Cooloola Farm Trail provides chance to learn, love and taste farm-fresh food, as ERLE LEVEY discovers.
“We want people to have a real farm experience.’’
It’s an opportunity to learn, taste and fall in love with the farm-fresh food of the Cooloola Region.
The Cooloola Farm Trail on September 10-11 welcomes three new agri-businesses to the weekend that provides the opportunity to get close up to where some of the region’s quality food comes from.
There will be the chance to explore a mushroom farm, see the exotic Nguni cattle out of Africa, learn about passionfruit growing, taste beef cooked over flames, and experience the many ways you can enjoy strawberries.
Now in its sixth season, the farm trail offers the chance to meet with those who provide us with products from the land, to ask questions, to understand what is involved in getting our food from the farm gate to the plate.
Matt Golinski shares his beef and mushroom recipe in this feature, comprising ingredients that reflect the produce from farms in our region.
Kim Lewis of Cooloola Berries at Wolvi said the farm trail has created a lot of excitement and enthusiasm since it started in 2016.
“It’s been quite an achievement,’’ Kim said over coffee at the Tagigan Road farm and cafe/shop.
“We have an operational plan.
“It’s been challenging to achieve our goals but we feel proud.
“We have battled Covid, drought and the rainfall. A lot of unknowns.
“Yet we are proud to continue to expand, and of the way the community supports our local producers.
“We are establishing a strong food community.
“The challenges have helped in many ways, as they have highlighted the value of local producers, and that the community understands what they face, the dedication needed to overcome adversity.
“As for the farm trail, it all comes down to being country people who work hard, and are welcoming.’’
The Covid pandemic in particular has highlighted the supply chain issues that farmers and the community are confronted with – shortages of fresh fruit and vegetables, rows of empty supermarket shelves, the rising cost of fuel.
While the farm trail and other paddock-to-plate initiatives helped get through Covid, the pandemic has highlighted what farming families are facing to get through right now.
This season the Cooloola Farm Trail welcomes three new producers. The first is Eastwell Farms at Kin Kin, who will be conducting tours and giving rolling talks on the products they have available.
Situated in Moran Group Rd, the farm comprises some beautiful places for a picnic, with cattle in the next paddock.
The highlight will be the Nguni breed from Africa that is making a big impression in Queensland.
The second, Brad and Hannah Millard’s Beenham Valley Passions, will have passionfruit goodies available at their farm in Beenham Valley Rd, as well as fresh passionfruit from the vine, turmeric, chickens and eggs.
Finally, Troy Bucak of Mullins Creek Brangus will be operating his Fraser Grill on the Tin Can Bay Rd at Goomboorian – where you can see the paddock from the plate.
Fraser Grill started from a desire to present top-quality seasonal produce from the area that is not necessarily well known with visitors to the region and add it to their South American-style barbecue.
The coffee is roasted in Noosa and was chosen because it is fair trade – the farmers and pickers are all paid properly, it is carefully roasted by the team in Noosa and the end result translates into a great cup of coffee.
The Brazilian barbecue is a unique South American cooking style called Churrasco which is the style of cooking beef over charcoal.
Churrasco originated in Brazil as a simple way to prepare beef for workers. The quality of the meat dictates the result, as the cooking renders down the fat for a magnificent flavour.
These three local producers will be joining other farm-gate-to-plate producers including Cooloola Berries, Zelda’s Purity Essential Oils – also in Tagigan Road – and Rossmount Nursery at Ross Creek.
Scott Andrews at Tagigan Road Produce will be running workshops on mushroom growing from his property in Wolvi.
There will be limited numbers available so visitors need to register on the producer’s facebook site.
Their popular mushroom starter packs will be available with the other stalls at Cooloola Berries.
Noosa Black, the commercially-grown coffee farm at Kin Kin, traditionally hosts coffee experiences such as workshops on coffee-making or coffee-growing.
The continual rainfall this year has meant Noosa Black relied on a lot of hand-picking of the coffee berries. That in itself saw many locals and visitors pitch in to get a taste of the experience.
