South Coast wins the 100 Mile Challenge at first attempt.

Before we start we want to be upfront and say unashamedly this post is in the main a compilation of highlights written by Amy Willesee for the South Coast 100 mile challenge blog found here http://100milechallenge.com.au/the-challengers/south-coast/

Amy is the author of the fabulous Locavore: A Foodies’ Journey through the Shoalhaven (sadly now out of print) so it goes without saying that when you work with the best don’t even think about reinventing the wheel

Art4Agriculuture Young Farming Champion Siannon Parice and photographer extraordinaire was there to capture all the highlights and spirit of the event through the lens of her camera.  

The South Coast’s win is testament to the words of Eve Sawyer when she said  “never underestimate the power of passion.”

Our team organiser Cathy Law is possibly the most passionate amongst our region’s locavores, so it was no surprise that she was the first to jump into the ring when Crave threw down the regional challenge. Our hat goes off to Cathy. In the beginning there were many obstacles to climb and naysayers to block out but there is none more committed and passionate about promoting the region’s produce and the farmers who grow it than Cathy. Cathy was determined to use the Crave 100 mile challenge to shout it from the rooftops and indeed she did. In the words of South Coast A team member Perri Croshaw “What a Food Destination we have!!! We all knew how great it was – now the whole state knows!”

How does the 100 mile challenge work you may ask?

Well each of the five regions selected the highest quality produce and best of the best chefs from their region and created a delicious and sumptuous three course feast and served it to 100 guests.

The winning region was determined by a panel of esteemed judges including Joanna Savill, Crave Sydney International Food Festival Director.

Each region was also allocated a high profile celebrity “mentor” chef and the South Coast was lucky enough to have Lucio Galletto OAM from Lucios Italian Restaurant  http://www.lucios.com.au/ join us with wife Sally.

We also had the simply fabulous Adam Spencer of 702 ABC Sydney Breakfast show and Sleek Geeks fame on our table. By the time Adam was finished organising our table cheer leading squad our table made the Balmy Army look like wimps.

After picking vegies, catching fish and milking cows – the South Coast team headed north yesterday for the BIG LUNCH lunch.

Twenty of us hit Sydney including team leader Cathy Law, the fabulous Lynne Strong – award-winning dairy farmer and agriculture champion (and Art4Agriculture Chair) – to our very own food and wine matriarch Elise Pascoe and the indefatigable Slow Food leader and boutique tea grower Kirsten McHugh and our effervescent team leader, sommelier to the stars Toby Evans. As for our chefs, we were blessed to have some of the top chefs of the region – nay, the country! – on our team including Alex Dawkins senior sous chef at Rick Stein’s restaurant Bannisters and John Evans from the acclaimed Berry Sourdough. Read all about the A team here http://100milechallenge.com.au/the-challengers/south-coast/

And what did our 100 lucky guests eat?

On table

Bread from the Sourdough Bakery, Berry
with Glen Lee Extra virgin olive oil (from Menangle Park)

Green Kalamata Olives from Kangaroo
Valley Olives and Black Kalamata Olives from Contadinos Farm at Falls Creek,
marinated in Contadino extra virgin olive oil, garlic and local herbs

Entree

Oysters au Naturale

Provenance:

Sydney Rock from Bed Rock Oysters,
Shoalhaven River and Ulladulla Oysters, Clyde River

Lime-cured Kingfish with Broad Beans, Fresh Herbs, Breakfast Radish and Lemon Dressing

Provenance:

Kingfish freshly caught off the Shoalhaven Coast

Herbs from Greengold Veggies, Terara

Broad beans from Berry Mountain Farm

Radish from Merry Maiden’s Veggies, Milton

Limes and lemons from Yarrawa Estate, Kangaroo Valley

Chives from Dapto Community Farm, Dapto

Main

Warm Salad of Eastern Rock Lobster, with Potatoes, Jamon and a Lobster Vinaigrette

Provenance:

Eastern Rock Lobster from off Greenwell Point, Jervis Bay

Potatoes from Berry Mountain Farm

Herbs from Favgro in Batemans Bay

Celery from the Alex Dawkin’s garden, Mollymook

Jamon which is cured and dried under the supervision of Oscar at his
Spanish Deli in Warrawong

Lemons from Kangaroo Valley

Olive oil from Menangle Park

Dessert

Basil and Honey infused Panna Cotta with Strawberry Jelly, Baked Rhubarb and Fresh Strawberries

Provenance:

Cream and milk from South Coast Dairy, Berry

Basil from John Evans’ garden, Vincentia

Strawberries from Sam and Josephine,Sussex Inlet

Rhubarb from Greengold Veggies, Terara

Honey from Pointer Mountain Honey, Yatta Yattah

100 Mile Challenge – Judging Criteria

This was not your usual culinary competition.

