Last week I went to Hunchy in the hinterland of the Sunshine Coast to visit with Lizzie Moult (Strayed from the Table) and see her farm and her chickens and eat an orgasmic lunch. Okay, she didn’t invite me for an orgasmic lunch – just lunch – but orgasmic it was. Warning: this post is photo heavy.
It was a gloriously sunny winter day – shirtsleeve weather for sure. After the obligatory hugging hello and seeing her home, we headed for the kitchen garden while the meat sizzled in the oven.
Lizzie and Roy have been living at their farm for just over a year and this year Lizzie started her market garden. Her garden is healthy and lush and provides her with much more than the two of them can eat. She was selling her produce at the Montville market which meant she had to pack it all up, drive up the mountain, set it all up, pack up what didn’t sell and bring it all home and put it away.
That got old in a hurry and now she has a farm gate sale every Friday afternoon starting at 2pm. In addition to whatever vegetables are ripe, Lizzie also sells herbs of various sorts.
From her front door you can see from Mount Coolum to Caloundra all along the coast and the ocean as far as you can see. I could have stood and enjoyed the view all day.
We visited her chickens and can you believe I didn’t take ONE photo of them? I love her chickens! I watched them sneak pieces of broccoli and kale and saw Lizzie chase them back to their pen.
After chatting with the chickens we went to the market garden where she’s got heaps growing — tomatoes, beans, silverbeet, cabbage, beetroot, potatoes and so much more. I would love to have a garden again.
I could have stayed in the garden for ages but it was time to get to that lunch. She told me she has always wanted a perfect pork roast with crunchy crackling but it had never happened for her. Look at this photo – do I think she was fibbing? Yes, yes I do.
The vegetables were crunchy and sweet, the meat tender and succulent as can be and the crackling – well it sounded like crickets were eating with us. She also picked kale and broccoli while we were in the garden and she steamed them and drizzled some of the pork fat on top. Smashing.
I ate until I thought I would pop and then there was dessert.
Remember when Lizzie made that brick cake that Yvonne from Baranbali Farm had previously made for her? Well, Lizzie made that cake for me. I’m telling you now, if you make any cake between now and Christmas it MUST be this Irish Brick cake. It’s crazy easy and simply one of the best cakes I’ve eaten in a long time – even more so when it’s warm. She gave me a piece to bring back to my father-in-law Rob and he ate it and said, “So, will you be making one of these for us tomorrow? With the pork and crackling too? I like crackling”
I did! I’ll share mine tomorrow.
Thanks to Lizzie for giving me such a lovely day out. All these photos were taken at her place.
Lizzie is hosting a garden workshop so if you’re on the Sunshine Coast, this is a great opportunity to learn from someone who gardens every day of the year. She also works at an organic farm and has picked up lots of tricks.
That roast pork looks AMAZING!!! Sounds like a wonderful visit with Lizzie.
I’d go again tomorrow!
What a comforting and delicious meal! That brick cake looks really interesting and the roast pork looks divine!
This cake is one for you to come up with a different fruit filling, Lorraine. Use something weird that we all don’t know much about. 🙂
What a great day ! The blue skies 🙂 I’ve never heard of a Brick cake but it’s got oats, sugar and i assume butter so I’m sure I’ll like it! Can’t wait till you share the recipe!!
What an awesome day you had with Lizzie, Maureen! Next time, can I come too? And how about that farm!!! Beautiful, but lotsa hard work methinks.
Lizzie is in her element on that farm, Liz !
Looks like an absolutely smashing day! What was the texture of the brick cake like?
top = crunchy, bottom – crunchy, middle, soft and fruity. Seriously delicious. It’s the first cake we’ve ever eaten all of.
Sounds like a most wonderful way to spend a day; the photos are just gorgeous. And that roast looks absolutely to die for. What a very pretty post.
Oh Eva, that’s so kind of you. I worry so much about my photos and know I have so far to go and so much more to learn.
What a beautiful day! Everything looks incredible, and the photos are just gorgeous. Now I want to make that Irish Brick cake!
Claire, you must make this cake. I promise you, you’ll love it if you fill it with the fruit you love or fruit and nuts or anything in the middle 🙂
Great looking pork roast! Terrific meal, all around. And I love the pictures. Although I also can’t believe you didn’t take one of the chickens. 😉 I love Lizzie blog, and admire her life. It’s a lot of hard work, I know, but it must be so satisfying. Really entertaining post – thanks.
I know. It must mean that I have to go back up there 🙂
Another good reason to spend a 24hrs on an aeroplane.
When you get here, David, we’ll go to Lizzie’s place together. 🙂
What a lovely day you got to have, Maureen – gorgeous photos!
I had a brilliant day!
Deep down, I want a farm and a HUGE garden. I love having land to roam on. Thank you for taking me on such a lovely trip with you!
Lizzie has such a wonderful spot. Views that go on forever. The camera wasn’t good enough to get the boats out on the horizon who are waiting for a pilot to take them in to the Port of Brisbane. There were 5 waiting the day I was there.
