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Co-owner of The Agrarian Kitchen Rodney Dunn with a Wessex Saddleback piglet. £
STYLE ASSISTANCE: MARCO KHALIL
a weekend with…
The Agrarian Kitchen
Answering the call of the country, foodie Rodney Dunn and wife Séverine spend their spare time tending their very own Garden of Eden COMPILED BY CARRIE HUTCHINSON STYLING & PHOTOGRAPHY CAROLINE WEST
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T
his project really began as a desire to move away from the city to a gorgeous place where we could have our own garden. I visited Tassie on a work trip, thought it was amazing and Séverine and I started to think about what we could do here. Originally we went through all the businesses we could start – a restaurant or something similar – and we finally came up with the idea for The Agrarian Kitchen, which teaches people how to grow and cook using fruit, vegetables and herbs from the garden and produce from our sustainable farm. It took a couple of years to find the perfect location. Originally we looked at land thinking we would build what we needed. Then we started noticing the old places down here and realised we could never build anything that was as special or had as much character. From then on, we refocused our attention on heritage buildings that had some land. They had to fit in with what we wanted to do, so we needed to be able to put in a big kitchen, have a large garden and it couldn’t be too far away from a major centre. Our criteria narrowed quite quickly, so the search took a little bit longer than we’d anticipated, but it also meant we didn’t waste our time looking at properties that were never going to be right. We found an old school in Lachlan, about 40km from Hobart, and we moved here in July 2007. Half of the building is our living quarters and the other side is the school with two classrooms. What was the headmaster’s office is now The Agrarian Kitchen office. The house was livable when we arrived, but there were things to be done. We had to replace the floor in the kitchen as it was full of holes. Draughts would blow up and we’d end up with frozen feet. The colour scheme £
home truths
Who lives here: Rodney Dunn, a former chef and food editor turned cooking teacher; his wife Séverine Demanet; their six-yearold son Tristan; and baby girl, 9-week-old Chloe, along with a farmyard of animals. Style of home: A country schoolhouse reborn as a home and cookery school surrounded by gardens filled with heirloom vegetables and fruit trees.
KITCHEN (above) Séverine and Rodney in their kitchen classroom. When the couple discovered the schoolhouse, they knew it would make a perfect location for their family and business. In the cooking zone, Tasmanian oak floorboards (opposite) contrast with the stainless-steel benchtops.
“WE FINALLY CAME UP WITH THE IDEA FOR THE AGRARIAN KITCHEN, WHICH TEACHES PEOPLE ABOUT HOW TO GROW AND COOK” Inside Out / 97
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was atrocious – in the kitchen, it was baby blue with a dark blue border and above that was an off-white shade. Unlike many people when they move into period houses, we never tried to stick strictly to this place’s period.We like classic pieces, but we’ve also blended pieces from different periods. It’s always been our aesthetic, but in Sydney we lived in a city apartment, so this is a much more appropriate setting. It’s a country house, but it’s not classic country. For instance, the kitchen cupboards are wooden but we’ve used stainless steel on the benchtops. As well as getting the house and classroom ready, we prepared a patch of ground over winter, planted the gardens in spring, and the bulk of the classes started in January the next year. We only ever thought it would be Séverine and myself; that we’d get the garden going and have a class once or twice a week. Now we have a head gardener, Rainer Oberle, and some other people who help out, as well as guest chefs who come and teach classes. £
KITCHEN (above) Preserves, jams and pickles from the garden on display. DINING ROOM (opposite, top left) "The top of the table is waxed and everyone always rubs it," says Rodney of the dining table. LIVING ROOM (top right) The sideboard was salvaged from Séverine's old office.
“WE NEVER TRIED TO STICK STRICTLY TO THIS PLACE'S PERIOD. WE'VE ALSO BLENDED PIECES FROM DIFFERENT TIME PERIODS” Inside Out / 99
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fresh produce
Pear, apple and peach trees can be found in this orchard, which existed on the property. Since Rodney and Séverine moved in, the pair have added 30 to 40 fruit trees, including elderflower bushes.
This is the pure essence of food. We’re right at the coalface. At the moment, we’re enjoying these amazing little Berkshire piglets that I’ve had beneath the oak trees eating the acorns. They’re amazing, and not something you could go out and ask for at the butcher, but I’m able to raise them myself. I have my smokehouse and some chorizo sausage in there smoking from our charcuterie class. I have tomatoes hanging up in the kitchen, drying. I have a wood-fired oven. These are all wonderful things I can experiment with. Depending on how pedantic you want to be, we are mostly self-sufficient. We buy flour and sugar and basics, but when it comes to vegetables, we grow nearly everything. We don’t have a traditional weekend. If I have a class on, I’ll set up the day before – prepare the kitchen, put all the coffee cups out in the lounge, bake some sort of sweet treat for when people arrive, set the fire so I just have to throw a match on it – then the next morning we’ll get up early, start the fires, feed the animals and get ready for people to arrive. The class will start between 8.30 and 9am and run through until 4.30pm. Sunday is the start of our weekend. Living where we are and having animals, though, means we still have to get through all those chores in the morning. We do try to get out for a little while if we can. It depends on the time of year, but there’s always something happening.You can go for a drive in the country, do some antique shopping or there’s often a festival on nearby. But some Sundays are spent doing almost nothing. We have people here all week so it can be nice to just sit around and relax. & For more information about The Agrarian Kitchen, visit theagrariankitchen.com.
EXTERIOR (above) Behind fruit trees grows an abundance of herbs. An archway leads to the main vegetable garden (bottom right) where a greenhouse can just been seen. Rodney and Séverine start planting in September, as temperatures are too cold to plant anything sooner.
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what I am... Cooking… Lots of lovely braises. We’ve been using some goat, which is stunning. Planting… Everything, including peas. Everyone else in the country will probably think we’re a bit late, but it’s just too cold in Tassie to put those sorts of things in the ground before September. Harvesting… Artichokes, asparagus and rhubarb. Eating… Acorn-fattened Berkshire piglets. Reading… Usually I have a few books on the go, but at the moment I’m reading The Art of the Commonplace:The Agrarian Essays of Wendell Berry. I keep going back to it between cookbooks. Buying… Last night I went online and purchased a whole load of fruit trees. Dreaming about… Having more land. Relishing… The fire keeping the house warm. Coveting… A new ride-on lawnmower.
The Drill Hall Emporium is where Tristan finds a big ball of twine (above). “It’s not only the best antiques store in Tasmania but probably one of the best in the country,” says Rodney. A visit to stationery store Flywheel (right) is also on the cards. The trio grab coffee at Cheeky Little Place (opposite), a bite to eat at Pigeon Hole (below centre) and ice-cream from Sweet Envy (below right).
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