Welcome to Patch 2 Plate!

Hello!

Welcome to Patch 2 Plate! I’m Kat.

Have you ever wanted to grow your own fruit and vegetables and create unique, fresh and delicious recipes? Join me as I share my hints and tips for growing amazing seasonal produce and recipes and ideas on how to make dishes from the fruits of your labour!

First, I need to make a confession. I didn’t always have a green thumb, in fact, I regularly used to kill indoor plants and had a very small vegetable garden that didn’t get nearly enough love, but when we moved to a farm in Exeter in the Southern Highlands of NSW in 2018, something shifted. We bought the 6.5 acre farm to establish a vineyard, planting over 3000 grape vines (Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Gamay). If that’s not throwing my green thumb into the deep end, I don’t know what is!

While my husband Mike was tending to our young vines, I was inspired to plant and grow our own food. “Let’s live off the land!” I said! It wasn’t all roses, (pardon the pun!) There were good seasons and bad seasons for the various crops we planted and after six years we only now seeing some of our crops deliver…asparagus, lemons and oranges go guys! but there was always something each season that did grow well and every year I gained a better understanding of what it takes to have a successful vegetable patch and a harvest of delightful produce.

On our farm, I have an enclosed greenhouse for getting a kick start on seedlings, a vegetable patch for ‘plant and eat now’ crops like lettuce, tomatoes, rocket and cucumbers, an exposed outdoor patch for larger crops like pumpkin and potatoes, and an open Food Forest with long-termers like pears, apples, olives, and cherries. Of course, I’m always finding new, fun things to plant as well!

It doesn’t matter if you live on a farm like me, have a small backyard patch, or a couple of decent sized pots on your balcony, I would love you to join me as we journey together to grow our own fruit and vegetables and create interesting, delicious dishes that will wow your friends - not only because of how good they taste, but because the it was all home-grown by you!

Let’s get planting, and cooking!

Kat xx