Table Olives, Tapenades and Preserves
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Growers and Producers of Premium Organic Table Olives, Tapenades and Preserves |
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Olive News - Summer 2004 Hallo everyone and sorry for the big delay in posting news, but I've been having too much fun on Holidays at Mum's Place at Dee Why most of January. Figtree Retreat was flat chat most of December with Christmas orders and markets and I had tickets to the sublime event that is "The Huntington Chamber Music Festival" in early December The December Farmers Markets at Orange was the busiest Market ever [apart from the F.O.O.D Week last April] and between a SMH Market at Pyrmont and selling olives at Huntington I was stretching our production to the limit. Quiet times have now descended on us till March/April with Harvest, Holidays and Easter Madness hitting all at once so we are currently streamlining our production methods and schedules to come more in line with sanity and the new Health Regulations that are impacting on all Food Producers. We now have a fantastic and creative team at Figtree with a few new faces ... My brother Bob has moved up here for a change of air from Sydney and is learning about the Administration and B&B Booking side of things. I also have the invaluable services of My Musical Compatriot Stephen Price for a while and he is a dab hand at all things farmy....fences, irrigation, and all things mechanical as well as helping with the Farmers Markets. Agnes Nordmann heads up the Girls and is a whiz at selling Olives cellar door and at Markets and she is taking more of a hands on role with all facets of Olive Production. Basically a Product Manager from "Paddock to Plate" Donna has taken over the B&B Cleaning and Maintainence side of things and will be responsible for your comfortable and clean bed. This is all meant to free me up so I can concentrate on Marketing and admin., but mainly so I can turn my efforts more back to my Musical career which is coming on in leaps and bounds. New Students [I teach drums!] and a whole lot more playing/composing and recording are actually earning me more money than my time in the Lime Spiders in the 80"s/90"s........For news on Music go to the events page. It's hot/hot/hot and all the work here is out of the way by 11am in the morning with our 6am starts. Good falls of rain over December/January were a great help and the Olives are looking good this year with the Jumbo Kalamata, Sevillano and Mazanilla being the best looking for a few years. Also we have a lot of herbs /fruit and veg around with the Apricots and Garlic being the most prolific. Last years Basil and Spinach has self seeded in the best traditions of Permaculture and the Garden outside my bedroom window is gorgeous under a full moon. A lot of new additions on the animal front and we now have Geese, Donkeys, Cows and Calves as well as the Chooks,Cats and Dogs.....Someone joked the other day about getting an Elephant....Don't tempt me!!! Oh by the way this year is booking up quick so don't muck around if you want the busy weekends like Easter, etc. Expect Harvest round March/April for anyone interested in the Fresh Olive side of things. See ya round like a rissole!! Richard. May 2004 MARKETS....... Well we have only just started back at the Markets after 6 weeks absence. Harvest is still going and as I'm writing this its 4 in the morning and I'm about to go out to the shed to start slicing the last of our Jumbo Kalamatas before the start of my day. We have got about a Tonne done and have effectively broken the back of this years crop. We are picking the last of our Manzanillas for Rock Salting and start on our Kalamatas soon which are a late ripener. A helpful Timeline might be in order here for the ripening of Olives THE WHOLE PICKING WINDOW IS APPROX, 8 WEEKS LONG. Week 1..Green Manzanilla, Sevillano{Spanish Queen}. Green UC13A6We are somewhere around Week 6 at the moment!!! So we are back at Market.....Orange on the weekend was the quietest ever but after their Frantic F.O.O.D Week and Easter Markets I don't think any one had any money left and would have a pantry full of produce. Bathurst is the next one on Saturday 22nd of May and then our return to Pyrmont is on Saturday 5th June. Sorry to anyone who has missed us at the Markets but I am sure you will all love the new seasons Olives which are good and crunchy to say the least. FOOD.............. Another new Cafe/ Brasserie opens in Mudgee every month and March/ April was no exception with the arrival of Scott Traceys [MCA.