Somewhere to stop on the way up from Noosa is the Black Ant cafe, restaurant and general store at Kin Kin – that has built a reputation on using sustainable, ethical local produce.
As part of the farm trail the Jeep 4WD Club will be holding its Jeep Freakz empty esky run.
Developed at times of drought and bushfires, the Jeep club members embark on a farm-fresh run to learn more about and experience local products.
Along the way they fill their empty eskies with produce, helping farmers, and at the same time helping themselves with healthy foods and products.
“We want people to have a real farm experience,’’ Kim Lewis said.
“It will be a matter of taking your time, and looking for the distinctive Slow Food snail trail sign … that means the supplier is an accredited Slow Food member.
“Like the snail, allow plenty of time for the journey to experience the amazing countryside.
“Visitors will be driving through farmland all the way – macadamias and avocados, limes and passion fruit, strawberries and blueberries.’’
The farm trail initiative has been backed by chef Matt Golinski from its foundation.
He was food ambassador for Gympie at the time and has been a continued strong supporter and advocate.
“Matt lives and breathes food,’’ Kim said. “He continues to be the salt of the earth – someone who has a genuine interest in people and loves local food.
“He helps in so many ways. He has great authenticity … and is so generous with his time and knowledge.’’
A GROWING BUSINESS
Do what you do and do it well. That’s the philosophy of Scott Andrews of Tagigan Road Produce.
When the Andrews family moved to Wolvi two years ago they didn’t know what to do with the expansive shed and cold rooms on the 4ha farm.
That’s when Scott came up with the idea of mushrooms.
Since then it has been a case of ever-increasing knowledge on how to grow them, and how to present them in prime condition to local restaurants and markets.
‘’I’m really lucky in that I enjoy what I do,’’ he said.
“Being part of the Cooloola Farm Trail and Slow Food Noosa has brought opportunities in learning and sharing.’’
This is especially through his involvement with the Slow Food Snail Kids (SFSK) – a primary school education program that introduces children to the real world of food.
With school teacher Di Seels guiding the program, it offers a unique opportunity for students to engage with the natural environment through play, planting and art to encourage healthier, and more sustainable, food habits.
Through Slow Food and Cooloola Farm Trail, networks with chefs and restaurants have opened up for Scott to supply them with farm-fresh produce.
He admits to having growing issues – not just with the mushrooms but with the business side of things.
“I’m like a second-year apprentice at it,’’ he said. “Always listening, always learning.
“The main thing is learning to become more consistent.
“There is a small tolerance window of where fungi is happy.
“The biggest challenge for mushroom growers is controlling the environment,’’ Scott said. “You have to control the factors that allow them to grow,
“Outside can be 30-40 percent humidity and about 30 degrees, with heaps of wind and light.
“Mushrooms will grow in that but will not give you beautiful colours, soft textures.
“The beauty of a closed-off environment is that it is insulated – you can control the lighting, fresh air exchanges, the humidity and temperature.
“If you can control those four things you will get good mushrooms.’’
WORKING WITH NATURE
Alex, Susie and Bryant Ussher of Eastwell Farms at Kin Kin each share a passion for preserving the earth and working with nature, not against it.
They understand the necessity for a holistic approach to agriculture and practice with the future in mind.
They are doing it by introducing a new breed of cattle to Australia, but one that has been on the African landscape for many years and developed a natural resistance to ticks and disease.
The Nguni breed is highly praised for its fertility, as well as the meat being of exceptional quality, and compares favourably to any of the best beef breeds known.
Nguni were introduced to Eastwell in 2019, and are gradually occupying more of the farm’s herd each year.
At Eastwell Farms, they have reduced run-off to waterways, cut chemical use, and increased organic matter in the soil by rotating cattle through different paddocks.
In late 2020, developments began on the infrastructure to support gourmet mushroom farming.
Four shipping containers were set and repurposed on-site.
