If there's one thing you want to be haunted by from your trip to Roseleigh the Witchery, it's their Killer Pies.
In a scary twist on paddock to plate, the Killer Pies are made on site at the Witchery's property, Overdale, Harefield, using meat from their prime lamb operation.
Killer Pies' Kate Wendt said it's their lamb shank pies that are particularly popular.
"We have a base stock of Merinos which we put Border Leicesters over to get a big framed ewe, then we put Poll Dorsets over them to get a heavy lamb and those lambs are used in the pies," Ms Wendt explained.
"We keep the lambs a little bit longer so their flavour is more intense, so instead of running them out at nine months we'll run them through the abattoirs at 14-months.
"We find that means they have a higher fat content and the fat content adds to the flavour."
Ms Wendt said with the drought they had been hand-feeding for the last 18-months.
"Keeping them prime and their fat content up is nearly a full time job," she said.
Ms Wendt said the name 'Killer Pies' was part of the marketing hook, 'Get them before they get you.'
It sticks with the theme of the Witchery which runs haunted house tours in the historical homestead.
Ms Wendt said the property had a long and fascinating history, being home to Italian prisoners of war, Serbian refugees, unmarried mothers and a convent over the years.
"Overdale is haunted, there's an amazing history," Ms Wendt said.
"There were buildings out there from the 1860s, most of it has been renovated but there are still some very old sections including the shearing shed, slaughter house and dairy."
The pies were originally sold at Roseleigh's gourmet shop in Wagga Wagga.
"When that closed down people just wanted to buy the pies because they were so popular," Ms Wendt said.
"We then did a line of pies and now we do all the festivals and markets." Most recently they attended Henty Machinery Field Days.
