I was sucked in, and I'm sorry if I
caused alarm.
Anyway, it seems we can all breath a sigh of relief that the world is
not completely mad after all.
26 August 2009
The world has gone mad, and I have the proof! Below is a link you simply must see, it shows that pigs are being born in Canada, shipped to Australia to be raised, and then shipped to Belgium where they are killed.
The photo is of a supermarket pricing sticker from the EU which has strict country of origin labelling laws. Note the bottom section.
http://photos-e.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs200.snc1/6769_110320909669_777904669_2101748_3468300_n.jpg
The only reason I have this photo, is that when Kim de Poorter told me about it, I said, "Impossible, it can't be true, no way is anybody that stupid", so he supplied the evidence to prove me wrong. And I thought I knew a lot about how bad food miles are, but this has taken it to a whole new level, and Australia is complicit in this environmental vandalism.
25 August 2009
This is very scary stuff folks, the H1N1 has been found in birds, turkey flocks to be precise. The H1N1 virus (swine flu) is very contagious, if it links up with the very lethal bird flu there will be a pandemic and possibly millions of human deaths.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/08/21/2663128.htm?section=justin
The H1N1 was first discovered in humans who were exposed to the virus from an industrial piggery in Mexico, now H1N1 is in birds at an industrial turkey farm in Chile. Bird flu is transmitted to humans working in intensive factory poultry situations. I should not need to point this out, but the common denominator of this potentially fatal pandemic waiting to happen, is the industrial and intensive farming of animals for human consumption. Either the authorities can't or won't see where the cause of the problem lies, and will continue to treat symptoms - 2 million doses of Tamiflu won't stop a fatal pandemic if it takes off, so consider yourselves warned.
As an eternal optimist I hope the above will not eventuate, and "she'll be right mate", but I suspect (and epidemiologists agree) it's not a matter of if H1N1 and "bird flu" combine, but when.
22 August 2009
A week ago I mentioned a special dinner in Sydney that we might be supplying our pork to, well it's official, we will be supplying Wessex Saddleback pork to Alex Herbert of bird cow fish, for a welcome dinner for Carlo Petrini, the founder of Slow Food. Carlo is visiting Australia in October to launch Slow Food Australia timed to coincide with the Sydney International Food Festival. A big honour for us and I will break our self imposed embargo on supplying Sydney for this special event.
This is a must read article for those of you who take the environmental impacts of your food choices. The article encapsulates what we have been saying for many years and our catch cry of "beyond organic". And please don't dismiss the article because it is about American agriculture and food systems, in many ways our agricultural distortions are just as bad and in some cases worse.
19 August 2009
Like many of you I am increasingly annoyed at the game playing, spin and point scoring surrounding Emissions Trading, and the increasing number of free permits to the major polluters. Politicians can't help themselves of course, but the foolishness of free permits to major polluters should evident to all. However just in case it isn't, here is my take on it at the personal level.
Smoking is a public health issue the government wishes to address, smoking is both addictive and is known to cause cancer and many other seriously debilitating diseases. Government wants to lower the number of cigarettes consumed so places heavy taxes on cigarettes and simultaneously funds quit smoking campaigns. The story sounds familiar so far, but now the government does something very strange, it gives out free cigarettes to some 'special case' smokers. In fact the government decides that the most addicted and heavy of smokers, those smoking 4 packs a day or more, will receive their cigarettes free of charge.
The above example is ridiculous of course, and would not be tolerated in a civilized society, but it is exactly what the government is proposing with the ETS and free permits to pollute to be issued to the largest emitters. Of course it is all rationalized and wrapped up in spin like "if we don't give them free permits, they will move off shore and jobs will be lost", but when all said and done, we are subsidizing the major polluters to give us and our planet the equivalent of "passive smoking" diseases.
15 August 2009
As I was saying our pigs risk catching swine flu from humans, the Royal Adelaide show has decided not to have pigs on show this year to protect the pigs and their owners. http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/08/15/2656946.htm
14 August 2009
The Bureau of Meteorology is confirming what I was predicting some two months ago - another el nino event. Our dam inflows match those of the ACT's water supply and are down by some 90% http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/08/13/2654961.htm Soon I'll have to start pumping water from the lower dams that are at 90% capacity, to the top dam which is at 30% capacity and falling. The top dam gravity feeds the stock troughs and fire fighting hoses at the house and sheds.
I was in Sydney yesterday and visited Alex Herbert of bird cow fish. It seems the Sydney International Food Festival can't get it's act together fast enough (too many cooks spoiling the ...........?) so they have missed out on our pork for the opening. Their loss is our Canberra co-producers gain. The good news though is that the Fergus Henderson diner is still on, and there is the potential that we will be supplying for another VIP diner at bird cow fish too. Can't say who, what or why yet, but all will be revealed shortly.
Yes I know, I have publicly stated my philosophical objection to supplying Sydney with our produce, but I am prepared to break my self imposed embargo for maybe 4 or 5 special people in this world. Two of them just happen to be in Sydney this October, and as Groucho Marx said, "Those are my principles, and if you don't like them... well, I have others" ;-)
11 August 2009
I think the Fireside Festival event went well, with Kim managing to feed 50+ people with 4 courses. Unfortunately we ran way overtime so it was a very long lunch. Not sure if I'll bother doing it again next year, it's a lot of time and effort for a negative financial outcome.
It costs us to be involved in the festival and we lose several hundred dollars for our efforts - I guess I'm over it. To put it into numbers for you, we supplied over $600 worth of saleable meat and put in many hours of effort, to receive $400 in return. I know it's for a good cause, promoting the Slow Food philosophy of good clean and fair food, but it would be much easier to just donate $200 and put my efforts into other things. Do we get any publicity out of it to compensate? I sincerely doubt Mountain Creek Farm will get any, but hopefully Kim will, Mt Majura winery will by being the venue, and the novelty factor of local truffles will ensure some publicity for Sherry.
The first of our seasons lambs have arrived and the Llamas are very protective. Even though I am the Llama's 'friend' (well I feed them and they definitely like that), they instinctively put themselves between me and the lamb. Hopefully they will dispatch any foxes that are tempted, but I wonder if they will see the crows as a threat. Crows are a nasty threat to lambs as they eat the eyes of newborns whilst they sleep - nature is indeed red in tooth and claw.
Our Wessex Saddleback pork will be available again this weekend. I inspected the carcasses early this morning at the butchers and they looked great.
Our next lot of Belted Galloway beef is on it's way and is ageing nicely in the coolrooms. The first beef will be available on Sunday 30 August.
An apology to a few of our beef customers. In our last batch of beef there were 8 carcasses, 7 were destined to be sold as cuts in packs, and 1 was deemed not up to our usual standard and was to be turned into mince and sausages. Unfortunately the one due to be minced was sold as cuts and one of the good ones was minced. So if you received some very tasty but uncharacteristically tough beef from us last month, we sincerely apologise. If you come and see us at the markets, or let us know via email, we'll make it up to you with something special and assure you it won't happen again.
1 August 2009
Some of you may have wondered why we closed the farm to visitors after the "swine flu" first hit Australian shores, well this is why http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/07/31/2642757.htm Basically pigs have been infected by humans in NSW and it is this swapping of the disease between humans and pigs, and the possible mutation of the disease into something really serious, that concerns us.
We finished off July with some 65mm of rain - we're happy with this even though it's a bit below average.
30 July 2009
Piglets have arrived! Three of our Wessex Saddleback girls have produced 19 squealing little pigs all on their own. Not bad for first time mums. I was present for one the deliveries acting as midwife and I wasn't needed, but placing a wet piglet on a nipple and getting it sucking made me feel useful. Another girl is due today, so I'll be keeping watch. Two of the new mums have been with a family on a property east of Canberra for a few weeks, and are doing well. In fact the owners are so impressed by the temperament of the Wessex, that they are contemplating 2 more sows!
Well things are getting interesting with the Fireside Festival event at Mt Majura Winery this Sunday. French chef extraordinaire Kim De Poorter, is stressing about the ability of the facilities to serve the 50 or patrons their 4 courses and keep things warm. If we were doing this within a commercial kitchen it would be no problem, but we have one smallish commercial oven, and a domestic cook top. I have no doubt Kim will excel on the day, coordinating the event with aplomb which was a sell out soon after bookings opened.
I'll be talking to a prominent restaurant business (arguably the best) in Canberra next week, about supplying rare breed meats to them on an ongoing basis. If we can make this work, it will enable us to expand the production of the "best pork on the planet" via a co-operative network of small farmers. If it works for pork, it should work for beef and lamb as well. This is a very exciting development and I should be able to reveal all next week.
