Thought I’d give these guys a go. Heard about them on the radio. Sick of the stupidmarket stuff and can’t grow everything I need.
Aussie Farmers Direct

thought I’d put your response here…

bubba louie said:

Some of out neighbours belong to a co-op. They take turns, works out about once a month, to travel to an organic farm about 1 1/2 hours away and collect the boxes for the group and deliver them to a central point.

The only hitch is you just order the box size, and it comes full of an assortment of what’s fresh and in season, so you need a family that will eat what they are given. Mine wont.

bubba louie said:

The only hitch is you just order the box size, and it comes full of an assortment of what’s fresh and in season, so you need a family that will eat what they are given. Mine wont.

Mine are pretty good that way, and I would prefer to eat local and seasonal if I can. Worth a try anyway. Can always cancel if it doesn’t suit us.

I’m considering using a service like this; particularly if they’re guaranteed fresh. I did use a home delivery service once that said it was fresh; but it was the usual poor Brisbane market quality.

At the moment every Saturday morning we drive to Rocklea, about 1/2 hour. By the time we’ve had breakfast there, and checked out the 2nd hand book stall, and bought fancy schmazy olives, I’m lucky to get out of the place for under $100. The f&v we get is all really good quality ‘cause we’ve worked out who is selling the most direct from farms. Most of my veg comes from a little stall that I suspect is operated by market gardeners. Always nice stuff.

The biggest hassle is that it really eats into our Saturday. I prefer not to buy enough for a fortnight ‘cause I don’t like old veg. I was thinking of maybe signing up for a delivery system every fortnight, so we get one weekend out of two to ourselves. Someone mentioned one here in SEQld to me, but I can’t for the life of me recall their name. They apparently only have produce grown within a certain radius from their base. They don’t actually deliver to your door. You order and there’s a central pick up point on a specific day.

Going to look into this as well BG:) Great idea…. thanks for popping it up.

What I like about it is its going to the farmers not the stupidmarkets.

what is their wed site info ?? can see it on here with other link !!

The Estate said:

what is their wed site info ?? can see it on here with other link !!

http://www.aussiefarmers.com.au

The only hitch is you just order the box size, and it comes full of an assortment of what’s fresh and in season, so you need a family that will eat what they are given. Mine wont.
—————
i can see why they would want to sell that way.
currently i have so much spinach i would gladly give it away – on the other hand i would want to sell broccoli for an exorbitant price and wouldn’t sell any. so a packet of everything for a reasonable price is a good way of averaging.

Ta GG.BG

recent news is that Australia has the most certified organic land of all.
on the other hand….you still have to be careful what you buy, even when it’s direct from farmers, as it might be even less stringently controlled in terms of inputs, and might even be the stuff that supermarkets rejected.
as an example: last summer my family went strawberry and peach picking at a Bacchus Marsh farmer. the fully ripe and already soft strawberries tasted great but, fully red and not yet soft strawberries were utterly acidic….as we discovered later from our bulk bought pickings. when i asked the farmer’s son at the shopfront about the nutrients the strawberries received, i only got a sketchy answer that indicated super-dosing for maximum yield over a short picking period, using a nutrient drip/watering setup. i would not buy such strawberries again.
i think sometimes we just believe farmer gate or farmer market produce to be of more organic/natural growing practices, and non-commital answers from these sellers can be easily mis-interpreted by unsuspecting buyers.
so buyer beware, as you could end up eating more poisons and less quality than at supermarkets.
nowadays i don’t take anyone’s word for it…it’s either marked certified organic OR i assume it’s usual intensively grown produce. and if it isn’t organic, then i might as well buy it from a supermarket, which at least has some quality requirements and a brand to protect.
just my thoughts/experience and two-bits worth of info on it. a local farmer selling to locals can’t get away with such unscrupulous dealings.

all very good comments aquarium. I’m not assuming anything here is organic, in fact I am assuming otherwise. But I am thinking seasonal veg as opposed to an unknown term of cold storage, and hopefully a lot less travel $$ as well. The proof is in the pudding as they say and if the quality is not up to par then I will not stay with them. But if they want to survive against the stupidmarkets, then they would want to provide quality produce at a competitive price.

