Care package

Laura Dalrymple and Grant Hilliard are the first to admit they are unlikely people to be running a butchery. In 2006, Laura had a satisfying, if not demanding, job as a graphic designer and Grant was an aspiring filmmaker when they stumbled into a career change and opened a whole-animal butchery, Feather and Bone Providore, in Sydney’s inner west.

Grant had been working as a sommelier at the landmark Bondi Beach restaurant Sean’s Panaroma, when it occurred to him that while grape variety, terroir, growing, harvesting and processing practices were considered paramount in winemaking, scant attention was given to these values in the meat industry. Surely, he reasoned, holistic management and regenerative farm practices should be as important to the food we eat as the wine we consume? The butchery was born as a sideline to wholesaling meat from maybe four NSW farms to top-end restaurants. Then the diners started asking where they could source meat of this quality and provenance, and these days Feather and Bone sells retail as well, and sources beef, veal, pork, lamb, mutton, hogget, poultry and goat meat from a hand-picked list of 30 to 35 farms across NSW, plus a few from Victoria. Because they are committed to the principle of using the whole animal, they also make a range of cured meats and sausages, broths, soups, prepared meals, fats and bones. They also sell eggs, honey, olive oil, bread and sustainably grown fruit and vegies.

Laura and Grant’s mission is to give consumers access to “meat from pasture-raised animals grown on regenerative farms that contribute to the overall health of the planet”. They aim for a short supply chain with direct line of sight from farmer to consumer. Everything the customer buys