Maitland embraces fresh, local produce

Small farmers in the area are experimenting with new crops and varieties, with their produce promoted through Slow Food Hunter Valley’s events, including fortnightly markets set to kick off next month.

Australian councillor for Slow Food International and local chef Amorelle Dempster is encouraging local producers to grow more varieties to spread their market risk and increase biodiversity on their properties.

Mrs Dempster, who grows tumeric with her husband Andrew, said interest in local produce had grown since a campaign to help farmers Matt Dennis and Tony Milburn offload their pumpkins last year.

Mr Dennis was planning to plough in a 40-tonne pumpkin crop as it wasn’t viable to send produce to the Sydney markets. 

A push to sell those pumpkins locally resulted in 20 tonnes of pumpkins being sold in two hours and sparked demand for local produce, Mrs Dempster said.

“There was outrage from locals – they queued for hours to buy a pumpkin and support local farmers.

“After the floods the crops were not acceptable to big wholesalers and Matt had nowhere to sell his pumpkins.

“The community really responded to a farmer in trouble by buying fresh local produce that was going to be fertiliser – some people didn't even know we had local farmers growing this food.”

The group’s philosophy of good, clean, healthy food is behind a push for more varieties.

“We think there are two levels of farming, broadacre and small farms, and small farms is where there’s opportunity to grow more varieties and increase biodiversity,” Mrs Dempster said.

“By using their acreage to grow diverse crops, these producers can have an income all year round.

“With a monoculture, when a crop is destroyed, the income is gone for that season.”

Slow Food Hunter Valley recently supported the Maitland Taste Festival, a two-day event which included pumpkin ravioli tasting, and pumpkin gnocchi and basil pesto making classes.

The next step is helping farmers promote their produce, and the Maitland markets was doing a great job of that, Mrs Dempster said.

“We’re helping farmers find ways to sell their products rather than having to sell to wholesalers.

“The slow food market model is all about integrity – telling consumers who the farmer is, what they grow, where they grow it, what conditions it’s grown in and what varieties they grow.

“This food hasn’t travelled anywhere, and these farmers are offering it to consumers at a fair price, but it’s still much more than what they’d get from a wholesaler.

“Farmers are small business owners too, and sometimes consumers tend to forget that.”

A LIFETIME interested in dirt has led to a big project for Austin and Laurel Breiner, who are transforming a former river mining site at Oakhampton into a fresh food oasis, complete with its own rainforest. 

After growing tomatoes with his father, Mr Breiner became a geologist before retraining as a secondary science teacher.

It’s been a slow haul since the couple purchased the block in 2003. 

They run about 50 chickens, producing free-range eggs, and have a 1.5-hectare market garden, focusing on pumpkins and tomatoes.

“We’re gradually working the place back into production and we’ve had the gardens for the last six years,” Mr Breiner said.

Mr Breiner is one of a few local producers looking to improve biodiversity and market options with new – or in his case, old – varieties.

“I get a lot of seeds from Diggers and Eden Seeds, so I’ve got heirloom varieties from France, japan, America and Germany,” he said.

The current growing season has been tough on the rare varieties, but it’s all a learning experience.

“This year we lost three quarters of crop with heatwaves in December and January but there’s still quite a bit to harvest,” Mr Breiner said.

“It’s a great learning process for which varieties will handle the heat.”

Perseverance is a trait that runs in the family.

“My dad was the first person to grow the Gross Lisse tomato variety in Australia.

“The seed was smuggled out of Germany when the war broke out and an agronomist send the seeds to my dad.

“Grosse Lisse used to be an old favourite. It doesn't travel as well as the new hybrids, but it's much more flavoursome.”

Mr Breiner’s focus is on flavour and freshness.

“The trend has been to produce stuff that will sit on the shelf for weeks or months – you could play cricket some tomatoes – but I want to produce good quality tomatoes that taste better.”

He said there was “enormous range” in taste between pumpkin varieties.

“Some are very dry, like the monkey’s bum, whereas the kent is much sweeter and nuttier, like a butternut pumpkin.”

Mr Breiner grows his vegetables on organic principles, only spraying for fruit fly and white butterfly.

His organic fertiliser is made from composting chicken manure, Dynamic Lifter organic plant food and lawn clippings from people in the local area.

“The chickens work well with the garden – for each bag of grain pellets I buy, I get a bag back in manure,” Mr Breiner said.

“I had fairly poor soil to start with so I've got to keep the nutrients in.

“Once you build the organic content up, everything seems to follow.”

Mr Breiner uses local markets to educate consumers about local produce.

“The Lower Hunter used to be one of the most productive growing regions in the state, but when the profitability of farming dropped, the younger people weren't interested in keeping the farms going so we've got a lot of hobby farmers and turf farmers.

“A lot of people, even in Maitland, have very little awareness of food production

“At one time everybody in the city had family in the country and they'd go out and visit them and shoot a rabbit, but that doesn't happen anymore.”

Mr Breiner is a great believer in the importance of biodiversity.

“When we bought the place there wasn't a tree on it but now we’ve got 3000 trees in a little rainforest section which is growing into a canopy.”

HIS pumpkin drive kicked off a fresh food revolution in Maitland, and now Matt Dennis is experimenting with his market gardens.

Mr Dennis and his son Liam grow lucerne hay, pumpkins, potatoes, watermelons, cabbage, cauliflowers and Christmas trees on 50ha at East Maitland.

In the last year, they’ve added broccoli, red onions, silverbeet, beetroot, wombok cabbage, bok choy and swedes to the mix.

The introduction of new varieties has been a challenge, with some having to be transplanted rather than grown from seeds.

“It’s a lot of work, and we’re still waiting to see if it pays off with markets, but hopefully we’ll make it work,” Mr Dennis said.

The team also uses a 100-year-old Planet Junior tool, given to Liam for his 18^th birthday, for direct seeding.

They sell their pumpkins and potatoes through the Flemington markets in Sydney, as well as selling at local markets and providing fresh produce through their weekly fruit and vegetable boxes.

The family puts a $30 box together each week, advertising what’s available on Facebook.

They’ve been selling between 50 and 80 boxes each week.

“We go out and see what’s ready, then post a photo of a box on Facebook and take orders until 6pm on Wednesdays,” Mr Dennis said.

“Then we go and pick the veggies on the Thursday ready for customers to pick up the box from the farm between 12noon and 6pm.

“It means we can go straight to the customer, and it works well here because there are 90,000 people in a 10-kilometre radius.”

Last year’s pumpkin drive has increased demand for fresh food, Mr Dennis said.

Chefs in the area added pumpkin dishes to their menus, and people were buying for their families and friends.

A Newcastle bakery bought 300 pumpkins and a Maitland church took 200.

“We had people going crazy for pumpkins.

“We took 500 pumpkins to the market and we were sold out in 10 minutes.”