I won’t buy f&v from the stoopidmarkets because I know what sort of f&v they’re getting. The Man worked at the markets in Perth for a week or two couple of years ago. He turned up first working day after New Year. His job was to pick through a shipping container of watermelons. The container had been sent down from up north somewhere and arrived just before Christmas. He was to find all the melons that were still good, wash them off, and pack them to one side. Blurgh!

Now, the melons were then sold on to stoopidmarkets and small f&v shops alike. HOWEVER, stoopidmarkets buy their f&v by the pallet load. The Man was instructed to stack pallets with older stock and replace the top two layers of boxes with new stock. Stoopidmarkets don’t have time to check every box, so the markets off load their older stock.

The little guys, on the other hand, DO check every box, because every box makes a big difference to their bottom line.

If I desperately need something for tonight’s dinner, I might pick up just enough from the stoopidmarket; but I never, ever buy f&v for tomorrow. Blurgh.

While looking for a recipe to jazz up a vanilla cake mix I stumbled across this site : https://www.onlyoz.com.au/. Obviously, I haven’t used them; but I’m keen to support Australian goods wherever possible.

i use a plain vanilla or butter cake ( plain =homebrand ) and jazz it up with a handfull of choc drops and or sultanas…..make children and MrP very happy …

sweetpea2008 said:

i use a plain vanilla or butter cake ( plain =homebrand ) and jazz it up with a handfull of choc drops and or sultanas…..make children and MrP very happy …

That’s what I ended up doing. Choc drops and a bit of nutmeg & cinnamon. It didn’t rise well, but it tastes okay.

some fantastic prices from a small store 30 mins drive from me in a market gardening area
- spuds 25 kilos $15
- onions 15 kilos $10
might be worth the drive since both of these are about $2 per kilo in the s/marts.

pepe said:

some fantastic prices from a small store 30 mins drive from me in a market gardening area
- spuds 25 kilos $15
- onions 15 kilos $10
might be worth the drive since both of these are about $2 per kilo in the s/marts.

I s this the one adversitsed in the local messanger???

Lucky1 said:

pepe said:

some fantastic prices from a small store 30 mins drive from me in a market gardening area
- spuds 25 kilos $15
- onions 15 kilos $10
might be worth the drive since both of these are about $2 per kilo in the s/marts.

I s this the one adversitsed in the local messanger???

Virgara brothers – angle vale road.

pepe said:

Lucky1 said:

pepe said:

some fantastic prices from a small store 30 mins drive from me in a market gardening area
- spuds 25 kilos $15
- onions 15 kilos $10
might be worth the drive since both of these are about $2 per kilo in the s/marts.

I s this the one adversitsed in the local messanger???

Virgara brothers – angle vale road.

Yep thats the one….( I think) yep:D

Virgara brothers – angle vale road. Yep thats the one….( I think) yep:D
———————————————
i think i’ll be there tomorrow – my pantry could handle the bulk and i’ve run out of both spuds and onions.

I went down to the f&veg shop 15 mins drive from here and bought -
20kg onions ($5.99) and 20 kg spuds ($5.99). I sorted thru them when i got home, and one onion was rotten and probably 10% were shooting. Of the spuds about 40% had minor cuts and bruises which would prevent them from storing.
Pretty good IMHO.
Also bought 750gms green beans ($2), 1kg brussel sprouts ($3.60) and 5kg pink chats (small spuds) for planting.

pepe said:

I went down to the f&veg shop 15 mins drive from here and bought -
20kg onions ($5.99) and 20 kg spuds ($5.99). I sorted thru them when i got home, and one onion was rotten and probably 10% were shooting. Of the spuds about 40% had minor cuts and bruises which would prevent them from storing.
Pretty good IMHO.
Also bought 750gms green beans ($2), 1kg brussel sprouts ($3.60) and 5kg pink chats (small spuds) for planting.

Wish I could buy as well as that round here.

pomolo said:

pepe said:

I went down to the f&veg shop 15 mins drive from here and bought -
20kg onions ($5.99) and 20 kg spuds ($5.99). I sorted thru them when i got home, and one onion was rotten and probably 10% were shooting. Of the spuds about 40% had minor cuts and bruises which would prevent them from storing.
Pretty good IMHO.
Also bought 750gms green beans ($2), 1kg brussel sprouts ($3.60) and 5kg pink chats (small spuds) for planting.

