Local produce market turns one!

The Orange Producer’s Garage Sale, the Colour City’s weekly local produce market, is celebrating its first birthday this Saturday.

Founded by local growers, the idea behind the Orange Producer’s Garage Sale was to make the abundance of fresh fruits, vegetables and other produce that’s grown in the Orange region easily available to people in Orange.

Founder of the Orange Producers Garage Sale, Edlyn Lockwood, her partner Alex, and his father had sold their fruit at markets on the East Coast for many years, but they decided there needed to be a regular opportunity for locals to buy locally-grown food, so it could become part of the weekly shop.

So since November last year, they and a variety of other local producers and makers have set up shop every Saturday in the small courtyard attached to Bill’s Beans East Orange in McLachlan Street.

“It's been pretty steady. There's lots of locals supporting it and that's awesome; that's the aim,” Edlyn Lockwood said.

“We see the same crew every week and it's kind of like a big catch-up, which is really cool. We see a few visitors, but that's not our target audience as such: the idea is that local people get local food. We should all be eating the stuff that's grown here.”

Edlyn said they are also seeing their regulars getting acquainted with the seasonality of the local produce, getting to know what is in season and when.

“Coming into spring and summer is obviously very exciting, but we've still had regulars come through winter for the apples and the brassicas and things like that,” she said

“But we're on the cusp of cherry season — we might have cherries this Saturday. We've got lots of leafy greens and we still got a few brassicas, broccoli and stuff like that. Farmer Doug will be there with his potatoes as always, Edlyn continued.

“Melissa (Primal Alternative) does gluten-free breads and cakes and things and they're there all the time.

“We’ve got Isaac from Cured who's doing cured meats and sausages. And there's Eddelen Flowers, the Cargo flower farm, they've all just come in and they're beautiful — all very spring!”

Other regulars include Molly's Grove olive oil, The Strawberry Lady, Peter's Blueberries, and The Hairy Farmer Fruit and Veg.

To celebrate the Orange Producers Garage Sale’s first birthday, Edlyn said they will be giving away a hamper of local produce worth $100 to one lucky market customer this Saturday.

“If people come in on the day, they can write their name and phone number down, and we'll draw it out at the end of the market,” she said. 

The Orange Producers Garage Sale takes place at Bills Beans East Orange courtyard, 148 McLachlan Street, every Saturday morning, 8am–1pm.