Camilla's Market Musings - Week 8

 (expected produce mentioned for this coming Saturday subject to availability)

And so it is that time of the week again, when we get to revel in the beautiful organic produce provided by our hard working farmers.

This week, once again, the lebanese eggplants are looking just beautiful, and their versatility in the kitchen provides a wonderful culinary journey around the globe.  Combined with the world's sweetest organic roma tomatoes and olives, tossed through pasta, and you will find yourself in Italy.  Dry cooked with nigella and mustard seeds, cumin and tumeric and just a touch of chilli and you will be transported to India, or alternatively, create a perfect dip for these warm end of summer nights, by char grilling the eggplants and combining them with garlic, lemon juice and tahini,  and let the flavours feed your imagination as you relax on a Greek island surrounded by clear blue water and clean white sand.  Food truly is inspiring!

As well as eggplants, this week we have more of the sweet farm fresh basil on offer along with crisp bunches of celery, green beans, and sweet baby beetroots. Santa Barbara pumpkins are also in, delicious carrots, Dutch Cream, Sebago and Desiree potatoes,  golden sweet potatoes, heirloom radishes and for something completely different, you can always try crunchy sunflower sprouts, brought to us by some of our favourite Mt Cotton growers.

In the fruit department, sadly we have had to say farewell to the figs, but the sultana grapes will definitely ease the pain and go down a treat in the school lunchbox!  Rockmelons are back to play with the pineapples, giant star ruby plums and if you haven't yet tried the oranges, you really don't know what you are missing.  Apple season is still in it's infancy, but both the Summer Delicious and Royal Galas are great for a snack and please don't forget the humble banana. Whether Lady Finger or Cavendish, bananas are one of those fruits that can be enjoyed as they are, as well as used in cooking (banana and walnut muffins anyone?), or combine with some of our beautiful frozen berries, yoghurt and cinnamon and you have a smoothie that is not only delicious but oh so good for you.

As always, if you do wish to order a box of organic produce from us please email your orders through to:

theorganicmarketorders@gmail.com

or text your order to:

0476 000 996

before 1pm Friday afternoons, and we will make sure to provide you with a box of food that makes both your taste buds and your heart sing.

Oh and don't forget, that delivery is part of our service at no extra cost to you.

This is one of the gorgeous custom produce boxes made for one of our lovely customers last week...

Thank you for buying organic and supporting both our market and the local growers. Together it is truly amazing what we can achieve!

Yours in good food and wellness

Camilla and the rest of the extraordinary team at The Organic Market Macleay.

Camilla's Market Musings - Week 7

 (expected produce mentioned for this coming Saturday subject to availability)

Week 7 brings with it the arrival of some new guests in the guise of delicious Rattlesnake beans and magnificent Black Muscatel Grapes. Rattlesnake beans are an old variety of bean with a curious mottled appearance that magically disappears once cooked, transforming them into a sweet and crunchy treat.   They go perfectly with olive bruschetta, or try them slow cooked with tomato, basil and red onion  served with crunchy spelt toast on the side.  As for the Black Muscatels, they will turn any cheese platter into a 5 star event!

The pineapples continue to impress with their sweet sunshine aroma, the nectarines are looking (and smelling) beautiful and if you have been enjoying our figs, you better get in quick as their season is sadly coming to an end.  We also have sweet Royal Gala apples, more of those crisp Summer Delicious, along with Sugar Plums, Red Delicious Pears and Nashis.

On the vegetable front, my pick is once again the eggplant, white, Lebanese and globe, great for making dip, moussaka, adding to a curry or pasta sauce and we have another showing of English spinach.  The beautiful local Elizabeth has come through with her Shiitake mushrooms and we have beautiful Cos lettuce to form a wonderful basis for any salad, along with plump tomatoes, tender baby spinach, basil bunches, cucumber and spanish onions.  Just add a sprinkling of sunflower seeds and sprouts and your summer meal will be complete!  

If you're interested in ordering a produce box and be placed on the 'produce box' mailing list (where you'll receive an email each Thursday evening with the full produce list) please email:  

theorganicmarketorders@gmail.com

or send a text to the market phone 0476 000 996

Orders are due by 1pm each Friday afternoon and we will be sure to prepare your box for delivery (or pick up) Saturday.

