The 2017 Guyra Trout Fest will swing into action this weekend – and there’s plenty to see and do.

Fairfax Media caught up with a bunch of local producers who will be on show at this Saturday’s Market Day in the main street.

Fishing and art competitions will also feature throughout the festival, which is now in its second year.

SCIENCE BEHIND THE MAGIC

Gabe Staats is one of the few people in Australia who grows his mushrooms from scratch, right down to the spore.

The father-of-two dived into the mushroom trade in 2013 at his Glenore Cottage Farm near Guyra.

“When I first started the business I was working everyday,” he told Fairfax Media.

“In the mushroom business you can either buy the spores, or mycelium, and they then grow on a grain.

“I grow the mycelium on petri dishes with an agar mix.

“I grow Oyster mushrooms and they can grow on different sorts of straw including wheat, rye and I use organic sugarcane mulch.

“My Shiitake mushrooms grow on hardwood sawdust.

“There are very few people that do the whole process from scratch.”

Mr Staats said he used to produce about 40 kilograms a week but has knocked it back to 25.

“At the time I had the dream of a family-run business but after the first year I quickly realised my kids weren’t too interested,” he joked.

“It could have gone much bigger but I didn’t want to become a slave … I still wanted to be a father and have balance.”

Each week Mr Staats has one day of lab work, two days of transferring the spores to sugar cane, one day transferring to sawdust and another day of harvesting. 

“We moved up here initially because I always liked living out in the bush,” he said.

“We wanted to start up a family business and have a farm.

“I was a chef for 20 years and always enjoyed working with food and I wanted to try and grow a specialty product.”

Mr Staats travelled around the world as a chef for 16 years.

“I travelled over 46 countries and learnt all these different languages,” he said. 

When he first started, he was taught primarily in classic French cuisine.

You can find Mr Staats Shiitake and Oyster mushrooms at weekend farmers markets across the region.

He will also be throwing together some omlettes at the Trout Festival’s Saturday markets using Working With Nature eggs and the Guyra Tomato farm’s tomatoes.

“I put in some feta and herbs as well,” he said.

Mr Staats will also be providing his special recipe sausages with two flavours including pork, fennel and mushroom and lamb, mint and pea. “It’s almost like a Sunday roast,” he said.

UNCLE BILLY’S RETREAT LURES TOURISTS FOR 22 YEARS

FARM stays are becoming increasingly popular with city folk, and even locals, looking for an escape from the day-to-day hustle and bustle.

Uncle Billy’s Retreat, near Guyra, tapped into the market 22 years ago – and owner Sue Atkin has no plans of slowing down.

“We had the water to begin with, with an irrigation dam, but we were looking for something to make extra income,” she told Fairfax Media.

The Merino sheep and cattle farmers started the retreat in 1995.

“We started off pretty small with one cabin and eventually it just grew,” she said.

The farm has featured on the Great Outdoors and Getaway.

Even Australian actor Garry McDonald was a regular visitor.

“He loved trout fishing and came with fishing guru, Steve Starling, and they came a few times and wrote a brilliant article,” she said.

“It gave us a real boost.”

Mrs Atkin’s three sons are still fairly involved in the property.

“Mark runs fat lambs mainly and Rob owns land nearby and runs cattle and some Merinos and a few fat lamb … John lives in Guyra,” she said.

“Today we’ve got two main lake areas with cabins.

“There’s a big lake where we started our business and I’ve got two cabins down there and a separate amenities block as well as a big shed which acts as an entertaining area.”

Over the years the retreat has been a popular destination for weddings and birthday parties.

However, most of the business is for small groups or individuals looking for a quiet escape to fish.

“Rainbow trout and a few yellow belly (golden perch) show up occasionally,” she said.

“We put those (perch) in about 22 years ago and occasionally somebody catches one.”

Each year Mrs Atkin purchases trout from Ebor’s Trout Hatchery to stock the lakes – with 1000 put in just last week.

The main dam has a row boat and Mrs Atkin said only fly-fishing is permitted. 

Fishing clubs also have competitions at the retreat including the South East Queensland Fly Fishers Club.

To book call (02) 6779 4216 or visit their website www.unclebillys.com.au 

LOCAL TROUT ON THE MENU

FOR almost 18 years, Deano Williams has been growing trout.

In that time, the Black Mountain producer has gained interest from big names, including Sydney-based celebrity chef Kylie Kwong, and supplies to restaurants and co-ops in Brisbane and Coffs Harbour. 

“I put them through a drying process and then I smoke them (in a big oven) for about 3.5 hours with beech wood and oak wood,” Mr Williams, owner of Deanos Spring Water Smoked Trout, told Fairfax Media.

“It gives them a nice smokey flavour and keeps moisture in the fish.”

Mr Williams said the New England was a prime area for trout, due to the cooler climate.

The local producer has eight grow-out ponds and produces around a tonne of yabbies each year. “I grow anywhere between 10,000 to 15,000 (trout) out there per year,” he said.

