Highland Gourmet Potatoes, Wildes Meadow

Chris and I have always said we have an 'Irish' daughter. Our oldest girl simply loves potatoes, cooked in any way - mash, roast, fried, hashbrowns. If there are potatoes on the table, she is a happy camper. Late last year, we were introduced to the large variety of potatoes at the Highland Gourmet Potatoes at Eveleigh Farmers Market in Redfern. Prior to that, we have always bought brushed, desiree, kipfler or chat varieties from the local fruit and vegie market.

Did you know there are many more varieties such as King Edward, Pink Fir, Dutch Cream, Ruby Lea, Purple Congo, Royal Blue, Sapphire, Cranberry Red, Otway Pink, Pink Kiss, Snow Gem etc etc? Neither did we, but we have since tried a few of these varieties from Highland Gourmet Potatoes. Dutch Cream and Pink Fir are my favourites.

On our recent trip to the NSW Southern Highlands, we went to visit their road-side stall at Wildes Meadows to check out other types. The stall works on an honesty system, where no one mans it. You just pick the bag of potatoes you want, and place the money $5 per bag into the locked box. 

Picking Chestnuts at Pinehaven Farm

The weather was wet and wild today, the day we picked to go picking chestnuts at Pinehaven Farm in Wingello, Southern Highlands. Who knew the weather would turn out so bad when we booked the tour but we still went ahead. We left Sydney in the pouring rain taking care to drive slowly as the roads were wet but traffic was light.

We arrived at Exeter General Store to meet Jill and Nick from Foodpath Culinary Tours. It turned out everyone piked out but the four of us. Crazy people that we are! Thankfully, the rain had eased to a drizzle by the time we arrived at the farm about 15 mins drive from Exeter. Thank you God for listening to my prayers! Jill handed us some buckets and gloves. Dennis, the owner of Pinehaven, gave us instructions on what to do, which trees to choose, explained the two different chestnut varieties and off we went.

We didn't know that there are two different types of chestnuts - one for boiling and the other for roasting. There are subtle characteristics to differentiate the two. The ones for boiling are slightly smaller in size and darker in colour. The roasting chestnuts are bigger and have a lovely mahogany colour. Learnt something new today. The chestnut trees are not big. The nuts are encased in a spiky outer shell which drops to the ground when ripen. The spiky outer shell will open and you can see usually 2 or 3 nuts inside. You need to wear gloves to pick the chestnuts as the spikes are very sharp. The best way to prise the shell is to use your feet, preferably wearing covered shoes e.g. boots. Most of the ground area under each tree is covered with the 'fruits' and it was easy to just pick the chestnuts from the ground. It's manual labour and can be back-breaking if you're doing it for long.

We spent about an hour walking around and collecting chestnuts and placing them into the buckets. You pay for what you collect at $6.50/kg, so we were careful to only pick the amount that we need. We picked the two different varieties.

We ended up with 3 kgs of chestnuts to bring home. The chestnuts can be frozen and kept for months. Roger, Dennis' son-in-law brought out some roasted chestnuts for us to try and it was deliciously tasty and toasty warm on a cold day.

For boiling/steaming

For roasting

Despite the rain and wind, we had a great time with Jill. It is a wonderful experience for our girls, to learn more about the food that we eat and where it comes from.

After the tour, we went off to our friends' home in the Southern Highlands for lunch before heading home. It was a long day for all of us but one that we thoroughly enjoyed the family bonding time.

Weekend at Roseburn Farm

We have just returned from a short break away at Roseburn, our friends' farm in the Mid North Coast of NSW.  It has been a while since we paid Jim and Georgie a visit, more than a year actually. With our busy schedules, it's always difficult to get away. We took advantage of the start of the autumn school holidays to visit them and to collect the lamb meat that we bought from them. Yes, we bought a whole lamb which J&G have been breeding. In total it costs us $120 including the slaughter and butchery. How cheap is that for organic hormone free lamb. Whilst there, we also visited J&G's neighbour to buy some beef. We came home with four eskies in the boot filled with lamb and beef to last us for a while.

We didn't do much on the weekend, except relax, enjoyed the clean fresh air, helped feed the animals, took walks around the property and drank many cups of tea and coffee. I took the time to sit and read, whilst catching up on J&G's news. Our girls didn't touch their tech gadgets all weekend except in the car on the trip there and back. Both of them spent most of their time outdoors, waking up early to feed the sheep, cows and chickens; playing with the four dogs (Kinta, Bella, Sophie and Lily) plus Red (the neighbour's dog who visited over the weekend). Cait was busy collecting the eggs as soon as the hens laid them. I think she was 'stressing' them out with her constant checking. J&G's hens are 'wild' as they don't lay their eggs in the chook pen, but everywhere around the property - in the garage, in the garden and in the pen. Hence, Cait had a great time checking all the various spots. On Saturday, Cait found eight eggs and she found four more on Sunday. The eggs were still warm when she brought them in.

On Saturday, J&G had organised for a local guy to come and crutch and shorn their five sheep - Lambert, Ella and I can't remember the other 3. Yes, they have names for all their animals including Misty and Amber, their two Dexter Steers.

The weather was beautiful, sunny bright blue sky and warm. The temperature was cooler at night but the night sky was so clear and it was amazing to sit out and just look up at the twinkling stars and the Milky Way. Cait and I had wonderful time identifying the different constellations.

Our trip was short but we enjoyed the break so much; just doing nothing.....