February 16, 2021 • 32 mins
Farmers' markets promote individual health, environmental health and healthy communities. These weekly markets support local farmers, stimulating local economies and building direct relationships between the growers and buyers.
They offer a place where the consumer can ask questions about how their food is grown, creating consumer trust and encouraging sustainable farming practices that reduce exposure to toxic fertilisers and pesticides. Consumers are guaranteed fresh, locally grown, (often organic) seasonal produce that is low in food miles, has minimal packaging and is highly nutritious. The environment also benefits, with consumers bringing their own bags or baskets, cutting down on unnecessary single-use plastic bags. It's also a great place to connect with friends and family, listen to music and let the kids play.
Murwillumbah Farmers' Market springs into life every Wednesday morning from 7.00 – 11.00am, allowing consumers to purchase super fresh, seasonal local produce from small family farmers and artisanal local producers. Situated at the Murwillumbah Showgrounds, visitors can enjoy stunning views to Wollumbin (Mt Warning) and the surrounding Caldera.
In this episode Sue Beckinsale, the Manager of the Murwillumbah Farmers Market chats about the market's humble beginnings 10 years ago and its transformation into a wonderful gathering place for surrounding villagers to catch up with family and friends over a cuppa and delicious food, while relaxing to beautiful music local music. April 2021 marks the market's 10-year anniversary and Sue reflects on how the market has expanded into a rich offering of local fruit, vegies, meat, dairy and much more, becoming a destination for locals and tourists to enjoy.
In this episode Sue talks about:
- what makes the market such a special destination
- why its important to shop locally and support our farmers and artisans
- how markets are a special weekly community event
- why our local market is thriving, attracting 1500 visitors each week
- what is planned for the upcoming celebrations for the 10-year anniversary
- why they are hosting a stall welcoming our new residents to the 2484 on the 24th of March 2021
- how these markets support local environments by reducing the number of kilometres our food travels from the farm gate to plate.
Wanting to find out more about the Murwillumbah Farmers Market?
Their website is https://murwillumbahfarmersmarket.com.au
Social media click on the following links Facebook or Instagram
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Jeremy Melder (00:00):
Hello, my name is Jeremy Melder, and I'm the
(00:02):
presenter from Beaming Green.
Before we start, I would like toacknowledge that this podcast is
being held on the traditionallands of the Bundjalung people
and paying our respects toelders both past, present and
emerging. The Beaming Greenpodcast is a weekly podcast,
which will help you to take outsome of the stress and confusion
(00:27):
about how to live your life moresustainably. And we do this by
introducing people that havefirst hand experience and
expertise in all aspects ofsustainability. So you can get
some amazing insight. You canimplement the simple and
practical solutions to enhanceyour life and the lives of your
(00:49):
family. Anyone been to themurwillumbah farmers market.
It's located the Showgrounds innorthern New South Wales. Now,
if you have never been there,you will be in for a great
surprise because it'sbeautifully surrounded by the
Caldera, and Mount Wollumbin.
(01:10):
This is a place where thecommunity gathers to support our
local farmers and artisans everyWednesday, from 7am till 11.
It's a great place for the localeconomy, and cuts down on carbon
emissions due to the travel offood to the marketplace. So
today, I want to welcome SueBeckinsale, who manages the
(01:32):
Murwillumbah markets to tell usmore about what goes on there.
Sue, welcome to Beaming Green.
Sue Beckinsale (01:40):
Thank you, Jeremy. I'm so happy to be here.
Jeremy Melder (01:43):
It's really lovely to have you here. Sue,
you are what I call thecustodian looking after the
farmers market in Murwillumbah.
Can you give us a little bit ofbackground as to when this
started and so on?
Sue Beckinsale (02:01):
That's a wonderful question, Jeremy,
because we're about to celebrate10 years,
Jeremy Melder (02:05):
10 years.
Sue Beckinsale (02:07):
So in April this year we celebrate the market
actually, having been open toour customers for 10 years. And
so the history of that is itcame out of the caldera economic
transition plan. There was aprocess that took a couple of
years. And I think the plan wasfinally written in 2009. And one
(02:28):
of the four key outcomes thatthey wanted to achieve was to
establish a farmers market inMurwillumbah to support our
local growers, and to help withthe economics and social
development of the area.
Jeremy Melder (02:41):
Yeah, that's fantastic. Now, What part do you
play in terms of organizing?
This is are there any otherpeople that assist you?
Sue Beckinsale (02:52):
Ah, I managed market, which means really doing
everything. Yeah. But the marketis a not for profit. Yeah. So it
came as the caldera farmersmarket. Murwillumbah Inc. Yeah.
And so we have a committee, andthe committee has a very
important role. Becauseultimately, they're responsible
for the market. Yeah. But themanager is the one who ensures
(03:16):
that the market happens everyweek. And anything to do with
making sure that it happensevery week, is what I do.
Jeremy Melder (03:26):
So rain, hail, or shine, or even if you're ill,
you still managed to, hopefullynot when you're ill. But you
know, especially with COVID-19about,
Sue Beckinsale (03:36):
I've been very lucky, I think in the, in the
eight years that I've actuallybeen managing the market. And
its eight years for me coming upin June. I think I've only
missed one. Yeah. Because someadverse occurrence in my life.
Jeremy Melder (03:51):
I remember going early on, I think, in in when he
first when it was first started.
And you know, it's so wonderfulto say how it has grown over the
time and seeing all these lovelypeople with kids and music and
you know, all these people justsitting around chatting in the
(04:12):
sunshine when it's sunny. Andjust really, it's a community
event, isn't it? Really, everyWednesday, people between seven
and 11. In the morning, they'retogether to be with each other.
Sue Beckinsale (04:30):
And you've absolutely hit the essence of
the market. I see myself assimply the facilitator. Yeah, of
an event that is aboutcommunity, for the community
with the community. Yeah.
Without the community wewouldn't exist. And that
community is wide and,embracing, yeah. So from the
people who put the seeds in theground or the seedlings in the
(04:51):
ground to begin with, to peoplewho have an idea about a
business they'd like to createand think how do I do that the
economics behind that can bequite daunting. But if they can
start small and start at themarket, yeah, then it's not so
frightening. Yeah. So the marketfacilitates the development of,
(05:13):
of small producers, as well asour growers. Yeah. And it
facilitates the gathering ofpeople every week. People will
say to me, it's my happy day.
Yeah, I come to the market. I,even people who work on
Wednesday, I just they workschedule, where they can to be
(05:34):
able to come to the market. Andthey say, because it's my happy
morning. And in fact, one mumused to run into the market. And
she'd say, quickly, I've got topick up some things for the kids
school lunches, but I'll be backlater, she'd run in and she'd
get what she needed theessentials to make an easy
lunch, yeah, morning tea,whatever, for the children or
breakfast. And then she'd comeback and do the real shopping
(05:56):
and catch up with friends. Yeah.
So it really is a gatheringpoint.
Jeremy Melder (05:59):
Yeah, absolutely.
