Tairawhiti Organics Potluck

From From the Dirt to the Divine - Cherished Recipes of New Zealand Organic Growers

Gisborne are the first to see the sun in New Zealand but they were also the quickest off the mark to be part of the From the Dirt to the Divine Cookbook. Geoff Wright from Tairawhiti Organics was the first farmer to answer the regional call for a potluck. Geoff invited me into his home and then spent the next day ferrying me to all of the markets, showing off his organic vinyard and then ultimately taking me to Bridget and Mike's of Broadland Farms for the potluck. Organic farmers from the region came bearing old family heirloom farmhouse tables on the back of their utes. Beautiful family linen but most importantly their organic produce and recipes. We set everything up under a sweeping Pecan Tree on the front lawn of the farm house and then proceeded to cook up and savour the best that the region has to offer. More images from the day and some recipes can be found here

My favourites at the Gisborne Farmers Market (Afternoon one)

The Afternoon market is my favourite. Simply for the attention to detail that most of the vendors put into their stalls. They drew you in. Made you want to linger, sample, smell, touch, taste their wears. The wholesomeness of it left you just standing grinning.

Wendy Baxter has a stall that brought me in like a bee to the most delicately fragrant flower. Her daughter who is a clothing designer has designed all of packaging for Wendy's organic tinctures and the sheer talent that exuded from the place made me just want to stand there and soak up some of the rays of creativity and goodness. Avocado leaves, hand drawn labels, wonderful scents and packaging. An interior designers flair for display and the humbleness of the artist in question made her organic lotions and potions irresistible. She specializes in organic herbal soaps and creams and tinctures which are generated from her own organic garden. However my favourite purchase from her stall that day was her hand drawn and written cookbook. It is a collection of favourite vegetarian recipes of Susie Shaw and herself and was first published in 1996. It is self published and only available at her stall but it was worth a trip to Gisborne from the Akatarawas just for this. Every page is hand drawn with love and there is no type in the entire book it is all carefully handwritten and hand illustrated. What a find!

I pretty much had be bodily removed from her stall, Sam was pulling on my shirt begging me to come to the next one, (for some reason a 10 year old boy just is not as enthralled with lotions and pretty bottles as I am...go figure. ) The next space was loaded with organic artisan breads. Sam's own little personal heaven. The stall belongs to Mike, of Morell's bakery. He sources organic flour and grains for his breads and like us prefers the Australian Kialla brand of organic flour for his baking. However the supply is not always consistent as we have also found for our small blueberry bakehouse. We purchased Mike's Rewena and later in the day paired it with Nicky's homemade Dukka and organic olive oil. This was one of the simplest but most satisfying lunches I have had in a long time.

The next stall was a surprise for me. I have spent my years in New Zealand balancing a career working as the lactation consultant for our local district health board with developing our organic family farm and bakehouse. Apparently I am not the only one drawn to this odd mix. You could have knocked me over with a feather when I saw Judi Murphy, a lactation consultant colleague of mine, sitting with her daughter at their Olio Organics stall. The call to the land hit Judi and her family and they bought and organic orchard which Judi and her husband are managing. Their daughter Tess is using the products from the farm to make some of the most delicate desserts. They remind me of the desserts that Sam and I used to eat in Japan that were so delicately constructed. Tess is a self taught cook and her darling little creations are a result of many tasty hours experimenting in the kitchen. Judy focuses on the preserves and has a large variety for sale at her stall. Sam if given his way would have had one of each of Tess's treats but instead picked a fruit tart to which he gave the big smiling crumb faced grin. He was also delighted to see Judi's tree ripened figs. Sam and I tasted figs for the first time on this trip. We don't have any on our farm and for some reason we have never had the opportunity. We did not know what we were missing. Fresh fig from the tree is my new favourite pleasure. Sam was given one and kept begging me to put in a Fig tree on the farm.

Olio Organics is positioned right next to Early Bird Organics. I am still amazed and the variety of organic produce that one farm is producing. I have it in my mental file to one day go and have a good look at their farm and see if I can gather some of their secrets of success. Early bird provides beautiful produce to Common Sense Organics in Wellington, but the variety and quality of their produce at their stall was something to behold indeed.

Gisborne Early Saturday Market

The adventure to the Far East began with a slightly randy vegetable anatomy lesson from Joselyn Maramu at the morning Saturday Market in Gisborne. Did you know that there is a difference between a male and a female kumera? It is true and a bit naughty but not exactly what you would think. I will not ruin the fun for you though you will need to go visit Joselyn and buy some of her delicious kumera to find out. Her silverbeet has a rich earthy flavour to it that is unique to the hard work they have done saving seed from the most promising plants. If you live in the area you do not want to miss this one.


The early market apparently is cheaper to shop at and some growers reportedly raise their prices when they go to the later market. Early bird gets the pick of the veggies as well however for the organic shopper there were only two stalls with organic produce but they were delicious. Sam scooped up a mess of Organic walnuts and that kumera was made into a delicious kumera burritos one of my favourite recipes.

Earth Camp Kid's Cookbook Announced

The Blueberry Farm hosts an Award Winning Earth Camp each year. This is a family friendly series of activities where children learn about organics along side their parents through hands on activities. The most popular activities usually involve food (surprise, suprise), so this year a childfriendly cookbook will be produced as well during the following Earth Camp Days: 1 Feb, 1 March, and 4 April. The cookbook is being done in conjuction with the development of the Sustainabelly Cookbook Series which feature Cherished Recipes from New Zealand Organic Growers. The children will make the recipes and the best ones will make the cookbook. This activity will also be a fundraiser for the Earth Camp as all images taken by Mandi Lynn of the children preparing the meals for the book will be available for purchase by the family for $40.00 for an 8x10. All profits from the image sales will go towards future Earth Camp Activities. Win - Win.
To find out more about the Earth Camp check out the Earth Camp Blog

Call for Recipes

Would you like to have your farm featured in a beautiful cookbook featuring favourite recipes of New Zealand Organic Growers? It will cost you nothing but the time it takes to email the recipes to organiccookbooks@gmail.com

The publishers have asked Mandi Lynn, award winning professional photographer and organic blueberry farmer to produce this visually and culinary rich book. To learn more please click here.

To submit your recipe please click here

suprise for breakfast

suprise for breakfast
Originally uploaded by Mandi Lynn Photography