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Sometimes the local authorities get it right - just
look at the regeneration of bush at the Clevedon Scenic
Reserve due to possum control. There was a delicate
dusting of snowy white native clematis to the fringes
of the reserve this September in quantities that haven’t
been seen for years.
But sometimes local authorities can act in ways that
are truly beyond all sense of reason. Despite our open
air cooks at the market having food handling qualifications,
adequate cool storage, hand washing facilities and licensed
food prep kitchens, the food police at Manukau City
Council want to close them all down on threat of legal
action.
They want hot food prepared indoors at the market –
a big ask for huge paella pans and our planned wood
fired pizza oven. We like the fact that the area our
chefs work on is washed clean each week by the sun,
wind and rain; also there is something joyous about
eating and cooking en plein air.
However if we were to get our own shopping mall in
Clevedon, you could pick up a sausage on a slice of
bread cooked by someone without all these qualifications
whenever you shopped for goods made largely overseas.
You could then enjoy said sausage in the car park in
the open air. And the good news is that this sausage
cooking takes place all over Manukau each weekend, nobody
has died yet, and the good old council has had no objections
to this practice.
Oh also, before we forget, you can cook outdoors, at
festivals, private catered events, and anywhere else
in Auckland too – it seems that it is only if you
want to run a business and generate regular income at
a farmers market in Manukau that you will run aground
on the shores of bureaucracy.
In a nut shell, the council is forcing us to cancel
this season’s summer series of twilight markets
planned for Wednesday evenings. We just can’t see
the point in having a village produce and dinner market
with no fresh cooked paella, Hungarian twisters for
the kids and wood fired real margarita pizza to enjoy
with family and friends. If you have more to say on
this you can email the mayor, Len Brown, on mayor@manukau.govt.nz.
Perhaps he will listen to us and help find a solution
that won’t put these people out of business.
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MARKET PROFILE
Suncakes Fruit and Vegetables
For the past year David and his
wife Jane have been supplying the Clevedon Farmers
Market with top quality fruit and vegetables
grown on their block of land in Drury. They
grow a wide variety of Chinese and European
fruits and vegetables which are super fresh
and very reasonably priced.
As Mooncakes are made by Chinese people in celebration
of the lunar festival, the name ‘Sun Cakes’
is a tribute to “the fresh energy of the
sun - the source of it all “says David.
Visit David at the market for top quality produce
full of sunny goodness.
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The
Great Clevedon Giant Pumpkin Competition