Now in terms of like thecriteria for people coming into
the marketplace, I know there'sa lot of organics and so on, is
there some sort of way ofevaluating who gets in and who
doesn't get in?
Sue Beckinsale (06:15):
Absolutely. And that's the beauty of having a
market that's run by a committeeand being a not for profit, we
have a clear set of guidelines.
For instance, any farmers thathave applied to come into the
market, they have to be able todemonstrate that they're growing
what they sell. Yeah, and theyhave to agree to an independent
order, before they start. So wehave an independent auditor come
(06:38):
and visit them and have a lookat what they grow, and what
they've applied to bring intothe market. And they are
responsible for accepting anaudit annually or biannually, as
determined by the committee toensure that what they're selling
is what they're growing. Yeah.
And likewise, with our producersand others who come into the
(06:59):
market, there is a process thecommittee considers every
application. And that processevolves and changes, as the
market has accepted and grownwith more and more stallholders.
our need for duplication is notthere. Occasionally, we
duplicate but it's a very finelynuanced growth factor of making
(07:22):
sure that I mean our priorityreally is I suppose if a
stallholder begins at themarket, we want them to be
successful. Yeah. So that'sabout making sure that we don't
have too much overlap. Yeah, ofcourse, with our projects, we
have our wide variation betweenour farm stalls. And I think
we've got that about right.
They're all being successful. Wecan't just accept every farm
(07:45):
stall who apply as much as we'dlove to. Yeah, because we can
only accept stalls at the rateof growth of our customers.
Yeah.
Jeremy Melder (07:55):
Do you have an idea as to how many people
attend? on a Wednesday? I did,like have a rough estimate.
Sue Beckinsale (08:04):
When I first came on to manage the market,
eight years ago, I think we hadabout 450 on the first survey.
Within a year or two, itincreased to about 850. And I'd
say we're well over 1000,probably 1500. Most weeks.
Jeremy Melder (08:19):
Wow. The car park is always full.
Sue Beckinsale (08:23):
Yes, it does. It fills up and we have those who
come and hang around for most ofthe morning. Yeah, because of
the music and the ambience ofthe market, which has been a
very considered decision tocreate that, that place that
center gathering point forpeople to come to, but some
people pop in and go quitequickly. So there's a lot of
(08:43):
traffic through the market, alot of turnover vehicles and a
lot of people coming and goingYeah, and that's wonderful.
That's exactly what we want tosee.
Jeremy Melder (08:51):
Yeah. In terms of the vision, as you've got it,
basically, it's determined onwhat what the size or the growth
of the market is as to what youcan put in there. Isn't that in
terms of what else you can addto it
Sue Beckinsale (09:04):
that and adding diversity? So when people
approach me and say, I'd love tohave a stall at the market, I
say what are you bringing? Youknow, have you been around the
market had a look is what you'reoffering something different to
what we already have? Do youmake it? Yeah, because you must
be the maker, or you must workwithin the organization that
makes the product that is beingsold. And we are a farmers
(09:25):
market. So we do put food as ourabsolute priority. And that's
complemented with a few littleother things that local makers
make, but it is really all aboutthe food. And our food producers
are also asked to use theproduce that our growers and
farmers produce. Yeah, so thatstallholders support one
(09:45):
another. Yeah, if someone'smaking pesto to sell and they're
not growing the basil or thecoriander for the pesto, we ask
that they buy that from the farmstalls. And that's very
important. It's it's an organic,self supporting process and
really important.
Jeremy Melder (10:01):
So that then a community of people that are
buying locally can know thatthey're actually supporting
local, which is reallyimportant. Now, I want to just,
we talked about this beforeoffline, about the Griffith
University survey that was doneon it's a very small sample,
just to tell our listeners thatit is a small sample that was
(10:23):
done. But it was veryinteresting. There's a graphic
here that I'm looking at, that'sbasically showing, the reason
why people actually go to amarket is that they want to cut
down on food miles, which is areally important thing. It's
also supporting sustainablefarming in the local area. And
it's also reducing waste. Andanother important thing that we
(10:45):
seem to have forgotten in themodern era is about seasonality.
Because we can buy mangoes allyear round if we wanted to
bananas all around, but we'veforgotten this whole thing of
seasonality. Whereas going backa few generations that you could
only get bananas in a particularseason, or oranges in a
(11:07):
particular season, or apples ina particular season, not every
day. So it's kind of one of thethings that was really that
highlighted that to me also, themain thing that I thought was
really highlighted here was theconnection for the social, the
social connection for the localcommunity, which we've already
talked about, and theentertainment, the activities
(11:29):
are there. And it enhancescommunity spirit, doesn't it?
Sue Beckinsale (11:33):
It really does.
It's a focus point. Early on, Iremember seeing young mums with
bubs come in. And it became agathering and sometimes they
didn't come to shop, they reallycame because it was a safe place
to gather and talk. And then thebabies grow into toddlers. And
then the next baby appeared inthe pram and we'd see the
(11:55):
munching on a carrot or cucumberor an apple from the Apple
Stall. And so we decided that itwould be really lovely to have a
gathering spot for families,young families. So we
established what we call Kiddiescorner. And one of the beautiful
aspects that I love about ourcommunity is that sense of
(12:16):
supporting and helping oneanother out. And so Paula
LaBelle from the Family Center,and I work closely together to
have that little family, youngfamily, young kids gathering
area at the market. And sheactually organizes that, and
organizes the volunteers and theactivities for that area. And
(12:37):
she's delighted because it givesher a way of connecting with
young families, that's part ofher role within the family
center. So that sense of workingwith others, as I said, I just
facilitate in working withothers to make this happen. And
so that being a gathering point,we have people with computers
(12:57):
who have meetings at the market.
Tomorrow, I've got 30 volunteerscoming from the Tweed
Information Center to have alook at the market. And that's
about them recognizing howimportant the market is for
bringing people into the Tweedor being part of the whole Tweed
experience when they'retraveling into the area through
(13:18):
the area. And I hear from peoplefrom all over the country who
will ring and say is such andsuch a store still at the
market. I used to just passthrough Murwillumbah and now I
stay a couple of nights in thearea. Because then I plan my
visit around coming to themarket. So it's lovely to have
that reach within the communityand beyond the community. And
we're also a place wherefamilies when they have visitors
(13:41):
from other parts of the countrycan take their visitors. And in
fact, a lot of the accommodationplaces from all along the coast,
I have people from Eleonora downto Pottsville to or further up
the coast who will bring theirinternational visitors or the
local visitors who are stayingat their b&b to the market.
(14:03):
Yeah. They say it's adestination. And so the market
can be a starting point fortheir day in the Tweed, go to
the art gallery, do whatever.
