Where better for Buena Vista Farm’s Fiona Weir Walmsley to launch her first cookbook than at the Kiama Farmers’ Market, which she helped found nine years ago.

“Everything we’ve ever made for sale is in the book, including our famous whole egg custard - we haven’t held back,” she says.

“I am incredibly happy and proud of it.

“It is a really nice wrap up of how we got to where we are now.”

When COVID lockdowns meant Buena Vista’s popular cooking classes couldn’t be held, Fiona saw it as an opportunity to build on her earlier food writing to produce a book.

From the start, the concept was about personal stories telling of how she and husband Adam have got to where they are - raising goats and making cheese, as well as so much more, on a farm that has been in her family since the mid-1800s.

“It is our story, with recipes embedded in it,” she says.

“Recipes without stories are just a set of instructions.”

Much to her delight, her first approach to a publisher immediately resulted in a contract offer.

“Hardie Grant were my first port of call and I was thrilled that they loved the idea. They make absolutely beautiful cookbooks,” says Fiona.

Fiona with her family, and goats

Just 15 months later, From Scratch - a hard back 300 page book with over 200 recipes - will be on the shelves on 7 September.

“Originally, it wasn’t going to have cakes, slices or biscuits, but I thought to myself I’m probably only going to have one cookbook in me and they were the recipes people kept asking me for when they heard I was writing one.”

Biscuits remain close to her heart, as they were the first food product they sold when settling into the farm and her biscuit baking classes are always a sellout.

Locals who have been customers at the market and Buena Vista’s farm shop over the years will have the inside running on which of the ‘from scratch’ recipes to try first – will it be the kimchi, bacon jam, chewy caramel or one of the aforementioned cakes, slices or biscuits?

From Scratch has already been featured heavily in delicious, Organic Gardener and Country Style magazines, with radio interviews and a number of events organised both here and in Sydney to coincide with the launch.

“The book is entirely about this little bit of the South Coast, and it would be amazing if it helped lift the profile of our area as a food destination,” says Fiona.

Fiona will be signing books at the Kiama Farmers’ Market on Wednesday 7 Sept, 2-5pm. It will also be available in bookshops from that day, as well as from Oak Home in Gerringong and Burnetts on Barney in Kiama. RRP $48.

She will also be the guest speaker at the Gerringong & District Historical Society's next Night at the Museum, on Thursday 8 Sept, from 5.30pm.