Each team was judged on how authentically they created a sense of people/place and product during and in the lead up to the lunch.

Showcasing the produce and the people who make it and grow was a really important part of  the challenge. The aim was to give the 100 guests the feeling they had visited our regional home.

The Region 15%

• How is the region represented in the development of the menu?

• How well have producers been represented?

• How has the team worked to promote the region and the challenge?

The Lunch 85%

The Food 60% – 20% for each course

• Presentation

• Use of your 100 mile regional produce

• Quality of ingredients used

• Kitchen skills and technique

• Taste, flavour and variety

• Use of seasonal produce

The Wine (& other Beverages) 15% – 5% for each
course

• Appropriateness

• Match to food

• Wine knowledge by serving team

The Table 10%

• Presentation (style, creativity, mood)

• How well does it represent the region

• Physical presentation of menu

• Service

• Atmosphere

The award categories are:

Best Apprentice/Student

Best Entrée

Best Main

Best Dessert

Extra Mile Award

100MC Winner

Prizes are courtesy of Trenton International

The South Coast won Best Main, Best Dessert and was
the 100MC Winner

Our aim was to showcase the best of the South Coast’s beautiful fresh produce and bring a taste of our rolling green hills and famous beaches to Sydney and we certainly did that.

SO HAVE YOU VISITED OUR ROLLING GREEN HILS AND FABULOUS BEACHES AND TASTED OUR LOCAL PRODUCE AND THANKED A FARMER LATELY

WE INVITE YOU TO DO ALL FOUR SOMETIME SOON (very soon)
For a list of our local produce and providores visit

http://100milechallenge.com.au/the-challengers/south-coast/

 See great story in South Coast Register here http://www.southcoastregister.com.au/news/local/news/general/south-coast-foodies-rise-to-the-challenge/2343925.aspx

Not to mention this quirky vid found here

http://www.australianregionalfoodguide.com.au/component/content/article/163-news-items/1854-100-mile-lunch-a-tasty-success

 

 

Art4Agriculture Young Farming Champions Siannon Parice and Erin Lake visited Castle Hill High School this week to share their stories with the students involved in the
Archibull Prize.

Siannon (Art4Agriculture photographer) and Erin (Natural resource management and bush regeneration expert) tagged teamed with Art4Agriculture chair and dairy farmer Lynne Strong to show the students how three very different people from very different
backgrounds who have travelled very different career pathways work side by side
to bring food to your plate sustainably.

For the students Lynne’s connection was obvious as she told them whilst she wears
many hats she is first and foremost a farmer.

Lynne explained to the students that whilst the majority of Australian farms are still family owned and operated successful farm businesses have the same business structure as large corporates and needed to access an extensive range of proven professionals for their businesses to remain healthy.

She explained that in order for Clover Hill Dairies to continue to provide milk for
50,000 Australians everyday they needed a team of people doing a lot of very
different jobs to achieve the same outcome and that was best practice sustainable
agriculture.

At Clover Hill Dairies Lynne is the marketing manager as well as the
sustainability manager. Lynne explained that part of her role as marketing manager was to raise the profile of the Clover Hill Dairies brand and one of the ways that she has done this is to set up a website which tells people who they are, what they do and how they think.

In order for her marketing materials to have the WOW factor her business needs a
great photographer and this is how her partnership with Siannon began.

Lynne explained that it was through her role as sustainability manager for Clover
Hill Dairies that she met Erin. Lynne explained that both her dairy farms are
in highly sensitive environmental areas. In fact the home farm was 50%
rainforest and managing the rainforest was well outside the farm business team
expertise and it was imperative that the farm engage experts to care for the
rainforest.

Erin and Siannon presented to visual art students from year 7 to year 11. Both Young
Farming Champions created a video and a PowerPoint specifically for their
school presentations. It was obvious from both the students and teachers
reactions that they were overwhelmed with how much creativity had gone into
making Erin and Siannon’s school resources.

Never one to miss an opportunity to use her skills Siannon created a short vox pop featuring visual arts student Yvonne. Hear what Yvonne had to say here

Erin explained that she too needed Siannon’s expertise to help share her story through pictures. Through her PowerPoint and using Lynne’s farm as a working example Erin showed the students that farmers usually have two very different landscapes to manage The first one being the one that is their area of expertise the land they produce food  and on and secondly the vast areas of Australia’s natural landscape that are also  their farms.