Yeah. And seasonality is areally important part of that
authenticity is important. Andthat doesn't mean that that's
easy to manaage. There arealways challenges and there are
always people who want to breakthe rules. Yeah. But what we say
to our farmers, is really abouteducating our customers about
(14:28):
the seasonality of produce. Thisstudy that the Griffith uni
students did was reallyinteresting. Then nutrition and
dietitian students. And so wehad two groups come through last
year, one who looked one grouplooked at the seasonality of
produce. And they did somethingthat I'd been trying to work on
for years and just didn't havetime to have finished and I
produced a seasonality chart forthe year. So of course, it needs
(14:50):
a little bit of tweaking, butonly the other day, I was
talking to one of the committeemembers and we thought about how
we could display that to ourcustomers, because it is an
educative process, as you said,when we become so accustomed to
seeing everything in the shopsavailable all the time, it
almost becomes a subliminalexpectation. If you can't get
(15:12):
it, what's wrong? or if we'rereally supporting our local
growers, and eating seasonally,we have to learn that sometimes
things that we love aren'tavailable. But you know, there's
a flip side to that Jeremy. AndI say when I write my weekly
newsletter for our customerssometimes, yay, avocados are
back in and I've been so missingthem. Yeah. And like avocados
(15:36):
are just fading out now. Yeah.
But they'll come back in aroundMarch, April, March, April on
the coastal area, the ones fromBurringbah, April, late April.
So there's an excitement in thejoy of seasonality and the
eating with the seasons. And Ithink it's good for health.
Jeremy Melder (15:54):
I totally agree with you. From a health
perspective. I think there is areason for that, right? why
we've got these fruits in summerand some of them in winter. It's
helps with our digestive cyclesas well, I would say, and very
important. Now, one of thethings I wanted to find out
about was you've mentioned acommittee. Right, be nice to it.
(16:18):
You know, there are obviouslypeople in a committee that are
helping you then are there whoare those people that are on
your committees that don't mindbeing mentioned,
Sue Beckinsale (16:24):
the committee is comprised of always has a number
of stallholders, and we have twocommunity position. So we want
the committee to represent thecustomer and the store holder,
because the community votes onnew applications and votes on or
move, you know, moves variouschanges that we might want to
see in the market. So right now,our president is Ian McCray
(16:48):
have Nigel nuts. Yeah. Our vicepresident is Fabian Fabro from
woollen Valley eggs. Okay. OurTreasurer is Jeremy, who brings
the kombucha? Yeah. Oursecretary is Mal of Vietnamese
Lotus. Okay. And so and WillEverest is what we call an
(17:12):
ordinary member that ordinary nomeans described No, doesn't
really describe at all he's notordinary at all. And the value
that he brings to the decisionsmade is really important. So
that committee changes annuallyor can change annually. Yeah,
there might be slight changes,or there might be changes. But
yes, so that committee wouldmeet maybe every four to six
(17:35):
weeks. Yeah. And, you know, Ireport back to them, or if
there's any things that I'd likethem to consider or make
decisions about or support,things that I'd like to do, like
with our 10th birthday comingup, there are all sorts of ideas
that I have. And at the moment,we're looking at calling out to
the community to submit recipes,seasonal recipes for their
(17:57):
favorite simple, quick and easymeal. Because what we're going
to do for our 10th birthday isactually run some workshops at
the market to show how to useour local produce to make quick
easy meals, simple meals forfamilies.
Jeremy Melder (18:13):
What a great idea. And we were just
discussing this before that, youknow, we're running out of ideas
for recipes, I am anyway, yay, Icould always do with some great
ideas. Now, one of the thingsSue, during COVID, you know, we
had quite a few more, we had toall shut down for six weeks. And
(18:33):
I presume you were not able tooperate in that time, or where
you were at did while you wereable to we did so I stayed at
home. So because I'm vulnerabledue to a poor immune system, so
I didn't go anywhere.
Sue Beckinsale (18:44):
Well, markets were considered long with
supermarkets as an exception.
Farmers markets, I should bequite clear on that. Not all
markets. So farmers markets weredefinitely considered an
exception. And that was such abusy time researching daily the
changes and having new signagemade every week. And we
completely changed the layout ofthe market during that period.
(19:09):
We made several changes. Thefirst change was to move, move a
lot of the farm stalls out atthe pavilion.
Jeremy Melder (19:17):
So that's what happened. Okay.
Sue Beckinsale (19:19):
So that we can allow the social distancing for
the all our customers queuing.
Yeah. But then we found thequeues were so long, we still
didn't have room. Yeah. So wemoved further out outside the
area that the market normallyinhabited. And that was done in
consultation and with supportfrom the Showground trust, and
this is again, where communitywe have such a wonderful
(19:40):
supportive community.
Jeremy Melder (19:43):
Can't agree with you anymore. Yes.
Sue Beckinsale (19:44):
Showground trust was just wonderful and I work
with are so closely they'reworking with us right now, you
know, a little bit late thismorning because I had a phone
call with them working onsomething that's about to be
another change at the market.
But yes, so they agreed that wcould move our farm stalls righ
out to allow for that extrspace and the social distancin
that was considered so importanright through that anxious tim
(20:07):
in the early and middle days oCOVID. Yeah. But you know, lik
most things in life, I think ouof difficulties can emerge grea
things. Yeah. And really, it habeen fabulous for the market, w
didn't quite know what texpect. And we thought tha
maybe, and farmers have now I'trying to say two things a
(20:31):
once. So just take one strand aa time. Farmers plan three o
six months in advance, so thehave a planting ratio. And the
have to plan for the seeds tthe seedlings to the plant i
the ground to the finaharvesting. So they have
regime that of planting that'based on their expectations o
what they're likely to sellYeah. And then COVID hits. Yeah
(20:52):
and coming from a farminbackground myself, my whol
concern was, we can't have foorotting in the ground, like
keeping this market going is aabsolute priority from tw
points of view. We need oufarmers, our farmers at ou
farmers market, our small familfarmers, yeah, they're not th
big, massive farm growers thagrow maybe only carrots o
(21:18):
massive acreage, these are verdiverse, Market Garden, smal
family farms, and most of thenow we're intergenerational. S
we've got the younger generationow growing, which is wonderful
So my absolute priority was tkeep the farmers selling so w
could keep our farms viable, angive the population give ou
(21:42):
wonderful loyal customer basaccess to that fresh produc
more critical than everPossible health challenges Yeah
Jeremy Melder (21:53):
these things shut down to such a large extent
that, you know, we were very,very reliant on local produce,
you know, and that's a greatthing for us to think about more
so from a, from a globalperspective, from from an
Australian perspective and say,Well, what can we do locally, to
support our local communitiesand be more self sufficient.
(22:17):
And, you know, that's why it'swonderful to have these, you
know, we've got, you know, theMurwillumbah market, but he's
also got, you know, the Mullummarkets and the Byron markets,
that that do support our localfarmers. And that's really
important, isn't it?
