Only food we’d feed our own

On farm updates.
Woohoo, spring is here. We’ve already had temps of 28,29 degrees. All the sweetest smelling things are blossoming and green shoots trying to come through the paddocks. Thank god for that rain a month ago. None since but it was enough to get things cranking. I’ve developed my own fail safe method of allowing the new grass to come through without being chocked out by the thick hatch of winters lignified grasses but also holding on to it incase there’s no more rain coming and cattle will be forced to eat it to stay alive and that hack is….stripey pastures. I slash across the contours leaving one contour slashed the other long. It also saves on fuel and time and slashed across the hills helps slow down the water flow if I’m lucky enough to get rain. It also looks cool although my son calls them my scribbles.
I’m still feeding out protein and minerals 150 grams per cow per day. Don’t ask me how it gets shared around but it seems to work. If my cows have no ribs showing after a winter season that is an achievement. I was shocked at the sale yards yesterday how poor the condition of many of the cattle were. And if they looked bad their pastures would be bare bones. Still the prices for cattle were uncommonly good. I sold my steers but kept the heifers for replacing the breeding herd, and sending to Farm Thru when they get to 20/24 months old. This time next year.
Other news is I started selling Rachel’s farm boxes locally. Just one cow presently but the response was surprisingly good. Thank you all those who stepped forward to support your very local supply chain. It’s such a no brainer to supply and eat from your local area. Our pastures are full of cows but rarely do we have an opportunity to sell to or eat our local produce. Who knows where the supermarket produce hails from. Not that it’s necessarily poor quality but just think of the miles notched up. Probably on some crazy supply chain from Victoria or Queensland. We need a lot of disrupters like myself to challenge this corporate system. Buying locally(and Sydney is comparatively local) is one way of voting for a different food system.
Many thanks to those of you buying Rachel’s Farm produce. We will be adding Biltong soon and we will be offering more bespoke boxes. All premium cut boxes, all secondary cuts and a mix of meats from other Farm Thru suppliers. We’ve had some lovely feedback. Thanks it means a lot. We work passionately with our land and livestock to keep it biodiverse and healthy. Luckily I love moving my herd and keeping them as fattyboombahs so I won’t say it’s hard work but it’s consistent. My farm hand has sprained his ankle so it’s been all on me for the last weeks. Over and out from the mid north coast.

Stoneground durum, long-fermented, then slow air-dried. Every groove is built to hold sauce, so nothing pools at the bottom of the bowl.

More clusters, more crunch. Cacao dusted rice puffs, coconut flakes, almonds and pecans, baked in bush honey and macadamia oil in the Brook family's Northern Rivers bakehouse.

A bloomy-rind triple cream with a lemony core when young, softening to cream and caramel tones as it matures. Good on a board, better shared by hand.

Nimbin Valley Dairy rolls the wheel in vine leaf ash before the white mould sets, then lets it soften to a rich, buttery centre. Firm and chalky young, luscious with age.

48-hour fermented buckwheat sourdough rolled with cardamom and cinnamon, iced with dairy-free buttercream. Gluten free, nut free, vegan, and genuinely soft once rewarmed.

Grass fed is only half the story. We look at what that means for flavour, nutrition and the paddock it came from.