17 August 2009

What's New at Southside Farmers Market

| emd
Join the conversation
16

I go to the Southside Farmers Market every Sunday morning, and thought some of the readers here might like to know what’s there or what’s changed recently (other than the usual fruit & veg in season).

    * Capra Goats Cheese come up from Gippsland in Victoria. They’re not there every week, but do come once or twice a month. I’ve tried a few of their cheeses, and they’re all good (mind you, I like all forms of goat cheese). My favourite is the Velvet, a white heart-shaped cheese.
    * Grandma’s Eggs has a new owner as of a few months ago. Same free range eggs, same location, same prices.
    * Cowra Original Farm have started selling pre-made vegetarian food along with their usual good quality vegies. The dumplings and spring rolls were great, and the radish cake was a nice alternative to tofu (just slice, pan-fry, and serve with soy sauce).
    * Lindsay & Edmunds organic chocolate are now using certified fair trade ingredients. Yay! I can buy them again! My kids are very happy ($1 chocolate teddy bears on sticks).
    * $29/kg for salmon is pretty good. Although the wahu and gemfish have been great value in the last few weeks too.
    * There’s a guy who sells macadamia nuts, oil, paste, and Himalayan salt every week. Yes, it’s a long way from Canberra to the nearest macadamia farms around Coffs Harbour. But I can assure you that some of the farm owners are Canberrans, and the nuts come from an owner’s co-op, with the seller living in Queanbeyan. And the macadamia paste makes a nice addition to home-made chocolate truffles.
    * The cake stall fundraiser for the Ghana orphanage have started doing a lovely lemon slice. I think I’m addicted to it.

There’s heaps more at the markets, that’s just what I remembered as good or new off the top of my head.

Join the conversation

16
All Comments
  • All Comments
  • Website Comments
LatestOldest

These Markets are moving as of this weekend (Sunday the 7th of Nov. The will be held on Irvine st in Phillip.

check out more details on their website:

http://www.southsidefarmersmarket.com.au

These markets are like every other outlet, there are good deals and some not so good deals. well worth getting there early

Addison said :

I loathe the stinky beatniks you see at markets – give me a nice comfy national supermarket chain any day.

Strange comment…but alright – vote 1 for Richard Nixon! Those damn beatniks. They are ruining the 1960s.

There are a lot of complex issues involved in ethical food choices. Organic, carbon miles, nutritional value, fair trade, Australian made, environmentally responsible packaging… it’s not possible to make everyone happy with a single food choice. The best way to do it is work out your highest priorities and meet those first.

Every time you pay for something, you are making a choice. I do my best to be aware of the choice I’m making – am I supporting something that fits with my ethics, or am I reinforcing a system that I’m not happy with?

Affirmative Action Man9:45 am 18 Aug 09

These South Side markets generally suck. Some stuff is reasonable other stuff way overpriced. Give me the Fyshwick markets anyday.

I loathe the stinky beatniks you see at markets – give me a nice comfy national supermarket chain any day.

Southside farmer’s market is in the old Woden Valley High building, which was then a CIT – near the hospital.

It is smaller than the EPIC markets, but also easier to get around – like EPIC was when it started off.

It is all very well to scoff at food miles, but do you really do those other calculations about fertilisers used in paraguay or whatever when you stand in woolies buying fruit and veg?

Food miles on seasonal produce is one possible way of making an ethical choice.

And shopping at these markets is a way of encouraging diversity in our food, instead of supporting the homogenization of multi-nationals.

moneypenny26127:52 pm 17 Aug 09

Skidbladnir said :

@EMD:
Reducing carbon output to “food miles” is misguided environmental fantasy at best, and protectionism acting under a false flag of environmentalism at worst.

Food miles needs tip-to-tail auditing before you can trust it.

Here is my audit trail:

I look at, smell, touch, and taste the garlics in the supermarket that are imported from China or the USA. I look at, smell, touch, and taste the garlics at the farmers market which are locally grown. There is no comparison between the two.

The locally grown product wins hands down in terms of taste and texture, as well as the psychological benefit of wondering how the supermarket garlic becomes so white and lasts so long. The local product is more expensive, but it’s a price I am prepared to pay.

I can do an audit of fruit bread and lamb if you like?!

For Skidbladnir
Its fine to be sceptical of the extremes of food miles especially if its regulated and made to happen (protectionism). But it is worthwhile to use it as a factor in making an informed decision when its grown seasonally and locally.

Generally the reason why farmers markets are set up and why people go to them, is because the food you’re getting there is usually seasonal and local (or regional).
Trash n Treasure at Jamo is great for this on a Sunday morning.

Woody Mann-Caruso7:07 pm 17 Aug 09

If something requires no feed supplement to grow in New Zealand…

Except we’re talking about driving apples from bloody Batlow up the road to Canberra, not hauling hogget from Hurunui to Harrods.

Why do people feel the need to take these things to absurd conclusions? “A wide range of other clear benefits dismissed out of hand, tuppence worth of Guernsey beef produced thirteen rods from Wellington at an altitude of fifteen and a third furlongs generates one eleventh of the noxious ethereals as two try ounces of Cornish Angleforkish dry aged for a fortnight on a full moon near Little Wanking. In conclusion, buy Portuguese cod.” I suspect it’s so they can discredit what is, on the whole and as a general rule, a good idea, just because it doesn’t suit their preferences. They’re the same people who burn baby seal fat in their Hummers because “China’s only going to make things worse, so why bother?”

Pommy bastard3:54 pm 17 Aug 09

There’s a guy who sells macadamia nuts, oil, paste, and Himalayan salt every week.

I’m going to regret this I know, but “Himalayan salt” as opposed to other sorts of sodium cloride, contains which magical essences?

is that smoked salmon or fresh ? and where is the southside farmers market ?

@EMD:
Reducing carbon output to “food miles” is misguided environmental fantasy at best, and protectionism acting under a false flag of environmentalism at worst.

If something requires no feed supplement to grow in New Zealand, and can be transported 11,000miles by international freight shipping to London at 25% of the total the carbon output per tonne, compared to the carbon requirements of that same good being grown on a diet-supplemented British farm and transporting it 500miles to London, the NZ one has has 75% less carbon footprint.

Certainly the NZ product has ‘food miles’ which are about 22 times higher, but anyone buying it because they thought it was better for their environment was scammed.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/06/opinion/06mcwilliams.html

Food miles needs tip-to-tail auditing before you can trust it.

I mainly go there for the fruit & veg, which is cheaper than the supermarkets and lasts longer, and has fewer carbon miles on it. $1 a kilo for apples and oranges on Saturday. Bonus to get nicer salmon than the supermarket at the same price – value is relative (price vs quality). Even better to get cheese and bakery goods, saves me having to go to the supermarket for the other fresh food.

Which is probably the REAL reason I go to the markets. I hate the mall.

Definately no bargains to be had.

swamiOFswank10:33 am 17 Aug 09

$29 for Salmon from a farmers market? The price is equivalent to most fish retailers operating from shop fronts in Canberra, and I would presume that given the overheads for businesses in shops, and the lack of comparable overheads for sellers at a farmers market, that the farmers market would be at least a couple of dollars less per kilo. On the other hand, business is all about pricing things at what the market will bear, so…good luck to ’em!

Daily Digest

Want the best Canberra news delivered daily? Every day we package the most popular Riotact stories and send them straight to your inbox. Sign-up now for trusted local news that will never be behind a paywall.

By submitting your email address you are agreeing to Region Group's terms and conditions and privacy policy.