Sue Beckinsale (22:32):
It's so important and Jeremy during this
time, we worked the NorthernRivers markets, we all know one
another. The managers, we hadlots of telephone calls to one
another checking on what we wereeach doing. And in the early
days, right at the beginning ofCOVID, we actually got together
and collaboratively decided on asmall advertising campaign. Now
(22:52):
we don't normally have the moneyto put into advertising. We are
not for profit, we run out on areally lean. But by working with
the others, were able to run aseries of tv adverts, and so we
do collaborate, we support oneanother. Yeah. And a lot of some
of our farm stalls are at someof those other markets. So there
(23:13):
is overlap. So that wasimportant. But you know, people
were very fearful in the earlydays and looking for a safe
venue to shop. So we did removeour marquees, we removed our
tables and chairs, because thefocus then was to shop and go,
yeah, yeah, we needed thatturnover. So we had the space
for people to queue. Yeah. Wehad the open air and we had the
(23:35):
sunshine. Yeah, we had thehealthiest environment. And you
know, there are so many days onthat Wednesday morning, when it
looks as if it might shower, Ijust hold the clouds up, because
I just want the market to havethat sunshine. That's part of
the happiness. Yeah. And unlikesome of the other markets, I
think I chose to keep themusicians because I recognized
(23:56):
that while people were queuing,and the queues were much longer
and it took much longer to gothrough and buy what you came
for, the music was uplifting. Sowe really put the focus on
having happy music, engagingmusic, and keeping people
occupied in a really positiveway. Yeah, yeah. But, you know,
(24:18):
it highlights the importance oflocal food. Yeah, food security,
is something that is always inthe back of my mind. And, and
through various floods over theyears. It's made me much more
aware of how fragile that foodsecurity is. Yeah,
Jeremy Melder (24:35):
absolutely. Yeah, you've very, you've raised a
very important thing there thatthat is food security is so so
important, isn't it? And ourpopulations are growing, and we
need to be able to sustain ourlocal communities. Now there's a
lot of people apparentlyspeaking not speaking of floods,
but a lot of people apparentlymoving to our region. And I was
(25:02):
just at a meeting yesterday,which is called Murwillumbah
Life. And they were talkingabout having a stall on the 24th
of March. Is that right? towelcome our people that are new
to Murwillumbah. And do youknow, give them some loving,
(25:25):
say, welcome to Murwillumbah andmaybe share some information
about Murwillumbah and, and the2484 region, because it's a lot
bigger than just Murwillumbah.
And then just this will be likethe first first introduction,
but not everyone will be able tomake it because it might be you
know, as we're talking aboutworking, and so on, they might
not be able to pop in on thatday, but we're gonna have a
(25:48):
series of these in the future.
And the first one is going to beon the 24th of March. at the
farmers market.
Sue Beckinsale (25:57):
Oh, that's lovely. Do you know, every week
I meet up to the area? I get toknow familiar faces. I don't
remember everyone's name. Iwould love to Yeah, but I doubt
it. But I remember faces. And,and yes, almost every week, I
speak to at least one or twopeople who've moved into the
area. So having a way of helpingthose people connect with other
(26:20):
locals is so important. So thatinitiative is a wonderful idea.
And at the market, we like tosupport our community
organization. So we try tosupport them in a rotational
basis. Yeah. And so we givecommunity groups a free spot.
Providing I know about it. Andthey agree to the guidelines
(26:43):
that their given. And they havetheir insurance cover. Yeah.
Yes, we like to give them a spotat the market. And we rotate
that around so that people getto know what services there are
in the area, or how to makeconnections, or where to find
help if they need help withtheir finances, or family help,
or just someone to talk to, orsomeone to know. Absolutely.
Jeremy Melder (27:06):
And so just a little shout out is a very to
people that are interested inwanting to know what's going on
in Murwillumbah. There is a verynew website called
Murwillumbah.life. Yes, it's afunny name. But that's all it
is. It's Murwillumbah dot life.
And if you go in there, you'llsee some of the events that are
(27:27):
being listed in there. And alsothe farmers market have a
Facebook page, don't they?
Sue Beckinsale (27:33):
We have a website. Yep. And the Facebook
page and Instagram page. On ourwebsite, we're encouraging more
and more of our customers tosign up for the weekly
newsletter. I do a lot ofwriting Mondays my writing day,
I write and design a newsletterthat goes live every Monday
between one and three. And thecustomers are stallholders. Let
(27:54):
me know that customers readthere and come and say, Oh, I
hear there's this or where do Ifind whatever they've just read
about. And Jeremy, you might beinterested, we include recipes
in there.
Jeremy Melder (28:03):
Fantastic. I'm gonna subscribe today.
Sue Beckinsale (28:06):
So this week, for instance, we like to talk
about what's new. Yeah, andthere was a lot to talk about
what's new this week, because wehave three new season, things
coming to market. We've got anew season royal gala, apples,
and a new season quinces and anew season black mascot grapes.
But we also have things that aregrown and produced by some of
(28:28):
our farmers that are less knownabout like Egyptian spinach, or
Timor lettuce. So this week, weshine spotlight on both of those
and included recipe that you canuse Egyptian spinach in just to
provide a catalyst for people totry something a little
different.
Jeremy Melder (28:45):
Yeah, that's really, that's fantastic. I will
be definitely signing up. And Iencourage all our listeners to
also sign up. And also shareinfo about what you love about
the farmers market. You know,because that's kind of important
feedback for the people thatare, you know, volunteering
(29:05):
their time, you know, because ittakes a lot of time. And I know
Sue, and the team put a lot ofeffort into doing this, and and
share this, you know, share thisinformation with people because
we've got, I think around 10 or15,000 people in this region
that may or may not even knowabout the market, you know?
Sue Beckinsale (29:25):
That's right.
It's amazing. It still amazes mewhen I when people arrive and I
say Oh, have you just moved intothe area? Oh, no, I live down.
There might mention a spot someway away, but they've just heard
about the market and we thinkfabulous. Yeah. And you know,
one person came because she'slost her job through COVID.
Yeah, her job involved a lot ofinternational travel and she now
says I wouldn't miss it for theworld. Yeah, you know, it's
(29:49):
given her something when so muchhas been taken away so slowly,
but we have people coming fromBrisbane, there was one person
who used to message meperiodically, saying She comes
down every week. Yeah, she lovedthe drive down. She loved the
Murwillumbah area I mean,
Jeremy Melder (30:05):
who who wouldn't want to who
Sue Beckinsale (30:07):
wouldn't you drive into mall and borrow long
cane road? That view? Yeah. isjust so glorious. It is
gorgeous. It's such a beautifularea. And there's such a lovely
feel in the area. Yeah. Sopeople come from all over the
place all along the coast. Andnow that the borders the border
barriers have gone. Yeah. Andthere's free movement again,
(30:27):
between states. A lot of peoplewho weren't able to come for a
while, so pleased to be able tocome back.
