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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The 2020 Tocal Field Days have been cancelled. While we won't be seeing you at this year's event, we will be there in 2021. Please call back soon for further details about Slow Food's involvement.
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Slow Food Hunter Valley is a group of volunteers who offer their time to support and run projects that raise awareness of the importance of eating seasonal and local produce, encourage food diversity, help distribute (and redistribute) food on a more equitable basis, keep our food clean and reduce food waste. Most of all, Slow Food Hunter Valley seeks to protect taste, flavour and biodiversity through local projects, campaigns, community engagement and educational programs.
We welcome new members, volunteers and friends who would like to join us. As a member of Slow Food Hunter Valley you will join a group of local volunteers at work and play. As a Slow Food member you will also be part 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 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...
