Sharing the recipe and work of others in Gippsland

As you all know I write for a local magazine - Gippsland Magazine. I was lucky enough to pick up the gig - share recipes when I meet the editor at a tourism conference. In the 2018 winter, I've shared my recipe column with Nadine, from Wattlebank park farm, down near Wonthaggi.

Nadine is the owner and operator, let just call her the farmer, of Wattlebank Park farm, located at St Clair, about halfway between Inverloch and Wonthaggi. A mixed farm of dairy, beef, pork, and lamb, Nadine produces a way range of meats and small goods that she sells through her farm gate butchers shop and at many of the local farmers' markets. In a collaboration with Prom Country Cheese, she produces a range of cow’s milk cheese. She even coordinates the Bass Coast Makers & Growers market, the second Sunday of each month at the Wonthaggi Goods Shed.

As you all know that I like to buy direct, where I can, from the farmer and as Wattlebank Park farm offers the whole range, it is one of my first go to shops for beef, pork, lamb and small goods. Nadine makes the best ‘Polish Sausage’ you have tasted. You can find her polish sausage atop many of the wood-fired pizzas, made and served locally.

Not only is Nadine a farmer, and businesswomen, she is a fantastic cook. The day I visited, she was up earlier, stoking ‘Betty the Rayburn’ to slow roast my meal. Her delicious serving of slow-cooked lamb, cooked through chicken, melting in the mouth beef and crackle, yes, the crackle crackled, roasted pork, made me want to return to the kitchen and cook up a winter roast feast!

So follow along with my next few posts, as I share Wattlebank park farm with you all.