More exciting still, 'bigger than Ben Hur' and very daunting, is the prospect of supplying the relaunch of the Sydney International Food Festival with the planet's best pork! If this comes off, it has the potential to pull the Wessex Saddleback pig back from potential oblivion. The publicity potential in having 8 or so of Sydney's best chef's, coordinated by a world great, and then cook with the best of rare breed pork singing it's praises, is huge. More on this next week too :-)
24 July 2009
The Llamas have settled in well. I still have them confined to the small paddock above the house with the ewes so they bond. I'll let them out into the front paddock early next week - some of the ewes look ready to burst and I expect a good drop of twin lambs. Funnily enough I was hearing fox calls before the Llamas arrived, but these have stopped - might be a coincidence? Secretly I hope the mere presence of the majestic Llamas has scared them off.
Speaking of lamb, we still have some of our Wiltshire lamb available. We had a leg roast the other night and it was very refined, subtle flavours and tender. This lamb is much smaller (restaurant size) than previously, as they were weaned earlier to protect the ewes during the drought. Still, feedback so far has been very positive with the only question being about their size. This is our last lamb for 9 months or so.
Great News! Alex Herbert of birdcowfish thinks our pork is "amazing, flavoursome and tender", and so the Fergus Henderson diner is now a goer. I not so secretly hope to address the gathering about the wonders of Wessex Saddleback pig - we shall see. Back in early June I posted the following about the event:
And now for some exciting news. Well it's really exciting if
you are a foodie or a chef. I have been asked if I could supply some
pork to birdcowfish for a special dinner in October for a visiting
chef's chef. Fergus Henderson, of St John
restaurant London, and Nose to Tail cook books/philosophy fame, single
handedly rekindled global foodie interest in offal and other cuts of
meat rarely seen in restaurants. Apparently jaded chefs and foodies
from all over the world visit St John to get a taste of "the real". As
producers of food that's real, this has always been music to our
palates.
Anyway, his books have pride of place in our cooking
library, and many of you will know that we enthusiastically support
honouring our animals' ultimate sacrifice by eating all cuts. That
said all this may come to nought, as Alex of BCF hasn't tried our pork
yet and may change her mind when she does. OK, so Alex not liking our
pork is unlikely, given the feedback we get, but you never know, and we
can't assume it's a given. So fingers crossed.
20 July 2009
Have password, can email. Yep, we're back on-line with a monster modem that looks like it came from the set of first series of Dr Who. So all being well, "I'll get back to you" - after I've waded through the mountain of spam. My various filters are swinging back into action, but it will take a while to teach them what is OK and what isn't.
Enough boring IT stuff. Tomorrow I pick up the two newest members of the team - Llamas! We were discussing ways and means of keeping our lambs and piglets safe from foxes. We had narrowed it down to the Maremma dogs, or Alpacas. Reason eventually prevailed and I decided that a Maremma spending nights at the foot of my bed would not be an effective fox deterrent. So off we toddle to find a suitable paddock dwelling Alpaca fox chaser.
Reason did not prevail when we were offered a choice of Alpaca and Llama. For me it was love at first sight. Sure Alpacas are cute, but Llamas and I just clicked. I can rationalise the purchase of course - and justify it to the tax man too.
So today I introduce the Llamas to the Wiltshire ewes in a small paddock. This is so that the ewes don't run a mile at the sight of their large guardians - both stand 2 metres tall or so. They will live in the front paddock which will be our lambing paddock, and this happens to surround the pig breeding area. This should mean both lambs and piglets are safer from becoming a fox dinner. Not sure what the Belties or Llamas will make of each other .................. we shall see.
18 July 2009
Trials and tribulations with Telstra. Apologies for the lack of response to any emails you may have sent. Thanks to Telstra I have yet again been off air for 10 days and still can't retrieve my emails. The latter is not Telstras fault but mine. In installing the new wireless broadband etcetera, it required my email account password - which I have forgotten. I am attempting to retrieve said email, but in the mean time please ring if it's urgent.
8 July 2009
Two things of significance have occurred in the last few days. The big 'O' organic certification industry and I are of the same mind - shock horror. They are now admitting what I have been banging on about for years, that when they certify a business or farm as "organic" it is only "point in time certification". This means they know they can only be sure that the produce, farm, processor, etcetera is organic, at the time their certifier was present. So for the other 364 and half days of the year, the produce might be "organic" or might not - common sense really.
So common sense it is, and it was most likely brought home to the certifying bureaucracy by the insurance industry. Just imagine trying to get indemnity insurance cover for your business, against wrongful claims by a third party once removed, for a business you have no control over and inspect half a day once a year. I'm sure it could be done, but the conditions, exclusions and premiums placed on such a policy by the insurers would be severe. This would be the same insurers that forbid the certifiers, many of whom are very experienced farmers themselves, giving advice to the farmers whose properties they are inspecting because they might be sued if the advice is less than perfect. So now the insurance industry, driven by a fear of litigation and risk minimization, is determining how 'organic' food is being 'handled' by the certifying bureaucracy!
Rant part two. As a composting socialist, the second bit of stupidity and inhumanity I'm pee'd off about is the decision by the Fair Pay Commission to 'freeze' the wages of Australia's lowest paid workers. How's this for logic in the country of the fair go? Last year the commission doesn't grant a rise to workers because of inflationary fears, this year they don't grant a rise because of recessionary fears. So if inflation is a threat our workers don't get a rise, but if the reverse is true they still don't get a rise. So under what idyllic conditions will out lowest paid workers be granted a pay rise? And will an employer really sack someone because they will cost the business the equivalent of an extra cup of coffee a day ($16 per week)? And someone on $544 per week will spend every cent of their $16 and stimulate the economy - I thought this was desirable during the GFC and what the $900 cash bonuses were about?
6 July 2009
First real frost of the year this morning at -2 Celsius.
1 July 2009
Bad news I'm afraid, I've just been studying the Bureau of Meteorology site and it looks like we're heading into more drought. The ENSO, SOI and various other long range indicators are not good. I don't think we can call it drought any longer, as this is becoming the norm - perhaps it will be known as "the drying". It seems odd to be writting this whilst it rains. Anyway, as we have already implemented "plan B", it leaves us no room for error. Maintaining the fertility of out farm is paramount and so further stock reductions, pending more weather and climate investigations, are likely :-(
1 July 2009
A prosperous new financial year to you all. We finished the end of the financial year paperwork yesterday literally at the 11th hour - couldn't do it without the interweb. Also finished up June with 78.5mm of that glorious wet stuff that falleth occasionally from the sky, so a good month for rain. Interesting how that which was previously known as an 'average' month has been elevated to 'good' status. We're still in rainfall deficit though, as the total for the first 6 months is 258.5mm when it should be around 450mm - our rainfall is not seasonal. No wonder the top dams are still low and not filling.
Fast Food = Low Grades
A new study on the consumption of junk food and academic performance, involving 5,500 10 and 11-year-olds, has found that a higher-than-average consumption of fast food can have a significant impact on students' academic ability. The study, led by Vanderbilt University in Tennessee, is the first to show a conclusive connection between high-fat and sugary foods and low academic results.
So the link between diet and academic performance has been scientifically verified, well wonders will never cease............
On the other hand, Slow Food = Good, Clean and Fair food, and better performance ;-)
Slow Food’s approach to agriculture, food production and gastronomy is based on the concept of food quality defined by three interconnected principles: good, clean and fair.
Good food is tasty and flavorsome, stimulating and satisfying for the senses;
Clean food is produced in a way that respects ecosystems, animals, biodiversity and the landscape; its consumption is not harmful to human health.
Fair food production is respectful of social justice, meaning fair pay and conditions for all involved; prices must be affordable for consumers and fair for producers.
Our Aquaponic investigations are progressing - aquaponics is the symbiotic production of fish and plants in an extremely efficient closed loop system. We purchased a "commercial package" from Hawaii which is a detailed set of plans and instructions on building a system. Obviously our climate will dictate many changes to the system, as it will to the species we can grow. We chose the Hawaiian system as it is one of the few commercial systems successfully operating, with owners happy to share their info and experience at a modest price.
We will be trialling two small but scalable systems to see how they perform, staring this spring. The first will use rafts floating on ponds to grow semi aquatic edible plants, the second will use river gravel in beds, with the fish water flowing continuously though them, to grow the fruiting plants (tomatoes etcetera). Both systems will driven by various species of native fish, yabbies and fresh water mussels.
22 June 2009
Forgot to say yesterday, that our Belted Galloway beef is back on the menu. If you have some on order, all the bulk orders will be ready for collection this coming Sunday 28th June.
Again I must say the beef looks superb, and in talking to Darren, our butcher, he says we pay a high price for this quality. In Darren's professional opinion we are loosing at least 20% of our potential saleable meat due to the extended ageing we insist on. Moisture evaporation is part of the issue, and the balance is the extra trimming of the dark and hard dried edges of the meat. So Darren is telling us that our meat should be at least 20% dearer than all others (unless they do an extended dry ageing too, and we know they don't), this is before we take into account the rare breed, pasture finishing and slow growth rates, the extra care and time in ethical treatment, etcetera.
