When I found out Milkwood was holding a Passata Day, there was a squeal of delight, and more than a little happy hand clapping. I had long held dreams of being part of a European village tomato festival, had looked longingly looked over at Rohan’s Passata Day from last year and would have happily invited myself over to any large family that held annual passata days in their backyard (if only I knew of any.)
So when Passata Day was announced I was just a little bit happy. A promise of lunch by Three Blue Ducks, mocktails by Trolleyd, music by Sophie Loizou and all tomatoey goodness by Common2us and Old Mill Road– to be held in the back garden of an inner city community centre?
Oh yes I was going to be there, and it promised to be a good one!
Amazing mocktails from Trolleyd created from native and organic ingredients, all foraged or sourced locally. If you didn’t think bartending and sustainability went hand in hand, think again.
Tomatoes. Real tomatoes. The kind that taste like summer and come in every funny shape and form. The red goodness came from two market garden farms- Common2us an organic community farm based in Dural and Old Mill Road BioFarm, a family run farm in Moruya.
Some of my favourite conversation topics happened here. Chats on sourdough, permaculture, homebirth, cooking, photography, community and fermentation. The Passata Goddess must have been smiling above me, when she placed two of Sydney’s fermentation experts in front of me- questions answered and encouragement built on. These were a few of their beautiful fermented goodies to be tasted on the day.
Simple beautiful food, eaten at a long table….nothing better. Nothing.
The amazing and inspiring Kirsten and Nick, the couple behind Milkwood Permaculture.
…and the wonderful finished product.
Bidding goodbye to old and new friends, with the passata bottles safely tucked away. I slowly peddled home and reflected on why today had made me so happy.
* I had got to be a part of a community event that I had always wanted to.
* I had been able to talk with people that held so many similar interests and beliefs.
* I was able to introduce two of my friends to an event that they would have otherwise not known about, (which they loved.)
* I had met a bundle of people that I knew in the virtual social media world, and had been able to (at times nervously) introduce myself.
And ultimately. Celebrated the fact that so many of my interests and ideals could come together in the one day. To organise an event such as this would taken a huge amount of time, but it was done beautifully and I can only hope there is another one for next year. This is a perfect example of what simple living can be. A community event where food and people come together. Where skills are shared, knowledge is passed on and friendships formed and added to.
Passata Day you rocked.
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For more Passata Day goodness see here.
cityhippyfarmgirl 
Sounds like a wonderful happy day Brydie! It’s nice when so many things you are passionate about come together!
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It doesn’t happen that often Irene, so I’m very appreciative when it does!
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Truly special then!! x
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sounds like a wonderful day brydie..how many bottles did you get to take home? i love having my own passata that i can grab for a recipe at a moment’s notice..x
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What a fantastic occasion and it looked like everything was perfect including the weather. Is that a tomato machine that removes the skin? I would love one of those. I love the look of all that passata now bottled. And the boxes of tomatoes really do look like the very best tomatoes xx
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Such a beautiful day and tomatoes! I love this and would love to go to such a celebration- not to mention just get out of the COLD and stand in a place that smelled like tomatoes and summer!
Thanks for sharing with your bloggy friends!
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Wish I was there. I love this sort of shit. Looks like a cracking day.
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I’ve always wanted to invite myself over to an Italian family’s Passata day… but I don’t know any either!
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Sam we will have to find some 🙂
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G’day and Happy Passata Day to you!
Looks like a fun-filled day and nothing like fresh tomatoes in sauce and recipes too!
Cheers! Joanne
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Sounds brilliant Brydie, don’t you just love days that make your heart swell like that. Will have to try and make it next year for sure.
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thanks so much for coming, Brydie! We thought it was pretty good too. Yay tomatoes.
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Awesome day Kirsten 🙂
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Oh I’m so jealous Brydie, you sound like you had an amazing time indeed! I’ve always wanted to attend a passata day- so much better than doing it all on my own with my little baby mouli 🙂
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Oh there is no fun in that what so ever. Maybe we should organise one??
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Looks like you had an amazing day – what fun! x
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Thanks for sharing your gorgeous day with us Brydie – almost felt like I was there too! 🙂
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I love everything about this Brydie, I am so happy that you could attend this day with amazing like-minded people to make and enjoy real food! If more communities could hold events like this perhaps the world would be a better place?
A few years ago I had a bumper tomato crop and made enough passata to supply my family for almost a year. Gathering the necessary equipment and the process of making the passata was so very rewarding. Sadly I have not had enough tomatoes for the last two years to repeat the process. I have a cupboard full of clean long-necks…next year maybe?
