Tag Archives: south coast NSW

Crackers, pesto and for the love of good honey- ELC #9

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Eat Local Challenge || cityhippyfarmgirl 

Super duper easy rustic style olive oil crackers, with a carrot top pesto, creme fraiche and a little salt on top.

I had a proud moment with this one, all local, easy, seasonal, very frugal and kid friendly. Yes, kid friendly was the ultimate winner for me. They were gulping them down!

Bliss honey- south coast NSW || cityhippyfarmgirl

They were also keen on getting their hands on this honey. Honey is always a favourite staple in this household and local harvested honey always seem to crop up just at the right time, (like when we are about to run out.)

This one will be drizzled on natural yogurt for an easy after dinner dessert, popped into smoothies, spread on toast with tahini and baked with an oaty combination in the oven. Every drop used.

So where did it all come from?

flour- Demeter Farm Mill

olive oil- Lisborne Grove, Hunter Valley

carrot tops- Rita’s Farm, Kemps Creek

lemons- Champion’s Organics, Mangrove Mountain

creme fraiche- Pepe Saya

Honey- Sth Coast NSW (bought when we were visiting the area)

Eat Local Challenge || cityhippyfarmgirl

Interested in taking the Eat Local Challenge?

Just how local is local? Well this depends entirely on you. Only you know how you and your family eat. Raise the bar just a little from what you already do. If making sure the majority of your meal includes solely food produced in your country, than make that your challenge. If you want to make it a little trickier, go for produced in the same state…trickier still within 160km.

My aim is to really know where my food is coming from for at least one meal a month, (where I will be posting here in the last week of the month).

Eat Local Challenge #8

Eat Local Challenge #7

Eat Local Challenge #6

Eat Local Challenge #5

Eat Local Challenge #4

Eat Local Challenge #3

Eat Local Challenge #2

Eat Local Challenge #1

eat local challenge || cityhippyfarmgirl

picking your own blueberries

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Standing in Berry Sourdough Bakery, waiting for coffee. My eye catches sight of a rather enticing book; Locavore, A foodies journey through the Shoalhaven. Hello, what have we here?..The Shoalhaven is an area that sits just south of Sydney, and according to this book there is a whole wealth of wonderful food deliciousness just within reach. Now I already knew of a few, but to discover more? Well, I had to buy the book didn’t I?

One of the places mentioned is Clyde River Berry Farm. A place where you can pick your own fruit. Primarily a blueberry farm, it also has a variety of other berries, peaches, plums, nectarines, honey and jams.  A slight detour on a dirt road and we were there. Obviously very popular, as the place seems to be rather busy. It’s bakingly hot, the middle of the day and we still had a long way to drive with The Monkeys. We wander through the orchard rows, picking blueberries, nectarines, plums and peaches as we go. At least now, we had something to munch on in the car.

Munch we did. It was so lovely to be able to taste fresh fruit. Really, fresh fruit. Selected by the grubby paws of Little Monkey and Monkey Boy, nothing could be finer.

Some Blueberry tips:

* Let the berries stay on the bush for a week once ripened.

* Once the fruit has been picked, it can stay in the fridge for up to a week plus.

* If still uneaten after a week, can be easily frozen.

* Don’t wash them first before freezing, as they won’t defrost well.

Awhile ago a reader suggested I try growing blueberries after hearing of my rather dismal gardening in pots effort. The next week I went out and bought a bush. I still haven’t killed it, (hooray!) it seems to be quite happy in a pot, no critters have demolished it, and I have now tasted my very own blueberries from it. So Lotte, if you are still reading…Thank you.

sourdough blueberry pancakes

Clyde River Berry Farm is open December- January. 10am-6pm.

3 reasons to eat locally on the south coast

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Now if you ever happen to be on the NSW south coast, cruising down the Princes Highway be sure to stop at the East Lynne service station and pie shop. Yes it’s an unlikely looking place to have the best pies you’ll ever buy…but it’s true. They do.

The best pie you’ll ever buy.

Pebby Beach- photo from shoalhaven city council

It’s just near the Pebbly Beach turn off, so after you have spent the morning snorkling in crystal clear water, watching kangaroos frisk tourists for a loose crumb or two, and dabbling with your kids in rock pools. Please, oh please go and get a big pie. You can buy hot savoury ones or big family fruit ones (cooked or frozen and uncooked- top photo is an uncooked apple pie.) What makes them so good? I think the pastry is the key ingredient, it’s just so good. Buttery with a touch of vanilla.

Mixed berry pie is my absolute favourite, with the apple being a close second. I will fight small children off in order to get to a second piece of the pie…seriously, do yourself and your taste buds a favour…GO BUY THE PIE.

If you are heading to the south coast…

Now if you are heading south from Sydney then before you buy your pie you may as well stop off in Berry. A popular little town, that’s an easy two hours drive from Sydney so sees a lot of weekend people. Two foodie tips for here. One is the Woodfired Sourdough Bakery. A place so funky it hurts. Complete with funky french staff, with funky french accents and coffee that hits just the spot. This place gets busy so be prepared to wait if you want to eat in.

Now the second tip is a little more unusual. At the top of town is the Berry Community Craft shop. It backs on to a lovely park, perfect for a little break. A place where locals donate their hand made goodies, and then are sold to make a little profit for the shop, (like a CWA shop). A great array of jams, chutneys, marmalades and pickles. Wooden children’s toys and more knitted and crocheted goodies than you can poke a stick at. All very reasonably priced.

Three very different places that provide some really great food and you also get to support the local community.