Incidentally, this dry ageing is why our co-producers tell us our meat is better than all but the very best of restaurants. I am also told you can count these restaurants on the fingers of one hand, for the whole of Australia! Most butchers will only age meat for a week at best, a few will age meat for ten days. The better restaurants will then take delivery of this meat as primal cuts, and often 'wet age' it for another couple of weeks to make it tender.
Wet ageing is very different to our dry ageing and you may know it as cryovacing or vacuum packing/storing. Wet ageing is an anaerobic process with the meat encased in plastic without air, which produces different bacteria (anaerobic bacteria) that slowly breaks down the fibres of the meat, changing it's texture and taste. This is an artificial ageing process that was purely designed to save money, by preventing moisture loss and extending shelf life. The world's best chefs and gourmets will tell you that this is not good practise and spoils the natural flavours of the meats - we have tried it and agree.
We on the other hand dry age our beef for a minimum of 3 weeks, with the beef being processed in the fourth week. However we often age it for 4 to 5 weeks This last lot for example), and sometimes even longer. The best steaks our chef and foodie friends say they have ever had came from a 6 year old cull cow who had been dry aged for 6 weeks! This cow, who was way too old to eat according to mainstream food 'wisdom', is our benchmark for quality.
Dry ageing is how meat should be made tender and flavourful, and has
been the preferred method for centuries if not millennia. Well it was
the preferred method of improving meat until the economic rationalists
reorganized food as an industrial commodity with profits to be
maximized, and costs externalized, wherever possible.
Anyway, I worry a lot about charging a fair price for our meats, but it is becoming increasingly obvious that there must be a price rise for our beef soon. It will be our first price rise for two years, so I hope our co-producers are sympathetic and will pay for the extra care and attention that goes into producing quality food.
21 June 2009 Happy winter solstice!
On the Sunday 2nd of August at 12 noon, we are teaming up with chef Kim de Poorter to do a special Fireside Festival lunch at the Mt Majura vineyard and winery. We did this last year with some success, and being suckers for punishment, we are doing it again. These events sell out very quickly and are superb value for money (about $50 a head incl. wines), so get in quick. Perhaps I should tell you that producer/chef dinners like this in Sydney are $125+ a head, and considered cheap at the price. Menus have been posted on the festivals site, but take our menu with a grain of salt as it will be subject to change without notice!
In essence there will be our beef, lamb, pork and egg dishes, with local truffles featuring in one or two dishes as well. We "plan" the following range of delectable dishes including twice cooked Whiltshire lamb shank in puff pastry, Belted Galloway beef fillet with truffle mash and Madeira jus, and Wessex Saddleback Toulouse pork sausages in/on/with something, for your pleasure. For desert Kim will show us how to make a sabayon. Homeleigh Grove extra virgin olive oils will be served at table and all dishes will be accompanied by a range of current and museum release wines from Mount Majura Vineyard.
The reason I say we "plan" the dishes, and that this means they may change a little, is that most have no idea how difficult it is as a micro producer to co-ordinate the timing of growing, finishing, transporting, slaughtering, ageing, processing, and delivery of 3 different species simultaneously. Particularly as we have reached the limits of our farms sustainable production capabilities for these species, and are having trouble supplying our co-producers as it is. So I'm fairly sure I'll won't be supplying all three animal species simultaneously again.
Anyway many of our co-producers were disappointed last year when they
missed out on the Fireside do, so get your skates on, farm out the
kids, park the parents, and book as soon as you can.
I really hope Mt Majura have their proposed bubbly in production by the festival, because I had an advance tasting of the one and only bottle, and it was superb - told them not to change a thing too!! OK, so I am opinionated, but I'll definitely be buying a case or three for our summer solstice celebrations ;-)
11 June 2009
Well winter has arrived with a vengeance, and our first calf for the year arrived in the thick of it. We had wind, rain, sleet and a little snow over the last few days, and for some reason Belties calve in the worst of it - the cold and miserable weather must remind them of home - Scotland. Anyway mum and bub are both well, and we await more of our special girls to calve.
We don't normally calve at the beginning of winter, we like an early spring calving when the cows get the boost they need from the new and fast pasture growth. However we are bring our herd back into sync with the seasons as our herd is a composite of smaller herds, and these calved whenever they could get a bull. Many smaller herds don't run bulls, they borrow or lease them when available, usually after the bull owner has finished with him for the season.
Anyway this cold snap delivered 9mm of rain, taking our monthly total to date to 30mm. Not counting our chickens before they hatch, but this might turn out to be a wet winter - touch wood - as our dams are in need of topping up.
And now for some exciting news. Well it's really exciting if you are a foodie or a chef. I have been asked if I could supply some pork to birdcowfish for a special dinner in October for a visiting chef's chef. Fergus Henderson, of St John restaurant London, and Nose to Tail cook books/philosophy fame, single handedly rekindled global foodie interest in offal and other cuts of meat rarely seen in restaurants. Apparently jaded chefs and foodies from all over the world visit St John to get a taste of the real. As producers of food that's real, this has always been music to our palates.
Anyway, his books have pride of place in our cooking library, and many of you will know that we enthusiastically support honouring our animals' ultimate sacrifice by eating all cuts. That said all this may come to nought, as Alex of BCF hasn't tried our pork yet and may change her mind when she does. OK, so Alex not liking our pork is unlikely, given the feedback we get, but you never know, and we can't assume it's a given. So fingers crossed.
9 June 2009
Spent a lot of the long weekend in Sydney asleep to be honest, so just as well they are understanding friends we stay with. Our Saturday night outing to Bird Cow Fish was interesting for many reasons. And forget parking anywhere near the venue on a Saturday night - take a taxi. Actually we only had to park a block and a half away, so I exaggerate.
Anyway we ordered one of every main (there were 6 of us) and tried most entrées that BCF had to offer too, and all were good. BCF don't know it, but their toughest test was their grass finished beef sirloin steak - something we know a little about. Their steak was very good, cooked to perfection, even had flavour, but I am also pleased to announce - not as good as our Beltie steaks. Having done this 'test' a few times, I am now firmly convinced that quality ingredients are the key to good cooking. A good chef can make an average ingredient better, but an average cook can do as well if starting with better ingredients. Not that the steak at BCF was average, far from it, it was superb, probably Angus, and really I don't think you could find a better steak in Sydney.
All in all we had a good night, topped with a special cake I had BCF to make and be delivered to the table for my daughter's birthday. I also got a quick look inside the kitchen in full flight too - most impressively busy with chef's litterally dripping with the effort of creative endeavours. I managed not to disrupt the flow in the kitchen and now we await the verdict on our pork, as I left some belly and roasts for Alex to play with.
I have just faxed off the cutting list to Darren and Megan (our butchers) for our beef, which has been aging nicely in their coolrooms for several weeks. So with a bit of luck some of the outstanding beef orders will be filled this Sunday, with the balance the following two Sundays.
2 June 2009
Please note we will not be at the markets this coming weekend, we're having a short break - yeeeehah!!
We will be staying with friends in Sydney and going to bird cow fish on Saturday night. I was at Slow Food's Terra Madre with Alex Herbert (chef/owner of BCF) and promised to take her some Wessex Saddleback pork to play with when I visited Sydney next. I don't think we will ever be in a position to supply her restaurant if she likes our pork, but the feedback from one of Australia's top chefs will be interesting. Oh and Alex was one of the celebrity chefs on certain commercial TV program recently (and I thought I was a media tart). I shouldn't mention Master Chef by name because my mate, and French chef extraordinaire Kim de Poorter, will have a fit. I'm reliably informed that Kim has been know to hurl verbal abuse, probably in French, at the judges of said program. I really must tell him that's it not real, it's called 'local content' infotainment television!
We finished up with 13mm of rain for May, nowhere near enough to replenish dams or soil moisture. Still, it could have been worse as 12 km east (Canberra airport) they received but 2mm for the month. Here's hoping for a wet winter so that our top dams are filled, the lower ones are still at 90% thank goodness.
We have sold out of Whitshire hogget, but there will be more available on Sunday 19th July if all goes to plan.
There is still some pork left in 5 and 10kg packs, but no mince or sausages until Sunday 5th July. After the July pork there will be a substantial pause in production. Why? Well my boar seems to be besotted with one particular sow and doesn't notice the other 'girls'. He is obviously attracted to larger and older females, as she is both. I'll have to separate her from the rest so the other girls get a look in.
The beef is coming along nicely and will be available late June.
© 2007, 2008,2009 by Michael Croft and Mountain Creek Farm, All rights reserved.
negative response from the Organizing Committee citing "without prejudice", "Intellectual Property" and "Copyright". So much for YAN performing as a network and in the spirit of the common good. We had planned to edit the day and interviews down to 5 or 6 minutes, and give all our professional footage to them to use as they see fit.
But not to worry that YAN are playing petty bureaucratic power games in the midst of a climate crisis and mass extinction event - we have bigger fish to fry. We will interview the scientists we want at another time and place and leave YAN to their own confused agenda.