Jeremy Melder (30:33):
Yeah, I think it's really, really great for
people to participate in thefarmers market. But also,
there's lots of things that arebeautiful art gallery here as
well. So Sue, I really want tothank you for being on Beaming
Green. And for our listeners,please, if you'd like this
episode, please share with yourfriends or family. And hopefully
(30:58):
we get you know, people reallylooking at sustainability in our
local communities, but alsowithin our own lives. And this
is what Beaming Green is allabout is trying to enhance our
lives. So thank you. So
Sue Beckinsale (31:11):
thank you so much, Jeremy for having me. It's
been lovely to be able to talkabout the market, the market is
my passion. I can tell we lovehearing back from our customers
too. And just another littleone, if if anyone would like to
share a recipe on Facebook onInstagram, hand it to me at the
market. For our 10th birthday,I'll be displaying those recipes
(31:33):
at the market for other peopleto see and be inspired by and
we're hoping to produce acalendar this year for next for
2022, which will have aselection of those recipes in it
Jeremy Melder (31:43):
sounds wonderful.
So until next time, see you andkeep on Beaming Green. Thank you
for being part of the BeamingGreen podcast. The music for
this podcast is produced by DaveWeir. Now we need more people
to get on board and raiseawareness about sustainability
and climate change. And the moreof us that are shining the light
(32:05):
on these issues, the moregovernment and business leaders
will listen. We would love youto subscribe to our podcast, and
share and engage in social mediaso that we can get some
traction. Let's support oneanother and envision abroad
future. Thanks for listening andsee you next week.
Hello, my name is Jeremy Melder, and I'm the
(00:02):
presenter from Beaming Green.
Before we start, I would like toacknowledge that this podcast is
being held on the traditionallands of the Bundjalung people
and paying our respects toelders both past, present and
emerging. The Beaming Greenpodcast is a weekly podcast,
which will help you to take outsome of the stress and confusion
(00:27):
about how to live your life moresustainably. And we do this by
introducing people that havefirst hand experience and
expertise in all aspects ofsustainability. So you can get
some amazing insight. You canimplement the simple and
practical solutions to enhanceyour life and the lives of your
(00:49):
family. Anyone been to themurwillumbah farmers market.
It's located the Showgrounds innorthern New South Wales. Now,
if you have never been there,you will be in for a great
surprise because it'sbeautifully surrounded by the
Caldera, and Mount Wollumbin.
(01:10):
This is a place where thecommunity gathers to support our
local farmers and artisans everyWednesday, from 7am till 11.
It's a great place for the localeconomy, and cuts down on carbon
emissions due to the travel offood to the marketplace. So
today, I want to welcome SueBeckinsale, who manages the
(01:32):
Murwillumbah markets to tell usmore about what goes on there.
Sue, welcome to Beaming Green.
Sue Beckinsale (01:40):
Thank you, Jeremy. I'm so happy to be here.
Jeremy Melder (01:43):
It's really lovely to have you here. Sue,
you are what I call thecustodian looking after the
farmers market in Murwillumbah.
Can you give us a little bit ofbackground as to when this
started and so on?
Sue Beckinsale (02:01):
That's a wonderful question, Jeremy,
because we're about to celebrate10 years,
Jeremy Melder (02:05):
10 years.
Sue Beckinsale (02:07):
So in April this year we celebrate the market
actually, having been open toour customers for 10 years. And
so the history of that is itcame out of the caldera economic
transition plan. There was aprocess that took a couple of
years. And I think the plan wasfinally written in 2009. And one
(02:28):
of the four key outcomes thatthey wanted to achieve was to
establish a farmers market inMurwillumbah to support our
local growers, and to help withthe economics and social
development of the area.
Jeremy Melder (02:41):
Yeah, that's fantastic. Now, What part do you
play in terms of organizing?
This is are there any otherpeople that assist you?
Sue Beckinsale (02:52):
Ah, I managed market, which means really doing
everything. Yeah. But the marketis a not for profit. Yeah. So it
came as the caldera farmersmarket. Murwillumbah Inc. Yeah.
And so we have a committee, andthe committee has a very
important role. Becauseultimately, they're responsible
for the market. Yeah. But themanager is the one who ensures
(03:16):
that the market happens everyweek. And anything to do with
making sure that it happensevery week, is what I do.
Jeremy Melder (03:26):
So rain, hail, or shine, or even if you're ill,
you still managed to, hopefullynot when you're ill. But you
know, especially with COVID-19about,
Sue Beckinsale (03:36):
I've been very lucky, I think in the, in the
eight years that I've actuallybeen managing the market. And
its eight years for me coming upin June. I think I've only
missed one. Yeah. Because someadverse occurrence in my life.
Jeremy Melder (03:51):
I remember going early on, I think, in in when he
first when it was first started.
And you know, it's so wonderfulto say how it has grown over the
time and seeing all these lovelypeople with kids and music and
you know, all these people justsitting around chatting in the
(04:12):
sunshine when it's sunny. Andjust really, it's a community
event, isn't it? Really, everyWednesday, people between seven
and 11. In the morning, they'retogether to be with each other.
Sue Beckinsale (04:30):
And you've absolutely hit the essence of
the market. I see myself assimply the facilitator. Yeah, of
an event that is aboutcommunity, for the community
with the community. Yeah.
Without the community wewouldn't exist. And that
community is wide and,embracing, yeah. So from the
people who put the seeds in theground or the seedlings in the
(04:51):
ground to begin with, to peoplewho have an idea about a
business they'd like to createand think how do I do that the
economics behind that can bequite daunting. But if they can
start small and start at themarket, yeah, then it's not so
frightening. Yeah. So the marketfacilitates the development of,
(05:13):
of small producers, as well asour growers. Yeah. And it
facilitates the gathering ofpeople every week. People will
say to me, it's my happy day.
Yeah, I come to the market. I,even people who work on
Wednesday, I just they workschedule, where they can to be
(05:34):
able to come to the market. Andthey say, because it's my happy
morning. And in fact, one mumused to run into the market. And
she'd say, quickly, I've got topick up some things for the kids
school lunches, but I'll be backlater, she'd run in and she'd
get what she needed theessentials to make an easy
lunch, yeah, morning tea,whatever, for the children or
breakfast. And then she'd comeback and do the real shopping
(05:56):
and catch up with friends. Yeah.
So it really is a gatheringpoint.
Jeremy Melder (05:59):
Yeah, absolutely.
Now in terms of like thecriteria for people coming into
the marketplace, I know there'sa lot of organics and so on, is
there some sort of way ofevaluating who gets in and who
doesn't get in?
Sue Beckinsale (06:15):
Absolutely. And that's the beauty of having a
market that's run by a committeeand being a not for profit, we
have a clear set of guidelines.
For instance, any farmers thathave applied to come into the
market, they have to be able todemonstrate that they're growing
what they sell. Yeah, and theyhave to agree to an independent
order, before they start. So wehave an independent auditor come
(06:38):
and visit them and have a lookat what they grow, and what
they've applied to bring intothe market. And they are
responsible for accepting anaudit annually or biannually, as
determined by the committee toensure that what they're selling
is what they're growing. Yeah.
And likewise, with our producersand others who come into the
(06:59):
market, there is a process thecommittee considers every
application. And that processevolves and changes, as the
market has accepted and grownwith more and more stallholders.
our need for duplication is notthere. Occasionally, we
duplicate but it's a very finelynuanced growth factor of making
(07:22):
sure that I mean our priorityreally is I suppose if a
stallholder begins at themarket, we want them to be
successful. Yeah. So that'sabout making sure that we don't
have too much overlap. Yeah, ofcourse, with our projects, we
have our wide variation betweenour farm stalls. And I think
we've got that about right.