\ Rockpool] new baby....La Verre Patisserie. Sporting some very nice looking cakes, bread, and other sweet treats it already has a strong following. Walking down Market St one Sunday morning recently I was struck by the fact that there are now 8 cafe type food outlets.....and they were all full!! 1] La Verre..2 ] Cafe 89...3] Eltons & Eltons to go...4] Roses Place....5] Straatens Bakery / Cafe..........6] Deli on Market...7] Ned and Ma Kellys......8] Tramps Cafe And thats just in Market St!!! The wood fired pizza at Eltons is now firmly entrenched and every day about 2 pm it gets fired up to get to its Temperature by 6.30 pm opening. Special mention must go to Didier Trehet at Augustine Restaurant. The man has such a following he no longer needs to advertise and doesn't even do an A-LA-CARTE MENU. They only cater for functions over 20 people and they are constantly booked.....the best food I think in Mudgee. MUSIC........................ Speaking of Augustine we played there again on Saturday 8th May for the Wine Harvest Celebration [they've finished but the Olives haven't} in a much anticipated return of 'Tangent'. The last time we played was in January and all the gigs have been done by Stephen and myself in the pared down form of "Endive'. Welcome to our newest members...Grant and Paul. Now we can incorporate the softer sounds of Endive with more Keyboard/Acoustic Guitar orientated material and the Harder edge of Tangent and still the new originals flow. The turnover of young [and old] musicians is a pleasant problem to have. The guys just out of school are invariably green behind the ears but it's always a joy to behold such latent talent. They usually leave Mudgee to further their careers / studies. Guys like Rhys Holmewood who can play Drums/Guitar/ Bass incredibly well at such a young age and older and wiser [?] musos like Cletis Carr meld into a significant unit that learns off each other. I can now count 12 effective line ups for Tangent.That must almost be right up there with the 'Lime Spiders' and 'Spinal Tap' for line up changes. Endive [or is it Tangent?] play at the Old Cooyal Hotel next Saturday 15th May then nothing much on the horizon until the 9th Annual Mid Winter Solstice Party at Figtree Retreat. Back to the Studio today..after slicing Olives.. to continue work on the Figtree Renaissance CD and will be attempting to complete 3 more beds.. LOOK FOR THE UPCOMING PAGE...DIARY OF AN ALBUM See ya round ..like a rissole! Richard Early April 2004 Markets.......... As I said in the last newsletter, we have given the Markets [Pyrmont, Bathurst] a miss because of lack of stock and general busy-ness with Harvest. The big drop of Olives [500k]from Narromine arrived on 2 pallets on Thursday and I spent the whole day Friday just sorting them onto our Bread crates for slicing. We have been slicing since then and hopefully should have this first lot finished this week. Agnes, Jasmin, Donna and myself are doing the honours at the moment and if we get swamped our B & B customers might have to be roped in?! Next week sees the big F.O.O.D Week Growers Market at Orange which coincides with Easter in Mudgee which is the BIGGEST WEEKEND OF THE YEAR IN MUDGEE!!! The following week [Sun 18th] is the F.O.O.D Affair in Orange which we will try to make it to but we can't promise anything with the current franticness of harvest at the moment. Also that weekend is the Mudgee Food and Wine Festival held at Birkenhead Point. It is an offshoot of the highly successful Food and Wine Festival at Balmoral and last years event at Coogee was a washout. Unfortunately we won't be able to attend this one. Just posted is our seasonal News which goes into more technical details of growing, weather and farming details in which I will talk about our current Locust plague which has just hit the Mudgee Region! FOOD......... The Wood- fired pizza oven got a good workout at Eltons over the last week!! Dave Cox and yours truly were on the first experimental free tasting night on the Tuesday and to say it had teething problems would be an understatement. Oven not hot enough, pizzas falling off trays and other things held us up and frustrated us. Dave found the experience hard but learnt from every mistake and by the next night everything was pumping!! Must say though that the real sourdough crust was absolutely beautiful and will definitely be a winner. A group of over 100 delegates of a Govt. Planning Initiative was in town this week and some stayed in our Cabins. They ate and drank Mudgee Wine at Augustine with the sublime French Regional Cuisine of Didier Trehet on Wednesday, then a