Joe’s Market Garden FarmRaiser / Green Drought
Joe’s Market Garden FarmRaiser Yesterday a group of visitors from ORI Co-op came down to visit Joe’s Market Garden and take in the Saturday Farmgate. It was a beautiful scene; a group of regular veggie shoppers were gathered around the fire bin chatting, sipping coffee, breathing in wood smoke mixed with the smell of soil […]
Give us a sign Youbi / Never a better time to be Australian
Give us a sign For months at the new Fair Food warehouse in Preston disorientated delivery drivers have been tentatively sticking their heads in the front door asking if they’re in the right place. The confusion has arisen due to the huge plumbing supplies sign above our roller door, a leftover from the previous tenants. Clearly something had to be done. First […]
The bill’s arrived / Regenerative Agriculture Day
The bill’s arrived…. As the big cold front came over Western Victoria last week I called Joe Sgro, Fair Food’s largest vegetable grower, to see if the rain had reached his market garden in Colac yet. It’d starting spitting and Joe was hoping for a good drenching after all the heat. January has been brutally dry […]
Ahead of his time, again / Meet “Previously Ordered”
Ahead of his time, again. Four years ago this past week Joe Garita, our market garden mentor, passed away (that’s Joe above with his John Deere tractor). Beginning in 1945 with his father and then later with Jean, his wife, Joe farmed his two and a half acre market garden on the Merri Creek feeding his […]
Fresh pistachios – a rare treat indeed
Fresh pistachios – a rare treat indeed Shane O’Dea remembers that when they first started growing pistachios people said Wahring was too far South and the trees wouldn’t bear. But Jenny, Shane’s sister, did her research and discovered during the 1970’s the CSIRO trialled pistachios about 80kms from the O’Dea’s farm, confirming they were viable […]
A delicate balance / Milk in glass
A delicate balance Every year around this time Jenny Indian emails from Stanley with an update on her and partner, Steve’s, chestnuts and quinces. This year I’m sharing Jenny’s message because it so honestly and humbly reveals what farmers are going through with the drought and a never-ending fire season. It also gives an insight into the constant […]
