Faces Behind Food | Gael –  Elvesgate Truffle Farm

Just outside the small town of Braidwood in New South Wales, something remarkable is quietly growing beneath 300 oak trees. Elvesgate is Australia’s only certified biodynamic truffle farm, and it is very much a labour of love.

Gael and her family started preparing the soil back in 2011 – a natural next step, she will tell you, after years of gardening organically through Sydney veggie patches and learning the rhythms of biodynamics. The truffle paddock was simply the biggest veggie patch yet. The farm is deliberately kept small. Every part of the process is managed by the family themselves, and that is exactly how they want it. No shortcuts, no herbicides, no rushing. Just oak trees, living soil, biodynamic preparations, and time. The chicory, clover, lucerne, oats, hand weeding and annual tree paste that go into caring for each tree reflect a deep belief that the best truffle can only come from soil that is truly alive.

It has not always been easy. Green manure crops so thick the baby trees disappeared into them, wombats digging mysterious holes across the paddock, bushfires edging close, La Niña deluges and the unpredictable swings of an extreme climate –  Elvesgate has weathered all of it. And yet the oak forest keeps growing, the undergrowth keeps thickening, and beneath the surface a rich and sparkling microcosm is doing its quiet, extraordinary work. The resident wombat and echidnas are not going anywhere either, and the occasional visit from feral pigs only adds to the wild character of what is, undeniably, an oak forest in the making.

Forage and Feast This July, Elvesgate is opening their gates for three very special weekends of Forage and Feast, an immersive experience where you will head out into the truffle paddock to hunt for this season’s black gold, before sitting down to a feast that celebrates the truffle in all its glory. Tymon, their son, is the creator extraordinaire behind the feast.

We are also delighted to welcome Gael and her husband Steve as a very special guest at the Southern Harvest Supper Club on the 24th of July at Scrumpers Kitchen –  a wonderful evening to hear their story, taste their produce, and sit down together around a shared table.

“We farm to the rhythm of the land –  biodynamic methods, patient cultivation, no herbicides, and a belief that the best truffle is one grown in soil that is truly alive.” –  Gael, Elvesgate Truffle Farm