The Winchelsea Star 20 Nov 2013 - Vol.36, Ed.41 | Page 26

26 The Winchelsea Star Wednesday, 20th November, 2013 Winchelsea Produce Buy and Swap Meet There is nothing like coffee and conversation on Sunday morning in Winchelsea. It really was even better to share local produce with local people and enjoy the mild sunshine, gardening advice and home-made, home-grown produce. Jacqui Doyle at La Hoot kindly offered to use her courtyard to set up a trestle table and arrange vegetables, eggs, plants and homemade goods. Although the turn-out was quite small, given it was short notice and a Sunday, there was a great deal of positivity and enthusiasm, and those that travelled from as far afield as Buckley, Moriac and Gherang left with smiles and handfuls of goodies and a promise to come back when we hold the event again. Those arriving for their morning coffee also used their spare change to buy themselves some fresh food for their evening meal or a cactus for the garden, and were quite enthused about coming to the next event. The ethos behind community gardens is perfect for a small town – share with the community and meet people, eat fresh food, and keep the food miles to a minimum. So many of us are really blessed with big backyards where we often have a surplus of goods that rot, are given away or are made into delicious jams and preserves. Why shop to buy herbs where they are growing in abundance right here in Winchelsea? I know I’d rather plant more and share it than hoard it all to myself – it doesn’t cost me any extra and especially with this spring’s rain, the vegies have been really growing well. I didn’t even know how much I had til I went out on the Saturday morning and realised I had beautiful bunches of kale, two sorts of cabbage, a punnet’s worth of snow peas, peppermint and Vietnamese mint, a handful of globe artichokes and a massive basket of broad beans. It was also easy enough to dig up some peppermint, Jerusalem artichokes and prostrate thyme to pop into some water ready for someone to take home and plant. I’d also bottled up some very Christmas spiced elderberry cordial made from last season’s elderberries from the freezer, made some oregano pesto, and bothered the chooks for a dozen eggs. I wasn’t really surprised no one took the Kumquat cordial – its bitter-sweetness isn’t to everyone’s taste – but I was really happy to come home with lemons, pumpkin and some golden lemon curd that is already half eaten as I write this morning. I also got two sorts of cactus and some parsley, as mine had sadly gone to seed. We even made $7, which my hubby spent on a toasted sandwich with his coffee. However, the profit wasn’t the object of the morning – it was to do something really positive when there is some pretty rotten stuff going on in the world and to put sustainable ideas into practice, and we could say without a doubt that we had been successful. We hope to hold the next swap meet in December, so keep an eye on local notice boards. If you are interested in the next produce meet, have any questions, could let us know what you might bring next time, or would like to go on the mailing list, contact Kylie or Natalie: [email protected] Until then, enjoy your gardens and keep planting!