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.