Welcome to the April edition of Fresh. We’d like to kick off by thanking all those clever gardeners who took part in last week’s Pumpkin Competition at the Clevedon Village Farmers’ Market.

It’s your enthusiasm that makes this event an annual highlight on Clevedon’s calendar - and helps us to promote the merits of fresh food and self-sufficiency at the same time.
A special thanks to all the kids who got their hands dirty and had a go, and to our wonderful judges (who give their time, expertise and smiles for free) - the Revs Sandy and Colin Neal. Results were:

CATEGORY ONE (young people up to 16 years old) - Heaviest Pumpkin. Won by Christopher Jarrett from Papamoa with a 57kg entry. Christopher took home an iPod Nano 4GB for his sterling efforts.
CATEGORY TWO (adults) - Heaviest Pumpkin. Won by Jonathon Ritchie from Clevedon with an enormous 68kg pumpkin. Jonathon took home over $300 worth of market produce.
Other winners were Leah Mosen (Papakura) for Smallest Pumpkin, Portia Prangley (Whitford) for Tallest Pumpkin, Sophie Watts (Clevedon) for Most Beautifully Ugly Pumpkin, Shelly Maggs (Manurewa) for Best-Looking Pumpkin, Daisy Nicolas (Howick) for Most Unusual Pumpkin. These winners received $20 Farmers Market Vouchers each, to be redeemed for market produce. Congratulations to you all.

APRIL HIGHLIGHTS
It’s harvest time at the market, which means plenty of delicious fresh fruit and veg. Highlights for this month include figs, table grapes, apples, blueberries, potatoes, pumpkin, custard apples, salad greens, spinach, carrots, cucumbers, beans, peas, capsicums, avocados, kumara, baby beets and baby turnips (for a full list of our vendors and their produce, please click here).

John Montgomerie of Clevedon Valley Buffalo with one of the milking herd

CHEESE, PLEASE
As our regulars will know, Clevedon Valley Buffalo Company is set to launch New Zealand’s first locally made buffalo cheeses at the Market. We’ve been sampling our products at the market over the past couple of weeks, and we’d like to say a huge thank-you to market-goers for their interest and their positivity - but mostly for their patience.
We understand it’s been frustrating for some customers who just want to get the stuff home and serve it up! The delay is paperwork, but we’ve finally got the necessary approvals and we are very near to lift-off.
We’re especially excited about our imminent launch after a truly joyous night at last month’s Champions of Cheese Awards. At this, our first awards event (and mere weeks into trial production), the Clevedon Valley Buffalo Company was thrilled to take home two Champion awards, two gold medals and two silvers (details below). Hurrah!
• Fresh Unripened Cheese category - Buffalo Ricotta - Champion award & Gold medal.
• New Cheese category - Buffalo Ricotta - Champion award & Gold medal.
• New Cheese category - Buffalo Mozzarella - Silver medal.
• European Style Cheese category - Buffalo Mozzarella - Silver medal.

RECIPE OF THE MONTH

Crisp Autumn Salad

Ingredients

• A bunch of baby carrots
  
• A bunch of French breakfast radishes
  
• A handful of blueberries or raisins
  
• 2 large or 4 small eating apples
  
• A handful of roughly chopped Italian flat leaf parsley
  
• A few sprigs of mint roughly chopped
  
• 2 tablespoons of sherry or red wine vinegar
  
• 4 tablespoons of River Estate olive oil
  
• 2 tablespoons of pine nuts or sesame seeds
  
• Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Method
Toast the pine nuts or sesame seeds gently in the oven and put to one side.
Peel and cut larger carrots into thin batons, leave smaller carrots whole.
Finely slice the radishes. Quarter and slice the apples. Combine olive oil and sherry.
Toss all ingredients together, season and top with the toasted nuts.

CLEVEDON VILLAGE FARMERS' MARKET VENDORS & PRODUCE

• Dullumbunda Farm - baby carrots and beetroot; silver beet, sprouts; culinary herbs; watercress; tomatoes; radishes; rhubarb; garlic; apples
• Pacific Skye - seasonal fruit; fruit juice
• Fancy Lettuce - lettuce; spinach; living herbs; tubs of mesclun
• Sunset Coast Organics - certified organic fruit and vegetables; culinary herbs and gourmet salad mixes
• Cuconics - telegraph cucumbers; courgettes; tomatoes; and cherry tomatoes
• Wild Bee - fresh local bush and field honey
• Farmhouse Treats and Produce - seasonal fruit and vegetables; preserves; confectionary; homemade potato crisps
• Dig This - Eion & Ann Scarrow’s garden plants
• Hungarian Deli - traditional air-dried meats and gluten-free sausages
• Waiuku River Wines - Pinot Noir, Merlot, Cabernet, Sauvingnon Blanc, Verjuice
• Paella Pan - traditional paella cooked on-site; fresh crepes
• Heart of the Globe - Highland beef products; salami; fresh artichokes; marinated garlic; fruit pastes
• Blackwood’s Gourmet Breads - freshly-made bagels and flatbreads
• Bentru - smoked specialty meats and sausages; traditional proscuitto
• Clevedon Valley Cheese - handmade cow’s, sheep’s and goat’s milk cheeses
• Piako Pete - smoked fish; fresh flounder and snapper; smoked eel (when available), whitebait (when available)
• Salmonman - hot smoked salmon cured in a variety of ways
• Zakar - BioGro beef cuts; premium beef mince and sausages
• Running Brook Seeds - quality heritage flower and vegetable seeds
• Wild Wheat - artisan bakers of traditional and sourdough breads
• Market Espresso - great coffee and refreshments
• River Estate - premium olive oils and table olives
• Pilgrim’s - organic lamb
• Hungarian Twisters - ‘Kurtos Kalacs’ traditional Hungarian pastries
• Broccolini - broccolini
• Alvita - fresh nuts
• Avoculture - avocados
• Tipaka Moana - subtropical fruit; seedlings
• Gelato Cart - gelato
• Mandeville Gardens - native plants
• Sweet Art - cakes and chocolates
• Nature’s Corner - free-range eggs
• Blueberry Deli - blueberries
• Roses Galore - fresh cut roses
• Hamlin Nursery - garden plants
• Farmhouse Treats and Produce - sweet corn; potatoes; watermelon; rock melon; lettuce; pumpkin; celery; kumara; onions; beans; homemade fudge; home made potato crisps
• Soggy Bottom Holdings - purveyors of rare breed free-range meats
• Zorba’s Greek Food - Greek food
• Limes on the Firth - fresh locally-grown limes; cooking demonstrations 10-11am
• Clevedon Animal Farm - pony rides for the kids
• Alison’s Pony & Trap Rides - pony & trap rides for kids and adults
• Willow Brook - lavender products; Iris plants and lavender
• South Hill Farm - heritage tomatoes; capsicum
• Te Kauwhata Grapes - organic table grapes
  

Clevedon Village Farmers Market
Every Sunday 8:30am-12 noon, Clevedon Showgrounds, Monument Rd, Clevedon.

Visit our website at www.clevedonfarmersmarket.co.nz
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