A locavore record?

Generally,  by definition,  locavores eat only food they source within 100 - 250 mile radius of their home.

This week we think we made a new record.

All of the produce elements of our dinner were sourced from within 4 miles of our farmhouse.

Tomatoes from our garden

Which we are eating at lunch and dinner -  freshly sliced, slowly roasted or straight from the vege garden as we pick them 

Our perfect basil this year 

The roasted sweet corn came from a neighbours patch a mile away 

and the bacon four miles away from our local Berkshire pig farmer.

Our salad dinner was a simplified version of the Hot and Hot Fish Club  Tomato Salad which we have made before and had recently at the famous restaurant in  Birmingham Alabama. 

We sliced 4 varieties of tomatoes which were marinated in a balsamic dressing and then placed on the plate and layered with roasted corn kernels and topped with bacon slices and sprinkled with shredded basil.  

The salad when finally composed is lightly drizzled with a creamy chive dressing.

The Berkie bacon is incredible - the rashers slowly cooked so the fat renders out leaving a crisp and  salty slice or two to place on top of salad. 

 It is a perfect foil to the acid of the tomatoes, the sweetness of the corn and the acidity and  creaminess of the two dressings.

Superb!

Everyday wildlife

As much as Australia is renowned for its wildlife, we don't have this native american animal

I went to sleep last night to the sound of coyotes and was awakened by them this morning. It must have been a big night out in the woods near our fields.

At first they sound almost melodious. Then their baying conversation became louder with the pack reaching an overwhelming crescendo. Like a good dinner party, I thought. 

However, M said this morning the howling increased when they caught and killed some other animal, which I must say has never happened at a party of ours.

I read today that as they become more used to humans they could attack so I plan not to go looking for them for a photo op for the blog.

Instead I thought I would share these photos I downloaded so that Australian readers can see what they look like. Similar to a dingo perhaps?

Don't think it is all scary animals here - we had a gentle visitor yesterday afternoon

A young doe not even 100 metres from our farmhouse

Meandering slowly on wobbly legs under the fruit trees- keeping one eye on us

Only running off when I got up from my chair in the yard to have a closer look.

Pig to sausage

We have been enjoying local Berkshire pork for the last couple of years - grown by a family friend.

The black Berkshire pig is renowned for its richness, texture, marbling juiciness, tenderness and overall depth of flavour.

They are raised not far from our farmhouse so we can regularly visit the "berkies" to see how they are faring.  M even took the three that we had ordered to share with friends to their final meeting place.

We are so hands on in our quest to enjoy locally grown food that we made sausages from the pork on Saturday - under the tuition of our friend W.

A very productive and entertaining afternoon.

These are the Tuscan sausages with garlic and and fennel 

The pork is first of all put through the grinder

Spices added

Fed through the sausage machine into the skins

What more can I say

The long sausage is knotted into string of nicely plum sausages

They are then put into the freezer to mature for a couple of weeks.

Will let you know how they taste.

Our simple farmlife

After three busy days in Chicago we drove P&V (laden with champagne) down to the farm.

It had been 10 years since their last visit and we were looking forward to showing them the changes we had made and enjoying a bit of simple farm life.

But first we had to sample the champagne and caviar they had brought for afternoon tea.

P put together a tasting plate 

The champagne and vodka was poured

And within an hour of their arrival we were tucking into it

My usual restraint

We had a Labor day party on Monday afternoon to introduce P&V to our friends here and to enjoy an afternoon of boules, food and wine

This link to Steve Adams Studio will take you to some more Labor Day photos taken by our friend S (the real photographer).

Don't think we just sat around on land drinking champagne.
V and I did yoga and walked the dam,
P got to waterski at Lake Sarah with S&N (his first time in 25 years - luckily he didn't break anything), and we also had a lazy afternoon cruising on Lake Carlyle.

We did a bit of clay bird shooting

Followed by more champagne - just because.

Thanks for visiting P&V- it was a week of sparkling memories.

A return to Farmlife

Have been back on the farm for 4 nights already and it feels like I have never left.

