Join Jill and Nick as they take you behind the scenes to see where your food actually comes from!

The month of March will have a range of food and wine activities across the Southern Highlands and is definitely a good time to visit the area. We have been busy over the holiday period planning our FoodPath involvement. If you are on our mailing list you will be aware that we have many things registered -

• Food and Wine Tours
• Jam Making Workshop 
• Bread Making, Wine and Artisan Cheese Tasting 
• Hazelnut Picking
• Chestnut Picking, and 
• A Paddock to Plate  Farm tour and Dinner at Biota Dining, our 2 hatted restaurant in Bowral. 

Wow time flies and already we have started our "Summer holiday tours". This time last year Nicole Kidman and Keith joined us but we can't guarantee that again I'm afraid! Was just a lovely surprise.
We kick the tours for the year last Friday when a large family asked for a Family Farm Tour - and it just reminded me how much fun it is. Colin does a great job and has loads of animals - and he is happy to run tours on request if he is around.
Bookings are coming in for the Family Farm Tour this Friday 10 Jan at Alan's farm and the Berry Picking Tour this Saturday 11 Jan. These will both be fun and are repeated the following weekend. Alan has a different range of animals and activities and has been running tours for us for a few years now - so you could visit both farms and have a different experience at each.

Check the website for details and contact us if you would like to join us - www.foodpath.com.au, e: info@foodpath.com.au, m: 0419 617 021

We have been busy firming up several tours and workshops for next year and have a busy schedule lined up. If you are on our mailing list you should have received our December Update the morning. If you didn't and you would like it, please let us know and we will email to you.

Scheduled Summer activities include:

• Two Berry Picking tours (Sat 11 and 18 Jan)
• A Winery Tour (Fri 3 Jan)
• Two Family Farm Tours (Fri 10 and 17 Jan)
• A FoodLovers Walking Tour in Bowral (Sat 15 Feb)
• Preserving Class with Steve Hogwood (Sun 16 Feb)

We are looking forward to welcoming Robyn Darley to our FoodPath team next year. She will join Steve Hogwood and Biddy Maupin who run regular classes for us and also Patricia Phillips from the Blue Bowl Cooking School with whom we collaborate for the Market to Table Tours.

Robyn will be running a wide range of cooking classes including Making Dairy (quark, yoghurt, marscapone, gourmet fetta and paneer - a full cream ricotta), Sausage Making, Bread Making, Pastries and more. Robyn has extensive experience as a Cooking Teacher - you may have seen her demonstrating cheese making at the Southern Highlands Food and Wine Festival? Robyn runs Cheese Making Classes for Small Cow Farm so she will not be running those for us. If you want to learn to make cheese please contact Small Cow Farm. When you live in a small community it is important that you all work together...

Cheers,
Jill

We have three Family Farm Tours scheduled for the next school holidays so tell your friends and come and join us. Always fun these are a great thing to do with your children or grandchildren.
These tours appeal to locals, visitors and grandparents who have children staying during the school holidays.
We are visiting two farms on different days - both are fun and quite close to Bowral. Alan and Colin always run an interesting tour set up so the kids have lots of fun.
Check our website "Activities" page and contact us if you have any questions.
Looking forward to having you along.

Dates: Tues 24 Sept, Sat 28 Sept and Sun 6 Oct (on the long weekend).
Time: 10.30 - 12.
Price: $35 per adult, $15 per child 3 - 12yrs of age. Children under 3yrs FREE.
Directions provided on booking.

Children must be supervised by an accompanying adult.

Minimum numbers apply.

          



To book contact us - w: foodpath.com.au, e: info@foodpath.com.au, m: 0419 617 021

It is very exciting that the busy weeks are getting closer and more frequent - we must be doing something right!

• Had a corporate group last Sat 17 Aug for a Winery Tour and Lunch 
• A Truffle Tour at Robertson on Sun 18 Aug with 30 people!! 
• During the week we had a group of 21 Yr 9 Ag students from Sydney plus 2 teachers for two days of Farm Tours. 

