Laaaaaaaaaaaaaaamb! Lamb. Plus, knowing farmers, daffodils, and The Sustainable Living Festival
We haven’t seen lamb for some time at the market, Which is why we’re delighted to welcome new stallholder to to the Harvest family. Please put your hooves together and join us in welcoming Preston Ridge Free Range Pork! Yes, we know how contradictory that sounds. But Stella and Preston Ridge will be bringing a variety of meat products, and we can confirm that lamb will be among them. Backstrap, shoulder, leg-roast roll, shank, rib, rump… there isn’t a bad cut of lamb in our opinion, and we are just so excited to see what they have on offer. Congrats to Preston Ridge; come and show them how great a market Harvest is.
Know Thy Farmer.
Rarely do we speak in the first person on this blog/newsletter. But on this matter, it is probably best from a contextual point of view.
I can remember vividly the first time I was confronted by realising I knew exactly nothing about food, farming, or anything else for that matter. At age 15, watching a fellow apprentice (senior to me) receive the bollocking of a lifetime for wasting some salmon. At that time, said bollocking was related to the extremely fine margins of a restaurant. I was a bit dismissive; I had potatoes to peel. Besides, it wasn’t me being threatened with violence. But the moment stuck in my mind. Why was the chef so fired up about 200 measly grams of Salmon?
Flash forward about 4 years, and I was working in a Michelin Star restaurant in Marylebone High Street, London. This time, it was me receiving the bollocking of a lifetime. Ironically it was over about the same amount of salmon, which I had overcooked. This time, though, it wasn’t the margins or even the interruption to a finely-tuned service that was the point of contention. It was the farmers (or fishermen in this case, but the point remains).
Was I aware, the chef was yelling, of just how much time, energy, resources, and personal sacrifice I had just overcooked? I was not aware. Did I realise, he seethed, that overcooking, wasting, dropping or otherwise mistreating any ingredient at any time is basically a slap in the face to everyone in the chain of people who brought it to our kitchen in the first place? I did not realise this, although I came to do so very quickly indeed.
Learnin’
The next day, the salmon supplier made his delivery, and the chef made me go down and personally apologise to him. He laughed and, in a thick Cornish accent, said, “that’ll learn ya won’t it lad?”. It did learn me. It learned me good. Because this was the first primary producer I had actually met, and I came to know him during my time at that restaurant.
We are, even in our cities, surrounded by farmers. This is particularly true of Launceston, where one has to drive less than 15 minutes to be amongst the farms. Yet, the vast majority of us do not know who produces our food. We do not know our farmers or understand what they go through. Most of us are ignorant of the work they do and the complexity of their lives and businesses. We don’t think about contracts, taxes or supply chains. We think only about specials, convenience, and choice.
This isn’t a criticism, almost everyone is too busy and/or broke to think about this stuff.
But it is a call to action. Because, having come to learn, know, and understand the journey of an ingredient from the farm to the kitchen to the plate, we can assure you of one thing: knowing thy farmer will greatly, immeasurably enrich your life.
Come to Harvest. Know thy farmer.
Tas Daffodils & the SLF.
Please join us in welcoming Donna and Tas Daffodils back to the market for yet another wonderful seasonal run! Just as her sprouting bulbs are the harbinger of Spring, so Donna’s arrival at Harvest is the harbinger of Autumn. Donna has been with us for many years, always chipper, always ready with a smile and, always with the most impressive range and categorisation of bulbs this side of Bass Strait.
And remember, The Sustainable Living Festival is on at Inveresk Precinct this weekend. “Going Circular”, this year the festival is headlined by Craig Reucassel! Exciting. The renowned television personality and environmental advocate from the ABC’s War on Waste is here to educate you. This is huge for Launceston, the festival and sustainability in general, with the event being one of only a handful of its kind nationally. If you’ve even a passing interest in how to live a better, more ethical sustainable life, this is the event for you.
Thank you for reading, see you tomorrow 🙂