You’ve got to be Kidding!
Baby Goats to Cuddle?
Our little babies are due in the first week of January…
If you’d like to cuddle the babies too, book your Riding Camp, Tiny House Farm Stay Adventure or Shepherds Breakfast Working Farm Tour from 9 January onwards!
You can see the Wedding Video here - Aslean the Mini Angora buck meeting Passionfruit and Mango, our beautiful Saanen does.
And this is the happy family today…
I didn’t want the Winter Holidays to end…
See a collage of our Magnificent Winter Riders here.
Savour Ciders at Braidwood Farm Stay Cafe
Savour Ciders at Braidwood Farm Stay Cafe.
The amazing Sully family has kindly let me pair their vibrant ciders with our Ploughmans Lunches for our guests here at Braidwood Farm Stay & Cafe/Saddle Camp. You don’t need to pair it to enjoy it though!
I can’t think of a better way to spend a sunny afternoon than swinging in a hammock, snacking on cheeses and sipping cider!
The ciders are made at the Old Cheese Factory in Reidsdale with apples collected from local farms.
In the 1800's Reidsdale was known as Irish Corner. Many Irish immigrants settled here after having success on the goldfields. It has rich alluvial soil, moistened daily by the Monga Mist that moves in each afternoon, making it an ideal place for cottage farms. These farms fed the 30,000 gold fossickers who moved through the area in the 20 year gold rush.
It was also beautiful land for dairying, and the local rural co-op built a state of the art cheese making facility in 1912. But after World War II the cheap fuel prices made it easier for cheaper/inferior quality cheese to flood the market, and the Cheese Factory closed in 1957.
Nearly 50 years later, the Sully Family immigrated from Wales to ACT to work on the New Parliament House. They fell in love with the Braidwood District and opened the Deli in town. Then they received a Grant from the National Trust to restore the Old Cheese Factory. It’s now used again as a community commercial kitchen, where local growers bring their produce for bottling, pickling, baking, etc.
Gary Sully was blown away by the wide variety of heritage apples coming in through the doors from the old local orchards. Gary says “Cider making lore says to make a good cider, put a rainbow in your barrel. Red uns, green uns and yellow uns.” In his Sparkling Cider - the Perky Pecker - there are 8 different types of apples.
We have his Mad Hare Still Cider, Frisky Fox Still Cider, Perky Pecker Sparkling Cider and non-alcoholic Rhubarb & Ginger Beer available for sale in our Farm Shop.
Chilled and ready to drink :)
You can visit us all all weekend - from 9.30 am to 7 pm!
This is Dexter sampling the gorgeous Rhubarb & Ginger Beer https://youtube.com/shorts/wfJvAFSWMAk?feature=share.
Thank you for our Eco Fridge!
One of our new Farm Shop Fridges, packed with fresh local produce.
A HUGE Thank You to the State Government for providing The Saddle Camp and Braidwood Farm Stay & Cafe with a FREE eco friendly display fridge!
And I’m so sorry that I thought it was a scam when you called the night before with the offer .
This has just fleshed out our Farm Shop beautifully!!! Can’t wait to fill it with our fresh produce from the gardens .
Perky Jo Coffee Beans at Braidwood Farm Stay :)
Perky Jo - now at Braidwood Farm Stay & Cafe
Thank you so much for being interested in all the action at the farm!
It would be wonderful if you were able to make it out here, have a cuppa and a good look around. I’d love to hear your ideas, and to run mine past you too!
And if you choose to have a cup of coffee here, can I tell you more about the roasted beans that your coffee will be made from?
A few months ago, we had a lovely couple arrive for a stay in our Tiny House. They asked if they could join in our Working Farm Tour, and headed out with Rob and the boys while I prepared their meal.
Ash (the husband) and Rob got talking about the landscape, the wildlife and the enjoyment of working with your children in a family business.
It turned out that Ash and Shiroma have a Coffee Roasting company that their children are also involved in.
I heard snippets of the conversation and was intrigued. I’d LOVE to have my children happy to work with me and making their own careers alongside mine.
Ash was kind enough to spend a few hours talking to me about how they work, and he had some AMAZING ideas for our Farm Shop that Rob and I are dying to implement. We’re working on it!
But in the meantime, I sampled some of his coffee beans. And Oh My Goodness, I fell in love with Perky Jo, with toffee, caramel, hazelnut and pineapple notes in the aroma and flavour. It’s a blend of 2 roasts – with beans from Cerrado (a vast ecoregion of tropical savanna in eastern Brazil) and from New Guinea’s Highlands Area. Perky Jo won Bronze at the Australian International Coffee Awards in 2014.
As I was sipping away, I got to hear more of Ash’s story. I loved the way he told it. Just a gentle, flowing tale of growing up on his grandfather’s coffee plantation in Gampola, Sri Lanka. Picking the coffee cherries with his cousins, eating the cherries and handing the beans (seeds) to his aunt, who roasted them in a pan over a fire. And he fell in love with cooking and hospitality.
Coffee’s in his blood, but he knew from the age of 9 that he wanted to be a chef, and after finishing his training he travelled the world working in high-end restaurants and hotels. He settled with his wife in Melbourne. He explained to me that the water in Melbourne is the very best in the world. I think it’s to do with the hardness level. Ash said that even in Italy – renowned for making coffee so famous – they have to import bottled water to make their coffee taste good.
He was happy I was using filtered rain water to make our coffees
He opened his own café in Melbourne with his wife, Shiroma, and his children worked with him as they went through uni. He opened a Coffee Roasting house next door to the Café, and in the covid lockdown he was able to close down the Café, and immerse himself in roasting coffee.