I enjoyed them all - the variety is good and we are able to visit different venues to suit different groups.

• On Fri we did a presentation to a group of visiting corporate representatives at Craigieburn, who have been very supportive of us. Developing some new team building options for that market. And finally 
• Today we had 5 people for a Market Tour at Biota and 12 for lunch. A full day but a nice way to spend the last Sun of the month.

We thought all our Christmases had come at once when Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban and their two children turned up on a FoodPath Tour on 29 December at the dairy at Burrawang. What a surprise! This was our Summer Farm Tour and they had read about it in the SMH Spectrum Planner - which was also exciting. It is so good when you get unsolicited publicity!

They came along as normal members of our community to show the children the cows. They listened to the talk, toured the dairy and watched the afternoon milking with the rest of us - and said they enjoyed it. We hope they will be back for more!
We couldn't resist asking for a group photo and they were happy to oblige. We asked if we could use the photo in our FoodPath promotion and they agreed, so it was a good day for us and we are very appreciative.
So - although we cannot guarantee a brush with fame you never know who will pop up in the Highlands! We do have a range of interesting and famous people here.

These tours are continuing "on demand" for the next two weeks, then we are out of town for a period. One tour is tentatively scheduled for Sun 13 Jan.
If you are interested in berry picking and/or visiting the dairy please contact us.
Meet at the Sutton Forest Country Store at 10.15 where you can grab a coffee before we head off for the berry farm.
Pick fruit for the morning, then follow us to the Burrawang Village Hotel for lunch. In the afternoon come to the dairy to join in a tour, hear about the business, watch the milking and feed the poddy calves.

One farm or two, your choice.
Price: Two farms $65, one farm $35 (adults). Two farms $30, one farm $15 (children). Lunch not included. Minimum numbers apply.
foodpath.com.au, info@foodpath.com.au, 0419 617 021

We have been busy planning for the next couple of months and will have our December Update out very soon.
Posted three workshops and two tours on the website last night and received 3 bookings this morning!!
We were amazed and very happy about this.
It is always a bit of a gamble over the holiday season but last year we were very busy after Christmas when people were looking for things to do - so we have decided to run some shorter Farm Tours that will hopefully have broad appeal. We have kept the price down by leaving out morning tea and lunch. By choosing your own lunch you can decide what you spend. We love to organise a nice lunch but that does affect the price of the tour. We are calling these our "Summer Special" and will revert to our normal Day Tours after the school holidays.
Good news - we are going to run our regular monthly Day Tours again in 2013. Had too much feedback that people wanted to come but didn't have a group. Some farms do have a minimum of eight people so let's hope we get the numbers - but we will try!

I have been really bogged down with paperwork for the past three weeks - don't you hate that?! I do. I would much rather be out and about in the Highlands meeting new producers and developing new products for you dear customers :)
Had a call today from another free range egg farmer at Marulan who has free range chooks too AND free range pigs. Very exciting. It is nice when people get referred to us and we can look at incorporating them into our tours and activities - and also put them on to outlets for their products. It is all about helping each other I say, then everyone benefits.

Tomorrow is Celebration Sunday at Biota Dining, one of our special restaurants in the Southern Highlands.
This falls on the last Sunday of the month and we come together to celebrate our local produce. We visit a great little Produce Market in the restaurant garden then share lunch together at a long table in the restaurant.

FoodPath is fortunate to have a communal table at the restaurant where you can join us and enjoy the company of like minded people - while we enjoy a 3 course lunch of tasting platters including local produce in season. For example Redleaf farm at Fitzroy Falls provides the suckling pig that is spit roasted for lunch.