How lovely Maureen! I’m so very jealous! I loved seeing pictures of the farm and the meal you shared. My goodness…talk about delicious! And I will be making that Irish Brick soon!
I can’t wait to hear how you like the brick cake. I finished the last of it yesterday.
Such lovely scenery. I would think I had died and gone to heaven if I awoke to those views every single day.
The feast fit for two queens is just perfect.
Thanks for sharing your fantastic day with all of us.
It is a fantastic view from up there. I live along the water so it took 35-45 minutes for me to get up the mountain from the shore. I live within (long) walking distance of the shopping center and 10 minutes by car to a bigger one. I like living close. 🙂
Great photos of a lovely part of Australia . . . fresh produce grown with love – how could it be anything but an orgasmic experience 🙂 ! An if the gate sales bring in an extra dollar or two . . .
You’ve got it right, Eha.
What a beautiful day you had. That view is amazing I could just stand there all day. And that pork crackling – perfection.
It was a glorious winter day in Hunchy. You would have been most welcome, I’m sure!
What a lovely day. Lizzie is a great cook. What sort of an oven does she have? It looks really tiny but it certainly can make a great pork crackle – it is perfectly coloured all over. Hasn’t she done well with her farm in just over a year! Amazing. And your FIL is certainly enjoying all your cooking. I can’t wait to see what you cooked! xx
Hotly Spiced we have a small Breville Oven, its a toaster as well. We wanted something small enough to fit on our bench as we only have very limited bench space.
It works pretty well, doesn’t it, Lizzie? 🙂
I don’t think mine was as good as Lizzie’s but the men here ate every scrap of crackling between the two of them.
Thanks for taking us on your visit to the farm, Maureen. What a gorgeous place! I’m only sorry mine was a virtual visit because I could have pulled a chair up to the table in front of that incredible roast pork.
Wouldn’t that be fun to have all our friends from around the world to lunch – and a lunch like that!
It’s a good thing there was enough Kale and Broccoli left after those chickens attacked 😉
LOL she has HEAPS growing. I don’t think those chooks could eat it all. 🙂
Maureen, stunning photos, I just want to eat that meal all over again! Thanks for visiting and look forward to seeing your version of the cake soon. PS the pork loin was also from Baranbali Farm and it was from a Heritage Breed Pig.
I couldn’t remember what breed you told me it was. I was hoping you’d come and clear it up for me. I’ll edit the post.
G’day and what an AWESOME day your had Maureen, true!
I am not usually a pork person, but your photo might create me to be a convert too!
Cheers! Joanne
Anyone would be converted with that roast, Joanne!
What a beautiful farm and terrific photos!
I had the best day at Lizzie’s farm.
What a spectacular view! I could have stayed for days…
Think I’m gonna make that cake with almond flour, it sounds fabulous. Thank you for taking us with you, what a nice visit and lunch. 🙂
wow Judy, that almond flour sounds like a good idea. I’m trying to think of what I can put in the middle of the next one to change it up a bit.
The whole meal looks amazing and I can ‘almost’ smell and taste it. 🙂
Lizzie and Roy’s story reminded me of my mom and dad’s similar move (though they were in their early 70s), in 2000, to the country where they had bought 39 acres of scrub, cleared out the front and started a ‘hobby garden’. My dad grew tomatoes, peppers, strawberries, watermelons melons, zucchini, cucumbers, cabbages etc AND my mom raised chickens for both meat and eggs.
During the summer they had a roadside stand to sell the veggies and even killed the chickens on demand though my mom did NOT enjoy the feather plucking and cleaning. They started out with 100 chicks of each. A LOT of work for people at their age which became more difficult in the last 5 years with declining health.
I’m sure the last 5 years have been tough but the first years must have been filled with joy and satisfaction. Good for them!
Thank you for the tour Maureen. What a beautiful place! I think a farm gate sale is a much better idea than traipsing up to the market every weekend. It seems much more fun too!
Yes, I agree because all the people she sells to now will be her friends, new and old.
Beautiful photos, what a gorgeous property!
She’s a very lucky woman!
I could definitely stay in that market garden for a very long time! What a great visit and fabulous meal! I can smell it!
I tell you what, these photos are almost orgasmic! What a beautiful day out.
I would almost call these photos orgasmic! What a beautiful day out 🙂
Now I am really intrigued with this roast pork. Irish cake….how interesting. You get to experience some really awesome foodie life.
Oh my, what a feast! I love the plate filled with delicious food! I see the newest post already so I’m going to check the recipe. The roast looks perfect, and all the vegetables look amazing too. I dream of farm style life (although it’s a lot of work to maintain)…and nice to have a friend who has a beautiful farm and garden!
Oh wow the farm is amazing. My uncle would be jealously starring at your pictures now. I knew she had a farm but I didn’t t know that it was that big. Just remembered to ask Lizzy for some growing tips. I think she has an idea of some tropical plants=D
Well isn’t Lizzie a great friend to have!! That crackling looked so good – I thought it was bread and a sandwich and wondered how you’d bite into it with bones hanging out! Maybe I better go eat some dinner of my own…