15 October 2009
Just a quick update. Was in Sydney again this morning filming with the ABC 7:30 Report, and it seems there will be a Slow Food, paddock to plate feature on in the very near future. I'll be back in Sydney over the weekend, where the ABC will finish filming the Carlo Petrini Slow Food welcome dinner at Bird Cow Fish. So I anticipate the piece will air some time next week, but I will advise the date and time when I know.
On Saturday we film the Slow Food Australia inaugural conference, with Carlo Petrini in attendance at the UWS. I get to do a 15 minute talk on farm animal biodiversity issues at the conference and then field questions with the panel.
On the Sunday Fred Harden and I will be filming Peter Andrews, of Natural Sequence Farming and Australian Story x 2 fame, at the Royal Botanical Gardens in Sydney. Here we will also get to briefly interview Carlo Petrini and then film Carlo and Peter as the visionaires meet for the first time. After that we film the public address by Carlo at the Opera House and subsequent interview by Joanna Savill.
On Monday we film a rather special meal at Justin North's Becasse Restaurant, with a few celebrities present. Then it's home to do what I love most which is look after the farm. Truly, I have no idea why anyone would choose to live in Sydney, it's OK for a visit, but ....................
As a result of all the above, Elizabeth will be on her own at the markets this Sunday and may not be able to take as much produce as usual, so please be nice to my wonderful and long suffering wife :-)
I missed this one, but Christine Salins had more nice things to say about us http://www.psnews.com.au/dinepsn186.html
By the way, our open day is still going to be November 3, Family Day holiday in the ACT and Melbourne Cup day everywhere else. Be warned we will be filming the event, so if this is a problem - don't come this time. This is going to be a simple affair mainly aimed at children - a gentle "meet your food" event, without it being too obvious. Please register by dropping us an email, and I'll send you a mud map. Our sausages will be cooked and available on the day for a gold coin donation - all proceeds will go to the ACT Karen Refugee group for seeds, seedlings and anything else required to get them started on the farm.
14 October 2009
OK so I am biased about our latest beef and my comments of a day ago are not to trusted, but what follows is part of a reorder email I received last night.
"Wow, we are about to enjoy the last of our 'Slow Pack' when we eat a
lovely slow cooked stew tomorrow night...All I can say is WOW.
I probably haven't done the beef justice with my cooking skills but it
is just so darn tasty. And the sausages...I was lost for words when I
ate the sausages. They are the nicest sausages I have EVER eaten,
without a doubt. It takes me back to my childhood, eating a sausage
that actually tastes like beef, not sawdust...it's unreal, thank you!
The kids are enjoying eating the meat from the 'Happy Cows' (as we call
them)."
We think it's pretty good too, and it's really nice to know our efforts are appreciated. Heritage breeding, grass finishing, extended dry ageing, careful handling, chemical free, and attention to detail all add up to good, clean and fair food.
BTW there will be a few changes to our website very soon as the Big 'O' organic industry, in cahoots with Standards Australia, have legally stolen the words organic and biodynamic for the preferential and exclusive use by their certified members. Of course the move is all covered in spin about preventing the deceptive behaviour of the unscrupulous, and we, and those like us, are merely collateral damage. But I ain't finished with the well intended fools yet!
In essence we will no longer be able to call our product organic or biodynamic unless we are certified as such by an approved certifying body. So hence forth our catch cry will be "Beyond Organics!" and will will join the likes of Joel Salatin in the USA giving the bureaucracy curry for it's innate ineptitude. Much more on this later.
12 October 2009
Just had some of our latest lot of Beltie Beef, and I must say this is some of the nicest beef we have ever produced. I guess it's the difference some good spring grass makes to the finish, and the beef is slightly more tender than usual and sweeter too. We still have some of this spring grass finished beef left, so I suggest trying some while it's available, it's pleasantly different and won't last long.
A bit tired at the moment as the Sydney International Food Festival takes it's toll, but I really feel for the chef's like Alex Herbert who must be running on pure adrenalin after many successive 18+ hour days.
This morning I took what I am calling Carlo's pigs to the abattoir. Two of our Wessex Saddleback pigs joined the food chain for Carlo Petrini's Slow Food welcome dinner at Bird Cow Fish. They were just the best pigs, so well behaved and the kill was quick and humane.
Alex Herbert now knows I'm a real softy when it comes to my pigs. They made brawn form the heads of the pigs at Bird Cow Fish, saved the skulls, then boiled them clean as a display for the Fergus Henderson tribute dinner - which was a total success by the way. Anyway as I was cradling a skull before the dinner, Alex and Fergus came over and asked me something about the pigs. As I was telling them that only days earlier I had been patting and talking to this very pig, as she contentedly browsed in the field, the tears welled. What can I say, except sometimes it's just plain hard to be human.
The pigs however, were much honoured in the eating, and during the dinner I had a revelation. I think it was as the mains streamed past me to the 80 or so diners (Kylie Kwong and Sean Moran were guests) that I suddenly realized that my pigs were making a lot of people very happy. It sounds silly, and hard to describe, but I'd not seen my pigs feed so many people in one sitting, and prepared to such a high standard. It was a good feeling anyway. And no I am not supplying any more pigs to Sydney restaurants!
I now have the skull at home, and I think Alex plans to send another one of the cleaned skulls to Fergus as a memento. Perhaps my pig's skull will end up on display at St John Restaurant in London - now that would be something.
5 October 2009
Wow, oh wow, "you should have been there!" as they say. It's taken me a day to recover form the amazing joy ride that was the opening of the Sydney International Food Festival. 3 of our pigs on spits being celebrated by the whose who of Sydney's chefs/restaurants: Jared Ingersoll, Justin North, Matthew Kemp, Kylie Kwong, Jeremy
Strode, Alex Herbert, Paul McGrath, Martin Boetz, Colin Fassnidge,
Warren Turnbull, Lauren Murdoch and Sean Connolly, all under the helpful hands of Margot and Fergus Henderson.
I was so busy with the filming for the doco that I didn't take any photos, but here's a link with some pictures of our pigs on the spits http://grabyourfork.blogspot.com/2009/10/siff-nose-to-tail-barbecue-with-fergus.html you'll have to scroll down a bit to get to them. Also did an impromptu radio interview with ABC Radio 702 - Sydney and managed to say my rare breeds bit. Here's another food blog that shows the chef's and spit http://fooderati.blogspot.com/
I came home to 16.5mm of rain and it's drizzling as I write this with another 4mmin the guage. Now to help Elizabeth with the gst for the quarter, and then back to Sydney for the Fergus Henderson tribute dinner and more filming. Alex Herbert took pity on me as the dinner is $200 a head, so Fred Harden and I will be relegated to the kitchen to eat at no charge - some hardship! ;-)
1 October 2009
September yielded 86mm of rain, a great result. Pastures are recovering and all is looking better as we head into summer.
The doco idea has wings and I'm off to Sydney this Saturday to film three of our pigs on spits in front of thousands of ravenous foodies at the SMH Pyrmont growers markets. Fergus and Margot Henderson will be doing the honours, which is in turn a great honour for us. The pigs are to be whole, but boned out for easy carving - I can't wait.
Next Tuesday we will be interviewing Fergus at Bird Cow Fish and then filming the tribute dinner which also stars our Wessex Saddlebacks. Mind you at $200 a head I baulked at the price. Yes I know it's Sydney and Fergus and special, but even so It takes your breath away. I suppose I'll just have to curb my composting socialist tendences for the event.
Here's an article that I found interesting on the future of food http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/09/30/2701245.htm
My guess is that it will be used to justify GM crops being further expanded across Australia.
And here's another article, but a good news one that tickled my fancy http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/09/30/2700352.htm As Paul Kelly sings "From little things big things grow". I'll try to get his permission to use his song in our doco :-)
24 September 2009
Our seasonal vegetable 'Plan A' is back on track. I think we first offered the
opportunity back in the spring of 2007, and it is now 2 years
later and we may have real potential for a win/win. It's all very exciting.
To cut a short story even shorter, Amie Hope is a volunteer case manager for Canberra's Karen refugee group, I suggested our Plan A for the growing of seasonal vegetables, she thought it
would be a possibility, and the Karen group are coming to investigate
the farm and possibilities, next Friday (to be confirmed).
The Karen peoples of Burma/Myanmar have suffered enormously under the brutal and self serving military
regime that has been in power for decades. Catholic Care is looking
after the Karen refugees that are in Canberra, and by chance I met Amie at the Food Dialogue run by the ANU and
Canberra Uni.
I can see this working very well indeed. The Karen will undoubtedly be
good farmers and hard workers. We will provide the land, water and
infrastructure for them to grow food for their families here on our
farm. If they are interested, we could develop the growing further
so that the surplus is available for sale at the farmers markets
seasonally. This would have many benefits to the group including:
social inclusion, much English language practice, financial return, and
so on.