Yours in good food always,

Camilla and the rest of the crew at The Organic Market.

Going Organic - February 2017

 
Going Organic

with Eleesa Zlatic of the

 The Organic Market, Macleay Island.

(monthly column from The Friendly Bay Islander magazine - February 2017 edition)

Well we are right back in the swing of things at The Organic Market. The market has been incredibly busy and vibrant with lots of locals and visitors to the island. It is great to meet so many new people either moving to the island or considering purchasing here. They all seem very pleased that we exist and that they can buy great organic produce, and meet like-minded locals. 

The Fruit available now is delicious, particularly the local figs and lychees. I tried lychees in a tin as a child and was completely put off, seriously there is nothing more luscious & sweet than a fresh lychee. They can be added to a variety of desserts and cooking… but our stash is devoured the moment the skin comes off.

If time is short for you or your away, why not try ordering a box of fruit and vegetables each week. We make up boxes to set amounts and you receive a great selection of seasonal fruit and vegetables. Just send an email to theorganicmarketorders@gmail.com or msg us on 0476000996, and we will happily arrange one for you. We deliver the boxes to the Ferries and also provide free delivery on Macleay Island.

The Organic Coffee Hub is a great place to enjoy a Turmeric Latte, a variety of Teas, or Organic Coffee. It is also a great place to catch up with friends, or grab a takeaway. We have the most divine gluten free cakes available, they melt in the mouth.

The plans for the Infinite Earthfest Autumn Festival on March 18 are under way, and we are looking for stallholders who create recycled goods, eco-friendly products, produce their own preserves etc, or if you are an artist we would love to have you join us.  We are also interested in talented local musicians to come on board, we can provide the space if you would like an audience. Please email us to secure a place: theorganicmarketinfo@gmail.com

The Organic Market started as the first point in a larger dream, and now with the additional festivals we are adding the next level of wellness opportunities for our customers and friends. Starting very soon is the ‘Healing Room’ a lovely space to access the talents of Mary Veitch (Naturopath) and Camilla Gold (Homeopath).  Combined with a chemical free diet, the services these women provide will give you the opportunity to address your health problems and find solutions that treat it holistically. We are all very excited about this, so please watch our facebook page for updates.

If you are looking for plants, worm juice, or worm beds the Evergreen Garden group have a great selection available each week, based at the “Garden Shed”. You can also purchase garden charts, organic seeds, garden themed cards, and the current Pip Magazine. Val, our artist in residence, can be found most weeks painting exquisite aboriginal dot work on plant pots. They are for sale and make a unique and beautiful gift. 

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We are always looking for volunteers for the various jobs around the farm and market, so if you would like to join our tribe and contribute to the future projects please pop down to the market and let us know and add your name to our volunteer register.

Personally, I would like to thank the island community for all the support it gives us each week. The offers of help have been fantastic and very appreciated. We really do have something special living on these islands, and it is you that contributes to that… thank you.

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Camilla's Market Musings - Week 6

 (expected produce mentioned for this coming Saturday subject to availability)

Can you believe that it is week #6 already? 

Well the days have been hot and hotter and so it is that we take our hats off to our local farmers, who have had it harder than us but have still managed to work with Mother Nature and her quirks to continue to deliver us magnificent Summer Produce.

This week we say goodbye to the Mendlee seedless grapes and hallo to magnificent biodynamic seedless Diamond grapes which team up perfectly with Ian’s sweet lychees, dipped in organic chocolate or served with the Divine organic brie.  Valentine’s Day delight perhaps? We are also pleased to see the return of those crisp Summer Delicious apples and the first of the Royal Galas have finally made an appearance.  Most exciting of all, the Sunshine Coast Pineapples have finally started appearing, and the drop in price and increase in flavour will be greatly appreciated by all.  We even ordered in some mint for those of you (ie me), that love the combination of pineapple and mint!

Our local farmers have reduced the price of their sweet Lebanese cucumbers, so we are happy to be able to pass these savings on to you – they make great kimchi!  English spinach is back (in limited numbers so be quick), local bunches of silverbeet and fresh bags of salad mix.  The roma tomatoes have finally arrived along with a new order of Meredith Farm Goats cheese, and whilst the summer days are trying for some, thankfully the hot conditions have inspired the basil to flourish, and tomato and cheese just wouldn’t seem right without the basil!  

