New items in the shop! Greeting cards, oat rollers, stanleys & vouchers!

new items in the shop! Greeting cards, oat rollers, stanleys & vouchers! 

We are super excited to announce we have just released a range of new items on the shop page just in time for Christmas!

We've teamed up with the lovely folks at Dad's Oats to bring you the very same oat roller we use at home, got in touch with our Grandpa-side to stock the legendary tough Stanley flasks we use everyday, and have designed a cute range of veggie greeting cards printed on 100% recycled stock with veggie inks to make the festive season just that little bit easier on the environment.

We have also released gift vouchers for the first time, something you've all been asking us to get happening for way too long! Sorry about the wait.

Head on over to the shop page to check out the new goods & order before Christmas! 

*NOTE: Make sure you order before the 20th December (standard shipping) or 22nd December (express shipping) to make sure your items arrive in time for Christmas! 
 

Everyone cookies: Pumpkin, cacao & almond + favourite books

Everyone cookies: Pumpkin, cacao & almond

So, there are two reasons we have called these "everyone cookies". 
1) They pretty much are everything free: they're vegan, refined-sugar-free, gluten-free, dairy-free, grain-free. So almost everyone can enjoy them. And,
2) They are super easy. Even if you can't bake or are too busy to bake, you can make these.
 

We started making these when we went on the book tour, as we needed something super quick to put together, something we could take with us and also something that we could eat knowing it was full of all the good things. We are also big fans of a cookie and a coffee for breakfast, especially when we are in a bit of a hurry, and these work as a good, wholesome breakfast cookie. So to us they tick all the boxes as an everyone cookie.

They are a mix of soft, a little chewy  and just the right amount of sweet - and we also have a fun trick to make them perfectly crunchy. You feel like you ate something wholesome, but still feel slightly guilty, all at the same time!

Read the full post and get the recipe here.
 

Mustard carrots, cauliflower & lentils + launch love

Mustard carrots, cauliflower & lentils + launch love

On Saturday we officially launched our little book into the world. It was a truly incredible night for us, surrounded by beautiful friends, family and supporters. We honestly couldn't have imagined a more amazing night and wish you all could have fit into the amazing Pope Joan to help us celebrate. 

For those who couldn't be there, Lentil shed some tears, we were truly overwhelmed by the love in the room, there were lots of spring flowers from the farm, an abundance of wine - including our own, food from our book (including a cake table, who doesn't love a cake table!), and lots of shared stories around the creation of the book.
 

Because you couldn't all be there, this week we are sharing a recipe for an awesome spring salad that we all enjoyed at the launch, one from the book. So you can create it at home, share it with your family, and feel like you were there too!

Read the full post and get the recipe here.
 

It's party time

The book has hit the shelves, help us share it!

We are so excited that the Grown & Gathered book has finally been released and we want to thank you all for your amazing support and beautiful words so far! If you have a copy in your hands by now, and you love it as much as we hope you do, please spread the word to all your friends and family that you think will love it too.

And don't forget, we'd love to join in your cooking, fermenting, trading and growing adventures, so please hash-tag your fun:

@grownandgathered #grownandgathered #thebook
 

Launch party!

To celebrate the release, we've teamed up with the lovely Pope Joan to hatch a Grown & Gathered fiesta like never before on SATURDAY OCTOBER 22ND. We will be bringing the farm to Brunswick East with beautiful natural wines, ciders and beers from our mates, a feast of delicious food cooked straight out of the book to share in, great tunes, even greater company and yeah probably some fire.

We will be signing copies of the book, and copies will be available for sale.

So come on down, say g'day, give us a cuddle and help us celebrate the 96,000 words that nearly killed us. Tickets very limited so get in fast if you don't want to miss out!

