THIS week the Narooma News continues its insider look at the television show River Cottage Australia being filmed at Central Tilba.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Episode 2 again focuses on self-sufficiency and the fruits of the land, featuring more salt-of-the-earth locals from the Tilba area.
Mentor Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall has left and instead host Paul West gets a new puppy called “Digger” to keep him company.
The “Tilba”, which means wind in the local Aboriginal language, takes its toll knocking down some of his recently planted trees and Paul acknowledges life on the land isn't going to be easy.
We hear Paul saw the border collie cross pups from Dalmeny advertised on a notice board in Narooma and what farm doesn’t have a dog.
Local lads Charles Lucas and Haydn Dodd have their own dog, a Dalmatian, when they take Paul rabbit hunting, but this is not your ordinary hunting as ferrets instead of firearms are used.
“Boofhead” and his ferret mates are put into action going down the rabbit warren to scare up the rabbits into mesh where they can be grabbed and dispatched.
This was not for the faint of heart with some watching the episode at O’Brien’s Hotel looking away.
We’re not sure of exactly where the rabbits were hunted, but the introduced animals are surely still plentiful around the Tilba area.
Surprisingly, Charles’ mum Robyn, a respected Tilba dairy farmer had never cooked her son rabbit, and while Haydn is an accomplished hunter of Australian feral animals such as pigs and goats, he too had never tasted rabbit.
In a masterstroke, Paul decides to crumb and deep-fry the rabbit, which the lads tuck into with great relish.
Speaking of relish, the story then switches to sausages and the annual Tilba Easter Festival.
Paul visits the Barrabarroo Meats sausage factory John Tracey and Wendy Fisher just down the road at Quaama, whose sausages are available from the farm gate and at the Moruya markets every Saturday.
He helps John makes the legendary chilli and port snags before agreeing to help out at their stall at the Tilba festival.
John and Wendy have been regulars at the O’Brien’s screening and last week brought a pack of chilli port sausages for the author of this article to try – little did they know that he already is a regular consumer.
Also being a man of taste, Paul is not happy with ordinary tomato sauce and so meets up with nurseryman Keith Mundy of Tilba Spires Nursery to raid his crab apple tree – sharing of course with local parrots and that’s where the relish comes in.
At the festival, he serves up his sausages with his homemade relish getting a thumbs-up from most, with many a local such as Darcy Hoyer and Christine Montague getting a feature as Paul checks things out and competes in the boot tossing.
The Aussie Hugh certainly isn’t afraid of having a go, as we will see him taking on the locals in various competitions in upcoming episodes.
Paul also meets leading Tilba businesswoman and farmer Erica Dibden at the cheese rolling.
Erica just reopened the ABC Cheese factory as a full-scale cheese factory that also produces “Real Tilba Milk”, adopting the same philosophy of the original show - locally made with love and low-food miles.
Paul checks out Erica’s herd of jersey cows, tries her cheeses and decides to get a jersey cow of his own to milk.
Erica’s husband Nic and their kids drop off the cow the next morning and a 120-year-old milking stool and Paul learns the finer art of milking.
We know it’s a lot of work as Paul told the Narooma News how he was getting up early each morning to milk “Bessie”.
Erica was featured on the front page of the News, together with the Eurobodalla Shire mayor Lindsay Brown and the local Tilba baker Alfie Facchetti, when it was announced the show was coming to the district.
Episode 3 airs this Thursday, July 11 at 8:30pm on The LifeStyle Channel on Foxtel.
We hear that the Bermagui Country Club has joined O’Brien’s Hotel in Narooma in screening the show for those without pay TV.
With his cows, chooks and veggies thriving, Paul decides it’s time to explore the nearby coastline and he discovers an abundant source of seafood delicacies.
He meets a local lobster expert, and together they catch a crayfish brunch and Paul introduces him to a different way of eating them.
Back on the farm, Paul’s busy building a pigpen, before taking delivery of a small herd that will hopefully one day feed him.
Before that, he prepares a pork dish using one of the tastiest and most underused parts of the animal.
Then, it’s off to the local harvest festival bake-off.
With the help of country cooking champ, Paul enters his pumpkin scones into the hard- fought contest. But will his entries rise to the occasion?