Feast at Poet's Corner Restaurant on Thursday Night, then Degustation with Stuart at Lauralla Guesthouse/ Restaurant on Friday!! Thats the way to visit Mudgee...with wine tasting and trekking during the day.....oh and the Conference at Country Comfort! Currently we are also harvesting Green and Cannelini Beans, Spinach, Potatoes, Tomatoes, Corn, Jerusalem Artichokes and our own Lovely Almonds and last but not least our Olives [Manzanilla] MUSIC............... Stephen and myself [Endive] played a late notice gig at the Augustine Winery/Restaurant for the planning delegates on Wed. night and played for over 4 hours! I was practically hoarse by the end of it. Tomorrow [Sun 4] we play at the Oriental as part of our residency from 4-7.30pm. No news on the Figtree Renaissance recording as I took the week off from recording though I have locked in some of my Sydney friends for their recording parts in April and June. I have emailed ECM Records in France/Germany for use of a recording by the Hilliard Ensemble doing a choral work that is over 500 years old which I would like to sample for a coming track...entitled "Parce Mihi Domine" Next week sees the Annual Wilberstock Festival at Wellington organised by my good friends Dave and Chris Sparks [ Dave is in the current 'Spiders incarnation]. Unfortunately Adolphus will not be able to appear this year as Ged is playing with the Wheelers and Dealers at the National Folk Festival in Canberra over Easter. For more info go to www.wilberstock.com I have emailed the Management company of Legendary 70's American band "MC5" for the support slot at Selinas in July for the Lime Spiders so keep your fingers crossed.....should be a good night whoever gets it. SEE YA ROUND LIKE A RISSOLE Rich Late March 2004 MARKETS.............. This week sees us at the Magnificent Old Showground at Bathurst for The Farmers Market. I go over with John Grant from High Valley Wine And Cheese to save on petrol......very organic!! Also had a small altercation with a Police Officer and his Breathalyzer so will have to be chaffeured for the forseeable future!!!!!!! The produce at the moment has to be seen to be believed.........all fruit is at its peak and the new seasons apples have just started. Pumpkins , Zucchinis, Tomatoes, Corn ....all the greens....we definitely live on a blessed planet! Tossing up whether to give Pyrmont a rest for a few months as we wait for new season olives to cure. We are now at the bottom of the barrel so to speak with our Table Olives and apart from the Tapenades and the Rock Salt Olives there is not really that much else. Our first Olives for the year arrived from Narromine this week and we will be picking our Manzanillas this Friday or early next week and with a double slice and extra salt washes they still take at least 3 weeks to get ready. FOOD......................... Have an opening night date for the wood-fired oven at Eltons........it's Friday 2nd April and next week we get to experiment on the public with a free tasting session on the Tuesday 30 March. Dave has been showing me his bread recipe and is going to train me up on all things pizza. The chocolate night I mentioned at Kim Currie's No. 47 [Rylstone Food Store] is on Sat 29 and Sun 30 May with Chris Walton former Pastry Chef at Catalina now employed by Lindt Australia. Toby's Estate Coffee will be doing a Coffee/ tea night on Sunday 25 July. This Friday in Mudgee is huge with the Harvest Dinner at Poets Corner/ Craigmoor Restaurant. A lot of Mudgee food producers will be featured and I think Our Fig And Olive Tapenade will be sharing a plate with Melrose Park Venison. Jazz on the night is supplied by "Craig Henderson". Maeve O'Mara will be facillitating/co-ordinating the evening and you will all remember her as the voice/face of food on SBS TV /ABC Radio. Also this Friday is the Turkish Banquet at the Quaff Shop Gallery and Cafe. Dancing will be provided by the Wonderful Nadine, an awesome belly dancer and her percussionist partner. MUSIC.................... As I'm writing this I'm sitting here [it's 5 in the morning] listening to the first rushes of my new album. Have six songs down now, out of a possible 30. I've only started on the computer/keyboard beds but some sound absolutely wonderful. The Studio at Sunpower is unbelievably peaceful and beautiful and a great place to go and stay and get some work done!! Have a good friend Sue Capilli staying with me for a week. She played Cello for the Australian Ballet & Opera Orchestra for a few years and hopefully at some stage this year will be laying down some Cello tracks on the CD. This Thursday 25 