Today I’m chatting to Jo Corrigan and Matt Donnelly out on the five acres they farm at Romsey. Romsey is 60 kilometres north of Melbourne and near Mt Macedon. The earth is a rich chocolate colour as a result of basaltic and volcanic lava flows and was the perfect place for Jo and Matt to come when they hung up their chef’s aprons and stepped over to the supply side of the food industry. Having worked in Sydney, Melbourne, London and after a decade running The Commoner in Fitzroy, in 2016, they gave it all away to forage and work on the land. The way Jo and Matt talk about their heirlooms vegetables is a delight. They don’t dress up the fact that it is hard work. They are at the mercy of the weather and the wildlife and random infestations of white moth, but Jo when Jo describes melon varieties as joyful and speaks with such pride and reverence about the warty pink pumpkins, it’s intoxicating. I went out to Romsey with my partner Charlie and you’ll hear him in here too. The podcast is the conversation we had with Jo and Matt as they gave us a tour of the vegetables, so you’ll feel as though you were there, I hope. And I reckon you’ll want to go out and see it for yourself. It’s an incredibly special place. Charlie and I can’t stop talking about it and cooking the big box of veggies Jo gave us has been such a treat. They were in the rich earth yesterday and today they are on our plate. They are delicious and flavoursome and I think you can taste the love that has gone into them.
