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Private Notes
It’s been over 7 years since Matthew Evans left a busy, city career as a food critic, to become a farmer in Southern Tasmania. Now it’s time to get serious. After selling his original Puggle Farm, he is moving his family to the much larger Fat Pig Farm, where he has a dream to build a farm-to-table restaurant in the upper paddock.
As the building of his new house on Fat Pig Farm gets underway, Matthew sets about improving other areas of the farm in preparation for his new farm-to-table restaurant. Produce needs to be source, the vegetable garden needs a major overhaul – but at the moment, there is a lot more money going out the door than coming in.
As their new house nears completion, Matthew and Sadie turn their minds to filling it with artisan, hand-made objects – be it a green-wood milk stool, a ceramic crock for sauerkraut, or a custom timber kitchen created by a boat builder. And with the restaurant foundations finally being laid, Matthew goes in search of inspiration for dishes to put on the menu at Fat Pig Kitchen.
After slaughtering a cow on the farm, Matthew wants to honour this life by using as much of her carcass as possible. After the meat is butchered and the offal turned into fertiliser, he takes the cowhide to a backyard tannery.
With native wallabies grazing the same pasture as his livestock, Matthew needs to come up with a solution that allows both to co-exist. And as the completion of Fat Pig Kitchen draws nearer, Matthew turns his attention to maximising other areas of the farm, in readiness for feeding a restaurant full of people every week.
After nearly burning down one of Australia’s oldest farms, Matthew is inspired to build an enormous, outdoor, wood-fired oven for Fat Pig Kitchen. And with the restaurant opening imminent, Matthew and Sadie go in search of some bio-dynamic wines to serve to customers.
The big day is nearly here – the opening of Matthew’s farm-to-table restaurant, Fat Pig Kitchen. But with a forecast of snow and sleet, will the farm and restaurant be ready in time, to feed 35 hungry mouths?
Outside it’s snowing, but inside it’s warm and welcoming for the 35 guests invited to the soft launch of Matthew’s new paddock-to-plate restaurant. But the big question is – after such a large investment, will he be able to recoup his costs and make a living?
With the first official Friday Feast, a new market stall and Ross’s sausage-making workshop, it’s a very busy week at Fat Pig Farm. For Matthew, it’s challenging to balance the business side of things with life as a farmer.
Even though life has become very busy for Matthew, he still manages to find time for a night away with his friends, Nick and Ross, in search of Tasmanian prawns. The chickens come home to roost when a food critic arrives at Fat Pig Kitchen.
