Good, clean and fair food for all!
Good, clean and fair food for all!
Back on May 7! Yes we are reopening on May 7. Our Earth Market is returning and will continue on the 1st and 3rd Thur of the month. Remember we have moved to an 8.30am time slot so bring your...
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In response to COVID19, some of our local artisan producers have combined forces to bring you a shopping experience that adheres to social distancing laws but provides some of our best local, seasonal produce. Here is a list of just...
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Free local seasonal seeds! You don't need money, you don't need a credit card, you don't even need a shopping cart. You just need a trickle of water, a sprinkle of sunshine, a little bit of dirt, a stitch of...
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The Ark of Taste is a Slow Food International initiative aimed at promoting biodiversity (the cornerstone of a sustainable food future). In the Hunter Valley we often come across people who are practising the very essence of the Ark of...
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Our 2020 Terra Madre Scholarships (usually held in Turin, Italy) have been cancelled this year due to COVID19 restrictions. However, we will not be thwarted in our efforts to continue promoting the development of young farmers, the production of local, seasonal...
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Our 2020 Terra Madre Scholarships (usually held in Turin, Italy) have been cancelled this year due to COVID19 restrictions. However, we will not be thwarted in our efforts to continue promoting the development of young farmers, the production of local, seasonal produce, and a food system that provides “good clean and fair food for all”.
To this end, Slow Food Hunter Valley has been fortunate enough to partner with Hunter Organic Growers Society, allowing us to offer a SECOND Ernest Hardes Memorial Scholarship. This is an annual scholarship offered by Hunter Organic Grower’s Society in honour of the late Ernest Hardes – a long term founding member of Hunter Organic Growers Society. We are excited to be a part of it.
Our partnering with the Hunter Organic Growers Society means there will be not one, but TWO lucky students who will be awarded a scholarship of equal value! Full details of the scholarship and the application form can be found on the Hunter Organic Grower’s Society website.
This scholarship has been made possible because of our local organic growers and producers such as Purple Pear Farm, Little Hill Farm, Limestone Permaculture and Urban Hum. Applications have been extended until 31 July 2020. So get in quick and apply now.
In the last half of 2018 and into 2019 Slow Food Hunter Valley provided drought-relief boxes (packed full of nutritious food) to farmers in the Upper Hunter Valley. The initiative didn’t just help “feed our future” in the Upper Hunter. This also stimulated the economy of our local small-scale growers because any food purchased for the boxes was purchased from them. It also provided a vehicle that allowed our community to get involved (through cash donations or by giving produce for the boxes). Make no mistake, we ARE feeding our future.
At Slow Food Hunter Valley – in just one year – we turned 704 kg of fresh food into nutritional meals for the local community centre. The food is distributed to locals who are finding it difficult to make ends meet. This process is made possible through donations from local farmers, home gardeners with excess produce, and Greenhills Fresh Grocer. As many as seventeen Slow Food Hunter Valley volunteers have helped with the preparation and cooking at the Reader’s Cafe in East Maitland.
To encourage farmers and chefs in and around the Hunter Valley to focus on – and work with – local, seasonal produce we offer a scholarship to Turin, Italy to attend the bi-annual Terra Madre (Mother Earth) event. In 2016 Tom Christie, a local small-scale farmer, was the winner of the inaugural scholarship. The experience provided Tom with exposure to a wealth of knowledge from farmers across the globe and enabled him to realise the potential of small-scale farming. This scholarship will be open again in 2018.
Slow Food Hunter Valley continues to support school gardens such as the Telarah Public School who runs a Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden Program. The garden provides 130 children access a two-hour program each fortnight. As the program has matured, the teaching focus in the classes has widened to include applied learning in maths, science and English. It also engages parents who volunteer in the program and includes all student teachers who are rostered on for a turn in the garden.
Fresh food is still achievable even in remote outback communities. In Central Australia, Slow Food Hunter Valley is partnering with Watarrka Foundation and working with local Indigenous leaders and schools to grow fresh food. The supplies fresh produce to locals who would otherwise have to travel up to 600km (one-way) to buy what can be grown in their own back yard. Our Fresh Food in Remote Communities project has been ongoing for three years.
Slow Food Hunter Valley is made up of everyday people who, together, realise they can do a lot of great things that make a difference. And from time-to-time, a we even do a few extraordinary things. You too can make a difference. In fact, everyone can make a difference. Your contribution, regardless of how large or small, helps. So become a member, volunteer, come to a Talking Dinners event, attend our meetings, or make a donation. Whatever you can do, it all makes a difference.
Do you have a glut of hot chillies? Are they so hot you think no one can eat them? Are you wondering...
As a devastating drought continues to impact Hunter Valley - and other NSW - farmers, Slow Food volunteers in the Hunter region...
On ABC' Women's Work, read about how Amorelle Dempster turned a field of muddy pumpkins into a slow food revolution.
Our friends at Warners Bay Community Garden Inc. volunteered to turn several boxes of donated aprons into bags that can be used...