They're all being successful. Wecan't just accept every farm
(07:45):
stall who apply as much as we'dlove to. Yeah, because we can
only accept stalls at the rateof growth of our customers.
Yeah.
Jeremy Melder (07:55):
Do you have an idea as to how many people
attend? on a Wednesday? I did,like have a rough estimate.
Sue Beckinsale (08:04):
When I first came on to manage the market,
eight years ago, I think we hadabout 450 on the first survey.
Within a year or two, itincreased to about 850. And I'd
say we're well over 1000,probably 1500. Most weeks.
Jeremy Melder (08:19):
Wow. The car park is always full.
Sue Beckinsale (08:23):
Yes, it does. It fills up and we have those who
come and hang around for most ofthe morning. Yeah, because of
the music and the ambience ofthe market, which has been a
very considered decision tocreate that, that place that
center gathering point forpeople to come to, but some
people pop in and go quitequickly. So there's a lot of
(08:43):
traffic through the market, alot of turnover vehicles and a
lot of people coming and goingYeah, and that's wonderful.
That's exactly what we want tosee.
Jeremy Melder (08:51):
Yeah. In terms of the vision, as you've got it,
basically, it's determined onwhat what the size or the growth
of the market is as to what youcan put in there. Isn't that in
terms of what else you can addto it
Sue Beckinsale (09:04):
that and adding diversity? So when people
approach me and say, I'd love tohave a stall at the market, I
say what are you bringing? Youknow, have you been around the
market had a look is what you'reoffering something different to
what we already have? Do youmake it? Yeah, because you must
be the maker, or you must workwithin the organization that
makes the product that is beingsold. And we are a farmers
(09:25):
market. So we do put food as ourabsolute priority. And that's
complemented with a few littleother things that local makers
make, but it is really all aboutthe food. And our food producers
are also asked to use theproduce that our growers and
farmers produce. Yeah, so thatstallholders support one
(09:45):
another. Yeah, if someone'smaking pesto to sell and they're
not growing the basil or thecoriander for the pesto, we ask
that they buy that from the farmstalls. And that's very
important. It's it's an organic,self supporting process and
really important.
Jeremy Melder (10:01):
So that then a community of people that are
buying locally can know thatthey're actually supporting
local, which is reallyimportant. Now, I want to just,
we talked about this beforeoffline, about the Griffith
University survey that was doneon it's a very small sample,
just to tell our listeners thatit is a small sample that was
(10:23):
done. But it was veryinteresting. There's a graphic
here that I'm looking at, that'sbasically showing, the reason
why people actually go to amarket is that they want to cut
down on food miles, which is areally important thing. It's
also supporting sustainablefarming in the local area. And
it's also reducing waste. Andanother important thing that we
(10:45):
seem to have forgotten in themodern era is about seasonality.
Because we can buy mangoes allyear round if we wanted to
bananas all around, but we'veforgotten this whole thing of
seasonality. Whereas going backa few generations that you could
only get bananas in a particularseason, or oranges in a
(11:07):
particular season, or apples ina particular season, not every
day. So it's kind of one of thethings that was really that
highlighted that to me also, themain thing that I thought was
really highlighted here was theconnection for the social, the
social connection for the localcommunity, which we've already
talked about, and theentertainment, the activities
(11:29):
are there. And it enhancescommunity spirit, doesn't it?
Sue Beckinsale (11:33):
It really does.
It's a focus point. Early on, Iremember seeing young mums with
bubs come in. And it became agathering and sometimes they
didn't come to shop, they reallycame because it was a safe place
to gather and talk. And then thebabies grow into toddlers. And
then the next baby appeared inthe pram and we'd see the
(11:55):
munching on a carrot or cucumberor an apple from the Apple
Stall. And so we decided that itwould be really lovely to have a
gathering spot for families,young families. So we
established what we call Kiddiescorner. And one of the beautiful
aspects that I love about ourcommunity is that sense of
(12:16):
supporting and helping oneanother out. And so Paula
LaBelle from the Family Center,and I work closely together to
have that little family, youngfamily, young kids gathering
area at the market. And sheactually organizes that, and
organizes the volunteers and theactivities for that area. And
(12:37):
she's delighted because it givesher a way of connecting with
young families, that's part ofher role within the family
center. So that sense of workingwith others, as I said, I just
facilitate in working withothers to make this happen. And
so that being a gathering point,we have people with computers
(12:57):
who have meetings at the market.
Tomorrow, I've got 30 volunteerscoming from the Tweed
Information Center to have alook at the market. And that's
about them recognizing howimportant the market is for
bringing people into the Tweedor being part of the whole Tweed
experience when they'retraveling into the area through
(13:18):
the area. And I hear from peoplefrom all over the country who
will ring and say is such andsuch a store still at the
market. I used to just passthrough Murwillumbah and now I
stay a couple of nights in thearea. Because then I plan my
visit around coming to themarket. So it's lovely to have
that reach within the communityand beyond the community. And
we're also a place wherefamilies when they have visitors
(13:41):
from other parts of the countrycan take their visitors. And in
fact, a lot of the accommodationplaces from all along the coast,
I have people from Eleonora downto Pottsville to or further up
the coast who will bring theirinternational visitors or the
local visitors who are stayingat their b&b to the market.
(14:03):
Yeah. They say it's adestination. And so the market
can be a starting point fortheir day in the Tweed, go to
the art gallery, do whatever.
Yeah. And seasonality is areally important part of that
authenticity is important. Andthat doesn't mean that that's
easy to manaage. There arealways challenges and there are
always people who want to breakthe rules. Yeah. But what we say
to our farmers, is really abouteducating our customers about
(14:28):
the seasonality of produce. Thisstudy that the Griffith uni
students did was reallyinteresting. Then nutrition and
dietitian students. And so wehad two groups come through last
year, one who looked one grouplooked at the seasonality of
produce. And they did somethingthat I'd been trying to work on
for years and just didn't havetime to have finished and I
produced a seasonality chart forthe year. So of course, it needs
(14:50):
a little bit of tweaking, butonly the other day, I was
talking to one of the committeemembers and we thought about how
we could display that to ourcustomers, because it is an
educative process, as you said,when we become so accustomed to
seeing everything in the shopsavailable all the time, it
almost becomes a subliminalexpectation. If you can't get
(15:12):
it, what's wrong? or if we'rereally supporting our local
growers, and eating seasonally,we have to learn that sometimes
things that we love aren'tavailable. But you know, there's
a flip side to that Jeremy. AndI say when I write my weekly
newsletter for our customerssometimes, yay, avocados are
back in and I've been so missingthem. Yeah. And like avocados
(15:36):
are just fading out now. Yeah.
But they'll come back in aroundMarch, April, March, April on
the coastal area, the ones fromBurringbah, April, late April.