March sees the return of Home Rule to Roth's Wine Bar so I will take along my drum and make lots of noise........who knows who will guest this time? Richard Tognetti was sniffing round last month. Endive look set to play at the Eltons Wood Fire Pizza Launch if they get enough bookings on Friday April 2nd and again at the Oriental on Sunday April 4th. Keep an eye out for Radiohead tickets to go on Sale for the Entertainment Centre around April 24/25. They are the BEST English Rock Band at the moment and have been likened to a cross between Pink Floyd and The Beatles. I think their album "OK Computer" is the best album of this century so far [even though it came out in '97]....Lime Spiders were offered their support slot at the Perth Entertainment Centre in '98 when we toured there!! SEE YA ROUND LIKE A RISSOLE RICH Early March 2004 MARKETS................. This weekend sees Figtree Retreat Olives at the Nepean and Blue Mountain Herb Festival at the Wentworth School of the Arts. Agnes will be running the show down there if you have any Olive queries. It's on the same weekend as the Blue Mountains Roots and Blues Festival so there should be lots to see and hear. I'll be over at the Orange Growers Markets on this month at the Showground. John Grant [High Valley Wine and Cheese] and I are negotiating for a new site for the Mudgee Growers Market at the moment which took place on the 1st Saturday of the month., Looks like it might switch to the 3rd Saturday of the month at the Church on the main corner of Mudgee. FOOD........................ Toby from Toby's Estate had a great stay at Figtree Retreat and we sat out the front eating, drinking and talking to the moon whilst picking our own veg and herb for dinner. He caught up with Kim from No. 47 [Rylstone] and Limerick and Al from the Quaff Shop Gallery and Cafe before raiding James from the Butcher Shop Cafe and Gloria and Dave from Eltons. Very impressed with the level of service and the Coffee in General and stunned at the upwardly mobile nature of Mudgee Businesses and our innate hospitality and sense of community. He went on to Zeiglers at Bathurst and another 1 or 2 in Orange before heading back to the roasters at Cathedral St. Wooloomoloo. Kim is currently organising a Coffee, Chocolate and Bread night at No. 47 maybe with Toby, Chris Walton [formerly of Catalina and an unamed Chocolatier from Sydney. Mmmmmmm!! Chocolate, Pistaccio and Pear Bread. MUSIC........................................ Work started on the "Figtree Renaissance" 2nd CD THIS WEEK with more composing on the Piano and a bit of Pre Production work. Looks like the studio will be David Miles' Sunpower Studios in the Hidden Totnes Valley about 30 km from Mudgee. I have a galaxy of Talent to call on with Limerick Kaye, Carina and Lara Brett handling the Lead Vocals. Gerard will be on all the Guitars, Mandolins and Christine from Wheelers and Dealers plus Phil Shepperd will be handling all the Flute/ Pipe work whilst any Fiddle/ Violin work will be Handled by the Astounding Tony Pyzsakowski from W & D. I will be doing all the Keys/ Sounds/ Programming and David Cox will be Helping with Programming and Rhythms. Should be a hoot and I am thinking a double Album with one whole CD devoted to Ambient/ Instumental and Soundtrack like tracks. Go to the Music Page for snippets of our first Eponymous CD released in '94.........only took 10 years to get round to it!!!!!!! On the live front the Quaff Shop Jam and Pickle night is on this Friday 12 March for anyone in the Mudgee area. About 20 musicians and 30 Punters turned up for the last one and it was hellishly hot but a good night was had by all. The highlight for me was Stephen Price playing his achingly beautiful Ballads unaccompanied!!! Endive were on fire at the Oriental last Sunday 7 March with Lara Brett our Special Guest singing like a bird [I wasn't bored!!]......don't forget the 1st Sunday of the month is our day there. PS Frantic last minute negotiations are in place for the "Bastard Love Child of the Lime Spiders".....Adolphus, to play at former Spiders' Guitarists Dave Sparks Wilberstock Extravaganza to be held in Max Yasgurs Paddock at Wellington over the Easter Weekend. If we can play it might be the Sun Night but we'll keep you posted .....up to Chief and Ged's Availability!!?? SEE YA ROUND LIKE A RISSOLE Feb/March 2004 A few more Markets for everyone to check out......... We will be at The Bathurst Growers Markets on this Saturday 28 Feb and for anyone who hasn't been to one of the Regional Farmers Markets they are a treat. Over 40 Food stalls under the one roof at the