The resulting structures were two plumbed, wired and lit 20-foot storage containers, as well as two 40-foot containers which housed automated temperature control, humidity and oxygen regulation, and routine light-cycling capability.
The layout of these containers was carefully devised following many consultations with cultivation experts.
Early 2021 saw the harvest of the farm’s first oyster mushroom crop.
After months of fine-tuning and process development, Eastwell was ready to host a gourmet mushroom farm with publicly available produce. August 2021 saw the farm putting product to market – pink, white, yellow and shimeji blue oyster mushrooms and lion’s mane mushrooms.
As well as selling meat and mushrooms direct to chefs and the public at such outlets as the Noosa Farmers market, the Usshers home-deliver boxes of grass-fed beef and a range of sausages, patties and minces, many incorporating their fancy fungi, to the Sunshine Coast.
SHARING A PASSION
If you pick your passionfruit straight off the vine it’s probably not going to taste as yummy as it should taste.
It’s far better to wait for it to drop from the vine, then pick it up. That indicates the fruit has reached maturity.
It’s one of the fun facts learned from a visit to Brad and Hannah Millard’s passion fruit farm at Beenham Valley.
Brad and Hannah operate a 10,000 vine property called Beenham Valley Passions in the picturesque Wolvi area.
They employ semi-permanent local staff throughout the year, which swells to up to 10 employees during the peak season times.
The farm also grows pumpkins as a second crop.
Brad is the third generation operating this farm and has been growing passionfruit for 18 years.
He loves that every season is different, and after 18 years he is still keen to learn more.
One thing many of us have learned is no pavlova is perfect without the sweet tang of fresh passionfruit.
Overall, the Cooloola Farm Trail offers a chance to get out and taste food the way it should.
The Slow Food Movement in the Sunshine Coast and Gympie regions is seeing the rise and rise of local producers embracing the opportunity to produce good, clean and fair food.
The Cooloola Farm Trail offers an opportunity for locals to celebrate and support the efforts of these farmers in contributing to a sustainable area.
In light of UNESCO’s recent acknowledgement of the Sunshine Coast region as one of the world’s newest biospheres – “a learning place for sustainable development” – this is something we should all be very proud of.
MATT GOLINSKI’S SOBA NOODLES WITH PORTERHOUSE STEAK, SHIITAKE MUSHROOMS AND CHOY SUM
Soba noodles (pronounced “sorba”) are a Japanese buckwheat noodle, generally eaten cold in salads. They usually contain a certain percentage of wheat flour as well so aren’t gluten free, but if you hunt around (usually in Asian stores) there are some brands which are 100 percent buckwheat.
Rather than using stir-fry style beef for this dish I prefer to grill whole porterhouse steaks and slice them finely once they’re cooked and rested.
Fresh shiitake mushrooms add great flavour and a luscious slippery texture to this dish.
Serves 4
INGREDIENTS:
270gm Soba noodles
500gm porterhouse steak
2 punnets shiitake mushrooms, sliced 5mm thick
1 tbs peanut or vegetable oil
1 bunch choy sum
2 tsp sesame seeds, toasted
½ bunch eschallots, finely sliced
½ bunch coriander, washed and roughly chopped
100ml soy sauce
40ml rice wine vinegar
10ml sesame oil
METHOD:
Bring a saucepan of water to the boil and blanch the choy sum for 30 seconds.
Refresh in iced water and squeeze with your hands to remove all excess water.
Chop roughly and transfer to a mixing bowl.
In the same saucepan of boiling water cook the noodles for 2 -3 minutes, strain and rinse under cold water.
Season the porterhouse steaks and grill until cooked to your liking. (I recommend medium rare/medium) Rest for 5 minutes before slicing thinly.
Sauté the shitake mushrooms in a hot pan with the peanut oil until golden.
Mix together the noodles, beef, mushrooms, choy sum, sesame seeds, eschallots and coriander.
Whisk together the soy sauce, rice wine vinegar and sesame oil and toss through the noodles.
Divide between 4 bowls and serve immediately.
