February Produce Swappers Newsletter

February Produce Swap

Welcome, swappers, to the last month of Summer. Where did that go? It’s been a mild season in many ways (despite a few absolute scorchers) so some people might be finding that their summer veggie gardens are lagging behind a bit. You are not alone! The recent rain has been great though and has kicked everything into some lush new growth.

Last month’s swap saw a fabulous array of home produce including chicken and duck eggs, herbs and cut flowers, dried lemon verbena from Sue, curry tree leaves, zucchinis, rainbow chard, beautiful garlic from Jess and also some organic seedlings.

We have added a seedy suitcase for our seed donations – last month we had seed for poppies, broadbeans, dill, parsley, spring onions, coriander, jonquil bulbs and more. Feel free to take seeds as you need them and remember to save seed to bring back to replenish the stash. There are some spare seed packets you can take if you have seeds at home that you’d like to donate. Or if you want to make some you can find the instructions here.

LET'S TRY SOMETHING DIFFERENT – 10am produce swap
This month we decided to try the model that the Woodend Home Produce Exchange uses, which is for everyone to meet at the stall at 10am to swap their produce in person. This seems like a great way for us to all to meet each other and it should be a lot of fun too. If you miss the main swap you are still welcome to swing by the stall any time afterwards until 1pm to drop off and pick up produce.

COME AND VOLUNTEER WITH US
Volunteering on the stall is a great way to get to know other swappers and it’s fun to be part of the market atmosphere. If you have a spare hour or so and want to wo/man the stall then get in touch with Jos: joslin.moore@gmail.com

SUSTAINABLE MALMSBURY WORKSHOPS

Our Small Projects Grant from the Macedon Ranges Shire Council is allowing us to run a series of low-cost workshops for local residents at the Malmsbury Town Hall focused on sustainability, community resilience and upskilling.

Recent workshops:
Fermentation with Meg Ulman - Sunday 23rd February

A fantastic day for MRSG action group Sustainable Malmsbury today with their inaugural annual Fermentation Workshop and Community pickling day.

Thank you so much to everyone who came along to our fermentation workshop at the Malmsbury Town Hall today. Special shout out to the wonderful Meg Ulman for sharing all that (lacto-fermented) pickling passion #wildfermentation #malmsburyferment

Upcoming workshops:

Sunday 19th April 1pm - 3pm
Cheesemaking (mozarella, haloumi and ricotta) with Craig Castree
SOLD OUT

Sunday 3rd May 10:30am - 3pm
Soapmaking, natural cosmetics and beeswax wraps with Emily Sims
SOLD OUT

Sunday 24th May 10am - 3pm
Sourdough bread baking with Mara Ripani
SOLD OUT

Sunday, June 14, 2020, 1pm - 3pm
Edible weeds and green smoothies workshop with Annie Raser Rowland
Cost: $20/$15 concession - book now!

To find out more about these and upcoming workshops please visit our website or follow us on facebook.

A sold out Malmsbury Town Hall was a frenzy of pickling activity in February

IN THE KITCHEN:
Summer means stone fruit - yay! Peaches, nectarines, apricots and plums are all around now. Blood plums such as Satsuma should be ripening and are a heavy-yielding tree. If you find yourself with too many to eat fresh you could try ‘Mieze’s Plum Cake’ from Stephanie Alexander. It’s a total crowd-pleaser and can be adapted for other seasonal fruit including apricots and peaches (add more almond meal under them to soak up excess juices) or, later in Autumn, poached quinces.

Zucchini anyone? You might be reaching peak zucchini right about now so if you are looking for ways to use them up and just can’t look at another zoodle maybe give this zucchini pickle recipe from Grown and Gathered a go. This is a very handy recipe to have up your sleeve for those monster zucchinis that seem to appear no matter how diligently you check each day. Jamie Oliver has a simple baked zucchini and tomato dish we’ve been making lately after a friend served it up for lunch with a green salad and some spicy baked chickpeas on the side. Yum!

IN THE GARDEN:

SOW NOW: Broccoli, caulifower, cabbage, kale (these are all best sown into plugs or punnets and transplanted rather than direct sown), carrots, beetroot, lettuce, climbing peas, Asian greens, rocket, spinach, turnips, radishes including daikon

PLANT NOW (as seedlings): Beetroot, Broccoli, caulifower, cabbage*, silverbeet and rainbow chard, perpetual spinach, asian greens including pak choi, tatsoi, mustard greens and mizuna, leek, spring onion, parsley

*It’s a great time to plant brassicas (cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, etc) in Malmsbury as they establish well in the warmth and are then able to produce their heads slowly during the cooler weather. However, if you are starting them now beware that cabbage moths are prolific at this time of year so you will need to protect them with insect netting.

...and, if you can, do some foraging for elderberries, blackberries, purslane and other edible greens after all this rain! *Please be sure to check and double check your IDs before eating them though :)

WE NOW HAVE A FACEBOOK PAGE!
We now have our very own Facebook page where you can find out all about swaps, upcoming workshops and events and any local sustainability news. Follow us at Sustainable Malmsbury.

We will also continue to send emails to our subscribers and put updates on our website.

Happy swapping everyone!