In fact farmers manage over 60% of Australia’s landscape and Erin explained it is impossible for farmers to have the time to gain the expertise to deal with the often highly complex balancing act of productive farm land coexisting in harmony with
native vegetation and susccessfully achiving this requires working with weed warriors of Erin’s ilk.

You can find Erin’s video here

You can find Siannon’s video here

Art4Agriculture headquarters always enjoy our daily dose of BushBelles an often witty,
sometimes off the wall and always inspiring place and source of information for rural
women

Today Bushbelles gave us serious food for thought with this “deeply powerful trailer about the media and its representation of women”. http://bushbelles.blogspot.com/2011/10/miss-representation-official-movie.html

After viewing the trailer we gave some serious thought to the media and its representation of women in agriculture and agriculture in general.

The trailer opens with this quote from Alice Walker “the most common way people give up their power is by thinking they don’t have any”.  Looking at the dictionary definition of power as “the ability or capacity to perform or act effectively” Art4Agriculture would like
to follow up Alice by saying once you have grasped the nettle of power it’s
what you do with it that counts

If indeed “The media is the message and the messenger and increasingly the most powerful one” why is agriculture afraid of telling our story, the real story?

Why are we such poor marketers? Why isn’t agriculture seeing the media as high priority, a great opportunity and marketing tool?

Agriculture has great stories to tell.  Farmers should be very proud of their
profession. After all what’s is more noble than feeding and clothing and housing
the world?

So let’s get our priorities right because in the world in which we all now farm image is everything and image needs to be created and it needs to be actively managed.

So what image does agriculture want the people who buy our food and fibre to see?

So many questions???

Who are our role models?  Who do we admire? Who inspires us?

What qualities, attitudes and abilities must they have to advocate for ourselves and our goals and take leadership on the issues that we believe in and debunk the myth conceptions about agriculture and farmers?

Well Art4Agriculture thought long and hard about this and we decided that the image we wanted our communities to see was young farmers who could promote positive
images and perceptions of farming.  Young farmers who would demonstrate passion for their industry while providing real life examples to young people who may have never considered a career in agriculture. Young people who can relate to students and are adept at breaking down stereotypes of farming and agricultural careers.

So the quest was on

Where are these people? Do they grow on trees or do they have to be identified, engaged, nurtured and trained.

Well we can assure they don’t grow on trees but they are out there and they do need to be identified and they need to be nurtured.

Our 2011 Young Farming Champions have been visiting schools across Sydney and now they are in the media telling agriculture’s story.

Today we throw the spotlight on Young Farming Champion Stephanie Tarlinton

About Stephanie Tarlinton
Stephanie Tarlinton grew up on the family dairy farm just 15km north/west of
Cobargo with two sisters, Bridget and Megan and parents Richard and June.

She is a 6th generation decent of W. D Tarlinton who discovered the Cobargo
area on the far south coast of NSW.

She completed her primary education at Cobargo Public School and then went to
high school in Bega before moving away from home to attend agricultural
college.

Following this she worked on a sheep/beef property at Goulburn then moved home
to assist on the farm. Since 2008 she has have travelled to New Zealand, United
States of America, Canada, Papua New Guinea, Ghana, and China primarily to
study the different agricultural systems in these nations.

In late 2011 she will travel to Argentina, Singapore and India all on study
tours focused on gaining an understanding of agricultural production and what
it contributes to their daily life.

Stephanie enjoys the challenge of travelling to developing nations while
gaining a greater respect and appreciation for the opportunities she has had
available to her.

In 2009 she started university and is now currently studying her third year of
a Bachelor of Agricultural Business Management at Charles Sturt University in
Orange, NSW. She undertook this degree with the aim of completing further
studies in the form of masters. Growing up in the dairy industry has inspired
her to continue in this sector although in the business area, for example
working to develop a company’s export sector. She wishes to play a role in
building the global name of Australian dairy products and increasing the value
of the domestic industry.

Some of Stephanie’s latest achievements include; 2011 Runner Up Showgirl for
the Sydney Royal Easter Show, Charles Sturt University Dean’s Award for
Academic Excellence 2011, RAS Foundation Rural Scholarship for 2011 and Royal
Agricultural Society of NSW Rural Achiever 2007.

See Stephanie’s story here

Here is a great example of print media press Young Farming Champion Stephanie Tarlinton is garnering across the country

FARMER STEPH STORMS SYDNEY!

Growing up on the family’s dairy farm in Wandella instilled Stephanie Tarlinton
with values and knowledge she is now sharing with students in Sydney as one of
Art4Agriculture’s Young Farming Champions.

