Click on the year numbers above to see older happenings.
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Click on the year numbers above to see older happenings. | |
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| Harvesting and in stores now: Potatoes (Ruby Lou, Nicola, Sebago, Desiree, Dutch Cream) Tomatoes Water melons (seeded and seedless) Rockmelons Sweet corn | |
| Coming up Potatoes - now until late February Tomatoes - now until mid year Melons - now until March Sweet corn - now until April Butternut and Jap Pumpkins - starting in Feb / Mar |  |
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 | OPENING OF NOURISH ORGANIC AT SOUTHPORT We were recently invited to have a display at the Opening Day of the new Nourish Organic Store at the lovely Southport shopping centre - The Ferry Road Market. A good crowd of people dropped in during the day and enjoyed cooking demonstrations (and tastings) by Dominique Rizzo. Many guests stayed around for a few hours just enjoying the atmosphere. Best wishes to Alfina and Angelo. We know your shop will be a successful one. Check out www.ferryrdmarket.com.au. |
 | WRAY ORGANICS AT PALM BEACH MOVES TO A LARGER STORE While on the Coast we also visited 2 of the Wray Organic stores, one at Broadbeach in the popular Oasis Shopping Centre and the other at Palm Beach in the 19th Avenue Shopping Village. We were very pleased to see that they have just moved into a much larger shop at Palm Beach and now also include an organic cafe. Well done Deborah and Gary. No doubt your other 2 stores in Brisbane are going well too. Visit www.wrayorganics.com.au for details. |
| CHINESE GOVERNMENT DELEGATION VISIT THE FARM During December we had a visit from some Chinese Government officials from the Department of Agriculture, Guizhou Province. They enjoyed learning about ways to look after the health of the soil without the use of chemical-based fertilisers etc. They also enjoyed watching potatoes being harvested (pictured right) and washed, and visited the sweet corn, tomato and carrot paddocks, before heading for the famous Gold Coast! |  |
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| Harvesting and in stores this month: Potatoes (Dutch Cream) Tomatoes Water melons (seedless) Sweet corn Pumpkins (Jap & Butternut) | |
| Coming up Tomatoes - now until mid year Melons - now until March Sweet corn - now until April Butternut and Jap Pumpkins - until July We will be planting celery later this month. |  |
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| RECENT ACTIVITIES We are FINALISTS in the 2009 vogue entertaining & travel produce awards | |
 | Great news - just in!!! We are extremely thrilled to have made it to the finals of this very well respected competition. The Vogue E+T Produce Awards are held in high regard within Australia's food and beveerage industry. The product we entered this year was our Sweet Corn. The final judging took place recently with the winners being announced in the near future, at a ceremony in Sydney in early May. Affectionately known as "Grandma's Corn", in honour of Rob's late Grandmother who enjoyed hand-picking corn, this sweet corn is absolutely delicious eaten just raw. If you haven't tried it before, find a nice fresh cob of corn, peel it and tuck in. You'll be surprised how good it tastes. Of course it's always terrific boiled or steamed and topped with a little butter and garlic salt!! Another yummy, no mess way to enjoy it is to simply pop it onto the BBQ or into something like a small contact roasting oven with the husks still on. It really seals in the flavour and makes absolutely no mess at all. |
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| RECENT ACTIVITIES ORGANIC FOOD FAIR AT THOMAS DUX | |
| During March we were very pleased to be invited to showcase our products at the new Thomas Dux stores in Sydney as part of their Organic Food Fair weekend. These very well presented green grocer stores are located in Paddington and Lane Cove. The Fair was well attended on both days at both stores. A wide range of organic products were available for taste testing, with their producers or processors on hand to discuss recipes etc. Brian and Cassia from Organics Direct Produce in Sydney assisted us greatly. The taste testing of the Roast Vegetable Salad with some delicious organic balsamic vinaigrette (from D’vine Organics) was a real hit with the customers. |  |
| COMING UP ABC GARDENING AUSTRALIA EXPO, BRISBANE | |
 | We will be exhibiting at the ABC Gardening Australia Expo at the RNA Grounds on Friday 17 to Sunday 19 April. If you are going to be there please drop in and say G’day. Our stand is in the Gardener’s Village area in the Frank Robertson pavilion. It is number GV28 on the map provided upon entry. With the recent rain and the subsequent easing of water restrictions it looks set to be a great expo. For more information on the ABC Gardening Expo go to: www.abcgardeningexpo.com.au |
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| Once again the ABC Gardening Australia Expo was a great success with fabulous weather resulting in big crowds. The Gardeners Village building (where the food type exhibits were) was jam packed most of the time. There were plenty of people interested in where to buy their organic goodies and plenty of queries relating to growing your own organic vegetables in your home vegie patch. There’s a real renewed interest in having a backyard vegie patch just like your Grandparents used to have. We shouldn’t tell you this but tomatoes and pumpkins are good ones to grow in your own backyard!! COMING UP VOGUE PRODUCE AWARD CEREMONY |  |