We are extremely proud this week to have a new comer in the vegetable department - beautiful white eggplants (great addition to Indian dishes and also make great baked chips) along with bunches of heirloom radishes.  Baby beetroots are back to play as well as display worthy bunches of beetroot for those of us that love to eat the whole plant, little butternut pumpkins and sweet Portobello mushrooms. In the potato department along with Desirees, Dutch Creams and Sebagos, we are pleased to offer local Melody potatoes, great in a potato salad with Barambah labna,sour cream, eschallots, mint and lashings of black pepper!

As always, if you wish to order a pre-prepared box prior to market day on Saturday, just send your order through by 1pm Friday to:

theorganicmarketorders@gmail.com.au

If you wish to place a special order, add any items from our dairy or fridge/freezer selection or groceries from the Infinite Earth store, please feel free to either add it to your email or just give me a call on 0476 000 996.

Until then, happy eating!

Camilla and the other gods and goddesses of the Organic Market  

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Expected produce this week for Saturday 4th Feb

This is the first of our new weekly 'incoming produce' (subject to availability)

 blurbs from Camilla. 

And so it has been another beautiful week of summer sunshine and singing cicadas.  I hope that it has also been  a good week for you.

At the farm, animals are keeping their cool by hiding in the shade, and the permaculture garden is blossoming and buzzing with bees, making the most of the summer harvest.  They must have been inspired by the early rumblings of the Autumn Equinox Harvest Festival coming up on March 18th!

This week we are excited to take delivery of the first of the Williams pears.  Perfect for popping in the lunchbox, poaching, slicing and adding to a salad of fresh summer baby spinach, red onion, sprouts and fennel marinated quark, or goats cheese and walnuts.  

Summer fruit has certainly come into its own and this week we have both blood and mariposa queen plums, beautiful cavendish and lady finger bananas, more of those refreshing sweet and juicy lychees and seedless grapes, torpedo watermelons, sweet honey dew whose scent should be bottled, as well as beautiful crisp summer delicious apples.

In the savoury department, Macleay local Elizabeth is back on the scene with inspiring shiitake mushrooms whose health benefits are boundless, and add a wonderful nutty earthiness to any meal that calls for mushrooms.  Dutch cream potatoes are on their way out at the moment, but this week you could try some beautiful Ruby Lou portatoes that are similar to Desirees and are a wonderful potato to include in a summer potato salad, with eschallots, garlic, basil and sour cream.  Celery is also in again, baby spinach and a limited number of my favourite English spinach, Cos lettuces, Roma tomatoes and new season Apple Cucumbers. Goats cheese and spinach pie with lashings of thyme and salad is definitely on the menu for us this week!

If any of this sounds appealing to your tastebuds, please don't hesitate to contact us and place an order.  As always, just email it through to me on the market email:

theorganicmarketorders@gmail.com

or text it through to 0476 000 996

before 12.00 tomorrow (Friday)

and we will be happy to make up a beautiful organic box for you.

Finally, just a reminder, we also make set  "surprise" organic produce boxes starting at $40.  These standard boxes contain basics such as potatoes, onions, carrots, garlic, salad items, fruit and seasonal produce.  We provide both mixed boxes as well as just fruit or vegetable boxes and to make your shopping life even easier, we also offer combined grocery and produce boxes.  Our Infinite Earth Store range of products is extensive and includes environmentally friendly cleaning products, organic and natural toiletries, natural medicines such as martin and pleasance tissue salts, colloidal silver, vitamins and minerals etc as well as a range of dry goods such as Demeter freshly milled organic flours, both gluten free and wheat pastas, an array of sauces and condiments, beans and pulses, dried fruits, confectionary and much more.  As grocery items are tailored to your individual needs, if you are interested in ordering a combined box, please email/text through your order or feel free to give me a ring if you wish to get a better idea of our range of products.  Special orders can also be accommodated.

Looking forward to hearing from you.

Happy wishes!

Camilla Gold BHSc Hom at Infinite Earth 

M: 0476 000 996

E: theorganicmarketorders@gmail.com