So there's an excitement in thejoy of seasonality and the
eating with the seasons. And Ithink it's good for health.
Jeremy Melder (15:54):
I totally agree with you. From a health
perspective. I think there is areason for that, right? why
we've got these fruits in summerand some of them in winter. It's
helps with our digestive cyclesas well, I would say, and very
important. Now, one of thethings I wanted to find out
about was you've mentioned acommittee. Right, be nice to it.
(16:18):
You know, there are obviouslypeople in a committee that are
helping you then are there whoare those people that are on
your committees that don't mindbeing mentioned,
Sue Beckinsale (16:24):
the committee is comprised of always has a number
of stallholders, and we have twocommunity position. So we want
the committee to represent thecustomer and the store holder,
because the community votes onnew applications and votes on or
move, you know, moves variouschanges that we might want to
see in the market. So right now,our president is Ian McCray
(16:48):
have Nigel nuts. Yeah. Our vicepresident is Fabian Fabro from
woollen Valley eggs. Okay. OurTreasurer is Jeremy, who brings
the kombucha? Yeah. Oursecretary is Mal of Vietnamese
Lotus. Okay. And so and WillEverest is what we call an
(17:12):
ordinary member that ordinary nomeans described No, doesn't
really describe at all he's notordinary at all. And the value
that he brings to the decisionsmade is really important. So
that committee changes annuallyor can change annually. Yeah,
there might be slight changes,or there might be changes. But
yes, so that committee wouldmeet maybe every four to six
(17:35):
weeks. Yeah. And, you know, Ireport back to them, or if
there's any things that I'd likethem to consider or make
decisions about or support,things that I'd like to do, like
with our 10th birthday comingup, there are all sorts of ideas
that I have. And at the moment,we're looking at calling out to
the community to submit recipes,seasonal recipes for their
(17:57):
favorite simple, quick and easymeal. Because what we're going
to do for our 10th birthday isactually run some workshops at
the market to show how to useour local produce to make quick
easy meals, simple meals forfamilies.
Jeremy Melder (18:13):
What a great idea. And we were just
discussing this before that, youknow, we're running out of ideas
for recipes, I am anyway, yay, Icould always do with some great
ideas. Now, one of the thingsSue, during COVID, you know, we
had quite a few more, we had toall shut down for six weeks. And
(18:33):
I presume you were not able tooperate in that time, or where
you were at did while you wereable to we did so I stayed at
home. So because I'm vulnerabledue to a poor immune system, so
I didn't go anywhere.
Sue Beckinsale (18:44):
Well, markets were considered long with
supermarkets as an exception.
Farmers markets, I should bequite clear on that. Not all
markets. So farmers markets weredefinitely considered an
exception. And that was such abusy time researching daily the
changes and having new signagemade every week. And we
completely changed the layout ofthe market during that period.
(19:09):
We made several changes. Thefirst change was to move, move a
lot of the farm stalls out atthe pavilion.
Jeremy Melder (19:17):
So that's what happened. Okay.
Sue Beckinsale (19:19):
So that we can allow the social distancing for
the all our customers queuing.
Yeah. But then we found thequeues were so long, we still
didn't have room. Yeah. So wemoved further out outside the
area that the market normallyinhabited. And that was done in
consultation and with supportfrom the Showground trust, and
this is again, where communitywe have such a wonderful
(19:40):
supportive community.
Jeremy Melder (19:43):
Can't agree with you anymore. Yes.
Sue Beckinsale (19:44):
Showground trust was just wonderful and I work
with are so closely they'reworking with us right now, you
know, a little bit late thismorning because I had a phone
call with them working onsomething that's about to be
another change at the market.
But yes, so they agreed that wcould move our farm stalls righ
out to allow for that extrspace and the social distancin
that was considered so importanright through that anxious tim
(20:07):
in the early and middle days oCOVID. Yeah. But you know, lik
most things in life, I think ouof difficulties can emerge grea
things. Yeah. And really, it habeen fabulous for the market, w
didn't quite know what texpect. And we thought tha
maybe, and farmers have now I'trying to say two things a
(20:31):
once. So just take one strand aa time. Farmers plan three o
six months in advance, so thehave a planting ratio. And the
have to plan for the seeds tthe seedlings to the plant i
the ground to the finaharvesting. So they have
regime that of planting that'based on their expectations o
what they're likely to sellYeah. And then COVID hits. Yeah
(20:52):
and coming from a farminbackground myself, my whol
concern was, we can't have foorotting in the ground, like
keeping this market going is aabsolute priority from tw
points of view. We need oufarmers, our farmers at ou
farmers market, our small familfarmers, yeah, they're not th
big, massive farm growers thagrow maybe only carrots o
(21:18):
massive acreage, these are verdiverse, Market Garden, smal
family farms, and most of thenow we're intergenerational. S
we've got the younger generationow growing, which is wonderful
So my absolute priority was tkeep the farmers selling so w
could keep our farms viable, angive the population give ou
(21:42):
wonderful loyal customer basaccess to that fresh produc
more critical than everPossible health challenges Yeah
Jeremy Melder (21:53):
these things shut down to such a large extent
that, you know, we were very,very reliant on local produce,
you know, and that's a greatthing for us to think about more
so from a, from a globalperspective, from from an
Australian perspective and say,Well, what can we do locally, to
support our local communitiesand be more self sufficient.
(22:17):
And, you know, that's why it'swonderful to have these, you
know, we've got, you know, theMurwillumbah market, but he's
also got, you know, the Mullummarkets and the Byron markets,
that that do support our localfarmers. And that's really
important, isn't it?
Sue Beckinsale (22:32):
It's so important and Jeremy during this
time, we worked the NorthernRivers markets, we all know one
another. The managers, we hadlots of telephone calls to one
another checking on what we wereeach doing. And in the early
days, right at the beginning ofCOVID, we actually got together
and collaboratively decided on asmall advertising campaign. Now
(22:52):
we don't normally have the moneyto put into advertising. We are
not for profit, we run out on areally lean. But by working with
the others, were able to run aseries of tv adverts, and so we
do collaborate, we support oneanother. Yeah. And a lot of some
of our farm stalls are at someof those other markets. So there
(23:13):
is overlap. So that wasimportant. But you know, people
were very fearful in the earlydays and looking for a safe
venue to shop. So we did removeour marquees, we removed our
tables and chairs, because thefocus then was to shop and go,
yeah, yeah, we needed thatturnover. So we had the space
for people to queue. Yeah. Wehad the open air and we had the
(23:35):
sunshine. Yeah, we had thehealthiest environment. And you
know, there are so many days onthat Wednesday morning, when it
looks as if it might shower, Ijust hold the clouds up, because
I just want the market to havethat sunshine. That's part of
the happiness. Yeah. And unlikesome of the other markets, I
think I chose to keep themusicians because I recognized
(23:56):
that while people were queuing,and the queues were much longer
and it took much longer to gothrough and buy what you came
for, the music was uplifting. Sowe really put the focus on
having happy music, engagingmusic, and keeping people
occupied in a really positiveway. Yeah, yeah. But, you know,
(24:18):
it highlights the importance oflocal food. Yeah, food security,
is something that is always inthe back of my mind. And, and
through various floods over theyears. It's made me much more
aware of how fragile that foodsecurity is. Yeah,
Jeremy Melder (24:35):
absolutely. Yeah, you've very, you've raised a
very important thing there thatthat is food security is so so
important, isn't it? And ourpopulations are growing, and we
need to be able to sustain ourlocal communities. Now there's a
lot of people apparentlyspeaking not speaking of floods,
but a lot of people apparentlymoving to our region. And I was
(25:02):
just at a meeting yesterday,which is called Murwillumbah
Life. And they were talkingabout having a stall on the 24th
of March. Is that right? towelcome our people that are new
to Murwillumbah. And do youknow, give them some loving,
(25:25):
say, welcome to Murwillumbah andmaybe share some information
about Murwillumbah and, and the2484 region, because it's a lot
bigger than just Murwillumbah.