More on this later after the meeting and farm inspection takes place.
22 September 2009
I am getting increasing numbers of daily requests for pork and lamb. This is fantastic and we appreciate your desire to support our farm and enjoy our produce. Unfortunately, and barring a minor miracle, we will have no pork or lamb for six months at least. That's the bad news, but I know you understand that quality takes time and is worth the wait.
The good news is that we have quite good supplies of our beef at the moment, and I must say it's looking really good. This mainly because we have had a mild winter and early spring with almost average rainfall for the last 4 months. The rains have meant good pasture growth, which results in stunning cattle as they finish on the fresh green shoots of spring and early summer. Yes folks even beef is seasonal - or it should be. Oh, and the green shoots are real btw, not the imaginings and spin born of a GFC!
The seasons do make a difference to both the quality and quantity of beef we can produce, not only that but our beef tastes different season to season depending on the composition of pasture species and their palatability. So with beef (and lamb) not only is terroire evident in the aromas and flavours, but also the seasons.
OK I'm back on my high horse now. I'd like to couple food miles, food processing and agriculture into one carbon footprint. At the moment they are accounted for separately, with agriculture contributing to 19% of Australia's carbon emissions, transport about the same, and manufacturing or processing of food another percentage. I suspect if we linked all the carbon emissions of bringing food to the consumer, the percentage would be closer to 35% of Australia's total carbon emissions. Particularly so since the average Australian's shopping baskets 29 most common items travel 70,803 kilometres by the time they reach your refrigerator or pantry shelf. If you are not shocked by this fact, you should be! Flying and trucking food thousands of kilometres is symptomatic of what is wrong with our planet's climate and the reason we are in the middle of a mass extinction event.
Change what you eat, and who, how and where it is grown, and you change the planet - it's that simple. Let the politicians deal with coal and aluminium smelters, simply "be the change you want to see" - Ghandi
21 September 2009
Back to the doco idea. Things are moving quickly on that front as we have a unique opportunity to capitalize on the Sydney International Food Festival bringing various food heros/stars/gods together in one place in October. So Fred Harden (editor of Regional Food Magazine)and I have teamed up with the intention of giving any and all of these famous people another few minutes more of fame by articulating what they are doing, and how this is benefiting the the people, the planet and profit. Profit is essential for the good works to continue and facilitates the expansion of local, national and international movements dedicated to the triple bottom line.
For us the triple bottom line is aptly expressed by the Slow Food movements credo that food should be good, clean and fair, or as Carlo Petrini put it in a letter to me, "the principles that the food we eat should taste good; that it should be produced in a clean way that does not harm the environment, animal welfare or our health; and that food producers should receive fair compensation for their work." OK so the letter was a form letter that went to all Terra Madre delegates, but it's the thought that counts.
We also work our farm using the principles of Holistic Management, and this is best expressed by the idea that businesses should be socially, environmentally and economically viable and sustainable. Furthermore HM states, and we know it to be true, that if you ignore one of the three pillars the business/system/country/planet eventuyally collapses.
This is reflected in the local Canberra group SEE-Change, the SEE standing for Society, Economy and the Environment. Again this is bringing the triple bottom line of people, planet and profit to the fore.
Most people accept the principle of triple bottom line accounting, but in the cut and thrust of a globalized world the emphasis is usually placed on profit with lip service, or minimal attention, to people and the planet. This is hardly surprising as we have been force fed a great deal of economic rationalist dogma poop over the last few decades. As long as governments and corporations refer to their people as a 'resource' to be used in the most efficient/productive/profitable way possible, demanding efficiency dividends for every gain in working condition or pay, we have a major problem. The mere names of Human Resources Department or HR manager tells us we have a systemic problem that won't be easily 'fixed'.
But I digress (as usual). What we hope to do is produce a doco or dvd (perhaps several) that will show people how their simple food choices determines what is farmed, and how, when, where, and by whom. So in essence to educate all comers, that when they spend money on food (or edible food like substances), this leads to social and environmental outcomes of which they are currently oblivious. We hope to use good science (and scientists), celebrity chefs, global food heros (authors and activists) to underline the point. Hopefully all wrapped in an appetising package that ends with a convivial long table meal and a positive message.
The reason I am passionate about this is that food is life, eating is an agricultural and environmental act, and we all eat. The trick will be to give the audience an empowering infotainment experience. The way we source the food we eat can save the planet, AND be a healthy, pleasurable and social experience. What's not to like about that?
16 September 2009
I had the ABC's 7:30 Report at the farm for the afternoon yesterday. They were filming a segment for the Slow Food dinner to welcome Carlo Petrini, founder of the Slow Food movement. This is to be held at Alex Herbert's Bird Cow Fish restaurant on October 17. Apparently they were filming the paddock component of this 'paddock to plate' dinner.
I think the reporter and cameraman weren't sure what to make of our farm, there were animals everywhere, all tame and approachable, and all edible :-) They filmed me driving to the paddock, feeding the animals, talking to the pigs that will end up on the plate and so on. Last filmed was the interview component, and I have no idea how I will come across to viewers. Whilst I think I offered eloquent and intelligent answers, truth is I may sound like the village idiot. It all depends on the editing, so we shall see - I might be edited out altogether.
Anyway I think I was waxing more or less eloquently about rare breeds, Slow Food, etcetera, until one question threw me completely, and I have Alex Herbert to repay for this ;-) The question was "It has been suggested that you yourself are a rare breed, what do you say to that?" No idea what I replied, but thoughts of "they're coming to take me away, ha ha" influenced my answer. Whilst what I do seems odd to the majority, like most people I see myself as perfectly 'normal' so the question gave rise to fleeting cognitive dissonance. But here is something to ponder; convention is merely innovation that was successful. We are successful, so with dedicated effort our type of farming will become conventional, of this I am convinced. I will admit that I can count the people and farms in Australia doing what we do on one hand so, until more farmers rally to the cause, that does make us rare.
Perhaps what I should have said is "Yes our farm and way of farming is rare at this point in time, but the Slow Food Terra Madre experience made me realize that we are part of a large and growing global movement." Ahhh, the benefit of hindsight. Perhaps I'll get to say this on camera at the dinner.
Anyway the experience had sparked an idea (not another one I hear you say) and I will talk to several 'doco' makers we know about putting together a short film about our farm and what we are trying to achieve/demonstrate. This, in case you don't realize, is a small scale working and replicable example of a socially, environmentally and economically viable farm. A farm that will remain viable in a carbon constrained and climate challenged world.
15 September 2009
A wonderful article about us has appeared in the Public Service News http://www.psnews.com.au/dinepsn185.html It is written by Christine Salins a food and travel writer and her site is at www.foodwinetravel.com.au .
14 September 2009
Some of the 12 day old chicks have been sold and Briana has another sixty eggs in the incubator.
The lambs have formed a brat pack and are running, jumping and playing together all over the front paddock.
The piglets are healthy and growing fast.
The cows are due to drop calves any minute and I'll head out soon to check on them.
I love spring and the promise of new life.
4 September 2009
Twenty chicks and still more hatching! Twin lambs have started to appear too. Two sets arrived last night and, as it was raining, is further proof that sheep prefer to birth in foul weather.
Some talks I think you may enjoy from the TED site. The first is by Cary Fowler about crop diversity and it's importance to our survival. It is here.
The second is by Michael Pollan who wrote Omnivore's Dilemma. He talks about Joel Salatin's farm which is the one we try to emulate allowing for climatic differences. Michael's talk is here.
The third is by Mark Bittman and is about what is wrong with what we eat (and how it is farmed) and is here.
I thoroughly enjoyed and commend these talks to you. All make salient points about what is wrong with the agro-industrial food system that dominates globally. More importantly they all make suggestions for change for the better.
2 September 2009
There is much excitement in the household this evening, my youngest daughter fired up the egg incubator 21 days ago and baby chicks are appearing. We have had baby chicks before of course, hatched and raised by broody chooks, but this time we are watching them break out of their shells. Briana is quite literally counting her chickens before they hatch, 7 so far and possibly 53 more to go!
Briana selected the eggs vary carefully from only Australorp chickens, and as we only run pure bred Australorp roosters the theory is we will have pure bred chicks. So far so good, as the chicks are black with the markings that indicate purity.
31 August 2009
Looks like we finished up the month with 66mm of rain, and I'm happy with that. It's still below our monthly average for August, and we are at 43% of our annual average rainfall when we should be at 66%. Still, we have faired better than most and the pastures have some ground moisture to carry us through spring. Summer will be another matter.
Lambs are appearing at a rapid rate. I have no idea why they seem to chose the coldest and windiest periods to make their first appearance, but it seems to be that way. Last week it was 18 degrees and sunny and no lambs arrived. Over the weekend it sleeted, rained, the winds blew and a dozen or so lambs decided it was time. All arrived without need of my intervention, which is as it should be.
