My girls, Jasmine 7 and Jemma 5, love to cook thanks to the MasterChef phenomenon. All 3 children (including Teddy, 1) also love animals, so when the chance to take a specially designed FoodPath Family Culinary Tour arose, how could I say no!

The process of booking us all on the tour was simple and painless, especially the price for 5 of us!  All we had to do was be on time at the rendezvous point on Saturday, Berrima Oval.  The drive to Berrima was an easy one from Canberra, beautiful too and a 10am start meant we could actually make it on time with our mob!

Our FoodPath Tour was a self drive tour as we felt it might be easier to have our own vehicles, car seats for children.  Jill, the founder of FoodPath gave us the option as some other tours have a bus to take you to each location.  All the fantastic paperwork was given to us at the meeting point including maps and information about the farms we were visiting for the day.  Should any of us have gotten separated, we were all confident that we would know how to get to the next farm.  So in all seven cars, off we went.

First stop, Berrima Ridge Free Range Poultry Farm.  What I loved most about Berrima Ridge was the insight into the farm and how it was created, with the owners Anne and Warryn all the time referring to their ‘girls’ (the chooks).  It was fantastic to see such a passion for what they do.

We were shown through the Pasta Room on the farm where the ‘seconds’ eggs – that is any misshapen or too large for sale, were made into fresh pasta that we were given to take home, YUM!

The children loved walking through the hundreds of brown chickens scratching away outside in the fresh air. Their nesting shed was fantastic to see, a little shed where they could sleep at night and lay their eggs.  They were free to enter, exit and roam as they liked.  The kids were shown how to collect the eggs and wipe the collection trays clean, then supervised as they took over, and loved it!

Once all the eggs were collected we paid a visit to the cleaning shed where they showed us how the machinery (helped by people) cleaned and sorted the eggs ready for packing and filling of orders.  The Berrima Ridge eggs were in such demand, unfortunately we couldn’t buy any to take home but I’ll certainly be looking out for them in shops.

After a play with the lovely big white Maremma dogs who protect the chooks, and a colour in on the seconds eggs, it was off to our next destination, lunch!

Arriving at Eling Forest Winery was such a pleasure, welcomed by the lush green grass. This is a place I have always wanted to stop as it’s on the highway between Canberra and Sydney, Greg always seems to have an excuse as to why we can’t stop.  I was so glad we were able to take the time and I am sure he will be easier to persuade in the future after our visit.

It was such a lovely day and the children enjoyed being able to run around in the grass playing games with their new friends.  Lunch was served in a lovely pre-packed box that had a salad roll, piece of fruit and a dessert – I got the chocolate cake that was divine.  We enjoyed our picnic lunch with a beautiful glass of wine from the vineyard, beer and soft drink for the children.  Just enough food to satisfy the hungry kids and get them back on the road again.

We were given a little information on the history of the location by the owner and Head Chef of Stones Restaurant, Mark and his reputation and experience is vast – to say the least!  From the food we were served today, I highly recommend it.

I would have loved a little more time to explore the old school house and the vineyard a little more, it has such a great history – I’m glad I know it’s there now though and this will be my excuse to come back!

After lunch it was off to a little private farm near Moss Vale where we were introduced to Truffles and the reasons why farming them is a difficult thing!  We were shown around the farm by owners Jeanette and Alan.  The heavily pregnant Boer Goats were fantastic to see fed, one was so pregnant you could see the kid moving and kicking about inside – and I thought my kids were active while I was pregnant! 

I think the highlight for the kids on this one though (our kids that is, not the goats) was the yabbies.  In the farm dam they had yabby traps and when they pulled them in the kids were excited to see the big yabbies close up.  They were shown how to hold them so they didn’t get pinched, and how to tell a male from a female – the female was full of eggs on her belly!  The kids loved being able to interact with the animals, and these were some many had never seen alive and was a real thrill.

Back on the road and to the stop the girls were really excited about all day – Whatman Dairy!

The owners Craig and Tammy have long histories in farming but their decision to do things a little differently was fantastic to experience.  The milking shed was all automated and Craig explained how the computer worked.  Each cow has a chip in their ear that is read by the computer when they enter the milking shed.  It reads out each number (for the cow) and knows how much feed to give it while being milked and so much more.  We could watch them all being hooked up and milked, and yes the kids thought it was very funny when the cows went to the toilet! 

While they were being milked we went up stairs where we could stand on the balcony and look down over the cows.  Teddy loved that while climbing the stairs (in our arms) the big placid cows head swung around to see what was going on, Teddy reached out curiously and patted him.  This was one experience that he would never have gotten anywhere else.

After watching the cows being milked for a while Tammy took the children out to feed the calves, one was only two days old!  Armed with buckets of milk off they went excitedly, this was the part they were really looking forward too.  The excited calves jumped around making the kids laugh (and Teddy got a bit worried then), the children loved feeding them and it was such a lovely way to finish off a fantastic day.

By our finish at 4pm the children were worn out and they had thoroughly enjoyed every second of their day.  We set off home and arrived in time for dinner, and boy did they sleep well that night!

I have listened to the girls explaining the tour to their friends, and it is fantastic knowing that not only did they have an absolute ball, they now have a better understanding and appreciation of where the food that they eat comes from.

If you would like to take your children on this fantastic tour, contact Jill Dyson from FoodPath, email jill@foodpath.com.au or phone 0419 617 021.  Tours vary according to age groups, seasons and availability so make sure you request the Family FoodPath Tour, and make sure you tell them the Great Aussie Road Trip sent you! 

Links for the locations we visited:
Food Path Culinary Tours With a Difference - www.FoodPath.com.au
Berrima Ridge Free Range Poultry - www.BerrimaRidge.com.au
Eling Forest Winery - www.ElingForest.com.au
Whatman Dairy - c_t_whatman@westnet.com.au