Gourmet Farmer (2010)
Matthew Evans once trained as a chef before he crossed to the dark side of the industry and became a restaurant reviewer. After five years and 2,000 restaurant meals as the chief reviewer for the Sydney Morning Herald, he came to the slow realisation that chefs don’t have the best produce in the land, normal people who live close to the land do. So he moved to Tasmania, to a small patch of earth, where he’s raising pigs and sheep, milking a cow and waiting for his chickens to start laying.
Seasons & Episode
Matthew's Fat Pig Farm Kitchen has been feeding people for over a year now, but he knows that the quality of his food is only as good as the soil it comes from; so, he embarks on a 12-month mission to transform the food he serves.
Autumn has come around on the farm and Matthew has been told goats are the natural solution to tackling the farm's blackberry problem.
With Winter setting in Matthew welcomes a herd of goats to solve his blackberry infestation without using a single pesticide.
After having the health of his farm soil tested Matthew receives the results and needs to explore new ways to rest and rehabilitate the damaged earth in his pig paddocks.
With Sadie and Hedley away, Matthew has got his work cut out for him managing the farm on his own and repairing winter rot in the farm's apple orchards.
If there is an art to outdoor cooking than why not have a barbecue that's a work of art. Matthew realises a long held day dream when he installs an incredible outdoor fire pit built by one of Tassie's most talented blacksmiths.
Matthew creates an incredible pie with the few things that are available in the garden and learns the intricacies of how to forage for wild food in Tasmania.
With Spring in full swing and bugs in abundance, Matthew invites an insect scientist to survey the health and wealth of the farm's insect population.
It's high summer and Matthew is focused on making the most of the garden's first flush of raspberries.
It's been five seasons and lots of hard lessons since Matthew set out to transform his cherished slice of Tassie into a farm that grows healthy food while regenerating healthy soils. He's tried it all, so which ideas worked or didn't?