We are out of pork by the way, and it will be 6 months before there is more. I am still working on getting a Wessex Saddleback pig breeding co-op going in our region. It's early days but I have two others interested in sharing genetics and marketing of the pork. A third farmer breeds a very nice breed of outdoor pig and I hope to convince him to start with the Wessex. Divided we are weak and combined we are not much stronger, but the survivability of the Wessex will be better served if we join forces.
27 August 2009
It appears that the pork label mentioned yesterday is incorrect. It is simply not possible
as no live pigs come in and out of Australia, there are even
restrictions on processed pork products entering Oz.
So either the label is a hoax, or was mislabelled (deliberately or
otherwise) in Belgium. Either way I was sucked in, and I'm sorry if I
caused alarm.
Anyway, it seems we can all breath a sigh of relief that the world is
not completely mad after all.
26 August 2009
The world has gone mad, and I have the proof! Below is a link you simply must see, it shows that pigs are being born in Canada, shipped to Australia to be raised, and then shipped to Belgium where they are killed.
The photo is of a supermarket pricing sticker from the EU which has strict country of origin labelling laws. Note the bottom section.
http://photos-e.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs200.snc1/6769_110320909669_777904669_2101748_3468300_n.jpg
The only reason I have this photo, is that when Kim de Poorter told me about it, I said, "Impossible, it can't be true, no way is anybody that stupid", so he supplied the evidence to prove me wrong. And I thought I knew a lot about how bad food miles are, but this has taken it to a whole new level, and Australia is complicit in this environmental vandalism.
25 August 2009
This is very scary stuff folks, the H1N1 has been found in birds, turkey flocks to be precise. The H1N1 virus (swine flu) is very contagious, if it links up with the very lethal bird flu there will be a pandemic and possibly millions of human deaths.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/08/21/2663128.htm?section=justin
The H1N1 was first discovered in humans who were exposed to the virus from an industrial piggery in Mexico, now H1N1 is in birds at an industrial turkey farm in Chile. Bird flu is transmitted to humans working in intensive factory poultry situations. I should not need to point this out, but the common denominator of this potentially fatal pandemic waiting to happen, is the industrial and intensive farming of animals for human consumption. Either the authorities can't or won't see where the cause of the problem lies, and will continue to treat symptoms - 2 million doses of Tamiflu won't stop a fatal pandemic if it takes off, so consider yourselves warned.
As an eternal optimist I hope the above will not eventuate, and "she'll be right mate", but I suspect (and epidemiologists agree) it's not a matter of if H1N1 and "bird flu" combine, but when.
22 August 2009
A week ago I mentioned a special dinner in Sydney that we might be supplying our pork to, well it's official, we will be supplying Wessex Saddleback pork to Alex Herbert of bird cow fish, for a welcome dinner for Carlo Petrini, the founder of Slow Food. Carlo is visiting Australia in October to launch Slow Food Australia timed to coincide with the Sydney International Food Festival. A big honour for us and I will break our self imposed embargo on supplying Sydney for this special event.
This is a must read article for those of you who take the environmental impacts of your food choices. The article encapsulates what we have been saying for many years and our catch cry of "beyond organic". And please don't dismiss the article because it is about American agriculture and food systems, in many ways our agricultural distortions are just as bad and in some cases worse.
19 August 2009
Like many of you I am increasingly annoyed at the game playing, spin and point scoring surrounding Emissions Trading, and the increasing number of free permits to the major polluters. Politicians can't help themselves of course, but the foolishness of free permits to major polluters should evident to all. However just in case it isn't, here is my take on it at the personal level.
Smoking is a public health issue the government wishes to address, smoking is both addictive and is known to cause cancer and many other seriously debilitating diseases. Government wants to lower the number of cigarettes consumed so places heavy taxes on cigarettes and simultaneously funds quit smoking campaigns. The story sounds familiar so far, but now the government does something very strange, it gives out free cigarettes to some 'special case' smokers. In fact the government decides that the most addicted and heavy of smokers, those smoking 4 packs a day or more, will receive their cigarettes free of charge.
The above example is ridiculous of course, and would not be tolerated in a civilized society, but it is exactly what the government is proposing with the ETS and free permits to pollute to be issued to the largest emitters. Of course it is all rationalized and wrapped up in spin like "if we don't give them free permits, they will move off shore and jobs will be lost", but when all said and done, we are subsidizing the major polluters to give us and our planet the equivalent of "passive smoking" diseases.
15 August 2009
As I was saying our pigs risk catching swine flu from humans, the Royal Adelaide show has decided not to have pigs on show this year to protect the pigs and their owners. http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/08/15/2656946.htm
14 August 2009
The Bureau of Meteorology is confirming what I was predicting some two months ago - another el nino event. Our dam inflows match those of the ACT's water supply and are down by some 90% http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/08/13/2654961.htm Soon I'll have to start pumping water from the lower dams that are at 90% capacity, to the top dam which is at 30% capacity and falling. The top dam gravity feeds the stock troughs and fire fighting hoses at the house and sheds.
I was in Sydney yesterday and visited Alex Herbert of bird cow fish. It seems the Sydney International Food Festival can't get it's act together fast enough (too many cooks spoiling the ...........?) so they have missed out on our pork for the opening. Their loss is our Canberra co-producers gain. The good news though is that the Fergus Henderson diner is still on, and there is the potential that we will be supplying for another VIP diner at bird cow fish too. Can't say who, what or why yet, but all will be revealed shortly.
Yes I know, I have publicly stated my philosophical objection to supplying Sydney with our produce, but I am prepared to break my self imposed embargo for maybe 4 or 5 special people in this world. Two of them just happen to be in Sydney this October, and as Groucho Marx said, "Those are my principles, and if you don't like them... well, I have others" ;-)
11 August 2009
I think the Fireside Festival event went well, with Kim managing to feed 50+ people with 4 courses. Unfortunately we ran way overtime so it was a very long lunch. Not sure if I'll bother doing it again next year, it's a lot of time and effort for a negative financial outcome.
It costs us to be involved in the festival and we lose several hundred dollars for our efforts - I guess I'm over it. To put it into numbers for you, we supplied over $600 worth of saleable meat and put in many hours of effort, to receive $400 in return. I know it's for a good cause, promoting the Slow Food philosophy of good clean and fair food, but it would be much easier to just donate $200 and put my efforts into other things. Do we get any publicity out of it to compensate? I sincerely doubt Mountain Creek Farm will get any, but hopefully Kim will, Mt Majura winery will by being the venue, and the novelty factor of local truffles will ensure some publicity for Sherry.
The first of our seasons lambs have arrived and the Llamas are very protective. Even though I am the Llama's 'friend' (well I feed them and they definitely like that), they instinctively put themselves between me and the lamb. Hopefully they will dispatch any foxes that are tempted, but I wonder if they will see the crows as a threat. Crows are a nasty threat to lambs as they eat the eyes of newborns whilst they sleep - nature is indeed red in tooth and claw.
Our Wessex Saddleback pork will be available again this weekend. I inspected the carcasses early this morning at the butchers and they looked great.
Our next lot of Belted Galloway beef is on it's way and is ageing nicely in the coolrooms. The first beef will be available on Sunday 30 August.
An apology to a few of our beef customers. In our last batch of beef there were 8 carcasses, 7 were destined to be sold as cuts in packs, and 1 was deemed not up to our usual standard and was to be turned into mince and sausages. Unfortunately the one due to be minced was sold as cuts and one of the good ones was minced. So if you received some very tasty but uncharacteristically tough beef from us last month, we sincerely apologise. If you come and see us at the markets, or let us know via email, we'll make it up to you with something special and assure you it won't happen again.
1 August 2009
Some of you may have wondered why we closed the farm to visitors after the "swine flu" first hit Australian shores, well this is why http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/07/31/2642757.htm Basically pigs have been infected by humans in NSW and it is this swapping of the disease between humans and pigs, and the possible mutation of the disease into something really serious, that concerns us.
We finished off July with some 65mm of rain - we're happy with this even though it's a bit below average.
30 July 2009
Piglets have arrived! Three of our Wessex Saddleback girls have produced 19 squealing little pigs all on their own. Not bad for first time mums. I was present for one the deliveries acting as midwife and I wasn't needed, but placing a wet piglet on a nipple and getting it sucking made me feel useful. Another girl is due today, so I'll be keeping watch. Two of the new mums have been with a family on a property east of Canberra for a few weeks, and are doing well. In fact the owners are so impressed by the temperament of the Wessex, that they are contemplating 2 more sows!
Well things are getting interesting with the Fireside Festival event at Mt Majura Winery this Sunday. French chef extraordinaire Kim De Poorter, is stressing about the ability of the facilities to serve the 50 or patrons their 4 courses and keep things warm. If we were doing this within a commercial kitchen it would be no problem, but we have one smallish commercial oven, and a domestic cook top. I have no doubt Kim will excel on the day, coordinating the event with aplomb which was a sell out soon after bookings opened.
