It's raining, it's pouring, all the pigs are snoring!

We are currently getting some absolutely beautiful rain......well, it was beautiful. I don't like to sound like I'm not appreciative, but we've probably had enough now thanks! It has been lovely though and I must say that the temperature has finally dropped and it's even quite pleasant. So far we are up to about 250mm.

One of the drawbacks to all this rain however, is that I will not be going to the Yeppoon markets tomorrow (Saturday 6th February). At this stage I still hope to come into Rocky for the Kern Arcade Carpark Markets on Sunday. This will be good for Rocky customers, as it means that you will have first choice of all the meat for a change. We will have beef, goat, pork, bacon and ham, so Rocky customers will get the prime cuts that usually get taken by all the Yeppoon people.

If....the rain continues and the roads become or are likely to become unpassable, I will postpone the trip for a week. Which means I will come in next weekend - Saturday and Sunday 13/14th February.

Please "Like" our facebook page to be kept up to date - as I will post on there what I am up to tomorrow. Hopefully this link will take you there, if not just search for us.  Dawson-Valley-Free-Range

Two of the sows enjoying the rain and green grass.

The finisher pigs trying to get out of the rain.

Changes to ordering + a yummy meal idea

I have just changed the ordering process......the online form has not really been good for me - I find that I miss more orders than I get and it's just not worth it. So, if you would like to order, you have two options - Email me with the list of what you want or email me and ask for an order form. If we ever build a proper web site, I'll have another go at an online ordering system. You can click on the Pricelist tab to see what sort of cuts are available and the prices.

ALSO....I will be in Yeppoon/Rockhampton on the 6/7th of February. I have decided that after my sell out over last weekend, that I would do two markets in February, so I'll be there in less than 3 weeks. Please order ASAP if you intend ordering.

Last weekend I was in Rockhampton for the markets and I stayed with my sister Rita. It's always a great chance to catch-up and as usual, we spent most of our free time talking about food, or eating food. This is a common thing with all my family when we get together as we are all foodies. Rita and I are on the same wave length with our food philosophy and we really enjoy cooking together - well I enjoy cooking with her because she's one of those people that clean as they go...and I am not!

My first night in town (Friday night) I walked through the front door into a cloud of deliciousness - spicy Mexican flavours.....yum.....Burrito's for dinner! Rita is a fan of the Skinny Mixers and so the mince was cooked in the thermomix and she was still rolling out the burritos, previously mixed in the thermomix. These burrito's were different to the ones I usually make as Rita reckons that they freeze and defrost better. I will have to compare and maybe that will be another post. Either way, home made burritos are so much nicer than store bought (obviously....)

Saturday night we cooked pork shanks. These are so under-rated! I always have heaps left so I thought I'd show Rita how nice they can be. We used a recipe from the Skinny Mixers, A Little Taste of Asia "Sticky Szechauan Pork Belly". Only we used pork shanks and didn't do it in the thermomix. I won't give you the actual recipe, because it's well worth buying the e-book yourself (if you do have it, just do the ingredients for the stock). It was basically soy sauce, sugar, ACV, ginger, garlic, onion, star anise, cinnamon stick, szechuan peppercorns, cloves, cummin seeds, fennel seeds, coriander root and stems, and water.

Poor over the shanks, cover and place in a moderate oven for about an hour. Turn them around a bit and cook for another 1/2 hour covered. Then remove the cover, crank up the heat and cook for another 1/2 hour (2 hours in total should do it!) - this time, try and stand the shanks up so most of the rind is out of the sauce so that it can kind of crackle up. Drain off the sauce and place in a saucepan to thicken with a little corn or arrowroot flour.

Cut the meat off the bones for serving. We served ours with rice cooked in the thermomix and some fresh out of the garden vegetables that were steamed in the varoma while the rice cooked. One of our bigger shanks is enough for two people. Leftovers are always good if you do more.

This was simply DELICIOUS!!!

Back to work

We had a "kind of" break over Christmas - we had a two week spell from having to take pigs to Biggenden and we also had two of our kids around to help out, so Kim and I did manage to get two days of doing very little! Bliss!!!!

Now it's time to start up again. Our first market for the year is coming up - Yeppoon 16th January and Rockhampton 17th January. However, once again, we are a little short of pigs and other animals too for that matter, so we'll do one market in January and one market in February. We won't be going to Gladstone until the 20th February, sorry guys!

We will only have pork available for the January market, but hope to have beef and goat for the February one. Demand for our pork has continued and we are still having trouble keeping enough pigs to sell direct to our customers through the local markets. It's a good problem to have, however makes it frustrating trying to keep everyone happy all the time.

We have recently received some rain - almost an inch all up, so once again there is a green pick. This has been the usual thing lately - we get enough rain to get some green grass and then it comes in hot and it burns the grass off. The last rain event did bring some much needed rain to a lot of farmers and graziers west of us, so that was really good!  The pigs are enjoying the green grass and are usually seen contentedly grazing over the paddocks - when they are not trying to cool down in a mud wallow.

