Hawkesbury producers coming up with the goods

The Hawkesbury region has long been the agricultural mainstay of Sydney, but over the past couple of decades, encroaching urban development and cheap food imports have put increasing pressure on its primary producers. But there's another narrative that runs alongside this one.

It is about quality produce that hails from the Hawkesbury being sold at farmers' markets, online sites and specialist food shops, and showcased on restaurant menus. As issues of sustainability, seasonality and locality continue to gain momentum, the Hawkesbury is coming up with the goods, right on Sydney's doorstep.

Cook's Co-op

It has been a couple of years since chef Martin Boetz started his tree-change move to Sackville. On his beautiful property, he has turned a sizeable plot over to vegetables and herbs that he supplies to several Sydney restaurants, including Rushcutters, where he's executive chef. Long a proponent of seasonal, local produce, Boetz is now engaging with fellow chefs, restaurateurs and his customers to support growers via his Cook's Co-op (cooksco-op.com).

"The Hawkesbury was once, and still can be, Sydney's food bowl," he says, "but we're in danger of losing it because of the sheer volume of food we import. We're going to lose the ability to grow our own food if the connection is broken between consumers and producers."

Boetz's idea is gaining traction, as he joins other locals to bring their wares to market. Chefs are not only buying this bounty, but also meeting the people behind it via a program of tours set up by Boetz with chef and food educator Tawnya Bahr (tawnyabahr.com).

Costa Georgiadis, of ABC TV's Gardening Australia, also sees the value of chefs as part of the educational process.

Melanda Park Free-Range Pork

Skirted by the Hawkesbury River near Windsor is Swallow Rock Reach, a 46-hectare property managed by Matt and Sue Simmons. It has been owned and farmed by Sue's family for some 100 years, and four generations still live here. As with many other local properties, it was once a thriving citrus farm. But when cheap overseas imports escalated in the 1980s, Sue's parents, Ray and Barbara Stone, pulled out their 1000-plus orange trees to cultivate pumpkins and watermelons. When Matt, originally a cattle farmer, joined the family, he introduced a few pigs to help clear the potato paddocks after harvest. Now the pigs are the main event, but still part of an integrated, rotational approach. They live year-round in differently constituted paddocks depending on their age, sex and pregnant state.

As well, unmated females (consummate diggers) do a nice line in turning the soil, fertilising, keeping down pests and eating weeds and leftover crops. This improves the soil for the next planting - primarily potatoes and kale. The pigs, variously cross-bred from landrace, large white, Berkshire and black, produce superbly flavoured pork with a slightly higher ratio of fat to muscle. Find it at Feather and Bone (featherandbone.com.au), The Butcher and the Chef at Harris Farm Markets (butcherchef.com), The Chop Shop Carnivorium (carnivorium.com.au) and Pyrmont, Northside and Addison farmers' markets. Visit melandapark.com.au for details.

Gary Howard's Hawkesbury River Prawns

Second-generation fisherman Gary Howard and his wife, Peta, work their prawn trawler out of Lower Portland down to Berowra and sometimes all the way to Barrenjoey, depending on the conditions - the rainfall, the tides, the time of year and the size of prawn. The main season runs from November to May, and they're out there every weekday. Howard's 70-year-old father still works the river, too, but is talking about retiring soon. Not that the Hawkesbury is running out of supply: "The past three or four seasons have been our best for 40 years," says Gary. "We've had plenty of good autumn rainfall."

For table prawns, consistency of supply is his main challenge (the bulk of Howard's catch is sold as bait). These prawns are handpicked off the tray, graded, cooked and iced on the boat, then packed when the Howards are back on dry land. Then Gary starts his (usually daily) three-hour delivery run around the Hawkesbury and Hills district. Right now, it's not viable for him to supply city restaurants or markets, as the time consumed and cost far outweigh the financial return. So take a scenic drive and hunt them down - find them at Craig's Galston Butchery, Glenorie Butchery, South Windsor Butchery and Munro's Quality Meats, Wilberforce - but leave it until November when the season kicks in again.

Willowbrae Chevre Cheese

About 15 years ago, Karen and David Borg moved with their two young daughters from Picnic Point to a two-hectare property at Wilberforce. "We started out with a couple of cows, but quickly realised a small acreage couldn't sustain them, so we bought a couple of goats from a friend up the road," she says with a laugh. "We'd always loved goat's cheese. But the only stuff you could buy was imported and it wasn't that great. So I thought, what the hell, I'll give it a go, and bought myself a book on cheesemaking." Within months, Karen had taken out three silver medals at the Royal Melbourne Show. These days, the Borgs run about 60 Toggernburg-Anglo Nubian-cross goats, but have no plans to expand further: "I'm a bit of a control freak," says Karen. "To us, it's all about the quality of the product, so unless I have total control over it, I'm not happy." The range is a moveable (and changeable) feast, with anything from fresh curd and marinated feta to Vineyard, a six-month-aged blue and white mould cheese, plus yoghurt, butter, milk, gelati and smoothies. Try them at Chiswick, Sepia, Nomad, MoVida and Rushcutters, or buy them at Orange Grove Public School, Lilyfield, Eveleigh, Northside, Glenbrook, Hawkesbury Harvest, Castle Hill Showground, Frenchs Forest and Blackheath. Visit willowbraechevrecheese.com.au.

Clarendon Farms Free-Range Organic Eggs

Before Ian Littleton started farming in 1995, he was a poultry advisor to NSW Agriculture. He saw the burgeoning interest in free-range eggs and poultry in the marketplace and decided to create a model based on traditional farming practices. Since 1998, Littleton has been based at Pitt Town, where 10,000 adult laying hens spend their lives doing what comes naturally in 20 hectares of paddocks guarded against predators by 13 Maremma dogs and an electric fence around the perimeter. "We were quite lucky to get this site as it's so convenient to our market in Sydney," he says. "But because of that proximity, it has been ripe for development for years. So for us, the 2008 GFC was a good thing - it meant we could hang in here longer!" However, as the effects of the GFC ease this could soon change, and Littleton bought another farm at Gulgong. Find Clarendon Farms eggs at farmers' markets, independent supermarkets and four Woolworths stores on the northern beaches, or online at organicbuyersgroup.com.au and lettucedeliver.com.au. They're also on the menu at Rushcutters and Forbes & Burton in Sydney.

For more on Hawkesbury producers and farmgate trails, visit hawkesburyharvest.com.au.