Mr Williams has a recreational dam for visitors to enjoy a barbecue and fish. “I’m working on building a cafe in here (next to the recreational dam),” he said.

“The builders are also doing toilets and showers so the caravans can pull up and stay for the night.”

The former shearer said he got into the fish business after working on prawn boats up north for a couple of years. “I came back here as a full-time shearer for 18 years and this was just a bit of a hobby on the weekends,” he said.

“Now I’ve turned it into a full-time job.”

An average day at the farm can start pretty early, he said. “When I do cook days I’m down here around 4.30am to put the cook on so it finishes about 8.30am ready to process,” he said.

“I’ve also got to fillet the fish and we smoke them whole. “Sometimes we put a bit of flavour on them like dill or bush lemon.” 

Mr Williams can process around 140 fish at a cook.

“During busy times I’m probably smoking three or four times a week,” he said.

In two more weeks a big drag net will harvest the trout, just in time for the TroutFest where Mr Williams will have a stall.

IGA and T&A Meats in Guyra also sell the local product.

ART EXPO

New England artists are gearing up for this year’s Guyra TroutFest Art Expo.

Local artist Brian Irving said he hoped the categories would inspire sculptors and photographers from across the New England to participate as well as visual artists.

Related Stories from last year:

“We’re always looking for artists and if they could put something in we’d welcome that,” Mr Irving told Fairfax Media.

The categories are Fishing in the New England, Landscapes – Guyra and the New England and Festival Action Shots (e-files close 5.30pm Sunday October 1 at the Guyra Bowling Club to be displayed electronically during the presentation event). 

There will also be a prize for the most humorous entry.

The Art Expo will officially open at 5.30pm Friday September 29.

Junior photographers are also encouraged to enter with a special prize for those 16 years and under.

Entries for all sections close September 27.

REELING IN REGION’S BEST

It’s almost time to wet the line and hook-in to some action at the second-ever Guyra TroutFest.

The three-day event will feature a fishing clinic for the kids, fishing competitions, an art exhibition, music, open gardens, district tours and a Market Day to showcase the region’s best produce and craft.

Market Day Coordinator Beth Williams said organisers have already locked in over 30 stalls for the day.

“It will be similar to last year but a lot bigger,” Ms Williams said.

“We’ve had a great response from local producers.”

On Saturday, the street will be closed off to make way for the best in food, fishing and entertainment, Ms Williams said.

“Local eateries will all be open serving fish-related dishes,” she said.

“There will be tasting plates … trout, eggs, mushrooms, geese and there will be a jumping castle for the kids and a fish care van.”

And if you’re feeling a little bit adventurous, Ms Williams said a tank full of fish will be available to touch – similar to the tanks for tourists in Bali and Thailand.

“The fly fishing man will be doing his fly casting demonstration,” Ms Williams said.

“This year there will also be a stage with tables and chairs and the producers gazebos will be in close proximity to that.”

Musos are encouraged to enter the all-ages busking competition which is to be held on Market Day, Saturday 30.

Arts and crafts stalls are also being encouraged to apply for a stall space for Market Day.

Kids fishing workshops will run between 10am and 2pm on Friday September 29. 

A CRACKING BUSINESS IN GUYRA

Eight years after egg producers, Derek and Fiona Smith, first hatched the idea to start Working With Nature – they couldn’t have known just how far it would grow.

And you can catch them at this year’s TroutFest.

“We’ve been doing the mobile chook sheds now for eight years but we only both gave our jobs away three years ago,” Mr Smith said.

Before the Guyra couple cracked into the business, Mr Smith taught horticulture and organic farming at TAFE while Mrs Smith worked at First National Real Estate in Armidale.

Fast forward and the pair have 3,000 chickens, three mobile sheds and a client base covering two states.

“It’s a bit exciting,” Mr Smith said.

“We hope to have four or five mobile sheds on the property here and then at some stage we’ll build sheds for other people.”

The sheds, which can be moved onto fresh grass, are becoming popular across the country as an ethical way to produce.

“We’ve had a few people interested in having sheds and having the fertility value of the chooks on their farm … but they didn’t want to do all the marketing and packaging,” Mr Smith said.

“So we can do that part – as long as we can have some kind of arrangement with quality control because that is paramount to what we do.”

But while the next stage of the Smith’s enterprise is still in the planning phase, original business is booming.

“About half of the eggs we produce go to Armidale and Guyra to coffee shops and butchers while the other half go to organic shops on the Sunshine Coast, Brisbane, the Gold Coast and Sydney,” he said.

“We also had a guy move from Armidale down to Kings Cross [in Sydney] who opened up a cafe and he insisted that we give him our eggs.”

As for the long-term future, Mr and Mrs Smith are focused on building more sheds and fine-tuning nutrition.

“We’ve just put in a sprouting shed to grow barley grain,” he said.

“That has already improved the quality of the eggs.”

Mr Smith is also currently building a 12 x 11 metre packing shed on the property which will house a commercial kitchen, bathroom and a workshop to build sheds.

“It looks much bigger than it needs to be but we wanted to build something we could grow into,” he said.

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