A Day in the Life of a Farmer, Meatsmith, & Artisan

When we first made the decision to ‘fork it’ and move to Tassie to be farmers, people thought we’d be bored. But life at Fork it Farm is never boring! Every day is a whirlwind of farming, meatsmithing, and artisan food production.

Take this past week, for example.

We kicked off with a number of paddock-to-plate experiences, serving charcuterie platters to 20 visitors, while welcoming a dozen customers to our farm shop. Meanwhile, behind the scenes, we were knee-deep in farm duties—moving cattle, weaning calves (cue sleepless nights with their noisy protests), and managing three new pig mums who all farrowed on the same day, blessing us with 28 piglets.

That meant setting up new bedding—so off we went to collect a ute load of straw—while also repairing broken pig waterers and picking up 4000L of waste milk to keep our pigs well-fed.

Then, it was time for production: eight pigs off to the abattoir, returning to be butchered for 10 restaurant orders. From there, the meatsmithing marathon began: slicing and dehydrating pet treats, making 12kg of terrine, 1.5kg of duck rillette, 3kg of pâté de tête, 3kg of chicken pâté, mixing, mincing, and stuffing 50kg of sausages, overhauling  and seasoning our cures, and bottling and labeling 50L of broths, including pork, beef, ramen, and pho.

Somehow, amidst all of this, we managed to update our website, post on social media, do the accounting, and order supplies.

And next week? More of the same, with a twist. We’ll be packing orders for our wonderful Tas Produce Co. (TPC) customers, volunteering (and attending plenty of meetings) to help strengthen our local food system, and butchering two large bovine beasts from Summerlea Farm Tas. The work is never done, but we wouldn’t have it any other way.

We love the freedom and creativity that comes with continually evolving our products and utilising the whole hog. As a small-scale paddock-to-plate producer, we handle everything—we are the farmers, the meatsmiths, and the salespeople. There’s no room for boredom when you live and breathe your passion.