Guest Editor: Georgie Somerset
Who's savouring home before things get crazy again
Most people I come across seem to have some sort of relationship be it personal. professional or ‘girl crush-y’ with Queensland beef producer and ag leader Georgie Somerset. She’s currently the President of Ag Force QLD, Chair of the QLD Royal Flying Doctors Service and holds many other positions and responsibilities including making time for her loves of home cooking and gardening. If you don’t know Georgie we interviewed here. But for now, please snuggle in an enjoy her suggestions for a Sunday well spent. Thank you as always for reading, and thank you Georgie for compiling! Sx
Georgie: This year, more voters will go to the polls than ever in history - and you’d have to be under a rock to not know there’s a lot happening around the world and in our own country. I’ve been home on the farm for much of the past few weeks - a break from driving, hotel rooms and airports, and a chance to hear the small things (while still being connected).
The black cockatoos feasting on the white cedar seeds - their crack, crack, crack of the seeds punctuating my data entry for the end of financial year. The finches dive bombing our windows to nibble on the spiders determined to hide in the corners while I sip my coffee instead of cleaning the windows. The birdsong after an unseasonal winter storm - quiet and melodious, yet busy.
It’s been a chance to harvest the pumpkins and sweet potatoes with their leaves turned to dust by the frost, to savour the last of the sweet yellow cherry tomatoes and prune the quince tree. To keep the wood stove stoked with against the chill seeping in from outside and dip into @galah.press’ beautiful book.
It’s been a chance to have some routine and rhythm - to listen to @offthetracktraining’s message about consistency - not just in exercise but in life, to slow cook roasts and casseroles, to breath, and know that while our family is part of a global food solution, exporting nutrition through our beef, we do this by being connected to the seasons, by observing our precious natural landscapes and working in synch.
Let’s savour the last weeks of winter before spring explodes into life.
Podcast Playlist
The Flying Doctor podcast - stories from inland Australia and the amazing work the Flying Doctor does across our country.
You Don’t Know Me with Virginia Trioli - insights into people we think we know well!
15 Minutes with The Boss - snippets of CEO’s lives and what has influenced them - the random questions mix up what you learn from each of these leaders.
I am biased when it comes to Manson Podcasting and especially the podcast Company, and the recent episode with Carmen Quade @agrifocused resonated with me - Carmen is so refreshingly honest about finding your groove, being yourself and valuing what you do.
Lay your eyes on these Instagram accounts
@acountrymum || @trinapattersonphotography|| @rachaelwatsonply (Go girl!)
This pile of things to read
I first ‘met’ @ailsapiper through her co-authored The Attachment: Letters from a most unlikely friendship, then I dived into Sinning Across Spain, so I have eagerly awaited For Life, published last month, and I am savouring her words and imagery in these pages.
It was special to finally have in my hands on @bushjournal “In Love, Out Bush” - a compilation of love in images and words by @_PipWilliams - made more special as this gift to her parents was from our daughter. Dip in and savour the strength of love - for family, for animals, for landscape …
For those who have read her books, Maggie Mackellar’s life has taken another twist – this time moving inland, sheltered from the captivating, wild landscape of the eastern Tasmanian coastline. But change, even when it’s chosen, is hard, and Maggie is sitting with this in her newsletter The Sit Spot. We all go through change, some are sliding door moments, some we choose, some thrust upon us, and all takes adaption and time to process. Sit with Maggie as she adapts to her present life, but still shares gems of her previous.
And in the cooking department:
Alice Zaslavsky is guaranteed to provide wisdom to use vegetables - with an abundance of ‘orange’ from my rather neglected vege patch, here is her Orange Crush soup - perfect for the current cold snap.
To use up the last of the autumn yellow cherry tomatoes, Yotem Ottolenghi’s charred tomato and yoghurt mix – it has become a favourite in both summer and winter – I toss them over all sorts of lunches – a burst of sunshine on your plate.
Company on Sundays is a free newsletter delivered to your inbox each Sunday morning. If you’d like more of this - you can become a paid subscriber and receive a second email - Mid-Week with more in depth writings, recommendations and reader profiles. Sx
Thanks Georgie for all your reading, listening suggestions. I love the picture of the black cockatoo in the tree soured against the sky, gorgeous!