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Buxton Trout and Salmon Farm

If you’re new to fishing, impatient, or really you’re just interested in a BBQ with fresh fish you caught yourself, then this place is ideal. The gear is supplied by the farm, you catch the fish, the friendly staff help you with the rest. Then, et voila, you have the freshest fish right there for your BBQ in the park-like surrounds of the farm.

There are several different areas of waterway on the farm, so if you’re impatient for lunch and just need fish now,  there’s a more densely populated pond where your plate-sized fish will volunteer fairly readily. If you’ve got more time and patience, and are happy to get a little more lost in the serenity, then there is a more challenging area with less fish for you too.

The BBQ area is substantial and well equipped, and the expansive grass area is perfect for throwing a rug down under a tree.

Benton Rise Farm

One of the reasons you take a trip into regional areas is that warm fuzzy feeling you get from seeing where your food comes from. It’s a particularly warm and fuzzy feeling to buy it from the farm and cook it for yourself. Benton Rise Farm has a service from their website where you can order their box of veg or make up your own for your weekend away, pick it up from the farm on your way down, and have all you need to cook delicious food in wherever your self-contained accommodation is.

If I can push the “fuzzy” link a little further, the mushrooms grown at Benton Rise are a highlight. We were lucky enough to try them in a dish on the menu at Merricks General Wine Store. Flavour country right there.

The Saturday morning farmers markets at the property are awesome, and staged from a “Red Rattler” train carriage.

Cheeky Grog Cider Co

If you’re an apple grower, and you see the premium paid for cider apples and the further value-add from making cider, it’s really a no-brainer to have a bit of a look at selling your own stuff. Cheeky Grog have nailed the concept of grower-turns-brewer with their roadside cider house.  With orchards everywhere in the surrounding fields, it’s both no surprise and an absolute delight to find that someone is taking the fruit and turning it into the makings of a fab Friday night.

The list of ciders on taste is long, and there’s something for everyone’s palate. Some medal-winning drops are on taste too, and of course available for you to take home.

For anyone after adventurous flavours, they’re doing some funky things with brettanomyces (“brett”), much as beer brewers are doing. It’s not for everyone, but it’s interesting and a bit of fun.

The outdoor lounge area is fantastically created from old fruit bins, with sprawling timber lounge chairs and tables for group tastings, or for enjoying a few slow cold ones and something to eat. The kitchen has a short simple menu, which on the weekends includes wood-fired pizzas. Regular live music happens out there on the lawn too.

Of course, you can just pull in to the roadside stall and, old-school honesty-box style, pick up a bag of apples or pears.

Grampians Olive Co.

At the base of a spectacular Grampians escarpment is an olive grove that plays home to the Grampians Olive Co. It’s reminiscent of old Mediterranean groves, with gnarly weather-worn trees planted into rocky soil, fighting the elements to survive. The result is flavourful olives producing bright peppery oil of exceptional quality.

Greg Mathews, in the second generation of his family to run this grove, tells us that this plantation was put down in 1943. It’s a small operation, though 28 000 trees does sound like a lot. All the fruit is processed on site: pressed and bottled. The farm gate is a nice way to sample some of the fresh oil from the most recent harvest. Wow, what a difference in flavour there is from fresh oil! It makes a great substitute for butter, just poured over good bread.

Definitely worth a visit to stock up on high-quality oil for your road trip picnics.

Sally’s Paddock at Redbank Winery

For those who remember what they were drinking in the Melbourne restaurant scene a decade or so ago, Sally’s Paddock was a prominent feature at the premium end of the wine lists in some of the top eateries in town. Now, with the emergence of the next generation in the family, Sasha Fair is making sure that the wines from the Redbank winery are true to the reputation earned by her family – a reputation which includes the classification ‘Distinguished Winery’ from Langton’s.

The building that was put up to serve as the winery in the 70s now does duty as cellar door. Its remarkable timber shingle roof is a feature that takes your eye as soon as you come in. The cellar door is a great place to sit at a long table with a bunch of friends and kill a few hours with local produce platters and the truly amazing wines that Sasha is making.

In case you’re wondering about that gorgeous little mudbrick house as you come up the long drive to the winery, the answer is yes – it is available for rent for up to three couples at a time.

Sally’s Paddock is a stalwart of the Pyrenees wine industry, and plays host to local events (such as the Ballarat Winter Festival) when they pop up on the regional event calendar. It’s a spectacular spot, and events on the property are relaxed and fun.

Making Meat More Local

Words: Richard Cornish

Victorian eaters are at risk of losing some of the best tasting and most humanely raised beef, lamb, chicken and pork. Small farmers are being placed under pressure due to the accelerated rate of local abattoir closures around the state. In the past decade, we have seen the closure of small abattoirs serving their local community from Inglewood to Foster. Farmers who deal directly with their customers, or sell through farmers markets, are being forced to truck their animals hundreds of kilometres to larger, centralised abattoirs. Long hours in unfamiliar vehicles and rough country roads can stress animals. In beef, this causes the meat to toughen and make pork mushy.

“I hate it,” says Lauren Mathers of Bundarra Berkshires. “We used to have abs (abattoirs) down the road at Gunbower. It meant a lot for local food production and helped smaller growers get a foothold.” Changing economic conditions and a hostile government regulatory regime saw Gunbower abattoirs close two years ago. Lauren produces both fresh pork and makes salume and charcuterie employing several people in the small twin towns of Koondrook and Barham that straddle the Murray River some 90km north west of Echuca. Her products are critically acclaimed and sell at premium prices in Victoria and New South Wales. She and 19 other like-minded farmers did not take the closure of the abattoir lying down. They teamed up and put their money where their mouths are and formed an association to build a micro abattoir.