Picturesque turn of the century Bathurst Showgrounds just next to the river. Everything from Mandagery Creek Venison to John Grant's and Jannei Goats Cheeses, Smokehouse Pork Products from Trunkey Creek and Granged Chicken From Blayney. There are over 8 mixed veg farms involved as well as the Bathurst Co-op and Rosnay Organic selling just picked veg with Corn, Tomatoes, Zucchini and all greens at their best at the moment. Smoked Trout from Cowra and Smoked Delicacies from Grenfell as well as the most Unusual Olives I've Tried yet....Smoked Olives from the Ploughman's Hill at Cowra and of course 4 Different Olive Oil Producers from the Central West as well as yours truly with our Olives and Tapenades. Our next market after that is at The SMH Good Living Growers Market at Pyrmont on Sar. 6th March between 7-11am. This is a "slightly" larger Market with over 110 stalls from all over N.S.W selling everything from Gourmet Pet Treats [Love it when people unwittingly try tasting it!!] to 6 different Artisan Bakers....Go La Tartine!! We also have an invitation to do the Blue Mountains & Nepean Herb Festival on Saturday 13 March at the Wentworth Falls School of Arts from 10-4pm. FOOD...... Looks like Toby's Estate Coffee is coming to Mudgee for some training cum symposium type deals sometime in March/ April to educate us in the Fine Art of Baristas. Mudgee has a thriving cafe scene [9 at last count!] but the coffee is still too inconsistent and if your favorite person is not behind the machine the results can do untold damage to a cafe's reputation. Anyway Toby will most likely be staying at the retreat so he can help me round up the Donkeys or slice some of the 2000 kilos we have to do during Harvest....at approx. 8 grams an olive that makes over 220,000 olives to slice!!!!!! On another food note I happened to be at Eltons Brasserie today and My friend Dave Cox was putting the First Pizza into the new Wood Fired Oven which still is not 100% ready but I could not believe how quick it was and how crusty it came out....look for a launch / feast / blessing date soon! MUSIC.......... This weekend [FEB 28] I will be back with HomeRule in Drum and Keys/Vocal mode when they play at Gulgong Bowling Club to protest at the new Transgrid line which is going to rip thru the Northern Part of our District. Lots of collusion and behind the scenes money with Council / Developers and Advance Energy on this one and our power bills keep soaring with so called modernisation....where does all the money go if they keep shedding staff?????? On a brighter note I witnessed on of the most awesome concerts of my lifetime [and I've seen a few!] when I saw David Bowie on Sat last at the Ent, Cent in Sydney. 12,000 people all "Went off" as he opened with 'Rebel Rebel' and played all the hits and fantastic newer songs. My hitpick was 'Under Pressure' and the vocal Performance of his female Bass Player who took all the Freddie Mercury lines had to be heard to be believed. On an even brighter note I have secured tickets for Fleetwood Mac in 2 Thursdays time at the Ent. Cent. in what I have dubbed the "International Year of the Concert" .........then it's straight back to Mudgee on the Sunday to play with Endive at the Oriental Hotel [Sunday March 7th....4-8pm] It's a hard life but somebodies gotta do it!!!! seeyall....Chuka Khan! February 2004 Our musical dynamic duo "Endive" has been getting loads of work and over the long weekend in January we played 4 times in 3 days from weddings, cafes to Australia day Celebrations. We are playing at the Oriental Hotel every 2nd Sunday [this one is the 15th] and Eltons every Last Tuesday of the Month [25th] as well as the Old Cooyal hotel [tba]. Stephen and I can play well over 4 hours of Music with everything from Ray Charles to Blur with even A Bette Midler song chucked in. We have secured of Fantastic new Mudgee discovery in the form of the lovely Lara Brett who not only looks like Delta Goodrem but sounds like her, so she is joining us for select shows before she heads off to London for 6 months to attend a singing college. I'm heading into one of the local studios next week with her to put down a track for a birthday present for her grandmother and Hopefully will start work on the 2nd Figtree Renaissance Album. The Quaff Shop Jams are on again starting tonite [13th Feb] Our old band Adolphus made an appearance at the Annandale Hotel in Sydney on Boxing Day 2003 supporting the Celibate Rifles and we hope to get some more dates round Sydney. Adolphus is basically the Lime Spiders without Mick Blood.
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