Wish I could buy as well as that round here.

that’s the thing. With me working 4 days, The travelling time and costs would outweigh the benefits. The only “local” place, Carribean Markets, are either only open when I am at work, or on Sunday when they charge entry before you even get to the stalls!

pomolo said:

pepe said:

I went down to the f&veg shop 15 mins drive from here and bought -
20kg onions ($5.99) and 20 kg spuds ($5.99). I sorted thru them when i got home, and one onion was rotten and probably 10% were shooting. Of the spuds about 40% had minor cuts and bruises which would prevent them from storing.
Pretty good IMHO.
Also bought 750gms green beans ($2), 1kg brussel sprouts ($3.60) and 5kg pink chats (small spuds) for planting.

Wish I could buy as well as that round here.

you have to sort them – but the price is cheaper than growing your own.

bluegreen said:

pomolo said:

pepe said:

I went down to the f&veg shop 15 mins drive from here and bought -
20kg onions ($5.99) and 20 kg spuds ($5.99). I sorted thru them when i got home, and one onion was rotten and probably 10% were shooting. Of the spuds about 40% had minor cuts and bruises which would prevent them from storing.
Pretty good IMHO.
Also bought 750gms green beans ($2), 1kg brussel sprouts ($3.60) and 5kg pink chats (small spuds) for planting.

Wish I could buy as well as that round here.

that’s the thing. With me working 4 days, The travelling time and costs would outweigh the benefits. The only “local” place, Carribean Markets, are either only open when I am at work, or on Sunday when they charge entry before you even get to the stalls!

Kind of cuts you right out doesn’t it BG.

pomolo said:

bluegreen said:

pomolo said:

pepe said:

I went down to the f&veg shop 15 mins drive from here and bought -
20kg onions ($5.99) and 20 kg spuds ($5.99). I sorted thru them when i got home, and one onion was rotten and probably 10% were shooting. Of the spuds about 40% had minor cuts and bruises which would prevent them from storing.
Pretty good IMHO.
Also bought 750gms green beans ($2), 1kg brussel sprouts ($3.60) and 5kg pink chats (small spuds) for planting.

Wish I could buy as well as that round here.

that’s the thing. With me working 4 days, The travelling time and costs would outweigh the benefits. The only “local” place, Carribean Markets, are either only open when I am at work, or on Sunday when they charge entry before you even get to the stalls!

Kind of cuts you right out doesn’t it BG.

If I have to work Friday for any reason, I take the Wednesday off instead so I can go then. Free entry on Wednesday. They also have a weekly poultry auction on Wednesdays which is handy if I have any birds to offload.

Wednesdays which is handy if I have any birds to offload.
———
note everyone – BG said OFFLOAD (not buy).
you gals would have liked the plant section of this F&v store. i resisted.

pepe said:

Wednesdays which is handy if I have any birds to offload.
———
note everyone – BG said OFFLOAD (not buy).
you gals would have liked the plant section of this F&v store. i resisted.

Did you have to mention the plants Pepe? I’ll be down there on Sunday with a whole week to fill in. Will be checking out a few of the nurseries.

pepe said:

Wednesdays which is handy if I have any birds to offload.
———
note everyone – BG said OFFLOAD (not buy).

lol! true. A lot of the chooks there are not in the best condition. Mind you there were some tempting ones too, but I was strong!

We have discovered recently a farm that sells direct to the public. Mostly vegies, they’re cheap and very fresh indeed. They may not have a big range to offer but they’re good for supplementing your own vegies, or the stupormarket’s.

orchid40 said:

We have discovered recently a farm that sells direct to the public. Mostly vegies, they’re cheap and very fresh indeed. They may not have a big range to offer but they’re good for supplementing your own vegies, or the stupormarket’s.

I’m liking this idea more and more. I suppose we will see a lot more of it as time goes on. Daughter informed me today that they are getting fruit and veg, eggs and milk delivered once a week from Monday.

orchid40 said:

We have discovered recently a farm that sells direct to the public. Mostly vegies, they’re cheap and very fresh indeed. They may not have a big range to offer but they’re good for supplementing your own vegies, or the stupormarket’s.

Ooohhh another replacement for “supermarket”. I like it almost as much as ‘stupidmarket’