Except the corn is now 12 feet high

This was the 5th June

This morning 

The Qantas flight from Sydney to Dallas is fantastic - 14 1/2 hours (that's 2 meals,  4 movies and a 5 hour sleep) followed by a short hop to St Louis .

All up including clearing customs and re-boarding in DFW - 18 and a bit hours!

M met me at the airport with some PDA (it has been 7 weeks) and then an hours drive to the farm in time for dinner- champagne with crab cakes and salad. 

I love a good crab cake - but can be disappointed if there is not enough crab, or they are too mushy, too dry or have no flavour.

These from Whole Foods were full of shiny slivers of crab, fresh flavoured and nicely crumbed. 

Our welcome home champagne tradition continues.

Saturday is now a bit of a blur- catching up on what has been happening around here with the renovations (a future post), bbq ribs from our local restaurant eaten on our porch and an early night.

Up early on Sunday for the Keyesport Triathalon- held the same day as Sydney's City to Surf which has 85,000 people walking or running 14kms from Hyde Park in Sydney's CBD to Bondi Beach.

We walked to the lake to cheer on the 75 competitors in the Keyesport Tri - which has a sprint and Olympic event.

 The organisers were very relaxed

Swimmers in the distance before diving into the lake

  I was inspired by this woman - one of the first  people out of the water and she is smiling.

You can see me M and I  (in shadow)

At this point there was not another bike rider in sight - but  according to our local newspaper two cyclists collided near here - both were transported  by ambulance to the local hospital for treatment.  

What are the odds?

There could not be two such different events in my farmlife citylife.

I have run the City Surf before and back in the day I also did a couple of triathlons as well as a very revealing biathalon in Sydney Harbour.

I think I still have a Sprint triathlon in me (1/4 mile swim, 13 mile bike ride and a 3.1 mile run) and there is definitely no Heartbreak Hill in this part of Southern Illinois.

Should l give it a go next year?

An Australian Country Christmas Part One

This year we loaded our car with gifts, food and wine and drove 6 hours north west of Sydney to spend Christmas with my sister A, her husband R, and teenage sons L & M on their beautiful property in Armidale.

As we drove through their gates this gorgeous panorama welcomed us, closely followed by the smiling faces of our hosts.

Photo by Liam Nethery 

We started our warm up to an  orgy of eating with a chicken caesar salad - a light and tasty prelude to the next few days.

M's Christmas Eve birthday started our day - happy 15th!

Our tradition of Roman Numerals for candles continues.

Into town for a bit of last minute shopping and to catch up with some cousins for coffee.

We set the Christmas Eve dinner table with bon bon crackers (some surprisingly funny jokes in these ones gave us a laugh over dinner)

Photo: Liam Nethery

Clouds coming in - will we be able to eat outside?

We moved the table setting inside and out again and again before finally deciding to commit to outside dining.

Something to nibble on before dinner, with a glass of champagne

Pork roasting in the oven - with a lemon zest, cardamon and chilli crust.

Photo by Liam Nethery

Turkey trussed, our mother's recipe for stuffing prepared from memory - with love and few tears.

Photo by Liam Nethery

A gorgeous night, and dinner outside- pork, turkey, ham - a mass of food for 6!

A langorous meal, enjoyed long into the night. 

Santa came early, as we woke in the night to the sound of heavy rain - much needed for water depleted tanks.

With two teenage boys in the house it was a late start on Christmas Day for presents - and we extended the enjoyment by opening them one by one.

I Pad +  for me !  Yay!

Can't believe we are hungry again.

Onto our Christmas Day Brunch tradition  -  ham and cheese croissants, ham with english mustard on toast and a new addition a pile of bacon.   And a glass of sparkling!

Followed by a wet and lazy afternoon laughing in front of the TV- watching a Moody Christmas

Mince tarts, spiced nuts and cherries to snack on during the day

Christmas leftovers for dinner that night.

Jamie Olivers Asian flavoured turkey salad,  eaten with leftover pork and roasted potatoes.
More wine.

As  R said (and we all agreed)  this was one of the the most relaxing Christmas days he has ever had.

Boxing Day update tomorrow!