COST $15 Tickets available on the shop page.
WHERE Pope Joan, 79 Nicholson St, Brunswick E.
WHEN Saturday October 22nd, 4-7PM.
FOOD Stand up, super casual share food to whet the appetite without spoiling your dinner.
DRINKS Natural wines, homemade ginger beer, valencia orange spritzers, super tasty co-op cider from the legends at Faire Ferments, and tap beer by Sample Brew. Drinks $5.

See you there!
 

Wild hare ragù

Wild hare ragù

Little do you know (actually I'm pretty sure you've all long assumed, and quite rightly) that Lentil is the primary voice behind our stories. But this week I (Matt) am stepping in to talk about one dish that is mine and mine alone.

*Please note, we know you can't all hunt for hare. You will find it at all good produce markets and often at farmers markets OR replace it with a stewing cut of beef with bones in.

For us, part of living here is being in touch with the shifting patterns of wild foods and we have dedicated a whole chapter in the book to it. Gathering wild food is such an incredibly rewarding act. Without wanting to state the obvious, there is something just so primal about it, and the hunt for wild delights, whether plant, animal or fungi (or mineral!), brings your whole being alive in a way few things seem to. Just like when you raise your own animals, taking a small, wild life always sucks, no matter how many times you do it. It doesn't feel 'bad', it happens quite naturally, but I wouldn't say it's a pleasure. But it's incredibly rewarding to have control over how that life ends and to know that there was no suffering. That it was quick, efficient and painless. In this case it is also rewarding to know that you are helping to control an introduced animal.
 

Wild meats tend to be leaner than farmed meats and will often turn out tough and dry if cooked too fast or for too long. In this way they are just like secondary cuts in general. But despite this, both wild meats and these so called 'secondary' cuts have always been prized in traditional cuisines for their incredible flavour. I guess it all comes down to the cooking.

When you break it down, this recipe is really just a great demonstration of the kind of humble stewing technique that is the backbone of those same cuisines. A technique that always guaranteed tender results no matter what tough or wild cut you could get your hands on.

Read the full post and get the recipe here.
 

Oat crackers

Oat crackers

It turns out that having crackers makes everything easy and delicious... Crackers + wine + pate + pickles + dips = Easy meal.

How do we know? Because while we were making our book (sneak peak from inside it right there above) we paired these crackers with pate, rillettes (potted meat) and dill pickles (all recipes inside the book!) for the shoot - and behind the scenes, as we took photos, prepared food for shoots and wrote page after page that we can't wait to share with you in September, we pretty much ate everything on crackers to keep us going throughout the day (and night).
 

These are an absolute saviour when you are busy. They only involve about 5 minutes preparation time (the rest is all soaking and cooking) and the grain, as always with us, is pre-soaked with an acid to make it more digestible and nutrient dense (they have all the enzyme inhibitors/'bad stuff' deactivated). So you know that when you're too busy or tired to cook, these quick snacks or meals, are actually giving you a load of wholesome nutrition.

Read the full post and get the recipe here.
 

Sneak peek inside the book!

Sneak peek inside the book!

It is with child-like excitement that we bring you the very first peek inside the very first copy of our very first book! The countdown is on.

Grown & Gathered - Traditional living made modern, will be officially released on September 27 through Plum Publishing. This book has been without a doubt the hardest, but also the most rewarding thing we have ever created, and we couldn't be more excited (and proud) to share it with you!
 

The last 12 months for us have been completely full of writing and re-writing, testing and re-testing, questioning, researching, documenting and perfecting what feels like our entire body of shared knowledge about all the things we do, know, and believe in - living with the seasons, growing, gathering, raising animals, trading, cooking, preserving and eating!

Our goal was to write you all a practical guide to all of these traditional skills that we feel are so essential to living well, that was super easy to follow, practical and achievable for everyday living. And for absolutely anyone, anywhere. And we got so excited we wrote 352 pages for you all!

Pre-orders are available on the shop page now and all pre-orders will be signed by us before we post them out to arrive on the 27th of September!

Click here to see the full post including over 30 never before seen images of the first copy to hit Australian shores!
 

