Farmmade is a collection of images & words that inspires its readers to cook with what can be found in the garden, no matter the size. The ingredients could also literally be on their doorsteps. A lot of those recipes were created with findings from Lisa & Steffi’s own kitchen garden, situated on their 200 year old family farm (now run by their brother) just outside Munich. Lisa and Steffi’s initial idea was to use their blog to document their daily life and what they do. When they founded it in late 2016/early 2017 they never imagined that their content would one day lead to a beautiful seasonal cookery book with their name & logo adorning its cover.
It was only a couple of years later that the initial idea to approach publishers & potentially create a book arose. As is so often the case in life, destiny had a different path in mind for the two of them. In a weird turn of events, it was actually their dream publishers themselves who approached the sisters and helped turn their ideas into reality. Hölker Verlag (the publisher) created some guidelines on how many pages/recipes could be included but other than that, Lisa and Steffi had free reign on what went into the book as well as its appearance. Lisa was in charge of the photography (the portraits from the Farmmade girls were created with support from Carina Pilz) and the seasonal recipes were written up by both Steffi and Lisa. I’ve tried quite a few of them already. They’re easy to follow, delicious and I must say, it is hard to decide on only one favourite.
When I asked the Farmmade girls what their favourite recipes were, Steffi mentioned the romanesco sourdough flatbread and her special summery birthday cake. Lisa’s first choice was the tomato focaccia because not only does it taste wonderful, but it’s also simple to make. She also loves the potato tortilla with radishes and the battered elderflower blossoms (see recipe below). What do all of the recipes have in common? They were created with joy.
Joyfulness is the overwhelming feeling felt by the sisters when reflecting on the book writing process and their journey from starting their blog up until now. Had Lisa & Steffi lost that joy along the way, they might have made it to where they are today - and in my opinion, that would have been a real loss. Their love of seasonal cooking is infectious and radiates from every page, making it very hard not to become inspired. The combination of great ideas and the sisters clear devotion makes it oh-so easy to fall in love with their recipes.
Speaking of joy, I couldn’t resist asking them about what adds Heiterkeit to their lives. Lisa explains that her summers always start on the 1st of May. As soon as she sees the trees around her in bloom, she can’t help herself but feel heiter. Steffi feels the same way whenever she sees a flock of sheep. She can cycle where she lives and there’s a local shepard with his flock she sometimes spots when cycling. It reminds her of her childhood back on the farm and brings back feelings of joy and nostalgia.
Last but not least, I wanted to know what their biggest takeaway from writing a book was. Both agreed it was the realisation that they could actually do it. Within a short amount of time they got all the photography & words together. It was a process of growing and ‘learning by doing’ and they’re immensely grateful for the experience as well as the confidence & trust in themselves they gained from it.
The Farmmade girls have kindly agreed to share one of their recipes with the heiter community. Unfortunately, their book is not available in English (yet) but if you’re interested in learning more about how they cook, I highly recommend following their journey on Instagram. If you would like to get their book (in German), you can do that here.