Ash has moved up here to work with the Space Kitchen in ACT, and his wife, Shiroma, is enjoying the change of pace here to write her third book.
If you’d like to pop in for a cup of “Perky Jo”, we’d love to see you. Order ahead so we can make sure you have a great experience 😊.
Go to www.braidwoodfarmstay.com.au/cafe and order your treats, picnic or meal, and then send a quick message to me on 0417 456 093 to let me know where you’d like it served - in your Tiny House, in a Picnic Hamper (with a rug, hammock and treasure map to a secret location), or at the Clubhouse (in the Playground, inside the Dining Room or under the verandah).
Or you might like to take a supply of Perky Jo beans back to enjoy in your own piece of heaven. 250g bags are $15.50.
If you have any questions at all you can email braidwoodfarmstay@gmail.com or call
Helen on 0417 456 093
Destination NSW
Welcome to Braidwood Farm Stay
& Café
A place to restore your soul.
Thank you so much for being interested in all the action at the farm!
It would be wonderful if you were able to make it out here, have a cuppa and a good look around. I’d love to hear your ideas, and to run mine past you too!
And if you choose to have a cup of coffee here, can I tell you more about the roasted beans that your coffee will be made from?
A few months ago, we had a lovely couple arrive for a stay in our Tiny House. They asked if they could join in our Working Farm Tour, and headed out with Rob and the boys while I prepared their meal.
Ash (the husband) and Rob got talking about the landscape, the wildlife and the enjoyment of working with your children in a family business.
It turned out that Ash and Shiroma have a Coffee Roasting company that their children are also involved in.
I heard snippets of the conversation and was intrigued. I’d LOVE to have my children happy to work with me and making their own careers alongside mine.
Ash was kind enough to spend a few hours talking to me about how they work, and he had some AMAZING ideas for our Farm Shop that Rob and I are dying to implement. We’re working on it!
But in the meantime, I sampled some of his coffee beans. And Oh My Goodness, I fell in love with Perky Jo, with toffee, caramel, hazelnut and pineapple notes in the aroma and flavour. It’s a blend of 2 roasts – with beans from Cerrado (a vast ecoregion of tropical savanna in eastern Brazil) and from New Guinea’s Highlands Area. Perky Jo won Bronze at the Australian International Coffee Awards in 2014.
As I was sipping away, I got to hear more of Ash’s story. I loved the way he told it. Just a gentle, flowing tale of growing up on his grandfather’s coffee plantation in Gampola, Sri Lanka. Picking the coffee cherries with his cousins, eating the cherries and handing the beans (seeds) to his aunt, who roasted them in a pan over a fire. And he fell in love with cooking and hospitality.
Coffee’s in his blood, but he knew from the age of 9 that he wanted to be a chef, and after finishing his training he travelled the world working in high-end restaurants and hotels. He settled with his wife in Melbourne. He explained to me that the water in Melbourne is the very best in the world (I think it’s to do with the hardness level). Ash said that even in Italy – renowned for making coffee so famous – they have to import bottled water to make their coffee taste good.
He was happy I was using filtered rain water to make our coffees
He opened his own café in Melbourne with his wife, Shiroma, and his children worked with him as they went through uni. He opened a Coffee Roasting house next door to the Café, and in the covid lockdown he was able to close down the Café, and immerse himself in roasting coffee.
Ash has moved up here to work with the Space Kitchen in ACT, and his wife, Shiroma, is enjoying the change of pace here to write her third book.
If you’d like to pop in for a cup of “Perky Jo”, we’d love to see you. Order ahead so we can make sure you have a great experience 😊.
Go to www.braidwoodfarmstay.com.au/cafe and order your treats, picnic or meal, and then send a quick message to me on 0417 456 093 to let me know where you’d like it served - in your Tiny House, in a Picnic Hamper (with a rug, hammock and treasure map to a secret location), or at the Clubhouse (in the Playground, inside the Dining Room or under the verandah).
Or you might like to take a supply of Perky Jo beans back to enjoy in your own piece of heaven. 250g bags are $15.50.
If you have any questions at all you can email braidwoodfarmstay@gmail.com or call Helen on 0417 456 093.
Hi Helen,
Our PR team has been working with Destination NSW on some content for their media centre. Destination NSW is the tourism board for NSW and their media centre has a readership of over 4,000 journalists who utilise the platform for story ideas and inspiration:
https://media.destinationnsw.com.au/tiny-house-stay-you
We're happy to see that they have chosen The Saddle Camp as the cover photo. Thank you again for all the efforts you put in and for making this tiny house a success!
Have a good day ahead!
Cheers,
Angela @ Tiny Away
Our Grazing Blog
Cadie - grazing high :)
This time last year I took a photo of a cow in Martin Royds' paddock at Jillamatong. The cow was standing in grass up to its neck, and you could just make out its head and topline. I put the photo on Saddle Camp's page, and marked it as "My Goal".
I can't believe we did it! Thank you rain! And another lovely season - and #alansavory for his books and courses on Holistic Management!!! And the Grazing Mastery course, Gabe Brown, Joel Salatin, etc :)
I heard a Guest on "Working Cows" last week say that he was using his Instagram Account to hold his monitoring photos, because it's easy to access them and see them in date order. And I think its a great idea. So please don't feel compelled to "like" the photos that are going up! There'll definitely be days when I'll be giving myself the Thumbs Down when I misjudge that day's grazing area and I go too heavy. But fingers crossed the photos show more groundcover, healthy happy horses, and lots of plant and wildlife diversity.
#horses #grazing #jillamatong
We did it!