Young Farming Champions provide information to students about the commodity
they’ve been allocated to study as part of Art4Agriculture’s Archibull Prize.

The Archibull Prize invites students in suburban high schools to learn through
hands on experience about the challenges of housing and feeding the world with
a declining natural resource base.

This year, 21 schools in Sydney are participating in the Archibull Prize,
exploring the theme “The Rural/Urban Divide-What does it take to feed
Sydney for a day?” This theme celebrates the role Australian farmers’ play
in feeding Australian families and many other families around the world.

Each school is provided with a life size fibreglass cow on which the students
create an artwork about, their allocated commodity, the farmers who produce it
and how this commodity is being produced sustainably.

By providing a “human face” of farming, Young Farming Champions like Stephanie
are helping to bridge the rural-urban divide at the same time sharing their
knowledge of farming with city students.

“I am passionate about Australian agriculture as I have grown up as part of a
family whom have a long association with farming and in particular the dairy
industry. Farming to me is the provider for my family and a way of life,” says
Stephanie, who is currently in her third year of a Bachelor of Agricultural
Business Management at Charles Sturt University in Orange with the aim of
working in the dairy industry when she graduates.

Stephanie recently presented at Schofields Primary School and Rouse Hill
Anglican College in Sydney sharing with almost 100 students stories about
growing up on her farm and the importance of farmers in supporting our cities.

“I would love to be able to develop a greater understanding of the true value
of agricultural products. If people valued, understood and appreciated the
quality of the produce available to them in Australia perhaps our local
agricultural industries would be more strongly supported. Participating in
Young Farming Champions has given me the opportunity to contribute to this
process,” said Stephanie.

“Having been a cattle exhibitor at the Sydney Royal Easter Show I have seen and
spoken first hand with people of all ages who did not realise where milk came
from. I also have cousins from the city with little understanding of the
process of farming until they visit.”

Young Farming Champions prepare a video and PowerPoint presentation for use at
the schools and answer questions from the students broadening their
understanding about agriculture while helping them prepare for the Archibull
Prize.

Students had so many questions!” said Stephanie. “The primary school children
asked:  How many babies can one cow have?  How old do cows get?
How do they make the different types of milk?  How much milk
do you make?  How do cows turn grass into milk?  How does beef get
from a cow to the supermarket?”

“The high school I visited didn’t offer agriculture as a subject, so I was
talking to visual arts students and it was fantastic to spread the messages
about farming to a group of students who may not have been exposed to
agriculture before. Their questions were more technical and based around
production and the agronomics of dairy farming, as well as the educational
requirements to farm. “

The aim of the program is not to lecture the students about agriculture, but to
share perspectives between farmers and metropolitan consumers.

“It was great to meet the students,” said Stephanie.  “In fact, I probably
learned as much as they did from the experience!”

Art4Agriculture run training sessions for Young Farming Champions to prepare
them for their school visits.

“I have learned so much through my involvement in Young Farming Champions.
Visiting the schools has proved to be a real highlight of my farming journey,
and I’ve been provided with training in public speaking, presentation skills
and video production which I’ll be able to draw upon in the future.  I
would encourage any young farmers who are interested in sharing their story to
get involved!”

The Archibull Prize and Young Farming Champions programs are sponsored by
Woolworths Ltd and the Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation.

More information about Art4Agriculture initiatives and how to get involved in
Young Farming Champions is available at www.art4agriculture.com.au

or contact

Lynne Strong, National Program Director Art4Agriculture

Phone 02 42 360 309 or 0412 428 334

Art4Agriculture Young Farming Champion Melissa Henry visited St. Michael’s Catholic Primary School and Crestwood High School in Baulkham Hills last term to present the fresh young face of farming to students

The Young Farming Champions initiative pairs students participating in the Archibull Prize school program with a young farmer who comes to the school and talks to the students and shares their farming experiences.

The Young Farming Champions demonstrate passion for their industry while providing a real life example to young people who may have never considered a career in agriculture. Because they are young they can relate to students and are adept at breaking down stereotypes of farming and agricultural careers to introduce the dynamic, innovative and high-tech industry in which we all operate.

Melissa is our Sheep Meat /Wool Specialist and is proudly supported by Australian Wool Innovation and Meat and Livestock Australia.

Here is what happened in Melissa’s words ( I am confident  you
will agree it’s pretty obvious Melissa enjoyed presenting the sheep industry to
the students just as much they enjoyed hearing about it )

The St. Michael’s students were from years 3-6 and selected to be
part of the Archibull program. They were all so keen to be part of the Young
Farming Champion visit and volunteered for a role on the day.

