AVZ uptake, swordfish, trombones, Plastic Free July, and sorry about the scissors.
Yes, that is a seemingly random subtitle. It is, however, all relevant to the weekly machinations at Harvest. Let’s address the themes one by one.
The first order of business is to thank everyone for the hugely successful launch of the Launnie Place Branding. From our Harvest community to Angie and Claire, to the public at large the feedback was overwhelmingly positive and brought us all a lot of joy. Those who were present on the day will have heard us coin a ‘street’ acronym for our Mayor AVZ. Well, it seems around town that much like Notorious BIG, RBG and AMLO, AVZ is catching on. AVZ himself approves. Our sources in city hall say that it is catching on around the office. You heard it at Harvest first. We’re influencers now.
Swordfish (Xiphias gladius) aren’t commonly found in the temperate waters of Tasmania. They are certainly not found in the concrete carparks of Launceston. Nor can they play the trombone. Are swordfish even aware of the existence of music? What about yeast? Who can say? Stick with us here, it gets brilliantly weirder. Wille at Seven Sheds is re-releasing an old favourite this week at Harvest, titled SwordfishTrombones. Self-described as a ‘quirky’ beer infused with sugar beets and “the beats of Tom Waits”. Yep, Willie played Tom Waits’ album Swordfish Trombones on loop for the 72 hours of primary ferment. The resulting pink-tinged malty ale has the earthy hint of beetroot and overtones of Trombone. Let’s hope it isn’t the sad trombone. Never did I ever think I would write the word trombone so much in one paragraph, but here we are.
What’s chewin’ at Harvest
Roasts. It is roast season. Be it duck, lamb, or beef, the ops team has been fully committed to the good ol’ fashioned roast with trimmings this week. We spoke earlier in winter about the machinations of mash, which has been the agreed-upon accompaniment to said roasts throughout. Another consistent feature of our roast dinners has been the brussel sprout. Probably nature’s most underrated and divisive vegetable. Not ’round these parts. We love the brusso sprout and what with the price of lettuce nowadays, they are the ideal green veg for roast season. The big disagreement of the week has been condiments though. Gravy, obviously, but does one need a secondary condiment with a roast dinner? Mustards, mint sauce, spicy chutneys and sweet relishes are all strong contenders but they have been cast aside from the dining tables of certain people. Heidi.
The issue may prove to be the undoing of an otherwise cohesive and convivial operations team.
The downhill run to ‘that time of year’… eek.
Let’s keep focus though. It is only July, so no one needs to be reminded how fast July turns into October. So for now, Plastic Free July is top of the pops. At Harvest, we strongly dislike single-use plastics (aka turtle-chokers) and we’re committed to reducing and ultimately ending their use. This is why we are hosting Tamar NRM and the Catch it in the Catchment program in our community engagement space throughout July. There is a staggering amount of plastic waste generated each year, but there are so many ways you can reduce it.
Although humanity’s relationship with plastic is complicated, it is a no-brainer that ending single-use plastics is a key part of combating environmental degradation and climate change. Throughout July, indeed any time of the year, bring your water bottles, bring your tote bags and focus your mind on alternatives to single-use plastics. The turtles (and dolphins, and sponges et. al.) will thank you.
Finally this week, we must issue a public, sincere and necessary apology. To the office of His Worship AVZ, we’re sorry. We’re sorry we held the container for the fancy scissors hostage. And to the public, we’re extremely sorry that the scissors used to cut the compostable jute ‘ribbon’ were not comically oversized. It was a regrettable and embarrassing scenario for us, and we take full responsibility. Although it has been a lifelong dream to cut a ribbon with a local official (or to hold a comically oversized cheque, either way) the dream has been tarnished by the lack of comically oversized scissors. Again, we express our deep regret and apologise sincerely for how that played out. We hope you can find it in your heart of hearts to forgive us.
Ok, that is it for now, thanks for reading.