A Table in the Orchard!

Image by Pip Lincolne

Have you ever had a moment when you thought to yourself,I think I'll move to the country, where life is slower, people are friendlier, the grass will be greener and my life will be simpler? Maybe you have gone one step further and looked at rural real estate online.... road tripped the coast and country dreaming of a sea change or a tree change or both!
'Inside most of us there is a dream of a 'tree' or 'sea change'.  Lovers of good food are particularly susceptible to the ideal of a small sustainable holding with a country kitchen and small room - but very few of us actually take the leap...One who did, and has never looked back is debut author Michelle Crawford. 

Ten years after ditching the bright lights of Sydney for the Tasmanian countryside, when not wrangling two children, a husband, 10 chickens or nurturing a large vegie patch, Michelle is busy recipe testing, food styling for cookbooks, working as a food curator for events, running workshops or writing her popular blog, hugoandelsa.com. What motivates Michelle is a passion for real food and getting to know the people who produce it. A devoted cook and eater, she can often be found exploring the countryside for fresh produce from local growers and spending far too long talking to them about potatoes.

Michelle has written a beautiful personal memoir of growing into the landscape in the Huon Valley south of Hobart. Warm, down to earth and inspiring, and lushly illustrated with lip-smacking images and recipes, A Table in the Orchard is breathtaking proof of how seductive a taste of slow living in one of the most beautiful valleys in Tasmania might be. 

- (words by Books For Cooks Fitzroy, Victoria)

Eighteen months ago now, I had the pleasure of sitting next to this lovely woman named Michelle at a foodie dinner in Sydney. Little did I know when we sat down at the table next to one another and began to chat together, that Michelle was living that tree change dream. That her and husband Leo had been brave enough to give up their Sydney life and move with their young family, to a farmhouse in Tasmania's lush Huon Valley.

Since that first meeting, mr G and I have visited Leo and Michelle's idyllic farmhouse in the Huon Valley, on our trip to Tasmania last summer. We shared a lovely meal cooked over the outdoor open fire and made new friends.

The more wonderful news is that Michelle will be in Sydney on a book tour over the next week or so and has agreed to join us for an afternoon tea in my front garden. I'd love for you to meet Michelle too and hear her stories of her delicious life.

Saturday 16th May from 2pm - 4pm  in my front garden - we'll be having afternoon tea of freshly baked cake and chatting with Michelle about her gorgeous new book. Copies of A Table in the Orchard - My Delicious Life will be for sale RRP $35 and Michelle will be available to sign one for you too!
To register for the afternoon tea please email jane@janegrover.net and venue details will be sent to you. Limited places available so be quick! If you can't attend but would like to have a signed copy reserved for you on the day please also email jane@janegrover.net
Alternatively you can purchase a copy where good books are sold.
Hope to see you Saturday x j

Photos courtesy of Michelle Crawford.