Returning: Gourmet Farmer

Gourmet Farmer returns to SBS next month with a third series featuring Matthew Evans in Tassie.

When one of Australia’s most discerning food critics, Matthew Evans, swapped his city life to have a go at small farm living in Tasmania, he really put to the test his primary belief that people should be directly connected with their food: either by growing it, rearing it, or sourcing it from local producers. So when a new property comes on the market a mere ten minutes’ drive from Puggle Farm, Matthew believes it is an opportunity not to be missed. He decides to make a considerable investment to upscale his business and shake up his family’s current livelihood.

Matthew Evans’ goal in this series is to upscale his small-holding and to be able to provide enough food not only for his family, but also for local lunches and farmer’s markets. His new property, Fat Pig Farm makes Puggle Farm’s 10 hectares pale in significance. This new challenge is both daunting and exciting for him and his family. Evans’ plan is to have more pigs, more cows, more sheep, geese, a dairy, a smoker, a hanging room, a poly-tunnel and an orchard – all on the one plot of land where everything will be integrated. The pigs will plough the soil, the orchard will be an important food source and the cows will deliver non-stop supplies of milk plus whey for the piglets. He even plans to host paddock lunches out of a mobile kitchen.

However he is no innocent this time round; he knows he will be on a steep learning curve if he is to achieve his vision, so he will need to do some careful planning.

It will be a year of hard work and experimentation for Matthew. He consults with a soil microbiologist in developing his first crop of vegetables. He researches smoking and dry-aging meat from animals reared on his farm, investigates infusing locally grown saffron into cheese and he even gives wine-making a go.

The new series of Gourmet Farmer is the story of Matthew, Sadie and little Hedley taking on the challenge of making their new farm work.

Gourmet Farmer is an Essential Media production for SBS.

Thursday 14 March at 8.00pm on SBS ONE.