Housed on a decommissioned dairy farm near Koondrook the small facility will be able to process the various animals raised in the region in a slower way more aligned to the ethical husbandry practiced on their farms. “Big abs have to kill a lot of animals to make profit, so it all happens rapidly and sometimes corners get cut with some of them,” says Lauren. “We won’t be doing that,” she says.

The new micro abattoir will have a special treatment plant to digest waste and turn it into electricity and there are long term plans to use waste to raise worms which will be transformed into pig feed. It will be a zero-waste facility. “It will also give us greater control of the quality of the meat but also in what we get back from the abattoirs,” says Lauren. At present, she sends her pigs away for slaughter and only gets back the body. The head, trotters and offal – including valuable caul fat, are all kept by the processor. “I can value add to all that through charcuterie,” says Lauren. “I am losing almost $90 000 a year. That could pay the (pigs’) feed bill or I could hire more staff.” Lauren and her team look set to be up and running by Christmas processing local beef cattle, lambs, pigs and chickens.

Another business, Provenir, completely cuts out the negative impact of moving animals at all. Provenir brings the abattoir to the farm in the form of a specially built semi-trailer. The Provenir business model sees the company buy the cattle from the farmer, slaughter them in the mobile abattoir then take the carcasses to a central (but relocatable) processing facility. The people behind Provenir include a chef, farmer and a vet. Cattle are slaughtered in the mobile abattoir using humane technology developed by American animal psychologist Professor Temple Grandin. Provenir works with farmers to help them meet certain quality specifications such as the cattle must be grass-fed and that no hormones or antibiotics are used. The first cattle are expected to be processed by mid-winter with the beef being sold to restaurants, distributed through select butchers in Melbourne and delivered to customers’ homes.

Customers are able to pre-purchase Provenir beef at pozible.com/project/provenir.

Manzanillo Grove

The perfect olive is the ideal accompaniment to a long afternoon on the deck – still a little salty from the brining, still a little firm from just the right amount of time in the brine, kept in fresh extra-virgin oil.  It’s one of life’s simple pleasures.

Manzanillo Grove started as a gardening project for Renate and Len – something to do in their retirement. It grew rapidly into a business processing well over 100 tonnes of fruit each year. The little shed which once served as a processing facility now houses their farm-gate store. There’s a range of other local produce amongst the infused oils and Manzanillo Grove oil products, but it’s the pure flavour of a simple table olive or a new season cold-pressed oil on bread that carries the day. If you’re planning a Bellarine picnic, start here.

Or, if you’re planning a quiet weekend away, stop at the farm-gate store at the end of the day and grab a big jar of olives and a bottle of oil. Be sure to bring the best sourdough and a couple of bottles of your favourite wine. Then you can sit out on the deck of your accomodation at Manzanillo Grove whiling away the evening. Len and Renate have recently built stylish, self-contained studio apartments right in the middle of the grove overlooking the large dam.

The Meat Room

Those who are lucky enough to have grown up with family food traditions that include sausage making, preserving and so on can understand the simple pleasure of making foods that have become commoditised and sanitised by commercial production. There is enormous satisfaction in taking the best produce, like organically farmed pig, and turning it into succulent, delicious sausages.

James is certainly passionate about his pigs. There’s genuine appreciation for the life of the animal, and a sampling of products made from pigs that have had variations in feed is a revelation. He’s also experienced with other livestock, but pigs are a particular interest. He and  his wife Cathy run workshops in making sausages for people looking to turn their hand to the art of this simple staple.

Classes run regularly, and the best way to stay in touch with the schedule or any new classes is at themeatroom.com.au. James says the return of the salami classes have been hotly anticipated.

Mitchelton Wines

When you make your way up the long driveway into Mitchelton Wines, it only takes moments to be struck by the large tower that looks out across the vineyards. The driveway cuts through the coincidentally named vineyard, Airstrip, which echoes the airport control-tower aesthetic of the property’s iconic building. It’s a coincidence that makes you smile.

Students of architecture will spend the whole day smiling out here, not just because of the wines and the stunning food, but because of the great Robin Boyd’s recognisable building design. Sadly, Boyd passed away before the completion of the project, but Ted Ashton finished the build and the tower to complete Boyd’s vision.

Wines from this region of Central Victoria are typically powerful and full bodied. Expect lush fruit flavour for days, to go with your architectural smiles and your lunch of seasonal Goulburn River Valley produce from Muse Restaurant.

If a lighter option or cheeky breakfast is your preference, the Ministry of Chocolate Cafe is worth a visit in its own right. Speaking of chocolate, where’s the emoji for drooling? Some of the finest Belgian couverture chocolate is crafted into all kinds of things you’ll want to take home, but will probably just eat on the way.

The Farmer’s Place

We don’t know how many times we’ve taken this trip and passed the shed-like structure made from shipping containers which houses the Farmer’s Place on our way to Lorne or Anglesea. We’re glad we made this pit stop though. The day was perfect for a long breakfast outside in the herb garden. We had the rice pudding and French toast. The former was light (for such a big dish) and tasty. The latter was as you’d want your French toast to come. The lavender syrup was amazing.

If you’re staying in the area, consider booking ahead into one of their many courses on food and growing. These guys preach what they practise, making the Farmer’s Place much more than a simple pit stop.