June 8th, 2020Chrissy loving her saffron – and ice-cream
Although technically, it’s more of a ‘slope’ than a ‘hill.’ Still, Chrissy really is Austrian and in real-life, she’s more vibrant than any movie character.
“I am so incredibly fortunate and lucky that I am able to do this, you know. No, seriously!” Chrissy said. “I’ve always wanted to grow saffron, but I’ve never had the chance to do so.”
To be fair, she has been busy with other things since making the move from her home country of Austria 24 years ago. She moved to Australia for love, but when that ended, Chrissy stayed for the beautiful family and community she had discovered around her.
She first moved to Spring Hill and it was quite a learning curve.
“I come from the city, from Europe straight onto the farm – I had to learn how to use the tractor, working in rain, in snow, it’s totally different to the work I used to do before, mostly in hospitality. It’s very hard, different work.”
Chrissy is happily independent and has a strong work ethic, going on to work at the local bakery and the supermarket in Trentham before she bought the hardware store and ran it for seven years – now, she works at the community bank.
In the meantime she met Sweetheart, who goes by ‘Finn’ to everyone but Chrissy, owner of Autumn Joy garden centre at Newbury.
Chrissy and Sweetheart took a trip to Tasmania and popped into a saffron farm. That visit sparked something in Chrissy, and this bubbly, strong, hard-working Austrian woman brought saffron to Newbury.
“I did everything myself, all the ploughing with the tractor – I’m very independent so I wanted to do a lot of it myself.”
Chrissy has even written a small part in a new book, Red Gold, being published in Europe, all about growing saffron around the world.
“I told my sister, she is in Austria, she has to buy the book.”
It’s subject matter worthy of a book because saffron is so very, very temperamental. Surprisingly, the local climate is perfect because saffron loves a good frost, and Chrissy has planted it on a slope for good drainage and the full sun it also needs.
“Everything is grown by hand, every flower is hand-picked, that’s thousands and thousands of flowers, using tweezers to put them into little jars, laboratory-style, as it’s very little.”
‘Little’ is kind of the point when it comes to saffron. It’s famous for being expensive, more expensive per gram than gold. But a woman doesn’t need as much saffron as she does gold.
“You only need a little, tiny bit to go yonks to create products and not just saffron rice but saffron jam, cardamom and saffron cakes, orange saffron scones, it’s just delicious.”
This year marks her third harvest and in growing her saffron, Chrissy has worked closely with the community that she first fell in love with when she moved to this country – friends helped her put up the fencing and another friend’s bees pollinate her crops.
Now, her community has combined in the most delicious way.
The divine folk at Powlett St. Ices in Kyneton, and at Dele Foodstore and Catering in Daylesford, have created a new saffron honey ice-cream, using Chrissy’s produce.
“It’s delicious, it’s fantastic.”
Chrissy has successfully pioneered growing saffron. But she still isn’t sitting back and relaxing. Now, she’s exploring making more produce to take to markets and she has sent off a sample to the ISO to be graded at the international standard.
From Austria to Newbury, Chrissy is a happy soul right where she is.
“Have a lovely, happy, jolly day.”
Editor’s note: Chrissy is well worth following on Instagram, @trenthamfields, featuring beautiful happy photos of everything from the snowman that Sweetheart made her to the stunning multi-coloured flowers of the saffron in bloom.
(This article is supported by the Judith Neilson Institute for Journalism and Ideas.)
Words: Kate Taylor | Image: Contributed
Image: Chrissy Rawson-Harris, left, with Dele Foodstore and Catering owner Adele Stevens, and the saffron ice-cream