See you soon,

Happy Christmas!

Well, it's that time of  the year again.....who is like me and hasn't done a thing towards Christmas preparation? I'm sure it will all come together eventually - well it usually does.

If you are looking for a present for that hard-to-buy-for person, how about a Gift Voucher from Dawson Valley Free Range? We can do any amount that you like and then the recipient can order whatever they like to that value.

I love the idea of supporting local businesses, and if you do too, this is a good idea! Also we will have some of our soap for sale, which could be another gift idea.......I will have some certificates available to fill out at the markets, but if you know that you would like to get one, please email me ahead of time and I can bring one with me.

This will be our last market for the year and we won't be back until the 17th of January, so if you want to stock up, please get your orders in by Sunday night.

Kim and I would like to give a big Thank you to all our supporters this past year. I especially appreciate your understanding when we stuff up an order or don't have what you want or would like. Our life does seem to get busy at times and I don't always get to spend enough time in the office doing the planning! We are very grateful!

So all the best for the holiday season and we hope that you spend the time how you want! Whether that be with family or friends. Take care if you are travelling and we look forward to a busy year ahead!

Markets in December

We have only got two markets left for 2015! The weekends of the 5/6 December and 19/20 December we will be in Yeppoon and Rockhampton. Gladstone delivery will be on the 19th December. Please get your orders in. I will need the orders for the next market by Sunday night, and the orders for the following (and last) market would be great as soon as possible. Especially if you want any special requests for Christmas.

Sad news......most of you would be aware by now, but we won't have any hams for Christmas this year. We will be building up our pig numbers next year, so will definitely have them for Christmas 2016!!! We have had so much trouble this year with our supply keeping up with demand (it just isn't!) so I do apologise for all the times that we run out of meat at the markets. It's a good thing for the long term, just not very good when we disappoint you, our customers.

The beef has been getting very good feedback, so that's been really good to hear. We will have plenty of beef this time as we have done a bigger beast! We will also have goat along with the usual porky products.

We've had some lovely rain over the last month, so the place is looking pretty green - although the heat lately is starting to zap some of the grass. This paddock below has been left empty to freshen up since the beginning of the rain, but we are now putting weaners into it. We have them fenced in a small area first, but will open it up today to let them have the whole paddock. When the piglets get weaned from their mothers, they need to be confined for a couple of weeks, otherwise they would escape back to mum.

Change of Plans (Again)

We have to cancel the markets next weekend - in Yeppoon and Rockhampton. I'm terribly sorry, especially to those who have pre-ordered, and I will contact you separately if I have contact details.

Therefore our next market will be the 14th and 15th November. I have also changed the order form. I am changing the 5kg packs and deleting the 3kg ham and bacon pack. We have been having a few problems with the way the orders are being packed and so I thought I'd change it to be a bit simpler.

Now, you can choose 3-5 (or more) items of fresh pork and if your order is over 5kg's you will only pay $15.60/kg for the total of the fresh pork received. Eg, instead of the Roast Pack with sausages and mince, an example order would be: 1.8kg Roast, 1.6kg mince, 1.8kg sausages = 5.2kg x $15.60. You can choose any meat that you wish to be in the pack, except ham and bacon. Also, I will use my discretion if you order 5kg's of one product - eg I can't supply 5kg's of belly roasts! Either type the list of cuts in the first box, or select from the full list. Ham and Bacon can be ordered separately on the order form.

If you choose to order, please get your orders in before the 31st October. I ran low last market on many items, especially bacon, and this is mainly due to not being prepared enough when orders come in late. We take the pigs over to the abattoir on the 2nd November so it's much easier for me to plan if I have an idea of how many orders I will be getting. For Gladstone customers, this will be your delivery weekend also.We will have goat, beef, pork, salami, chorizo and beer sticks available. We may run low on bacon this time and so I will reserve the right to reduce large orders. Our pig numbers are a little low at the moment, but will pick up soon.

Thankyou for your patience with my market date changes. One of the inconveniences of being a farmer is that circumstances can change and we need to be able to change plans with them!

Markets and Delivery 17-18 October

Next market we will have beef, goat and pork. We will also have salami, chorizo and beer sticks again. These sold like hot cakes last weekend. What did people think of them - luckily I tried the chorizo before the weekend, because we sold out of it.

Hopefully our nitrate free issue will be sorted and we'll have plenty of propper NF bacon and ham!!

This post is also a quick reminder to the Gladstone Area customers that we will be delivering there again next weekend - 17/18 October. Most likely the same place and same time. Saturday the 17th October: 1 - 2pm at the Puma Service Station, Calliope Crossroads.

If you would like to order could you please get back to me this weekend.

A couple of weeks ago I had a spare pork belly. It wasn't really big enough to feed us all, so I decided to make some bacon. I don't smoke it as we don't have a smoker, but after salting I dried it out in a very low oven. It was delicious!!! (although I did overdo the salt a tad!)