PS I made your lamington cake on the weekend, it was so good. x
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Jane that’s a bit sad. It seems like so many peoples tomato crops are tiny this year due to their just not being any rain…anywhere! I hope next summer those long necks get to fill your cupboard shelves again.
(and thank you for giving the lamington cake a go 🙂
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Yay for Passata Days and yay for Milkwood!! That looks like a fabulous combo.
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Sounds like it must have been an energising day. So exciting in fact that you didn’t even mention the Iggy’s bread! 🙂
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Oh jeez I didn’t Richard! But it was there, and Iggy’s is STILL the best sourdough in Sydney. Damn man, how does he get it like that?! Mine doesn’t even come close.
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I stalked Italian families for years until I finally convinced one to teach me how to make passata. Now I have a group of friends that get together to do it every year. It’s a bad tomato year here this year, and it was only last week another Italian let me in on a family secret. Apparently they make loads so they have enough to tide them over in case the tomato crop fails. Or they cant be bothered making it. Would have been handy to have that snippet of information last year when the crops were good 🙂
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Tania, yay for Italian passata stalking and booo to tomato crops failing. I was just talking with my husband about the fact that there is just so little rain ANYWHERE at the moment. We’ve had a tiny amount of vague rain, but I can’t remember the last time it really, truly rained.
(I do love that you have a group of likeminded friends doing this regularly though.)
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It sounds like a great day – and a definite whole food properly done experience!
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It was Kari, it really was.
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Wow, Like completely wow, that is just soo soooo good.
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Next year Rose, next year 🙂
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Wow I would love to do something like that too and I can see why it made you happy. Regards Kathy A, Brisbane, Australia
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Wow, that looks like a totally awesome event! You took great photographs of it – from portrait shots to the still lifes. Looking at the guys from Trolleyed just made my day – what a great idea they created! Its a hoot! Going to show the staches to my husband right now – there is always discussion about them in our home.
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You LUCKY MINX! You got to go? Milkwood is on my bucket list. I LOVE that photo of Kirsten and Nick :). Cheers for sharing 🙂
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Just do it! You know you will love them.
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What a great idea for a day! Sounds like you had a brilliant time.
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Looks like an absolutely wonderful day. I would have been there if I hadn’t been at ‘chook day’. Hopefully there will be an encore 🙂
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I’m hoping for a ‘chook day’ encore Tricia 🙂
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I was on a high just reading about passatta day! This positive community initiative makes me so happy and hopeful about the future of food and people’s connection to it. I like how it ended with you riding your bike home. Perfect end to a perfect day.
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So wonderful Zena, thank you for reading and taking the time to comment. I hope you find yourself at a similar Passata Day down the track.
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Just come across your blog from my friend Katie from Life with the Crew – picked up on the fact you mentioned Sydney !! Just had a read through your most recent blog posts, and look forward to reading more about your adventures in the future. Great to see such events popping up everywhere, even in the middle of the city!!
Be well xx
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Thanks for popping over Chrisy, and nice to ‘meet’ you 🙂
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Oh I know the feeling! Meeting like minded people , conversing about those weird things like baking and fermenting and growing your own food! I actually used to think I was dead shy until I met people just like the new friends you met at Milkwood- turns out I just hadn’t found ‘my people’ yet!
Enjoy your lovely passata. I know I will impress you when I tell you I made ‘Kimchi’ for the first time today – don’t know what it will be like …hope it doesn’t poison me.
You are sooooo lucky going to Milkwood!! One day I will get there .
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a village passata festival sounds amazing – now I have passata day envy. sounds like a perfect day for you
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what a beautiful experience, it has me thinking that it would be wonderful to do something like this with my son’s school community, a wonderful bonding adventure.
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This post is full of fun, fellowship, and new info for me. thanks for posting – I had no idea what passata was until i read this. I’ve been watching Milkwood stuff from a little distance for ages, but i think you’ve just convinced me to sign up for something this year. Must do it. I’ll also be watching your adventures this year too – thanks. Its a great blog.
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Tamara do it. You will love it, no matter what course you end up doing, you’ll love it.
Have a look at this post I did last year after doing one of their weekend workshops. https://cityhippyfarmgirl.com/2013/06/25/milkwood/
I still stand by every word.
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Looks like such a great day. Would of loved to be there and join in on all the fun. We had such a bad harvest this year on our tomatoes, Iam frantically planting more to try and get enough to make my passata this year.
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What a wonderfully fun event! I’ve always wanted to go to a passata day but all of my Italian friends don’t really do it. Good to know that we have this!
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sounds like the ideal day! Beautiful blog too.
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