I'll be talking to a prominent restaurant business (arguably the best) in Canberra next week, about supplying rare breed meats to them on an ongoing basis. If we can make this work, it will enable us to expand the production of the "best pork on the planet" via a co-operative network of small farmers. If it works for pork, it should work for beef and lamb as well. This is a very exciting development and I should be able to reveal all next week.
More exciting still, 'bigger than Ben Hur' and very daunting, is the prospect of supplying the relaunch of the Sydney International Food Festival with the planet's best pork! If this comes off, it has the potential to pull the Wessex Saddleback pig back from potential oblivion. The publicity potential in having 8 or so of Sydney's best chef's, coordinated by a world great, and then cook with the best of rare breed pork singing it's praises, is huge. More on this next week too :-)
24 July 2009
The Llamas have settled in well. I still have them confined to the small paddock above the house with the ewes so they bond. I'll let them out into the front paddock early next week - some of the ewes look ready to burst and I expect a good drop of twin lambs. Funnily enough I was hearing fox calls before the Llamas arrived, but these have stopped - might be a coincidence? Secretly I hope the mere presence of the majestic Llamas has scared them off.
Speaking of lamb, we still have some of our Wiltshire lamb available. We had a leg roast the other night and it was very refined, subtle flavours and tender. This lamb is much smaller (restaurant size) than previously, as they were weaned earlier to protect the ewes during the drought. Still, feedback so far has been very positive with the only question being about their size. This is our last lamb for 9 months or so.
Great News! Alex Herbert of birdcowfish thinks our pork is "amazing, flavoursome and tender", and so the Fergus Henderson diner is now a goer. I not so secretly hope to address the gathering about the wonders of Wessex Saddleback pig - we shall see. Back in early June I posted the following about the event:
And now for some exciting news. Well it's really exciting if
you are a foodie or a chef. I have been asked if I could supply some
pork to birdcowfish for a special dinner in October for a visiting
chef's chef. Fergus Henderson, of St John
restaurant London, and Nose to Tail cook books/philosophy fame, single
handedly rekindled global foodie interest in offal and other cuts of
meat rarely seen in restaurants. Apparently jaded chefs and foodies
from all over the world visit St John to get a taste of "the real". As
producers of food that's real, this has always been music to our
palates.
Anyway, his books have pride of place in our cooking
library, and many of you will know that we enthusiastically support
honouring our animals' ultimate sacrifice by eating all cuts. That
said all this may come to nought, as Alex of BCF hasn't tried our pork
yet and may change her mind when she does. OK, so Alex not liking our
pork is unlikely, given the feedback we get, but you never know, and we
can't assume it's a given. So fingers crossed.
20 July 2009
Have password, can email. Yep, we're back on-line with a monster modem that looks like it came from the set of first series of Dr Who. So all being well, "I'll get back to you" - after I've waded through the mountain of spam. My various filters are swinging back into action, but it will take a while to teach them what is OK and what isn't.
Enough boring IT stuff. Tomorrow I pick up the two newest members of the team - Llamas! We were discussing ways and means of keeping our lambs and piglets safe from foxes. We had narrowed it down to the Maremma dogs, or Alpacas. Reason eventually prevailed and I decided that a Maremma spending nights at the foot of my bed would not be an effective fox deterrent. So off we toddle to find a suitable paddock dwelling Alpaca fox chaser.
Reason did not prevail when we were offered a choice of Alpaca and Llama. For me it was love at first sight. Sure Alpacas are cute, but Llamas and I just clicked. I can rationalise the purchase of course - and justify it to the tax man too.
So today I introduce the Llamas to the Wiltshire ewes in a small paddock. This is so that the ewes don't run a mile at the sight of their large guardians - both stand 2 metres tall or so. They will live in the front paddock which will be our lambing paddock, and this happens to surround the pig breeding area. This should mean both lambs and piglets are safer from becoming a fox dinner. Not sure what the Belties or Llamas will make of each other .................. we shall see.
18 July 2009
Trials and tribulations with Telstra. Apologies for the lack of response to any emails you may have sent. Thanks to Telstra I have yet again been off air for 10 days and still can't retrieve my emails. The latter is not Telstras fault but mine. In installing the new wireless broadband etcetera, it required my email account password - which I have forgotten. I am attempting to retrieve said email, but in the mean time please ring if it's urgent.
8 July 2009
Two things of significance have occurred in the last few days. The big 'O' organic certification industry and I are of the same mind - shock horror. They are now admitting what I have been banging on about for years, that when they certify a business or farm as "organic" it is only "point in time certification". This means they know they can only be sure that the produce, farm, processor, etcetera is organic, at the time their certifier was present. So for the other 364 and half days of the year, the produce might be "organic" or might not - common sense really.
So common sense it is, and it was most likely brought home to the certifying bureaucracy by the insurance industry. Just imagine trying to get indemnity insurance cover for your business, against wrongful claims by a third party once removed, for a business you have no control over and inspect half a day once a year. I'm sure it could be done, but the conditions, exclusions and premiums placed on such a policy by the insurers would be severe. This would be the same insurers that forbid the certifiers, many of whom are very experienced farmers themselves, giving advice to the farmers whose properties they are inspecting because they might be sued if the advice is less than perfect. So now the insurance industry, driven by a fear of litigation and risk minimization, is determining how 'organic' food is being 'handled' by the certifying bureaucracy!
Rant part two. As a composting socialist, the second bit of stupidity and inhumanity I'm pee'd off about is the decision by the Fair Pay Commission to 'freeze' the wages of Australia's lowest paid workers. How's this for logic in the country of the fair go? Last year the commission doesn't grant a rise to workers because of inflationary fears, this year they don't grant a rise because of recessionary fears. So if inflation is a threat our workers don't get a rise, but if the reverse is true they still don't get a rise. So under what idyllic conditions will out lowest paid workers be granted a pay rise? And will an employer really sack someone because they will cost the business the equivalent of an extra cup of coffee a day ($16 per week)? And someone on $544 per week will spend every cent of their $16 and stimulate the economy - I thought this was desirable during the GFC and what the $900 cash bonuses were about?
6 July 2009
First real frost of the year this morning at -2 Celsius.
1 July 2009
Bad news I'm afraid, I've just been studying the Bureau of Meteorology site and it looks like we're heading into more drought. The ENSO, SOI and various other long range indicators are not good. I don't think we can call it drought any longer, as this is becoming the norm - perhaps it will be known as "the drying". It seems odd to be writting this whilst it rains. Anyway, as we have already implemented "plan B", it leaves us no room for error. Maintaining the fertility of out farm is paramount and so further stock reductions, pending more weather and climate investigations, are likely :-(
1 July 2009
A prosperous new financial year to you all. We finished the end of the financial year paperwork yesterday literally at the 11th hour - couldn't do it without the interweb. Also finished up June with 78.5mm of that glorious wet stuff that falleth occasionally from the sky, so a good month for rain. Interesting how that which was previously known as an 'average' month has been elevated to 'good' status. We're still in rainfall deficit though, as the total for the first 6 months is 258.5mm when it should be around 450mm - our rainfall is not seasonal. No wonder the top dams are still low and not filling.
Fast Food = Low Grades
A new study on the consumption of junk food and academic performance, involving 5,500 10 and 11-year-olds, has found that a higher-than-average consumption of fast food can have a significant impact on students' academic ability. The study, led by Vanderbilt University in Tennessee, is the first to show a conclusive connection between high-fat and sugary foods and low academic results.
So the link between diet and academic performance has been scientifically verified, well wonders will never cease............
On the other hand, Slow Food = Good, Clean and Fair food, and better performance ;-)
Slow Food’s approach to agriculture, food production and gastronomy is based on the concept of food quality defined by three interconnected principles: good, clean and fair.
Good food is tasty and flavorsome, stimulating and satisfying for the senses;
Clean food is produced in a way that respects ecosystems, animals, biodiversity and the landscape; its consumption is not harmful to human health.
Fair food production is respectful of social justice, meaning fair pay and conditions for all involved; prices must be affordable for consumers and fair for producers.
Our Aquaponic investigations are progressing - aquaponics is the symbiotic production of fish and plants in an extremely efficient closed loop system. We purchased a "commercial package" from Hawaii which is a detailed set of plans and instructions on building a system. Obviously our climate will dictate many changes to the system, as it will to the species we can grow. We chose the Hawaiian system as it is one of the few commercial systems successfully operating, with owners happy to share their info and experience at a modest price.
We will be trialling two small but scalable systems to see how they perform, staring this spring. The first will use rafts floating on ponds to grow semi aquatic edible plants, the second will use river gravel in beds, with the fish water flowing continuously though them, to grow the fruiting plants (tomatoes etcetera). Both systems will driven by various species of native fish, yabbies and fresh water mussels.