| We will be travelling to Sydney early this month to attend the Awards Ceremony of the Vogue Entertaining and Travel Produce Awards. This event will be attended by 250 of Australia’s top chefs, resaurateurs, food media, producers and other key people. "The Awards are dedicated to discovering and celebrating the finest food growers and suppliers in the country" (quote from Vogue website). It will be held at the Etch by Becasse Restaurant, at the Intercontinental Hotel, not far from the Opera House in Sydney. We are thrilled to be in the finals and are really looking forward to a great night. Wish us luck !!! | |
| GREENFEST In early June we will be exhibiting at Brisbane’s Greenfest. It will be held at the wonderful venue of the Brisbane City Botanic Gardens and is free for everyone to attend. Come and see us at the BFA/ACO stand. Rob will be giving talks over the weekend and Justin North, Australia’s Chef of the Year, will be cooking up some tasty morsels using our produce. Go to www.greenfest.com.au for more details. See you there ...... | |
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| Yahoooooo .... Yippeee ... Yeehaaah !!!! We won a Gold Medal in the "From the Earth" Category at the 2009 Vogue Entertaining and Travel Produce Awards. Last month we told you we were finalists and going to attend the Awards Ceremony in Sydney. This was a wonderful night held at Justin North’s Etch Restaurant at the fabulous Intercontinental Hotel. According to Vogue .... "The Awards are dedicated to discovering and celebrating the finest food growers and suppliers in the country", so we are very proud to be considered to be one of them!!!! To view a press release by the Biological Farmers of Australia, please CLICK HERE. |  |
| BEAUTIFUL RAIN IN MAY Lucky for us we received about 3 inches out of the rainfall event in late May. Brisbane and parts of south east Qld made the news with some flooding but received some much appreciated top ups to the south east corner’s major water supply dams. | |
| COMING UP GREENFEST |
| This coming weekend (5,6,7 June) we will be exhibiting at Brisbane’s Greenfest. It will be held at the wonderful venue of the Brisbane City Botanic Gardens and is free for everyone to attend. Come and see us at the BFA/ACO stand. Rob will be speaking on stage of Friday night and will be on stage again with Justin North, Australia’s Chef of the Year, on Saturday at lunchtime. Justin will be cooking up some tasty dishes using our produce. Go to www.greenfest.com.au See you there ...... |
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| Finally the soil has dried out enough for us to start harvesting our new season carrots and they will be going out on Friday 3 July, so your local wholesaler/retailer will either have them in stock or be able to order them in for you. If the soil continues to dry out we will start harvesting potatoes somewhere around the 9th or 10th July. The celery harvest has only just started too. All the produce is looking and tasting great. | |||||||||
 | RECENT ACTIVITIES JUSTIN NORTH COOKING DEMONSTRATION Last month we attended Greenfest as part of the BFA/ACO stand. It was a great event with large crowds and plenty of exhibits. A highlight of our weekend was Rob joining the 2009 SMH Chef of the Year on stage during his cooking demonstration. No ... it’s alright ... Rob wasn’t cooking!!! He and Justin took it in turns to address the crowd, with one talking about growing the vegies and the other about preparing and cooking them (along with organic |
| wagyu beef). Justin was really (super) impressed with the pumpkin’s fleshiness and colour when he cut it open on stage, and we were really honoured to have a chef of that calibre cooking our produce and enjoying it!!! Here’s a quote from Justin: "I have never been so blown away like this before by the quality of Rob’s pumpkins, that’s right a humble Jap pumpkin, it was the most amazing vegetable I have ever, seen, smelt, touched or tasted - if you were asked to design one from scratch you’d have a tough time trying to beat this." |  |
| COMING UP 2009 ORGANIC EXPO, MELBOURNE | |
| Our next major event is the Organic Expo. It is to be held at the Royal Exhibition Building in Carlton Gardens on 24 - 27 July, with the Friday being a day for Trade visitors. We will be at Stand number 226 so please drop by and say "Hello". For more information go to www.organicexpo.com.au See you there ...... | |
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 | OUR POTATOES DO IT AGAIN .... BACK TO BACK SILVER MEDALS AT ORGANIC EXPOS We were thrilled last year to be awarded a Silver Medal in the Best Organic Food section of the 2008 Organic Expo. Since then we have received a Gold Medal at the 2009 Vogue E & T Produce Awards and now we have backed up again with another Silver Medal for at the 2009 Organic Expo. The first silver medal was for our yummy Dutch Cream potatoes and this time it’s for our deliciously creamy Nicola potatoes (pictured above at the Expo). How wonderful for a humble vegetable to win such an award against all other types of food imaginable!! |
| At this years Organic Expo we displayed these award winning, fresh, new season Nicola potatoes. Remember they are the lowest G1 potato around. If you are looking for them at your favourite store/wholesaler just ask if they have any Nicola potatoes from Bauer’s Organic Farm. They will be available for months now and they make the most divine mash ever. NEW STICKERS ON SOME PRODUCE: In an effort to help identify some of our produce at the stores we have produced little stickers (see below) that should make it easier to find. They are only on certain lines at this stage. |  |
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ARE YOU RECEIVING OUR FRESH NEW SEASON POTATOES YET?? | ||
| If not .... just ask your supplier to get them in for you. We have plenty available and you are missing out on some great tasting spuds. Remember to look for the Bauer’s Organic Farm name on the bags to make sure that you are getting the freshest spuds. | |
