A couple of months ago we were lucky enough to meet Matthew Evans, the Gourmet Farmer. He was the special guest at the main dinner of a conference I was attending in Hobart. It was fantastic to hear of his journey from the city to the country, and particularly farm life. Watching the TV series it all looks so easy, but long hours and hard work is what’s on the other side of the cameras. What a story!

I’ve got my own veggie patch but doesn’t sustain us by any means. But we love picking fresh produce straight from the backyard and eating it raw or cooking with it straight away. There’s nothing worse than when you realised you’ve forgotten something from the green grocer. Then there’s nothing better than when and you realise you have a substitute in the backyard! It’s always better from the backyard anyway.

At present the veggie patch can’t be expanded too much but I do hope that we may get a little more land and even a cow to put on it. That was the best part about hearing Matthew Evans, I got to ask a question (I also bailed him up for 15 minutes at the end of his talk for more advice, and of course a photo opportunity). I wanted to know what type of cow he would recommend for milking. It’s a Jersey. One day, just one day.