This is proving very popular with our FoodPath customers with several people coming back again and again. we are taking bookings as far ahead as November - so let us know if you would like to join us? We are now limiting our numbers to 14 to offer a more personal experience.
Date: Last Sunday of the month
Time: 10.30 Market Tour in the garden
Price: $55 adults, $28 children
Contact us from www.foodpath.com.au to book

We are excited to be providing a tour for Peppers Craigieburn and The Manor House as part of a Gourmet Traveller food and wine weekend they have coming up on 18/19 Aug weekend. Hope to be able to show our visitors to the Highlands some of our great food and wine growers.
If you are not staying at Craigieburn you can still come on the tour by booking with FoodPath direct

Have you ever stopped at Marulan to visit the Meridian Cafe? If not, you should!
I love it when these small country towns have a great cafe that acts as a meeting place for locals and attracts visitors too.

Robert and Alison have been in the area for the past 14 years and started the cafe about 8 years ago. They have tried different opening hours to find the best configuration for them and their customers - and think they have cracked it now. They don't open for dinner but are open 6 days a week for lunch. Simple menu, everything freshly made on site and very reasonable prices.

Their customers mainly come from surrounding properties or people meeting halfway between Canberra and Sydney to catch up over lunch. And what a great idea! Yesterday when we were there one couple we know from Berrima were lunching with friends from Sydney who have a property at Marulan - a good example.

The food is all made in house by Alison who has a close relationship with a permaculture farm just out of town. Her salads are from there and included rose petals and the freshest greens.

We are interested in seeking out farms to visit in the Marulan area hence our "market research" and looks like there could be Boer goats, olive oil and maybe some historic houses. Wouldn't that be fun!
Anyway we will keep you posted.
In the meantime if you are passing Marulan, turn off the Hume Highway and find the Meridian Cafe in the main street - you can't get lost :) Tell them we sent you!

How disappointing that the weather has been so miserable for the school holidays so far. Disappointing for Tulip Time and the open gardens too - mind you the tulips are beautiful, best I have seen in my 14 years in the Highlands!
We say we will do the Family Farm Tours rain, hail or shine but it was very soggy underfoot yesterday so we have changed our minds. Not very pleasant so we have decided to cancel the tour scheduled for Sun 2 Oct. We have to give notice a few days prior.
Other options for you to consider in wet weather are:

• 10 pin bowling (Mittagong)
• Neeny's Playhouse (Mittagong)
• A range of movies at our wonderful Empire Cinema (Bowral) and 
• Bunnings are offering a free DIY Workshop for 5yr + age group. 

There is one FoodPath Family Tour to go these holidays and that is on Wed 5 Oct if you are interested? We will be visiting the free range chook farm in the morning, a dairy in the afternoon with a picnic lunch in between.

Cross your fingers conditions improve by then. Please contact us if you want to come because we have to have a minimum number.

How cute is the little book of letters that was launched last night in Bowral.

The letters were written by a chook - Isobel, the CEO of the hen house at Berrima Ridge a free range egg farm outside Berrima.

Anne is Grandma and she helps with the stories which appear in every dozen eggs that are sold. Rather like a journal - giving the reader an insight into life on the farm. What a great idea! I love the social commentary, the wise words and the humour that creep in from time to time - and what a good way to educate the public about life on a farm.


We are having another Family Farm Day in the Spring school holidays and will be visiting Berrima Ridge. Bring your family along and share the fun! This time we will have a professional photographer with us. You may like to take advantage of the opportunity. If so I will give you her contact details and you can speak directly to her. Extra cost for photos of course.

We had our last tour at the Moss Vale Produce Market last Sat before it changes again. Our markets in the Highlands have been through a topsy turvy time to say the least. Let's hope it settles down soon!
The Showground Trust have taken over the Moss Vale Market so it will be interesting to see if it becomes even more rural, which would be good.
Despite being the last day there were eight local producers or food related businesses we could visit and our group really enjoyed meeting them.
No doubt about it this really is a great way to meet the producers and get to know who is really local. Phil was there with his wonderful organic vegetables from near Fitzroy Falls. Michael had free range eggs from Marulan and he has started to breed free range pigs as well. Pasquelle was there with his father-in-law's potatoes from Robertson. They grow over 20 varieties which is pretty impressive.

