Shirley Harring, Hand Sourced

My guest today is Shirley Harring, founder of Hand Sourced.

Shirley is the director of Hand Sourced – an niche market food hub that operates both wholesale and farmshare produce distribution.

She is inexplicably drawn to food, and the kind of person you won’t want to dine with unless you mind sampling innards, gizzards, or food related obscurities.

In another life, Shirley qualified and worked as a school teacher. She stumbled into writing back in the early 1990s when her love of gastronomy and words led her to a regular gig for food and wine column in a local newspaper.

Shirley holds qualifications in gastronomy and food history; food writing; education; adult education and is working on the Masters of Food Studies.

Outside of work, she grows vegetables, wrangles chickens and devours books. Now based in Brisbane, QLD she lives with her family of boys, who she finds are very useful for washing up and carrying heavy things. The teacher still lurks within – she hopes that one day, tuck shops will turn into fresh food cafeterias and school ovals into edible, self-sustainable gardens.

She is always hungry.

You can connect with Shirley on twitter and Facebook.

You can find Shirley Harring on her websites shirleyharring.com and handsourced.com.au.

You can listen to this episode via the link above, on iTunes or Stitcher or via the podcast app on your smartphone.

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What Shirley Harring and I discussed

being the middle man between the farmer and consumer
ethical food
growing to organic principles vs certified organic
the exclusion of packaging when certifying organics
what organic fed actually means
focusing on stories
real farmers’ markets
slaughtering chickens and then butchering and eating them
going from being a teacher for over 20 years to running Hand Sourced
the impact of food on our health
cutting out preservatives and processed sugars
sponsorship of major sporting activities by companies such as Coca-Cola, KFC and McDonalds
school chocolate drives
challenges faced by our food industry and our farmers
Tammi Jonas podcast episode
transport costs
tips for people wanting to eat more ethically
making the most out of your roast
Flavour Crusader – an excellent site for information on ethical eating
price vs provenance
McDonalds and their meat
eating weird foods
food heroes
International Year of Pulses