Dirty work for farmer at festival

WHEN farmer and author Matthew Evans decided to write a book about soil, he knew the topic wasn’t considered the most interesting.

But as he put it himself, “healthy soil is the key to a healthy world.”

Evans will bring his insight and experience as a farmer to the Bendigo Writers’ Festival in May.

“Soil, it’s pretty dry, dusty, not that interesting,” he said. “Until you find out that it’s so bloody interesting and wonderful. It’s so fascinating.

“That’s what I’m hoping to get across, that soil isn’t as boring as you think.”

In 2021 – Evans’ book Soil sold out all over the world and has been described as a love letter to Mother Earth.

The book provides readers with a deep dive into the history and function of soil and its relationship with food.

“Someone told me once soil is as sexy as colon cancer, how can you make people interested in it?” said the former chef and food critic.

“But the book’s been reprinted several times and I’ve been amazed that people are interested in the topic.”

“I was interested in how you can make better soil, but then I started to realise what soil is, it’s so fundamental.

“Before we had topsoil, we didn’t have complex life on earth. We had bacteria and fungi but nothing else.

“If we lose topsoil, it makes it hard for us to live and everything else to exist. Our origins are in soil, and our end will be in soil.”

Returning to Bendigo, Evans said he is pleased to see how much the region cares about its food.

“I’ve always loved Bendigo and I always felt it punched above its weight in terms of food, and it’s great to see it’s a City of Gastronomy,” he said.

“Bendigo needs to work out what grows really well, which they’ve been good at over the years, but also how to get the best out of the land around Bendigo, which is different to Ballarat or Gippsland.

“Wine people have known this forever, they talk about terroir or sense of place, that a certain side of a hill grows wine of a certain taste.

“I think food people are just catching up to that and realising what we do with what’s in the ground, the bit you can’t see and don’t want to taste, matters for what we do get to see and taste.”

Evans will be at the festival on Friday, 13 May at the Capital Theatre at 2pm, and appear as part of a panel at the same venue on Saturday, 14 May at 2.15pm.