It’s all about love, value, and respect this week, plus bulbs, apples, re-appearances and another newsletter-at-large
It is officially Autumn and we’re still not quite at peak tomato, it’s been a late season. You can expect the likes of squash, pumpkins, eggplants, early brassicas, apples, pears, and perhaps a late flush of berries to be emerging soon at Harvest. The sweetcorn from Elphin Grove rolls on. Brady’s Lookout are back from a brief hiatus with some new seasons eating apples. Mumma Shazz has reappeared from the ether. The irrepressible Donna is back with your daffodil bulbs for the planting season. It’s a Lily Farm week, and if you haven’t had a chance to sample the saffron ice cream from Saffron Tasmania yet, do yourself a favour. All this will come as no surprise to regular readers, and life at Harvest continues at a clip. That said, with so many wonderful extra-curricular activities going on this weekend, we really wanted to share.
Love
There are not one, not two, but three Harvest-related weddings happening this weekend! Must be the moon or something. LT and Ferg of Avocado Moon and Mr. Brown and Town’s Mushrooms respectively are tying the knot in Low Head, and have procured the services of our Chef de Mission to cater. Perhaps a dubious choice but they were adamant. I guess we’ll find out about the wisdom of that decision soon. You’ll notice that West Bee Honey is a glaring omission from this week’s roster. Wendy’s absence is as rare as hens’ teeth, but in this instance, the family is celebrating the nuptials of their son James and his (presumably wonderful) fianceé Brittany. Plus one of our former Harvest Heroes Samuel and his fianceé are also ripping out the ‘I do’s’ to each other over the weekend.
Join us in offering all your best wishes, congratulations and heartfelt words of kindness to all three of these lovely couples! We’re not ordinarily the sappy types here at Harvest, but love is love and it deserves to be celebrated wherever it shows itself. You’d have to have a heart as black as garlic to not love a wedding. Wait… black garlic is sweet, complex and delicious. OK bad analogy, but you get what we’re driving at.
Value
It is sometimes easy to misrepresent the idea of value. Value doesn’t simply mean a bargain or a good deal. It’s not just about bang for your buck. We value esoteric things like friendships, love or the outdoors. Think about establishing a garden. It takes time, effort, knowledge, and sometimes considerably more money than you might otherwise pay for those vegetables you’re intending to grow. But the value you will receive from that garden is incomparably more than the tomatoes that were on special at the supermarket. You can share the literal fruits of your labour with your friends and family. You’ll gain skills and get exercise. You’ll make tastier dishes and have increased nutritional value in your diet.
We have two great expressions of value for you this week. The first is the wonderful message we received from one of our Harvest Heroes this week. In it, they described how much volunteering at Harvest has meant to them in a difficult time, and the joy they receive from socialising and being part of the community. Their presence costs us $20 in vouchers plus a coffee each week. Sure, that’s a low low price. But the value that they have created for themselves and for us is immeasurable. We were thoroughly touched by this, and we thank that person for sharing and congratulate them on their efforts. They know who they are.
The second is a project that we’re undertaking to produce a micro CPI for Harvest. We’re going to compare bundles of like goods from supermarkets against their prices at Harvest. Prices have gone up in supermarkets, we’re certain you’re aware. Do you know where they haven’t gone up? At Harvest. If we were gamblin’ folk, we’d wager good money that our prices are equal to or less than that of the supermarkets. And given that your spend at Harvest gives directly back to the producers, supports our Harvest Heroes, and contributes to the community that we all know and love, it has infinitely more value. We can’t wait to share the results of this analysis with you.
Respect
We can’t talk about love and value without talking about respect. At Harvest, we have nothing but respect for all people, regardless of age, sex, race, colour, or creed. But, with International Women’s Day very near, we thought this was the perfect opportunity to put the girls to the front! Since its inception, the driving forces at Harvest have been women. Across ages, generations and backgrounds, from founders to stallholders, to volunteers and collaborations, women have been at the core of what has made Harvest the success it is today. The founding committee was majority (10 to 2) women. Women are equally represented in our membership base, and on our current board. The greatest successes of Harvest both in the market and adjunct to it over the years are attributable to women.
To not respect this is to not live in the real world.
This week, we’re saluting that fact, and we’re inviting you to share your stories of the wonderful women of Harvest. From little interactions to major achievements, tell us what the women of Harvest have meant to you over the last 11 years. We’ll be sharing some of those stories during the week.
That’s it from us for now. Thanks for reading. If you do nothing else this week, keep these three ideas in mind as you’re walking around at Harvest on Saturday.