10 Years of the Tomato and Garlic Festival! Plus, A new stallholder, the long weekend bounce back, Female innovation in farming and Tasmania Reads Week.
If we thought February wouldn’t quit, March is backing it up hard. This week, it’s the turn of the Tasmanian Tomato and Garlic Festival. More on that shortly, plus, with heaps coming up in the market in March, we’re setting ourselves up to keep the vibe high all the way into Autumn.
The 10th Year of the Tomato and Garlic Festival
This Sunday sees the 10th iteration of the Tasmanian Garlic and Tomato Festival. The 10th! Undeniably a magnificent achievement for Annette and Nev at TGNT. We simply love Annette and Nev. Their history in northern Tasmania, their skills, and their commitment to what they do are truly remarkable. To have created such a unique, nationally significant event from scratch and see it enter its 10th year bigger and better than ever must be quite something, and they thoroughly deserve our heartfelt congratulations for it.
Held on their property at Selbourne, the festival is – get this – this biggest collection of tomato varieties that you’ll find – here’s the kicker – anywhere in this country. Isn’t that awesome?! We think it is. Attentive readers will recall that Annette’s grandfather built the rodeo grounds at Birrallee, an event we had an absolute time at back in January. Well, Selbourne is just up the road from there, it’s beautiful country. If you’ve even a remote interest in growing tomatoes, you simply can’t miss this festival. Please show them some love and get along.
This week at the market
We’re super pleased to see a return to form after the chill of the long weekend. Your weekly fix of two big presences at the market are back in the form of Della Valle Gelato aka Scoopy and Wanderlust. As are Georgetown Seafoods, and Mount Gnomon Farm is beginning to emerge from the summer wedding and events season. It’s an on-week for Derwent Distillery, Mantje Produce and Lily Farm, and our late season stalwarts Elphin Grove and Sheffield Berry Gardens are sticking around.
But the big stallholder news this week is the debut of TImmy’s Croissants, a specialty baker specialising in… well, you probably get the idea. We’re looking toward not just the immediate future but Launceston’s food future generally. As such, we want to be a place for young up-and-comers like Ieuan and Timmy’s Croissants. They’re taking their first steps into the commercial world, and Harvest is an ideal for this first step. We welcome Timmy’s Croissants with open arms and mouths. Get along, say hello and show them we walk the walk too.
A couple more things
Our resident ‘nerdy researcher’ (a term she wears with honour, as well she should) sent us this fascinating (albeit a nudge grim) piece of published research about how female agricultural producers are responding to the cost-price squeeze of Australian agriculture. For those of you who choose not to click through, we thought this sentence from the abstract summed it up reasonably well (citation in link). “Female producers are seeking alternatives to hegemonic agriculture due to its gendered financial and social constraints. [Involving] sustainable production of niche products on smaller plots of land and direct marketing to capture more of the economic value of their products and to reduce risk”
Finally, next week, we’re hosting an event as part of Tasmania Reads Week! We certainly can’t wait to read all about growing, preparing, and eating healthy food for young children and their families. Bring your favourite book to share! We’ll have reading, storytelling, mini kid-friendly healthy food preparation and demonstrations. We aim to inspire young people to read and engage in healthy eating. Plus, Launceston Library is excited to bring a pop-up library to the event. You can join the library, learn about what’s happening at your local library, and borrow excellent cookbooks, children’s books, and more during the day!
Thanks for reading. It’s going to be a beautiful market day in the morning 🙂