Nadia's Farm, proudly sponsored by My Food Bag, is documenting the farming journey of former MasterChef New Zealand winner Nadia Lim and her husband, Carlos Bagrie, a couple who took over the historic Royalburn Station in rural Otago three years ago.
We've seen the couple take on the mammoth challenge of producing delicious, ethically raised and sustainably grown produce on the 1200 acres of farmland, including trying to grow crops never before attempted at the station that traditionally specialised in sheep and barley.
Diversifying Royalburn includes an organic market garden, producing pasture-raised free-range eggs, honey, lamb, wool and even charcuterie – as well as maintaining some of the traditions the station has been known for for over a century.
Episode four saw both dreams and nightmares for the Royalburn Station team, who last week found themselves up the creek without a paddle when the conditions forced them to break into the winter feed for their ewes early. With the fate of Royalburn's lambing ambitions hanging in nature's balance, we're now bestowed with some relieving news; a station in Kingston has offered some grazing to the couple - at a cost - but will promise the ewes plenty of feed over the looming wintertime. The lucky find also keeps alive Nadia and Carlos' ambition to provide fresh lamb all-year-round to local restaurants.
"We have been very fortunate to find some grazing not too far from home, which was a bit of a miracle, because not many people have spare feed," Carlos tells us.
Next up, foraging in the Arrowtown valley. While the goldrush may be over, the valley is still a smorgasbord of culinary treasures and delicious autumnal flavours, and Nadia is keen to get her hands on some wild food for lunch.
Joined by Peter Langlands, one of Aotearoa's foremost food foragers, the plaid-clad pair get to work looking for wild mushrooms and berries in the woodland. While rosehip berries and watercress are quickly discovered, they are still a fair few mushies away from a meal.
After stumbling across a few lone fungi, Nadia and Peter eventually find a crop that looks good enough to eat, taking the two from "famine to feast".
Settling down among the picturesque scenery, Nadia busts out a pan and portable stovetop and gets to work preparing the wild mushrooms. She fries them in butter before adding salt and some of their foraged thistle stem and watercress. For the finishing touch, she slices some thick helpings of freshly baked Arrowtown bread before lightly frying them in the buttery, flavoursome goodness. It's safe to say, a lunch sourced right from the land itself hits the spot for Peter, who declares the meal "good enough to put on a restaurant menu".
We then pay a visit to Royalburn's free-range flock of chickens. We're also reintroduced to self-proclaimed "chick magnet" Jodie, now also affectionately known as "cock slayer" after culling three roosters in the first episode.
While Royalburn's tasty free-range eggs have proved immensely popular, the process has become more complicated than Nadia and Carlos initially thought. The scale of the demand relies on the happy chickens laying almost an egg a day, and they're not. With autumn coming to an end, the dwindling daylight hours have significantly affected their laying rates, with egg production plummeting. It turns out chickens are a fussy lot who don't like the cold and dark, and as free-range, roaming birds, they're not subjected to the high levels of controlled light and conditions they would be in a barn. With a "snow bomb" looming, time is not on Royalburn's side.
Next, we're presented with shots of "sheep sexy time", according to Carlos, as 'The Ram Man' Gary Mainland introduces his rams to Royalburn's transported ewes for tupping. The ewes have transitioned well to their new life at the Kingston station, but as Carlos notes, the borrowed grazing is not a long-term solution.
"As good as this grazing over the winter is, it's a get-out-of-jail-free card. As big as this farm is, it's really not big enough to do all the things we're wanting it to do. We need more space… we've just about outgrown Royalburn."
But, the stars align. After a meeting with the manager of the neighbouring Motatapu Station, Nadia and Carlos are offered 2500 hectares of land to add to their operation. With a similar ethos and approach, Carlos brands the news "the most exciting we've had". But of course, every deal has a catch.
Worried about spreading themselves too thinly across two big properties, another offer lands on the table. To justify the cost of the grazing land, they need to have grazing animals on it.
Although 2000 Romney sheep are up for sale, they aren't Carlos' favoured breed for the flock, and the cost is equivalent to a "decent house deposit". Eventually striking a fair deal, 2000 ewes head to Motatapu to give Royalburn some respite - and of course, grow their lambing ambitions.
"The universe has dropped this in our lap. It provides Royalburn the opportunity to grow outwards and specialise more in lamb… and it's literally a neighbour," Carlos says.
Picturesque views of snow-capped mountains are a feast for the eyes as winter arrives in Central Otago, but despite the stunning scenery, the biggest snowstorm in decades has hit the region hard. Royalburn is yet again facing a possible crisis with deliveries to be made and livestock to look after, and a mob of ewes have gone missing in the backcountry.
Of course, living above the snowline also has its perks. As the biggest snow dump in 60 years settles over the Crown Range, the family enjoy some makeshift tobogganing, before Carlos heads to an ultrasound appointment with the ewes. With high hopes for two lambs per ewe to be born come springtime - or 180 percent - the second mob is slightly disappointing, with 7 percent of the sheep dry.
The first is more successful, with just 2 percent not carrying.
The episode ends with Carlos channelling his 'country boy racer' dreams in the all-terrain vehicle as he heads to find the stuck sheep snowed in by the storm. Despite some hurdles, including a slip and the ATV doubling as a sheep dog, the ewes are eventually rescued - and Carlos agrees that Michael the sheepdog probably deserves a raise.
Do you fancy cooking up something delicious from Nadia’s Royalburn Farm? This week My Food Bag has Gourmet Roasted Porchetta & Baby Potatoes with Charred Fennel Salad & Nadia’s Apple Sauce on the menu. Enjoy a premium restaurant-worthy dinner at home.
Check out more tasty Nadia inspired recipes at myfoodbag.co.nz/nadias-farm
Watch Nadia's Farm on Three and ThreeNow every Wednesday at 7:30pm.
This article was created for My Food Bag, proud sponsors of Nadia's Farm.