Mary had come down from Bungonia with her olive oil, dukka, olive oil soap etc. Boon had a range of Asian pears from her orchard near Robertson and also a pear vinegar. Jo had her amazing range of breads and even brought in some sourdough starter for the group to feel and smell.

Mrs Bucket was there with her delicious chicken liver pate (which we can't resist) as well as a fabulous range of jams and jellies made from locally grown fruit where possible; and Susie was there with Bruce Hindmarsh's olives.
As always we ended up with some delicious fresh local produce to take home for lunch - what a great way to spend a relaxing Saturday!
We will keep an eye on what is happening at this market. The Bowral Public School Produce Market may be going from monthly to fortnightly. We will go where there are most local producers!

We have just prepared a program of tours and workshops for the next 6 month and these will be on the website any day now. We have between 4 and 8 activities on each month!
We are introducing  series of workshops on Sunday afternoons - check the program for details. These will be run by excellent teachers -
- Fruit bottling and food preserving with Stephen Hogwood
- Wine education with our resident expert Linda Lambrecht, and
- Cheese appreciation with Nick Padol, Cheese judge.
Our regular tours continue as before - the food focused walking tour in Bowral, Moss Vale farmers market tour and our regular day tour on the 3rd Sat. However we have changed our tour on the 2nd Sat.
We have joined forces with Patricia and Kristal from the Blue Bowl Cooking School to put on a "Market to Table" tour every 2nd Sat. FoodPath will take a farmers market tour in Bowral first and then we will move on to the historic Fitzroy Inn in Mittagong, where Patricia will provide a cooking class followed by lunch, using the ingredients purchased at the market. Should be fun!
We also have chestnut picking on 26 Mar. This is a seasonal activity and we were lucky to get the opportunity. We also wanted to get a group together to do berry picking - but because of the weather the only berries were blackberries. Maybe you can let me know if you would have liked to go blackberry picking? I was concerned that we would not get the numbers.

Lots of exciting things coming up! Please spread the word and we look forward to catching up with many of you during 2011.

Well our second Family Farm Tour was great fun too. Same itinerary as on 8 Jan but with the added treat of seeing the 9 tiny baby goats at one of the farms. Very cute and lots of photos taken by adults and children!

The birthday girl holding a baby goat!

Cute little baby Boer goats!

Our picnic lunch was very pleasant sitting under the trees by the lake at Eling Forest winery.

Lunch under the trees at beautiful Eling Forest

We had a birthday girl along on this trip who had chosen to come as a birthday treat. Mark at Eling Forest dressed up one of his delicious little cakes as a b'day cake which was kind.

We had a large group of little children this time (aged 3 - 6yrs) so at the free range egg farm we divided into two groups - the adults and older children in one group and the little ones in another.

Inquisitive kids!

Warryn's pasta demonstration was popular. This is a good way to use surplus eggs. It is only made of eggs and flour, nothing else. What child doesn't eat pasta these days - so good for them to see how it is made. They were fascinated! Each family was given a sample of  pasta to take home, cut to their choice - tagliatelle, fettucine etc.

Collecting eggs rated highly too and the children learnt a lot about where their eggs come from. We even saw a hen actually lay an egg this time, which was a first! The children painted faces on some hard boiled eggs and took them home to eat.

At the dairy this time we got very close to the cows who were anxiously waiting to be milked. Craig showed us the milking apparatus and we got to feel the suction that is used to actually milk the cows. The children loved that and it caused much hilarity!

Eva and Sam feeling the suction on the milking machine

Feeding the calves was popular again especially with the bigger children (and some of the adults)!

Zoe helping to feed the calf

Thanks to all our kind producers who let us visit their farms! These school holiday family farm tours have been such a success that we will repeat them next holidays. Let us know if you want to go on a waiting list?