We made a film!

Observe. Grow. Gather. Nurture. Trade. Seek. Eat.

Pre-order your signed copy here.
 

Cover reveal! Plus roast beets, citrus & horseradish

ROAST BEETS, CITRUS & HORSERADISH

Sometimes things can seem pretty dark and grey in winter and that can really bring us down. This super simple, light and refreshing salad has been exactly what we've needed to brighten those dark, wet days. Even winter can be delicious. 

A couple of weeks ago, on a rare sunny day, we harvested some of our fresh horseradish. Growing fresh horseradish has been a bit of a revelation. Fresh, it is so much less pungent and intense than the prepared versions. It’s lighter and more refreshing, but still with hints of that familiar punch. And it is so good freshly grated over almost anything at this time of year.

Read the full post and get the recipe here.
 

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PS. COVER REVEAL + PRE-ORDER!

The release of our new book Grown & Gathered - Traditional living made modern, is just around the corner (September 27!) so it is time we gave you all your first peek!

The making of the book has been one of the hardest and most rewarding experiences of our lives so far - and we wrote it for you! We can't wait to share all of our gardening, foraging, animal raising, trading and of course preserving and cooking secrets with you all.

We are now open to pre-orders! So head over to the shop page and place yours now if you want one of the first (and signed) copies delivered fresh off the press in September. Then stay tuned - we'll be bringing you a peek inside very soon. Excited!
 

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Nettle & slippery jack soup

NETTLE & SLIPPERY JACK SOUP

This week we bring you a wild cure-all soup to bring you strength for these winter days. For this post, I don’t want to say too much – because I think the photos speak a thousand words. It’s that time of year again, where we live and breathe wild mushrooms - picking them, delivering them, eating them, preserving them, dreaming about them. It’s quiet, it’s cold, and it’s a special time of the year.

What I will say, is that we have been talking a lot about keeping “well” at the moment, not doing too much, staying warm for winter and eating nourishing foods. And this quick soup fits right into that. It’s absolutely not complicated, made from ingredients that are prolific in the wild around us, and is something you can throw together super quickly, while still being super nourishing and warming.

We see this as a cure-all soup: stinging nettles are an amazingly earthy wild green, prolific at the moment and incredibly cleansing; slippery jack mushrooms are one of the most delicious mushrooms in our forest, with a beautiful spongy texture, a bit like porcini; and chicken stock is a truly ancient food that has been keeping people well for millennia, rich in vitamins and minerals to nourish everything from your heart to your immune system.

Read the full post and get the recipe here.

Cucumber kimchi

CUCUMBER KIMCHI

You will notice that this newsletter looks a little different! We had a few requests to make our posts easier to read in your inbox, and we agreed. We hope you like it!

We are little bit obsessed with fermentation, in particular fermented cucumbers seem to be one of our favourites! Last year we put up our fermented dill pickle recipe, which truly is one of the most popular recipes in our house, and we eat them non-stop throughout winter. I think it’s because in the depths of winter, eating a fermented, crisp cucumber tastes so delicious and fresh, at a time when you seem to be eating basically all cooked food.
 

So this year we have been experimenting with cucumber kimchi - which combines two of our favourite things together: Cucumbers + kimchi. Fermentation is super good for you – this style of preserving, preserves all of the naturally occurring vitamins and minerals in the vegetables and additionally adds lots of good bacteria, to help maintain gut and immune health. We try to have something fermented with every meal, especially coming into winter and throughout it, to keep us well as it begins to get so cold.
 

This recipe makes a vegan, crunchy cucumber kimchi, with a little sourness from the lactic-acid (good) bacteria and is medium-hot! Adjust as desired!  

Read the full post here
 

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P.S. We are running a pickling and preserving workshop in Melbourne, Sunday April 17th. Come along! We will talk you through preserving with the seasons - bottling (preserving with heat) and fermentation (preserving for health!). Click here for tickets