This week I got hold of a copy of Love, Sweat and Passion (warning: interesting results when Googling), Jillian Staton’s book was written over a year as she followed the fortunes of seven South Gippsland farming families producing olives, eggs, milk, cheese, wine, venison, lamb and  beef. The story starts in Spring 2015 which I remember with a shudder; rainfall in South Gippsland was at its lowest since the 1930s and the hills were so bare and dry it already looked like the end of a bad summer. As the season worsened and farmers carted in water to keep their stock alive Jillian considered putting the book on hold waiting for a “normal” South Gippsland season.  But watching the families just getting on with their lives Jillian decided to keep writing.

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