22 June 2009
Forgot to say yesterday, that our Belted Galloway beef is back on the menu. If you have some on order, all the bulk orders will be ready for collection this coming Sunday 28th June.
Again I must say the beef looks superb, and in talking to Darren, our butcher, he says we pay a high price for this quality. In Darren's professional opinion we are loosing at least 20% of our potential saleable meat due to the extended ageing we insist on. Moisture evaporation is part of the issue, and the balance is the extra trimming of the dark and hard dried edges of the meat. So Darren is telling us that our meat should be at least 20% dearer than all others (unless they do an extended dry ageing too, and we know they don't), this is before we take into account the rare breed, pasture finishing and slow growth rates, the extra care and time in ethical treatment, etcetera.
Incidentally, this dry ageing is why our co-producers tell us our meat is better than all but the very best of restaurants. I am also told you can count these restaurants on the fingers of one hand, for the whole of Australia! Most butchers will only age meat for a week at best, a few will age meat for ten days. The better restaurants will then take delivery of this meat as primal cuts, and often 'wet age' it for another couple of weeks to make it tender.
Wet ageing is very different to our dry ageing and you may know it as cryovacing or vacuum packing/storing. Wet ageing is an anaerobic process with the meat encased in plastic without air, which produces different bacteria (anaerobic bacteria) that slowly breaks down the fibres of the meat, changing it's texture and taste. This is an artificial ageing process that was purely designed to save money, by preventing moisture loss and extending shelf life. The world's best chefs and gourmets will tell you that this is not good practise and spoils the natural flavours of the meats - we have tried it and agree.
We on the other hand dry age our beef for a minimum of 3 weeks, with the beef being processed in the fourth week. However we often age it for 4 to 5 weeks This last lot for example), and sometimes even longer. The best steaks our chef and foodie friends say they have ever had came from a 6 year old cull cow who had been dry aged for 6 weeks! This cow, who was way too old to eat according to mainstream food 'wisdom', is our benchmark for quality.
Dry ageing is how meat should be made tender and flavourful, and has
been the preferred method for centuries if not millennia. Well it was
the preferred method of improving meat until the economic rationalists
reorganized food as an industrial commodity with profits to be
maximized, and costs externalized, wherever possible.
Anyway, I worry a lot about charging a fair price for our meats, but it is becoming increasingly obvious that there must be a price rise for our beef soon. It will be our first price rise for two years, so I hope our co-producers are sympathetic and will pay for the extra care and attention that goes into producing quality food.
21 June 2009 Happy winter solstice!
On the Sunday 2nd of August at 12 noon, we are teaming up with chef Kim de Poorter to do a special Fireside Festival lunch at the Mt Majura vineyard and winery. We did this last year with some success, and being suckers for punishment, we are doing it again. These events sell out very quickly and are superb value for money (about $50 a head incl. wines), so get in quick. Perhaps I should tell you that producer/chef dinners like this in Sydney are $125+ a head, and considered cheap at the price. Menus have been posted on the festivals site, but take our menu with a grain of salt as it will be subject to change without notice!
In essence there will be our beef, lamb, pork and egg dishes, with local truffles featuring in one or two dishes as well. We "plan" the following range of delectable dishes including twice cooked Whiltshire lamb shank in puff pastry, Belted Galloway beef fillet with truffle mash and Madeira jus, and Wessex Saddleback Toulouse pork sausages in/on/with something, for your pleasure. For desert Kim will show us how to make a sabayon. Homeleigh Grove extra virgin olive oils will be served at table and all dishes will be accompanied by a range of current and museum release wines from Mount Majura Vineyard.
The reason I say we "plan" the dishes, and that this means they may change a little, is that most have no idea how difficult it is as a micro producer to co-ordinate the timing of growing, finishing, transporting, slaughtering, ageing, processing, and delivery of 3 different species simultaneously. Particularly as we have reached the limits of our farms sustainable production capabilities for these species, and are having trouble supplying our co-producers as it is. So I'm fairly sure I'll won't be supplying all three animal species simultaneously again.
Anyway many of our co-producers were disappointed last year when they
missed out on the Fireside do, so get your skates on, farm out the
kids, park the parents, and book as soon as you can.
I really hope Mt Majura have their proposed bubbly in production by the festival, because I had an advance tasting of the one and only bottle, and it was superb - told them not to change a thing too!! OK, so I am opinionated, but I'll definitely be buying a case or three for our summer solstice celebrations ;-)
11 June 2009
Well winter has arrived with a vengeance, and our first calf for the year arrived in the thick of it. We had wind, rain, sleet and a little snow over the last few days, and for some reason Belties calve in the worst of it - the cold and miserable weather must remind them of home - Scotland. Anyway mum and bub are both well, and we await more of our special girls to calve.
We don't normally calve at the beginning of winter, we like an early spring calving when the cows get the boost they need from the new and fast pasture growth. However we are bring our herd back into sync with the seasons as our herd is a composite of smaller herds, and these calved whenever they could get a bull. Many smaller herds don't run bulls, they borrow or lease them when available, usually after the bull owner has finished with him for the season.
Anyway this cold snap delivered 9mm of rain, taking our monthly total to date to 30mm. Not counting our chickens before they hatch, but this might turn out to be a wet winter - touch wood - as our dams are in need of topping up.
And now for some exciting news. Well it's really exciting if you are a foodie or a chef. I have been asked if I could supply some pork to birdcowfish for a special dinner in October for a visiting chef's chef. Fergus Henderson, of St John restaurant London, and Nose to Tail cook books/philosophy fame, single handedly rekindled global foodie interest in offal and other cuts of meat rarely seen in restaurants. Apparently jaded chefs and foodies from all over the world visit St John to get a taste of the real. As producers of food that's real, this has always been music to our palates.
Anyway, his books have pride of place in our cooking library, and many of you will know that we enthusiastically support honouring our animals' ultimate sacrifice by eating all cuts. That said all this may come to nought, as Alex of BCF hasn't tried our pork yet and may change her mind when she does. OK, so Alex not liking our pork is unlikely, given the feedback we get, but you never know, and we can't assume it's a given. So fingers crossed.
9 June 2009
Spent a lot of the long weekend in Sydney asleep to be honest, so just as well they are understanding friends we stay with. Our Saturday night outing to Bird Cow Fish was interesting for many reasons. And forget parking anywhere near the venue on a Saturday night - take a taxi. Actually we only had to park a block and a half away, so I exaggerate.
Anyway we ordered one of every main (there were 6 of us) and tried most entrées that BCF had to offer too, and all were good. BCF don't know it, but their toughest test was their grass finished beef sirloin steak - something we know a little about. Their steak was very good, cooked to perfection, even had flavour, but I am also pleased to announce - not as good as our Beltie steaks. Having done this 'test' a few times, I am now firmly convinced that quality ingredients are the key to good cooking. A good chef can make an average ingredient better, but an average cook can do as well if starting with better ingredients. Not that the steak at BCF was average, far from it, it was superb, probably Angus, and really I don't think you could find a better steak in Sydney.
All in all we had a good night, topped with a special cake I had BCF to make and be delivered to the table for my daughter's birthday. I also got a quick look inside the kitchen in full flight too - most impressively busy with chef's litterally dripping with the effort of creative endeavours. I managed not to disrupt the flow in the kitchen and now we await the verdict on our pork, as I left some belly and roasts for Alex to play with.
I have just faxed off the cutting list to Darren and Megan (our butchers) for our beef, which has been aging nicely in their coolrooms for several weeks. So with a bit of luck some of the outstanding beef orders will be filled this Sunday, with the balance the following two Sundays.
2 June 2009
Please note we will not be at the markets this coming weekend, we're having a short break - yeeeehah!!
We will be staying with friends in Sydney and going to bird cow fish on Saturday night. I was at Slow Food's Terra Madre with Alex Herbert (chef/owner of BCF) and promised to take her some Wessex Saddleback pork to play with when I visited Sydney next. I don't think we will ever be in a pos
We finished up with 13mm of rain for May, nowhere near enough to replenish dams or soil moisture. Still, it could have been worse as 12 km east (Canberra airport) they received but 2mm for the month. Here's hoping for a wet winter so that our top dams are filled, the lower ones are still at 90% thank goodness.
We have sold out of Whitshire hogget, but there will be more available on Sunday 19th July if all goes to plan.
There is still some pork left in 5 and 10kg packs, but no mince or sausages until Sunday 5th July. After the July pork there will be a substantial pause in production. Why? Well my boar seems to be besotted with one particular sow and doesn't notice the other 'girls'. He is obviously attracted to larger and older females, as she is both. I'll have to separate her from the rest so the other girls get a look in.
The beef is coming along nicely and will be available late June.
© 2007, 2008,2009 by Michael Croft and Mountain Creek Farm, All rights reserved.
Mountain Creek Farm
PO Box 4015
Weston ACT 2611
Phone: 0413 387 686
Email:
PO Box 4015
Weston ACT 2611
Phone: 0413 387 686
Email: