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Private Notes
The transformation from big city living begins as Matthew, a novice yet determined farmer, settles into his rural haven. His visit to local Swiss goat cheese producers inspires him to make goat's milk ice cream for the upcoming Taste of Tasmania. It's a sell-out success and he's encouraged to start his own line of artisan foods.
Pork is on the menu as Matthew makes prosciutto and learns what to do with offal, and buys his own little piglets.
Swapping land for sea, Matthew and his mates embark on a fishing adventure and return in time to harvest late-ripening tomatoes.
Matthew sets up his partnership as an artisan producer at Salamanca Markets and learns some valuable lessons: long hours, hard physical work and low profit margins.
Matthew's crash course in agrarian ways finds him settling into the routine of life on the farm, but that also brings new and confronting challenges.
Matthew's farm is not yet a land of milk and honey, but in this episode he does his best for the milk component.
It's the deep heart of winter and Matthew, with his mates Nick and Ross, go deer hunting. Not knowing how to butcher their game, they decide to visit a deer farmer in the central highlands.
Hosting a Bastille Day lunch to showcase a range of delicacies to loyal stall patrons seems like a good idea - but it's illegal.
Baking is always a good option in winter so Matthew focuses on bread, cakes and biscuits. Matthew now grows and makes most of what he needs. except for bread.
Matthew is nearing the end of his first year on the farm and it's time to reflect on lessons learned and to celebrate his accomplishments with old mates and new friends - by cooking them up a feast!
In Season 2 of Gourmet Farmer we're in for a surprise. Matthew now has his own family - partner Sadie and son Hedley, to add to his growing menagerie on the farm. It's time to get serious. He has a family to feed and a pig business to grow. To do this, he needs to build infrastructure on the farm to cope with the extra pigs, and find new ways to sell his increasing supply of pork products.
While on the North West coast of Tasmania, herding cattle across the ocean at low tide to Robbins Island, Matthew has a new business idea. The Wagyu beef that he samples here - at Hammond farm, is the best he's ever eaten. Sadly, only foreigners get to taste it. With Nick and Ross, Matthew brainstorms an idea for Long Table Lunches, where the three of them will create multiple course menus from produce sourced exclusively from the local area. As they head up to the North West coast to spend a week sourcing produce, the weather turns bad and the `paddock' lunch they envisaged is under threat. And after locating a barn as an alternative, they find they've bitten off more than they can chew and race against the clock to feed everyone before the guests get too drunk and consume all their profits. The food, however, is a standout, and guest leave contented, while Matthew, Nick and Ross conclude that it was a great - if not that profitable experience. No sooner have they said goodbye to their last guest do they start planning their next lunch - on the logistically fraught Flinders Island.
Matthew starts to get hard core with his locavore philosophy when he decides to learn how to make his own brew. Unfortunately, his lesson is interrupted when he finds out his beloved cow Maggie has fallen ill after giving birth to a calf. After a rough patch, Matthew picks himself up and goes out in search of wheat substitutes for his breadmaking and tries out some spelt.
Matthew reckons he's earned a break from the farm and heads off on a kayaking adventure with Ross and kayaking expert, Nick. They're resolute in insisting on packing nothing but two-minute noodles, as the Picton River is sure to supply a bounty of fish. Alas, Matthew and Ross prove to be less than naturals on the water, and the fish prove to be totally absent. Resisting the temptation to head into a fast food outlet as they're kayaks approach a small town, they call up a sushi maker who has a smarter idea for catching fish, and who prepares a spectacular meal.
Matthew and Ross receive a request from Serbian man John Jovanovic for suckling pig, while manning their Salamanca stall. The suckling pig is to be served at a Sino-Serbian New Year's feast. Matthew is intrigued and offers up a piglet in exchange for a seat at the table. He discovers that his customer is married to a Chinese woman, Janette, and that after less than satisfying Chinese New Year meals at restaurants, they now host their own.
Matthew and Ross have a stall at a new farmers' market, where you can only sell what you grow or source from providores who don't have the means to sell their own product. They see this as an opportunity to expand and try out a few new products. First is B'stilla, a Moroccan pigeon pie that they source from Phil Newton. Next, they go hunting for wallaby and rabbit - produce which is growing in plague proportions and which they can acquire at little cost. While Ross prepares wallaby pie, Matthew goes in search of a rabbit recipe from opera singer Maria Lurighi.
Matthew, Nick and Ross raise the stakes in their long table lunches business idea. This time they take nothing but salt, pepper and a bit of olive oil to an island which has got to have more protein running around it than any other piece of land in Australia. It’s a real logistical challenge, but they pull off a multi course meal showcasing island produce such as mutton bird, cape barron goose and wallaby
Matthew sets out on a challenge to see if he can create a meal from wild food that’s free for the taking.
An invitation to Italy affords Matthew the opportunity to learn how to make salami the traditional way.
Matthew journeys from Italy to France to learn how the French preserve their meat products.
Matthew’s Puggle Farm is under shade and too wet for most of the year, which has hindered his farming aspirations. The experience has confirmed that he does want to pursue this farming life more seriously. Now Matthew wants to upscale.
It’s a year of experimentation and Matthew has kept chooks for eggs, but now he’d like to get heritage chickens at Puggle Farm to free range for their meat. He has also been interested in the differences between heritage chickens and free-range chickens we purchase from the supermarket… their size, colour and especially taste. He has decided to acquire some supermarket-breed chicks to free range himself and compare the taste with his heritage breed.
Matthew has been planning to build a commercial kitchen but the cost is prohibitive. Ross tells him about a caravan fitted out with a commercial kitchen that's for sale on Bruny Island. The mobile kitchen would also be great for Matthew’s other venture – making and selling foods in markets and festivals around Tasmania.
Inspired by last year's trip to France, Matthew decides to add a couple of geese to his menagerie, and while picking them up off a local farmer, he is distracted by a home-built cold smoker. One of Matthew’s visions for the new farm is to experiment with various food processes, and, inspired by the cold smoker, he wants to test new cured products and smoke them.
Matthew and Nick’s new shop venture, A Common Ground, provides many challenges: meeting demand with a varied supply of seasonal local produce; and maintaining commitment to ethically grown and prepared food whilst managing the bottom line. The shop isn't in the ideal location and a couple of new ideas are needed to increase sales.
Matthew is keen to use all parts of the pig to ensure he’s adding as much value as possible to his future porkers. He has a plan for a ‘Breaking Down’ day, where one pig is broken down into its constituent parts, ready for cooking and preserving.
Nick has bought himself a wine fermenter and is hoping to enlist both Matthew and Ross to make a barrel of their own vintage. The three boys go on a Cellar Door road trip around the Tamar Valley, researching wine varieties and winemaking… with a not-so-hidden agenda to secure enough grapes for a barrel.
Fifty acres of pasture is a lot of grass to manage, and the local NRM (National Resource Management) – the mob who consult on how to improve and maintain a healthy farm – have told Matthew he desperately needs to get animals to graze his grass… to regenerate it and add fertility to the soil.
Matthew, Nick and Ross go on a sailing adventure to Maria Island on Tasmania’s east coast. The boys learn how to sail, meet some keen fishermen, are visited by dolphins and whales, and explore Maria Island hiking and snorkelling at the marine national park. With wondrous views and scenery, they cook up fresh fish, abalone and local produce.
It’s been a year since Matthew expanded his business and bought the new farm, and it’s been a steep learning curve for both him and Sadie. Their passion to have visitors at Fat Pig Farm to share and experience their lifestyle and taste products made from the farm has led them to set a date for their very first open day and feast.
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.
Matthew’s Fat Pig Farm Kitchen has been feeding people for over a year now, but he knows that the quality of his food is only as good as the soil it comes from; so, he embarks on a 12-month mission to transform the food he serves and the way it's farmed. Gathering soil samples from all over his property for testing, and learning from one of Tasmania’s leading experts in regenerative agriculture, Matthew undertakes the huge challenge to make his soil more productive and his land healthier for future generations.
Autumn has come around on the farm and Matthew has been told goats are the natural solution to tackling the farm's blackberry problem. With the garden overflowing with Autumn veg, Sadie opts to trade fresh for fermented and takes some tomatoes to a local who offers up homemade miso paste. Matthew later experiments with the miso in the kitchen.
With Winter setting in Matthew welcomes a herd of goats to solve his blackberry infestation without using a single pesticide and begins to tackle Fat Pig Farms longterm soil health by planting an edible native garden while designing and building an age old form of landscaping that will benefit his farm for hundreds of years.
After having the health of his farm soil tested Matthew receives the results and needs to explore new ways to rest and rehabilitate the damaged earth in his pig paddocks. He experiments with an acorn pig feed and builds his own mobile chicken pen to fertilise the soil with their life-giving poo.
With Sadie and Hedley away, Matthew has got his work cut out for him managing the farm on his own and repairing winter rot in the farm’s apple orchards. But to surprise Sadie for her birthday he badly wants to build her a new herb garden and plant a whole row of camellias before she returns.
If there is an art to outdoor cooking than why not have a barbecue that’s a work of art. Matthew realises a long held day dream when he installs an incredible outdoor fire pit built by one of Tassie’s most talented blacksmiths, and with his farm work done Matthew finally catches something from the ocean worth bragging about.
It's Spring on Fat Pig Farm—the hungry patch—everything is furiously growing but there is almost nothing to harvest yet. Matthew creates an incredible pie with the few things that are available in the garden and learns the intricacies of how to forage for wild food in Tasmania.
With Spring in full swing and bugs in abundance, Matthew invites an insect scientist to survey the health and wealth of the farm’s insect population. He learns just how important insects are to the ecosystem and health of his farm, how to cook and eat one of Australia’s most common garden pests, and what a huge impact insects have on feeding the entire planet.
It’s high summer and Matthew is focused on making the most of the gardens first flush of raspberries. But with the garden and soil now in such rude health, he’s looking for ideas on how he can improve his approach to the animals he farms for the restaurant table by exploring the idea of using dual-purpose cattle breeds for milk and beef and a new breed of chicken that produces great quality eggs and meat.
It’s been 12 months, 4 seasons and lots of hard lessons since Matthew set out to transform his cherished slice of Tassie into a farm that grows healthy food while regenerating healthy soils, leaving it more productive and healthier for generations to come. From planting native gardens and reshaping entire hillsides with water channels, to tackling a runaway infestation of noxious Blackberry weeds without using a single chemical herbicide. He’s tried it all, so which ideas worked and which didn’t?
