Make it a regular meet up at The Levee, Central Maitland on the first and third Thursday of each month to stock up on farm fresh goodness from the Earth Markets, get to know local growers and take inspiration from chef sessions and seasonal specials at local eateries highlighting the market harvest.
Nothing brings farming families and artisans to town like a market, showcasing the heart and soul they pour into the region’s abundant food bowl, just minutes from Central Maitland. Now in its ninth year, Earth Markets Maitland run by Slow Food Hunter Valley who champion good, clean, fair food for all globally and advocate for farming families to continue to thrive.
Every stall you visit has a story to share that will switch on your appetite for our precious local food source.
Meet the Family Farmers
Take a bite of a thick-cut chip, homemade with organic, same day dug White Sebago spuds from Phoenix Park Farm – one taste and you’ll never look back! These guys are growing future farmers too by getting local schools involved in sprouting potatoes in preparation for the growing season. Come harvest season, there’s family fun to be had if you head out to their Morpeth paddocks to pick potatoes for your home pantry. Connect with Jesse and Carly at their market stall to find out more.
Father and Son duo Matt and Liam from Nebo Farm at East Maitland are known to have grown with great care for generations and have a bumper crop of sweet juicy corn coming to market, with brightly coloured beets, fat pumpkins, and all sorts of leafy greens to follow. Ask about their seasonal veggie boxes and tried and tested recipes their Earth Market disciples share with them.
Grandad Phil Redmond is handing his deep heritage of love and dedication to farming down the family line at Albion Farm Gardens in Woodville, where his granddaughters Annie and Gabbie work the fields alongside him. The first land settled in the Hunter Valley, these are the oldest, continuously farmed fields in Australia, so a taste of their ridiculously delicious ripe tomatoes and heirloom veggies is rich with local history.
Chrissy, from the family-run Carinya Downs permaculture to plate farm at Lochinvar, stays busy with a Bee Team managing 22 hives in community gardens. Through hard work and biodynamic farming principles, she has transformed barren land into thriving fields buzzing with life. Her Lemon Myrtle Honey has won the hearts of many market regulars and she’s tapped into her cultural roots by infusing native botanicals into natural salts, cordials, jams, soaps and bathsalts that look and smell good enough to eat!
Snap up a bunch of beautiful natives or spring blooms from Lucy and Marco of Shepherds Ground, a chemical-free Farm at Butterwick at the heart of a sustainable agricultural village.
An awesome and exotic small garden selection grown at Felicias Garden in Aberglasslyn will have you dreaming up possibilities for your own little patch of ground back home. Both green thumb and sensational cook, Felicia Nguyen delights market goers with small batch crops, like plump mulberries, fleshy dragon beans, vibrant dragon fruit, banana flowers and tender baby chokos, demystifying ingredients like betel leaf and turmeric root with free cooking sessions.
For out-of-this-world, pasture fed biodynamic beef, head to Dungog’s Munni Farm stall, where you’ll find generous cuts of eye fillet, osso bucco, brisket, lamb rack, chump chops, chunky sausages, and plenty to satisfy any meat lover’s appetite, plus some farm fresh greens on the side.
Leave it to local artisans
Want to get your hands on some organic chicken? Get yourself on the ‘secret chicken club’ shout-out list to pre-order free ranged poultry from local producers for pick up from The Earth Markets Maitland at The Levee.
You’ll be spoilt for choice of pastries and freshly baked breads by Urban Mill Bakery and Pantry. located in East Maitland. Taste the ethically sourced, organic flour difference in their white champagne loaf, crusty sourdough, spelt, rye or wholemeal options.
Got The Munchies? You’ve got to give it to these guys for nailing nourishment that’s big on flavour with their 100% plant-based tantalising take on the local harvest, whipped into bliss balls, chutneys, toppers and other temptations laced with bush foods, super herbs and essential oils for all round goodness.
Treat yourself to home style small batch pickles and preserves like Nana used to make, from the Sunnyfield Disability Services stall. Support a life-changing social enterprise that gives back to local programs, making a real difference in our community. You’ll be eating well and doing good.
The outreach doesn’t stop there!
What you don’t snap up from stallholders may find its way into the Food Rescue Kitchen Project where 75 local volunteers work together with small farms to make as many as 12,000 meals for charities to share where they’re needed most around Maitland. It amounts to an investment of around $180,000 to feed local families, funded in part by sales of Slow Spice made out of the same kitchen with salvaged herbs and spices.
You can check in with what’s coming up at The Earth Markets Maitland at The Levee by listening to organiser Amorelle Dempster on 1233 ABC Radio every Tuesday at 3.40pm with Jenny Marchant, and follow them on socials for updates.
For the full foodie experience, plan your visit around breakfast, brunch or lunch at The Levee and check specials boards at popular eateries like Acadia Dining, The Whistler and Orange Tree Café for Earth Market produce on the menu.
There’s a catch-up culture springing up organically around Earth Markets at The Levee with generations of local growers at its heart. Be part of it on the first and third Thursday of each month from 8am.
Catch you there!