Produce!

Ive been collecting ingredients all week for this weekends retreat. Today it all came alive with the arrival of fresh and delightful produce. I bought everything from the local organic store in Balnarring 'Oh My Goodness'. This is quite a special shop that specialises in local and chemical free produce over certified organic from too far away. Many of the farms are in organic conversion, and just down the road. This is reflected in the prices. The lettuces, herbs, zucchinis, beets, spinach, apples, avocadoes, cauli's are all local. Obviously the mangoes are a special treat from the sunshine state. I got some incredible looking roma tomatoes and in my excitement I bought ten mangoes! Because its finally time for exciting luscious fruit, and I wanted everyone that is coming this weekend the chance to roll and enjoy. I am going to make a raw mango lime cashew cheesecake tomorrow night for desert...

Farmers Markets on the Peninsula

Balnarring Racecourse Community Market - Balnarring Racecourse-Coolart Road Balnarring - 3rd Saturday of month, Oct - Apr 8.00am-1.00pm - Tel: (03) 5971 9308

Highland Farmers Market - Dromana Estate, 555 Old Moorooduc Rd, Tuerong - 4th Sunday of month, Jan - Nov 10.00am onwards

Mornington Farmers Market - Mirvac Lifestyle Centre, Bungower Rd (behind Bunnings) Mornington - 2nd Saturday of month - Tel: (03) 5664 0096

Mt Eliza'a Farmers' Market - Mt Eliza Way and Village Green - 4th Sunday of every month 8am-12.30pm - Tel: 0429 398 684

Pearcedale Farmers Market - Pearcedale Community Centre, Baxter Tooradin Rd, Pearcedale - 3rd Saturday of month, All year, 8.00am-1.00pm - Tel: (03) 5978 6620

Red Hill Farmers Market - Red Hill Consolidated School, Arthurs Seat Road, Red Hill, - 4th Saturday of the month - Tel: 0412 895 901

Seaford Farmers Market - Broughton Street Reserve, Broughton St, Seaford - 3rd Sunday of month, 8.00am-1.00pm

Tyabb Farmers Market - Tyabb Packing House, Tyabb Rd, Tyabb, 4th Sunday of month - Tel: (03)9566 0096

My adventure to the farmers market

Amazingly I have never been to the farmers market at the Collingwood childrens Farm. It's actually kind of unbelievable if I stop to think about it, but i guess it's not really 'on my way' and I usually don't have extra leisure market time (for some strange reaso?n), and usually I just pop along to Ceres and get my weekly friendly little vegetables. It was a really nice experience to go to the farmers market today though in terms of your weekly veggie shop in can't replace Ceres, what it does have though is extra special fancy farm fresh artisan craft foods. I tasted the softest juiciest oranges I've ever had in my life, bought rock hard beautiful green avocados grown in northen Victoria, sampled delicious dips, olive oils, kiwi fruits and wished that I had a car so I could buy a mushroom growing kit! It was very very exciting to see so many local producers embracing slow food, low food miles and chemical free/conscious/organic/biodynamic farming. Harray for food! And for sunshine!

Verde Provodores

Wow! Every now and again you stumble across someone amazing who is in love with life and food and conducts themselves with effortless heartfelt integrity. Verde Provedores is an artisan food producer based in Daylesford specialising in Organic, preservative free handmade dips made from locally sourced ingredients.
Have a look at Kylie's lovely website!

Mount Zero

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Mount Zero are farmers market regulars for many years. Their farm is certified biodynamic and located out near the Grampians in west victoria. The Mount Zero core principals are regionalism, sustainability and quality, all very very good things.
They produce amazing olives, olive oil, tapenade,
beetroot and orange relish, and dukkah as well as supporting and distributing produce from neighbourjnh farms. I bought a huge jar of Gordal green olives, locally grown biodynamic chickpeas and pink lake salt. The salt is hand harvested from a natural salt lake in Dimboola, north west Victoria. The mount zero man (I'm sorry I don't know your name!) told me that he goes up there himself with a shovel and collects it. I've been buying this salt sometimes but it's so wonderful to learn more about it, move over Himalayan crystal salt we've got a new food mile friend!

50km from the Mount Zero Olive grove, in Western Victoria is a large pink salt lake.  The lake is fed by natural salt aquifers and each summer dries to reveal a bed of salmon pink salt.  Mount Zero and the lake's traditional owners, the Barengi Gadjin Land Council, have been working together to hand harvest a small amount of salt from the lake each year.

Community Farmers Markets

FARMERS' MARKETS

Veg Out, St Kilda
1st Saturday of every month

Collingwood Children's Farm
2nd Saturday of every month

Gasworks, Albert Park
3rd Saturday of every month

Slow Food Melbourne, Abbotsford Convent
4th Saturday of every month

Raw? Organic? Local?

Carob powder is always roasted unless it's special raw carob powder. It's very hard to get so fine, and high temperatures are part of how they grind it so fine. That's one reason why you'll see that really raw carob powder is quite coarse compared to the normal stuff. Sheryl

Is it possible?

This morning I am thinking about the food miles connundrum, it's always there in the back of my mind. I prepare most of my own food (including condiments and pickles) and eat mostly locally grown fresh vegetables (including weeds, and greens from my own backyard) but I also eat some biodynamic/organic products (olive oil, almonds, chia, hemp) from around the country (Australia is huge) and superfoods from South America (coconut oil, maca, cacao). Is it sustainable or even truly nutritious to import food into our lives?
Is it possible to live a vibrant super-well existance on a high quality organic plant based diet in Australia and only eat foods grown here?
Is Queensland too far away from Melbourne? In the last few months I have cut down on the amount of superfoods from far away and have started honouring them more when I use them. My food preparation has become simpler, with less ingredients and more simple raw foods, I have started researching Indigenous Australian superfoods and am interested in entering the food miles discussion again, I'm considering whether I should try and aim to only eat local / Australian foods. Is there a benefit to imposing rules? Should it be more than a gentle consideration. Is organic more important no matter where it comes from? Is vegan? Is raw? Is local? In my experience of navigating true wellness and nutrition, strict ideas are never particulary useful and there needs to be a strong element of instinct and choosing in the moment what feels most congruous. I want to know what you think and feel about this topic. I would also love links to people and blogs that have experimented with low food mile diets, particulary if they have done it here. I'm really curious whether a mostly vegan diet is viable and truly sustaining in our local context.

When I was in Alice Springs I bought amazing dates that were locally grown 60kms out of Alice. Does anyone know where you can source australian grown dates in Melbourne?

"Permaculture is revolution

disguised as organic gardening."
- Graham Burnett

'Permaculture – A Beginners Guide'