WRITTEN BY SARAH LANG

Three Decades On will be available in selected bookstores, at Lake House and online in May. Pre-orders can be placed at www.lakehouse.com.au to receive books in time for Mother's Day. — *Three Decades On* will be available in selected bookstores, at Lake House and online in May. Pre-orders can be placed at **www.lakehouse.com.au** to receive books in time for Mother's Day.

If there ever was a ‘quiet season’ in Spa Country, it could be considered February. Many locals take this time to squeeze in an annual holiday or to renovate and refurbish their venues. Not taking any breaks but getting stronger and stronger every week is Annie Smithers and her little dedicated team at du Fermier. Her new kitchen garden at Babbington Park in Lyonville might be less than a year old but it is already producing such bounty, that Annie has opened a “petite marche”, a small market stall, inside the doors of du Fermier in Trentham every Saturday morning. But you need to be early. We arrived smack back on the 9am opening time but still had to queue in a long line of excited middle-aged foodies (bit like popstar groupies but way more determined), waiting for exquisite French breakfast radishes, baby carrots, salad greens and beetroots. A range of French pastries, baguettes, quiches, donuts, pork pies and smoked duck breast was what we had our eyes on. Magical. And then, in less than 40 minutes, ‘poof’, it’s all gone.

Glenlyon helds its veggie garden open day on Saturday 10th February was a roaring success with around 400 people making 1170 garden visits. Next event in this picturesque little township is Paint Glenlyon, an art exhibition held in the newly refurbished Glenlyon Hall from 30 March to 1st April. Artists of all skill levels are being encouraged to paint scenes from in and around Glenlyon. For enquiries, call Joy Durston on 5348 7542.

This month, we feature the heavenly tomatoes from Florian at Mt Franklin Organics, a key ingredient in last month’s cocktail Bloody Hell Mary. Sallie Harvey gives us a cracking recipe using tomatoes in a tagine but if you’d rather someone else prepare them, pop down to The Surly Goat in Hepburn Springs. We enjoyed a truly memorable dish of Florian’s tomatoes last week served with pillowy soft ricotta gnocchi, fior di latte, garlic and fresh basil. But make sure you call ahead to book. This small restaurant is enormously popular and getting a table can be tricky even in February.

One of the hardest working chefs in hospitality has found the time to publish her own book. Alla Wolf-Tasker AM, Culinary Director and co-owner of Lake House, releases “Three Decades On” in May 2018. In this book, Alla shares her love for the region and Lake House, her admiration for great producers both local and across Australia, with wonderful recipes, captivating stories and magnificent imagery.

In other news, the new annual fundraising festival “Daylesford Hepburn Food Truck Feastival” has been postponed due to unforeseen logistical problems. It will be held later in the year. Hepburn Footy Club President and organiser Jason Dooley says “Whilst its disappointing that we have had to postpone it, moving it to later in the year will be more beneficial to the town, especially local traders, and this means a better event for us. We aim to open the festival up to include food and wine stalls, rather than just food trucks, and have many more local producers attend.” The footy club’s annual fundraiser raffle, this year being a limited-edition Kenworth truck and fuel and travel vouchers totally a whopping $450,000 will still launch as planned later this month. Tickets are a hefty $1000 but with only 1000 tickets sold, the odds are pretty good. Tickets can be purchased at www.kenworthraffle.com from mid March.

SARAH LANG
PUBLISHER AND EDITOR-IN-CHIEF