NEWS

AHF members receive grants

NETWORK

Udder Delights to host Network Night

BARKING

Denise Manson
FIDO

OUT & ABOUT

RFSA Co-op website launch

NEW MEMBERS

Two welcomed

EVENTS

CONTACTS

CALENDAR

ADVERTISE

The Adelaide Hills Food Chain

AHF Chair position up for grabs

AHF Chair Rob May has made known his intention to resign at the next Committee Meeting (see Calendar below) leaving the food group open to new leadership.

Rob has chaired monthly meetings and represented the food group at many events for at least 12 months since taking over leadership from Willa Wauchope (Willabrand).

Rob's vision, enthusiasm and hard work has brought Adelaide Hills Food back into the public eye and strengthened the group from within, most of the time without the support of a full committee and a Food Industry Development Officer.

There is much appreciation among AHF members for the time and effort Rob has put into the publication of the Adelaide Hills Food Guide, the appointment of FIDO Denise Manson, and the foundation work for setting up an Adelaide Hills Farmers' Market and the resurrection of the AHF newsletter and website.

If someone steps forward to replace Rob as Chair, he will then stay on as an AHF Executive Committee Member.

Thank you Rob.

In the News

With FIDO Denise Manson

Opening of Udder Delights Cheese Cellar

Saul and Sheree Sullivan opened their new Cheese Cellar and Cafe on November 30 last year with style. There was a great turnout on a warm evening with several AHF members there and, of course, beautiful cheese to taste and coffee from a very impressive machine. Christine McCabe, who wrote a fabulous piece in the Weekend Australian about Adelaide Hills Food last September, gave a great speech encapsulating all that was special about the culture and food of the Hills.

The cafe has plenty of alfresco space for eating and everyone was able to wander around and see the cheese cellar where Sheree will be holding cheesemaking classes and the beautiful, Mediterranean-style studio B&B apartment attached to the property. Don't forget the Network Night at Udder Delights on February 12, 6-8pm.

Grants

The next round of Food Processing in Regional Australia grants closes on February 8. If anyone is applying please contact me as there is an information sheet to tick off against your application. Congratulations to Cocolat who was successful in the last round, receiving a grant for a panning machine. Willa Wauchope (Willabrand) and Glen Ewin also received a tourism grant to develop a Interpretive Centre which will have a strong emphasis on regional food.

Camping and Caravanning Show

I am currently organising an AHF marquee at this show to be held on February 21-25. It is the biggest event after the Royal Show, with attendance around 40,000. If anyone is interested in sharing space, cost and staffing to have representation there please let me know asap.

Food Group Workshop

A Food Group Workshop is to be held at Regency TAFE on February 16 and has been organised by Flavour SA with a great line up of speakers. These include Susan Nelle MD of the National Food Industry Strategy, Simon Bryant Executive Chef of Adelaide Hilton, Anita Vlassi of City East IGA and Zannie Flanagan of the Showground Farmers Market. The day will be followed by a dinner in the Graduates Restaurant.

Export

An introduction to a subsidized Online Export Procedures Course delivered by the Australian Institute of Export will be held at Auchendarroch House, Mt Barker on Tuesday 20 February from 10am to 2pm. This is designed to allow you to work your way through the procedures for export at a time that suits you.

South Central Area Consultative Committee.

There are two new appointments to the SCACC, the organization which hosts the FIDO position. Both have food connections. Kym McHugh our new Chair is a dairy farmer from Mt Compass and Mayor of Alexandrina and Val Bonython, Deputy Chair, is an onion and potato grower from Piccadilly who has wide interests within the horticultural industry.

Have your say

The Adelaide Hills Food Chain is produced by Adelaide Hills Food for its members and friends and associated industries.
Your contribution as a member of the food industry is welcome and we encourage anyone who has something to share to send any news and pictures to…
Mary Fowler
PO Box 66
Basket Range SA 5138
Tel 08 8390 0415, Mobile 0408 882 623.
Email weeniefowler@optusnet.com.au

Excellent exposure

The Adelaide Hills Food Chain is a great place for members and associated businesses to advertise products, services, opportunities and events - in fact, anything that relates to our food industry.
Reaching Adelaide Hills Food Members and Friends, local and interstate food media, Adelaide Hills Tourism Marketing Committee members and members of the Adelaide Hills Wine Region, advertising in the Adelaide Hills Food Chain represents fantastic value at $40 plus GST per standard supplied ad.
If you would like to advertise in the next issue of the Adelaide Hills Food Chain visit www.adelaidehillsfood.com.au/news/advert/ or phone Andrew Kelleher at Sema4 Media on 0411 025 076.

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Absolutely Barking

To market, to market

Denise Manson, Food Industry Development Officer

Adelaide Hills Food Month at the Showground Farmers' Market was a great success. Thank you to everyone who participated, it really raised the profile of food in our region, and following on the success of that market managers Zannie and Pia are hoping to use it as a template to feature other regions in turn.

A special thanks to all who took a turn in the kitchen, there was a lot of interest in the recipes and the cooks were very inventive in their use of Hills produce. Cottonville Farms' Helen and Alan Dawson who sold their Silvanberries and Tayberries have joined as members (see new members profiles below) and Cocolat was there every Sunday with Christmas cakes and puddings. Last week Woodside Cheesewrights' Kris Lloyd did a fantastic cheese masterclass at the market.

