Garden tours, a seasonal return, more awards and feel-good flowers.
Hello and happy Friday. November rolls on, and with it the spring produce. Most notably this week is the return of Andrea and her amazing Heathermoor peonies! We post this photo every year when Andrea makes her first appearance for the season. It’s easy to see why, it’s brilliant. And who doesn’t love a good colour gradient? The fact that Andrea would take the time to style and take this shot speaks to precisely the passion and love for produce we consistently bang on about here at Harvest. Moreover, peonies are considered a cultural expression of general goodwill and joy, honour and beauty. So giving them as a gift to someone is quite meaningful. Long story short, peonies make you feel good.
More awards
Another week, another big congratulations to a Harvest producer for a food award. Actually, two. Christie, Mick and the ‘junior nuts’ at Hazelbrae Hazelnuts have taken out not one, but two of three major gongs at the Royal Tasmanian Fine Food Awards: Champion Tasmanian Product and (drum roll please) 2022 Best Exhibit in Show. Read that? Best Exhibit in Show. The big one. Christy and Mick really believe in sharing their story authentically. Through their farm experience and commitment to the markets at Harvest and Farmgate, Hazelbrae connects directly with its consumers. There is no better way to serve your community than that. Massive congrats Hazelbrae!
Speaking of awards (it’s that time of year), we would be remiss not to give the Sprout Tasmania Small Producer of the Year awards a big plug. Sprout awards are not decided by judges or arbitrarily made in a back room. They are bestowed upon producers by you, the community. All nominations and votes come from the food-loving community of Tasmania, just another great way you can support your local primary producers. You can nominate and vote here. Get on it!
Gardening Northern Tasmania
If only we had our very own Costa! Wouldn’t that be marvellous? We may not have our own Costa, but we do have a whole raft of people that love growing, gardening, and sharing both of those things with the public. So, on Saturday the 12th of November, thirteen community gardens across the Tamar and Meander Valleys are opening their gates for the community to enjoy! This experience day is a brilliant initiative from Tamar NRM to showcase the benefits of community gardens, of which there are a great many. Click through here for a map and a list of exactly what you can get out there and enjoy this weekend. After some time at Harvest, of course.
For those that picked up on the Gardening Australia reference, it feels right to point out that Tasmania has made outsized contributions to hosts of that show over the years. Tino Carnevale, Hannah Maloney, Vale Peter Cundall (legend).
Oh yeah, the market.
Yeah, we should probably talk about that hey, given that this is a ‘market newsletter’. Apart from Andrea’s peonies, the other exciting news is the return of Jordan from Hillwood Fresh Food Co! Plus, and a bonus appearance from Robbie and Em at Derwent Distillery. Chris and GTS are back, and unfortunately, Mai and Steve’s Veg are out this week for a family event. This is super rare and we wish them the best.
OK, that is it for today. If you want to know more about what is happening at La Marché, you’ll have to roll up.