| We have good quantities of Sebago, Desiree, Dutch Cream (Silver Medal 2008 Organic Expo) and Nicola (Silver Medal 2009 Organic Expo). Remember these awards are judged by a panel which includes top chefs. Three of Australia’s top restaurants are also using our potatoes .... so if you want the best spuds around just ask your supplier!!! |  |
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| Becasse Producer's Forum | |
| Monday 19 October 2009: Well .... what an honour and a privilege!! We were invited by SMH 2009 Chef of the Year, Justin North to his multiaward winning Bécasse Restaurant in Sydney, as one of the featured producer’s at his regular Producer’s Forum. As outlined on the Bécasse website: "The producers forum is an ongoing initiative created by Justin North to introduce the passionate people behind some of Australia’s finest ingredients. The lively lunch forum brings together media, producers and industry figures to share their passion, give an insight into their unique experience and participate in an open forum to discuss the issues facing this fast evolving and dynamic industry. Not only do the Bécasse lunches and the forums introduce local growers, farmers, fishermen and producers, they also highlight the increasing importance of ethical farming, eating and its sustainability." Visit: www.becasse.com.au for more! |  |
| The extra bonus of attending this particular Producer’s Forum (as well as being in the same room as the amazing matriarch of Australian cooking, Margaret Fulton!!) was meeting with Carlo Petrini, the Founder and International President of the world-wide Slow Food Movement. Carlo, who resides in Italy, was here in Australia at the time and was a special guest at this Forum. He spoke at the Sydney Opera House the | |
 | previous day, where hundreds were quite inspired by his words (including us)!! The "who’s who" of food were joined by Australian Slow Food members and many people interested in good, clean, environmentally friendly food!! Through his interpreter he told us to "keep up the excellent work"!! Pictured above right: Rob about to be interviewed by the ABC’s Simon Marnie (Simon’s a great MC!). Justin North has the other microphone telling guests about Rob’s produce and how he prepared it for the various dishes. Justin has been a fan of Bauer’s Organic Farm produce since cutting open a pumpkin on stage at Greenfest earlier this year. |
| Pictured above: The incredible "Bécasse Deconstructed Organic Carrot Cake". What a treat !!! Amazing!!! Our carrots didn’t let him down!! If you would like to see some great photos of each dish send us an email (bauersorganic@westnet.com.au) and we’ll send you a couple of links to good foodie blogs! To sum up ..... if you get the chance to dine at Bécasse or any of Justin’s restaurants, please do so. We just can’t speak highly enough of the food, the staff, the restaurant ... and the amazing man behind it all. | |
| ON ANOTHER NOTE: Random Chemical Testing |
| Australian Certified Organic, in accordance with the Australian Organic Standard, carries out routine random sampling of food products, sometimes in-store and other times in the production system. This is along with their normal intensive annual audits and the very transparent ‘traceability’ requirements placed on the producers. Our produce was tested in September this year for 108 different chemicals (Click here to see the list). This was done by taking tissue samples from our certified organic carrots, potatoes and celery. Many of the chemicals tested for are in use by ‘conventional’ farmers on a routine basis while others have been banned but can still turn up in samples as a ‘residue’. |
Results came up clean for all chemicals. |
| Organic farming isn’t just about NOT spraying chemicals directly onto the food crops, it’s also about the health of the soil they are growing in. Not only should this soil be fertile and "alive", but it needs to be free of chemical residue. Just because you are not spraying chemicals on doesn’t mean the plants aren’t growing in soil that already contains chemicals from previous farming methods. If you are buying certifed organic produce you will know that both the soil and the produce are tested. Certification is your guarantee!! |
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Opening of Refurbished Urbane Restaurant, Brisbane
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In November we were thrilled to be invited to the opening of the new look Urbane Restaurant with it’s Laneway Bar and Euro Bistro. It had been closed for a few months for a major, major refurbishment and looks fabulous. During this time co-owner and famous chef Kym Machin came out to the farm for a visit, sourcing fabulous tasting food. He is very keen on putting some organic dishes on the menu and even better than that, he has sought Organic Certification for his restaurant!! That doesn’t mean that everything on the menu has to be organic but it does mean that when Kym says something is organic, he’s backing it up with a real guarantee. | Congratulations to Kym and his team, and we are looking forward to Kym bringing his chefs out for a day on the farm. We also look forward to visiting his restaurant again for a great meal. The Urbane website: www.urbanerestaurant.com is still under construction but keep an eye on if for further developments. Pictured: Kym with some of our celery when he visited the farm recently. Click here to view a media release by the BFA about some of Australia’s top chefs using our organic produce. |
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Thank you to all our loyal customers and friends for your support during 2009. We wish everyone a wonderfully Merry Christmas and a terrific 2010. Best Wishes from all at Bauer’s Organic Farm. | |
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