Some of you may have seen the advertisement in last week's Courier inviting people to let us know of potential sites and producers for a farmers' market in the Hills, in the same issue as a great article on Buzz Honey. The response so far has been muted, but a lot of people said they saw the advertisement, so at least it spread the word. I have mentioned before that the AHF Executive has looked at Uraidla Showground as a potential venue. If anyone would like to look at this site at its best the Uraidla Show takes place there on Saturday, February 17, where you can see dahlias as big as dinner plates, cabbages you can barely carry and poultry that truly has to be seen to be believed.

I am also working closely with the Business and Marketing Department at Adelaide TAFE which is going to do a major piece of market research for us as part of the feasibility study for an Adelaide Hills Farmers Market as part of its Diploma curriculum for next year.

Advertising and Promotion

Stirling's Woodbake Cafe owners Chris and Nancy Broadfoot have offered their large noticeboard to promote local producers as they constantly get enquiries about other foodie places to visit in the Hills. If any of you have any literature (preferably DL flyers) that you would like posted there please get them to me if you are coming to the ICONs presentation or let me know where I can pick them up.

The Independent Weekly (readership 40,000), an SA weekend newspaper, is offering an advertising package at the moment to accompany a 13 week SA Produce feature they are running commencing on February 10. For those of you who don't know the paper, they give a lot of coverage to food at the upper end of the market and food writer Ann Oliver has a weekly column. A 9cm by 9cm space would cost $165 if there were enough people interested to cover the 13 weeks, which is a very big saving on casual rates. Follow the links if you are interested and then contact me.

Here is an example of how the page should look (PDF).

Food Guide

Of the 10,000 copies we originally had printed we now only have a couple of boxes left so the AHF Executive will be considering options to reprint this. Interstate enquiries for it come in regularly and last week there was even a request to send one to Japan! I hope you have all been feeling the benefits of this wide distribution in your businesses.

FIDO Funny

Gargoyle ............................ olive flavoured mouthwash.

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Out and about

Regional Food SA Co-op website launch

Pre-Christmas was made all the more merrier when the Regional Food SA Co-op held its website launch at Tumbeela in December with many AHF members in attendance. Pictured here are (l-r) Mary Fowler (AHF Executive Member), Kate Parkin (Regional Food SA Co-op Manager), Andrew Martin (Regional Food SA Co-op Chair) and Joylene Seppelt (Food Barossa Member). Visit www.regionalfoodsa.com to view other AHF members' involvement.

New members

Bev Moyle, bamjac's garden

I have been making fruit and vegetable preserves for over 30 years for family and friends. On retirement from working in the disability sector I began working on my real dream of extending my love and passion for 'slow food' by making home-made, gourmet quality fruit and vegetable preserves.

In April 2006 I trialled my products at various outlets including Adelaide Hills Food members six degrees @ Cafe Jazz. Proprietors Donna and Soozie sampled my chutneys, savoury jellies and marmalades and soon afterwards began using my preserves in their cafe.

bamjac's garden now wholesales to various specialty food outlets in Hahndorf and Mt Barker and is now ready to extend further afield.

I have lived in the Adelaide Hills for 20 years and for the last four years in Hahndorf where I work from my home kitchen. I would not live anywhere else. I'm excited by the ongoing development of regional produce and I prefer to source local organic Adelaide Hills produce where I can.

The name bamjac's is derived from the combination of my partner's and my initials.

I look forward to getting to know other members of the Adelaide Hills Regional Food Group.

Helen and Alan Dawson, Cottonville Farms Berries

We have been growing rubus (blackberry varieties) at Scott Creek for 15 years with varying enthusiasm at first, due to other commitments. We enjoy our cattle and horses who share the land with the berry crop.

Over the past two years we have become serious about education. Our silvanberries are a cultivar which has unviable seed, so they are not a threat to the environment like their wild blackberry relatives. However, customers do not recognise the name silvanberry and we usually label them blackberries. This brings us to the other major challenge which is marketing in the broadest meaning of the word.

We are endlessly fascinated with the challenge of producing such a crop in the Adelaide Hills, which has a remarkable climate, with chill factor, heat and water. The relatively poor old soil also presents a challenge. These challenges are nowhere near as great as those provided by government and the market.

Our efforts to date have concentrated on punnet sales to retailers through our agent at Pooraka.

We aim to expand our sales of frozen fruit and preserves. We think Farmers' Markets time has come.

The Adelaide Hills Food Group is a great idea, especially with the support provided by Denise. We look forward to being part of it and making a contribution.

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Events

Contacts

Drought Hotline

The South Australian Government has set up a drought hotline and website to assist communities access information on support services, managing conditions etc.

The professional team of Networkers appointed by FarmBis in South Australia is there to help bridge the gap between training providers and primary producers.

Robert (Red) Hodge, Ceris Crosby and Annette Filby combine to offer a broad range of valuable experience in working with primary industries and regional communities across the State.

Red Hodge: Phone 08 8226 0375, Fax 08 8226 0333, Mobile 0417 230 072.
Ceris Crosby: Phone 08 8226 1449, Fax 08 8226 0333, Mobile 0428 106 269.
Annette Filby: Phone 08 8226 0378, Fax 08 8226 0333, Mobile 0428 104 625.

Calendar

Please send information about upcoming events to food@southcentralacc.com if you would like them to be included in the next newsletter which will be published in the first week of March 2007.

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Administration

You are receiving this email because you opted to join the Adelaide Hills Food News list. If you were forwarded this email and would like to subscribe and have it delivered to your in-box each month click the Subscribe link at the end of this message. To unsubscribe to this list, select the Unsubscribe link. To read this newsletter with your web-browser click here. For other enquiries email ahf@adelaidehillsfood.com.au. For more information visit the Adelaide Hills Food web site at www.adelaidehillsfood.com.au