They had two students filming me and an official note-taker for
their Blogs. All students had their own note book and all were encouraged to
ask questions – which they certainly did!  Wow the students maintained their
attention for over an hour and were obviously enjoying learning about sheep –
meat and wool.

 It was a very interactive session. Their main interest was in learning about sheep and what happens on-farm through-out the year.

My favourite question was “what do I think of the stereotype of farmers (being 65yr old male)?” This highlighted to me that I wasn’t what they expected and they also recognised there are a lot of different people in farming.

The question which was asked by both schools was “do I feel isolated living in a rural town?” .  I replied that I feel more connected with people now than when I was living in Sydney where I felt almost anonymous. I told them it was just small things that make you feel part of the community like seeing people in the supermarket you know and
stopping and talking to them.  

I took different types of fleeces and wool products into the school, which they passed around and really loved.

The teachers at the school are so passionate about the Archibull Prize
program and are integrating the program within classroom activities.

My Crestwood High School visit was equally exhilarating. I spoke with the whole Yr 9 Ag class and a handful of Yr 9 Visual Arts students who were interested in participating in the Archibull program. As the Visual Arts students were the minority in my audience, I felt like there was a divide in the room and it may have been better to present to these 2 groups separately.

However I was wrong and as soon as I finished my presentation, the Visual Arts students came up to me and were ALL asking questions and then took me to the Visual Arts room and showed me their Archibull cow and their design drawings.

 I was very impressed! They will certainly do the Australian Wool Industry and the Archibull Program proud!

 The High School students were also very interested in my study and career path and also the opportunities that are available to them across the supply chain. They asked a lot of questions about wool and lamb prices, scale of production, cost of production at a commercial level. The Agriculture class were also looking at BioClip as a technology in the wool industry.  See it on YouTube here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zy3Rh0rYvUE

 

There is also a great video about sheep shearers here

I would like to say a special thanks to Claudia Wythes from
Australian Wool Innovation (AWI) for supplying me with merino fabric samples to
take into the schools, so the students could feel the difference in wool types.

I would also like to say a special thanks to Deborah Leake from
MLA who is not only investing in the Young Farming Champions program but also ensuring the Beef/Sheep Young Farming Champions and the schools have access to all the resources created for schools by MLA

 “Being part of the Art4Agriculture team is so rewarding as our programs celebrate the immense diversity within primary industries, our people, the range of produce and our commitment to environmental stewardship” says Melissa

Melissa also created her own resources for her school visits

See Melissa’s video here:

and Melissa’s PowerPoint presentation here

http://www.slideshare.net/art4agriculture/baa-baa-black-sheep

This week Art4Agriculture is thrilled to feature Young Farming Champion Melissa Henry.

We love Melissa she is a dream to work with. Lucky Lachlan Rivers CMA- the job that pays the bills which means she can spend her valuable spare time sharing her stories and inspiring other young people to take up careers in agriculture and natural resource management.

Melissa has joined the Young Farming Champions because
she is passionate about being part of our Art4Agriculture programs developed to bridge the geographic divide that prevents urban students from learning about and observing modern farming practices. The Young Farming Champions value-add to this process by providing urban students with a human face to put to the research they undertake as part of our programs. This gives urban students an opportunity to ask questions of real farmers who are able to relate their learnings to what happens in a modern agricultural enterprise.

Melissa sees that attracting people into agriculture starts with exposing our primary and high schools students to the diverse and exciting opportunities available in the primary industries sector. A critical factor in engaging young people in agricultural career pathways is the timing of career education interventions. Capturing their attention in early to middle secondary years is crucial and she is very proud to play a significant
role in raising their awareness of agrifood sector career pathways by helping
deliver Art4Agriculture programs to this key audience.

“Our industry needs to provide students with positive role models and
experiences. It is also important for students to be able to see how they can apply their knowledge and skills to help feed and clothe an ever growing population sustainably.” says Melissa.

Melissa’s Tree Change saw her move to Boorowa in Central NSW and her career goal is to link her animal science and natural resource management background with a  community focus to empower our urban cousins to successfully and sustainably achieve their own farming goals, no matter how small or large the scale.

“I’m really enjoying living and working in a rural community. I’m able to work side by side with farmers and the community to help them achieve their goals in Natural Resource Management. Many people from Sydney and Canberra are moving into rural areas, redefining the structure and vibrancy of rural communities and contributing to the sustainable local production of food and fibre and this can only be a good thing” says Melissa

See the video Melissa has created to share her story with the students here

In our next blog Melissa will share her school visits to St. Michael’s Catholic
Primary School and Crestwood High School in Baulkham Hills.