Carolyn Rees of Bellevue Station, Ivanhoe, has written the last cookbook you will ever need.

‘Shear Delights’ has 144 recipes of real food, for real people and it is truly amazing. 

It has everything you need to cook for 12 people over 12 weeks, although you can pare that down. For everyone from people who remember Grandma’s old-fashioned recipes but just can’t find them, that young couple who just moved out of home and could use some practical advice, such as how to effectively wrap sandwiches and step by step on how to cook a lamb roast, the value of information in the book is endless. 

Featuring meal plans and shopping lists to plan two weeks ahead, tricks of the trade, what you can cook a week ahead and what you can cook in two. 

A good cook could just pick up this book and be armed with everything they need to be a shearer’s cook. 

Carolyn and her family have run their sheep station, Bellevue, near Ivanhoe for a long time, and travelling 250 km one way for groceries is just part of that life. 

They all jump in and get the work done where it is needed. Carolyn cooked for their shearers, and knows exactly what time and other challenges and constraints face a shearer’s cook, and she knows good old fashioned tasty food. 

“There’s not a lot of time between runs and the food can’t be too spicy. 

“It needs to be plain but tasty, and lots of it! It has some amazing practical recipes.” 

The book has everything you need to cook for shearers, family or crowds,” Carolyn wrote in her foreword. 

The last pages are full of pictorial depictions of life on the farm, sunsets, shearing, and the whole family enjoying life on the farm and getting into getting the job done. 

‘Shear Delights’ available from Shear Outback