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ORGANIC HARVEST
goodness
I
t seems like it’ll never come. In the midst of a Tassie
winter, spring seems too far off. In our little corner of
the world, spring seeps into being. The first hints are
in early September, but you’re never quite sure it’ll
arrive until late in the month.
You can tell what time someone left the house in spring.
Are they wearing an overcoat, a sunhat, a rain jacket or
shorts? Spring can be frosty, or even sprinkle a little snow
on occasion. But it can also be over 30°C, perhaps even
the day after it has snowed. The weather berates us for not
wearing enough or too much. It toys with us. The wind
awaits our complacency, and the promise of warmth
one day can be dashed with an icy blast the next. The
cosseting of winter makes way for the unpredictability
and excitement of spring. There’s the promise of new
life as plants surge forth with young growth, and
blossoms unfurl and the insect population explodes.
Spring means the chooks are back on the lay, after
the recharge of their annual moult. The cows calve.
Spring milk is loaded with golden-coloured cream.
Goats have their kids in spring, too. New chicks
crack open their shells and the cycle of life turns
again. Spring lamb is born in spring, named after the
season that bore it, not the season you eat it in. We do,
however, eat lamb at this time of year, even if it should
be called hogget or two tooth: sheep that are over a
year old. We like them that way; they’ve better flavour.
The soil is starting to warm after the long
hibernation of winter. Seeds that wouldn’t germinate
in winter now have a chance to shoot. And while
everything grows, there’s actually a moment where
there’s not the usual abundance.
Despite the fecundity, the green, growing
gloriousness of this time of year, we call parts of
spring, the later parts, ‘the hungry patch’ because
the garden is growing but not yielding. The crops are
fattening, but aren’t yet ready to harvest. Though
perhaps ‘hungry patch’ is a misnomer. Thanks toChef and organic farmer Matthew Evans is back with another book –
The commons: A Year of Growing, Cooking and Eating on Fat Pig Farm. It’s
a mix of how-to, diary and cookbook, and very different to his exposÉ On
Eating Meat (OG 111). Here is a taste, with Matthew introducing spring on
the farm and tantalising seasonal recipes.Baskets full of