And then just this will be likethe first first introduction,
but not everyone will be able tomake it because it might be you
know, as we're talking aboutworking, and so on, they might
not be able to pop in on thatday, but we're gonna have a
(25:48):
series of these in the future.
And the first one is going to beon the 24th of March. at the
farmers market.
Sue Beckinsale (25:57):
Oh, that's lovely. Do you know, every week
I meet up to the area? I get toknow familiar faces. I don't
remember everyone's name. Iwould love to Yeah, but I doubt
it. But I remember faces. And,and yes, almost every week, I
speak to at least one or twopeople who've moved into the
area. So having a way of helpingthose people connect with other
(26:20):
locals is so important. So thatinitiative is a wonderful idea.
And at the market, we like tosupport our community
organization. So we try tosupport them in a rotational
basis. Yeah. And so we givecommunity groups a free spot.
Providing I know about it. Andthey agree to the guidelines
(26:43):
that their given. And they havetheir insurance cover. Yeah.
Yes, we like to give them a spotat the market. And we rotate
that around so that people getto know what services there are
in the area, or how to makeconnections, or where to find
help if they need help withtheir finances, or family help,
or just someone to talk to, orsomeone to know. Absolutely.
Jeremy Melder (27:06):
And so just a little shout out is a very to
people that are interested inwanting to know what's going on
in Murwillumbah. There is a verynew website called
Murwillumbah.life. Yes, it's afunny name. But that's all it
is. It's Murwillumbah dot life.
And if you go in there, you'llsee some of the events that are
(27:27):
being listed in there. And alsothe farmers market have a
Facebook page, don't they?
Sue Beckinsale (27:33):
We have a website. Yep. And the Facebook
page and Instagram page. On ourwebsite, we're encouraging more
and more of our customers tosign up for the weekly
newsletter. I do a lot ofwriting Mondays my writing day,
I write and design a newsletterthat goes live every Monday
between one and three. And thecustomers are stallholders. Let
(27:54):
me know that customers readthere and come and say, Oh, I
hear there's this or where do Ifind whatever they've just read
about. And Jeremy, you might beinterested, we include recipes
in there.
Jeremy Melder (28:03):
Fantastic. I'm gonna subscribe today.
Sue Beckinsale (28:06):
So this week, for instance, we like to talk
about what's new. Yeah, andthere was a lot to talk about
what's new this week, because wehave three new season, things
coming to market. We've got anew season royal gala, apples,
and a new season quinces and anew season black mascot grapes.
But we also have things that aregrown and produced by some of
(28:28):
our farmers that are less knownabout like Egyptian spinach, or
Timor lettuce. So this week, weshine spotlight on both of those
and included recipe that you canuse Egyptian spinach in just to
provide a catalyst for people totry something a little
different.
Jeremy Melder (28:45):
Yeah, that's really, that's fantastic. I will
be definitely signing up. And Iencourage all our listeners to
also sign up. And also shareinfo about what you love about
the farmers market. You know,because that's kind of important
feedback for the people thatare, you know, volunteering
(29:05):
their time, you know, because ittakes a lot of time. And I know
Sue, and the team put a lot ofeffort into doing this, and and
share this, you know, share thisinformation with people because
we've got, I think around 10 or15,000 people in this region
that may or may not even knowabout the market, you know?
Sue Beckinsale (29:25):
That's right.
It's amazing. It still amazes mewhen I when people arrive and I
say Oh, have you just moved intothe area? Oh, no, I live down.
There might mention a spot someway away, but they've just heard
about the market and we thinkfabulous. Yeah. And you know,
one person came because she'slost her job through COVID.
Yeah, her job involved a lot ofinternational travel and she now
says I wouldn't miss it for theworld. Yeah, you know, it's
(29:49):
given her something when so muchhas been taken away so slowly,
but we have people coming fromBrisbane, there was one person
who used to message meperiodically, saying She comes
down every week. Yeah, she lovedthe drive down. She loved the
Murwillumbah area I mean,
Jeremy Melder (30:05):
who who wouldn't want to who
Sue Beckinsale (30:07):
wouldn't you drive into mall and borrow long
cane road? That view? Yeah. isjust so glorious. It is
gorgeous. It's such a beautifularea. And there's such a lovely
feel in the area. Yeah. Sopeople come from all over the
place all along the coast. Andnow that the borders the border
barriers have gone. Yeah. Andthere's free movement again,
(30:27):
between states. A lot of peoplewho weren't able to come for a
while, so pleased to be able tocome back.
Jeremy Melder (30:33):
Yeah, I think it's really, really great for
people to participate in thefarmers market. But also,
there's lots of things that arebeautiful art gallery here as
well. So Sue, I really want tothank you for being on Beaming
Green. And for our listeners,please, if you'd like this
episode, please share with yourfriends or family. And hopefully
(30:58):
we get you know, people reallylooking at sustainability in our
local communities, but alsowithin our own lives. And this
is what Beaming Green is allabout is trying to enhance our
lives. So thank you. So
Sue Beckinsale (31:11):
thank you so much, Jeremy for having me. It's
been lovely to be able to talkabout the market, the market is
my passion. I can tell we lovehearing back from our customers
too. And just another littleone, if if anyone would like to
share a recipe on Facebook onInstagram, hand it to me at the
market. For our 10th birthday,I'll be displaying those recipes
(31:33):
at the market for other peopleto see and be inspired by and
we're hoping to produce acalendar this year for next for
2022, which will have aselection of those recipes in it
Jeremy Melder (31:43):
sounds wonderful.
So until next time, see you andkeep on Beaming Green. Thank you
for being part of the BeamingGreen podcast. The music for
this podcast is produced by DaveWeir. Now we need more people
to get on board and raiseawareness about sustainability
and climate change. And the moreof us that are shining the light
(32:05):
on these issues, the moregovernment and business leaders
will listen. We would love youto subscribe to our podcast, and
share and engage in social mediaso that we can get some
traction. Let's support oneanother and envision abroad
future. Thanks for listening andsee you next week.
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