Monday hero

Welcome to a new week! And what a blustery, cold start it’s been here in our corner of the Otways. We had an amazing storm last night, giving us a spectacular light show. Of course the gutters blocked in a few minutes and Frans went out in the rain to do what handy blokes do. Climbing a ladder with lightning lighting up the sky is not advisable! He managed to clear the problem in a few minutes and hastily made it back indoors. We’ve had rain on and off all day which is wonderful. The dry ground is soaking up the lovely moisture.

I thought I’d share with you what we got up to yesterday! This is my lovely neighbour Lorraine and myself at the Deans Marsh Festival yesterday. This pic was taken towards the end of the day, so we were looking rather exhausted!

Lorraine has been my ‘right hand’ in the farm kitchen since the very beginning of our Otway Fields journey. She’s a dab hand at slicing citrus finely enough to please any CWA judge! When I’m cooking jam and am a little hasty, I often refer to Lorraine and say ‘is this ready yet?’ and she’ll say ‘No. A little longer.’ And she’s always right. Her intuitive experience comes from years of being a farmer and preserver. She’s taught me to eyeball a batch of jam and to know without testing when it will be ready. Of course I still use the usual checks to make sure!

When we first launched Otway Fields as a locally grown and produced brand, Lorraine and I visited all the local markets in the area. We’ve got the set up down to a fine art now. Lorraine is more than a neigbour. She's a kind hearted, generous friend and she's my Monday Hero!

We don’t attend as many markets or events anymore as our lovely customers now have permanent spots around the Otways where they can purchase our products. Our retail customers have become our ‘face’ and we’re grateful to them for supporting a small-scale artisan label like ours.

So occasionally we head out to the ‘coal face’ and connect with our ‘people’. It’s lovely to chat to our loyal customers and to meet new ones. Our next venture out of the kitchen will be to the Food and Fiber Showcase in Colac on the 28th of April. Come and say ‘hello’. It’s going to be another amazing event. See you there!