Good, clean and fair food for all!
Good, clean and fair food for all!
Our next general meeting will be held on Tue, 4 Jul (6pm) at the Readers Cafe and Larder, 3 Garnett Road, East Maitland. Please bring food to share. See our meetings page for RSVP and other details.
Read MoreOur next markets are Thursday 6th July (2pm to 6pm). They will be held in The Levee (High Street, Maitland). What will you find there? Broccoli, white Sebago potatoes, cauliflowers, spinach, west Australian grey pumpkins, kale, sugar pumpkins, lemons, limes, spinach, grammas,...
Read MoreThe semi-regular markets held in the Levee have been so successful that we are looking to make this a permanent Earth Market. We are currently working towards accreditation. We are looking to have Australia's first accredited Earth Market launched on 3rd...
Read MoreOpen to Slow Food members and the public, the Hunter Valley will host the Slow Food National Conference from 2nd August to 6th August. While activities start on Wednesday the 2nd (with optional tours), official conference events begin on Thursday...
Read MoreWe welcome new members. As a member of Slow Food Hunter Valley you will join a group of local volunteers at work, laugh and play. You will also become a member of a large international, national and local network of committed individuals who are focussed on keeping our food clean, saving food cultures and working to maintain biodiversity. As a member of Slow Food Hunter Valley you will be asked to do as little or as much as you feel comfortable doing. You will meet people, have the opportunity to participate in projects, you will make a difference, and above all else you will have fun! See our Membership page.
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.
Fund raising at Slow Food Hunter Valley, coupled with a donation from Tocal Field Days, allowed us to send Tom Christie – a young Hunter Valley farmer – to Turin in Italy for the annual Terra Madre event. As a recently established, small-scale farmer, this scholarship allowed Tom to be exposed to untold diversity of produce, to understand the range of farming techniques at play across the globe and the potential of small-scale farming. This scholarship will be open again next year (Terra Madre occurs every two years).
Working with the Maitland City Council and local farmers, Slow Food Hunter Valley has held regular pop-up markets in the Levee in Maitland’s main street. This provides farmers with a food hub that does not rely on the traditional distribution network. It allows farmers to sell freshly harvested produce directly to the consumer at a fair price. The market will start to run on a fortnightly basis from 6th April 2017. It will be held on the 1st and 3rd Thur of each month from 3pm to 7pm. Winter (Jun/Jul/Aug the market will move to a 1pm start-time (and 5pm finish).
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 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. Become a member, volunteer, come to our Talking Dinners, join one of our projects, attend our meetings, donate to a project, bring in your excess garden produce. Whatever you can do, it all makes a difference.
The Tocal Field Days were held on May 5, 6 and 7 this year. Slow Food Hunter Valley was engaged to look after...
Liam Dennis is our youngest Terra Madre farmer. See what Liam has to say about Slow Food Markets and his farming future. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9HHPdZRbB9k
I wanted to say thanks for getting these markets together. Ten days after my husband and I did our shopping there the...
The Maitland Taste Festival was on again on March 11 and 12 (10am to 4pm). This year we were weaving our magic with pumpkins....
