Good, clean and fair food for all!
Good, clean and fair food for all!
Red Delicious and Granny Smith apples are once again on offer at the Slow Food Earth Markets, Maitland. The apples are unwaxed, freshly picked and have not been in cold storage. Join us (12.30pm to late afternoon). Local apples from Tilse...
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Slow Food Hunter Valley is pleased to welcome Anne Kelly as our new Leader. Anne was elected leader at the annual general meeting on 19 Feb. Anne has worked tirelessly for Slow Food for many years. She is a strong...
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Our calendar for 2019 consists of monthly meetings (on the 1st Tuesday of each month) and our regular Earth Market (on the 1st and 3rd Thursday of each month). We also play a significant role in a number of events...
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The initiative: Coquun and Slow Food Hunter Valley are partnering to bring you the Farmer's Bowl meal this winter. Every 1st and 3rd Thursday of the month - immediately after the Slow Food Earth Market - Coquun will be offering...
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They’re local, they’re fresh, they’re unwaxed and uncoated, they’re packed with nutrition, and they’re right here in Maitland ready for you! They’re Tilse Apples, they’re from the Upper Hunter and they’re ONLY $4.00/kg (and I hope that’s the last “they’re” you will have to read on this page). Oh … and they’ve been picked this week!
The apples will be available throughout February, March and into April (at least). Picking usually occurs from February to May so stay tuned for ongoing freshly picked apples.
Our offering this Earth Market is a continuation of our work from Sunday, 3rd March when a group of Slow Food members and volunteers spent the day picking 200kg of apples at the Tilse Apple Orchard. The apple picking was an initiative borne out of a fortuitous conversation between Steve Tilse (one of the orchard owners) and Slow Food Hunter Valley Leader, Anne Kelly and Earth Market Project Officer, Amorelle Dempster.
Our initial picking day was meant to provide apples for both the Earth Market on the 7th March and the Maitland Taste Festival the following weekend. However, our Earth Market sold out in under an hour (testimony to the support our locals provide to our farmers) and we had to get another load for the Maitland Taste Festival.
Located at the junction of the Hunter River and the Omadale Brook, Tilse Orchard is a spectacular oasis that has weathered the financial ups and downs of Australia’s often fickle economic market-place. Apple growing, like many other types of farming in Australia, does not pay highly. The cost of picking, low prices from supermarkets, and the high level of rejection for undersized or imperfect fruit have taken their toll. The problems are compounded by the fact that irrigation in the orchard has stopped due to shortfalls in water availability (although there is some comfort in the fact that the water issues come almost at the end of the season) – although since initially writing this, we have had some recent rainfall.
A quick check of two websites owned but the two major supermarkets on the 3rd of March showed prices for apples varying from $2.70 (for juicing apples) to $7.90/kg. The majority of the apples were in the $6.00 to $7.90/kg range. Today, as at the 2nd April, the prices range from $2.50/kg (for juicing apples) to $7.00/kg.
To maintain the orchard, the family have diversified into other areas and the orchard is now best known as an events venue (complete with accommodation) and for its cider.
Anne Kelly, Leader, Slow Food Hunter Valley, was part of the picking crew on Sunday. She said “there are hundreds of magnificent trees and they are bowing under the weight of the fruit”. She said the apples are now starting to drop and feral pigs are eating the fallen fruit at night.
Tilse grows three varieties of apples – Jonathan, Red Delicious and Granny Smith. The Jonathan apples were harvested during February leaving the Red Delicious and Granny Smith apples for the Slow Food crew.
If you like local, seasonal, fresh fruit that is packed with nutrition (and helps support local farming), then these apples are for you.
In 2016 we rescued acres of pumpkins that were destined to be ploughed into the ground. The pumpkins were gathered by Slow Food Hunter Valley volunteers and sold via a pumpkin pop-up stall in the Levee in Maitland’s main street. The participation of our local farmers, the support of Maitland City Council, the reaction of the media and the amazing response of locals (far and wide) meant hundreds of tonnes of pumpkins did not go to waste. This proves that together we can fix our food system.
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.
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