Once again we are happy to be able to offer members discounted tickets at Group prices to WOMADelaide 2012.  WOMADelaide 2012 will be held from Friday 09 - Monday 12 March outdoors in Adelaide's beautiful Botanic Park and celebrates its 20th birthday this year.  WOMAD is the World of Music, Arts & Dance. WOMADelaide began in 1992 and has gone on to become one of Australia's favourite festivals.

The program features performances and workshops on seven stages by the world's best musicians, dancers and DJs, alongside street theatre artists and visual artists, the popular Taste the World cooking program, Artists in Conversations sessions and an All-Star Gala finale, plus around 100 food, crafts and display stalls and a KidZone.

The full lineup will be revealed on Wednesday 11 January on the WOMADelaide 2012 website.

There are a couple of ways to get your WOMADelaide discount tickets. There are 2 steps:

1. Either:

• Present your 2012 membership card to the site staff at the Info Tent and they will validate your membership and give you a ticket order form.

OR

• E-mail us at admin(at)asfm.org.au or call us on (08) 8231 8155 with your 2012 ASFM membership number (last 4 digits on the back of your card) and we can email, fax or post the form to you.  

2.  Then fill out the form (including your credit card details) and send directly to the WOMADelaide office.

The WOMADelaide office will then send the tickets directly to you. Forms will be available at the Market site office until 12 February so be quick to access this great offer. Forms must reach the WOMADelaide office by 17 February.

For ticket prices, please click here and refer to the Adelaide Festival Price column (pdf document).

Top

Gardening - January is a great time to get the garden back into shape. And what better way than making use of your kids to do it for you! Bring your children to the Kids' Club on Sunday 8 January to learn about weeding and worm farms. Check out seedlings at Bickleigh Vale Farm (site 85), Hillside Herbs (site 88) and Gooseberry Hill Farm (site 63).

Lettuces - great for summer salads and lots of varieties are available right now from Salad Greens and Kitchen Herbs (site 95-96), Patlin Gardens (site 75-76), Alnda Farms (site 84), Aay's Fresh Herbs (site 92), N&M Tsimiklis (site 56-58) and Bickleigh Vale Farm (site 85).

Eggplant - N&M Tsimiklis (site 56-58) are overflowing with eggplant! Virgara's Garden (site 52-53) and Aay's Fresh Herbs (site 92) and Hart's Vegetables (site 80-81)  also have eggplant.

Grapes are now in season and available from returning stallholders Gerry Bariamis (site 82) and Berri Delicious Creations (new summer fruits aisle).

Summer wine.  Howard Vineyard (site 29) have a lovely Unoaked Chardonnay, as well as Sauvignon Blanc and red and white Sparking wine. Thye also have a rose, perfect for summer parties and entertaining, or just sipping while relaxing.  Wild Fox Wines (site 5) have organic chardonnay, sauvignon blanc and rose. These wines are also available preservative-free. WIld Fox also have a delicious 2009 sparkling red which they describe as "a deep red with purple hues, and dark berry and raspberry fruit aromas on the nose." Just because New Year's eve was last week doesn't mean you have to stop drinking the bubbly!

Juice from Mountain Fresh Fruit Juices (site 17). Trevor has an apple and guava juice which is perfect to quench your thirst on a hot summer's day and we hear that the apple lemon juice has a lovely gingery flavour.

Top

Find N&M Tsimiklis at the Market at site 56-58

Meri Tsimiklis is the “M” behind stallholder N&M Tsimiklis.  Meri and her husband Nick have sold their fresh produce at the Market since it opened. We spoke to Meri about their farm in Virginia and their produce.

The tomato is by far their most popular line, however the Tsimiklis’ also sell gourmet lines such as the Lebanese eggfruit and the Lebanese (white) zucchini.

 “I’ve got Europeans that come here constantly and they want the finger size so they can stuff them.  They’ll pay up to $40 a box. It’s time consuming - you have to pick them every day.”

At the moment Meri said she is overflowing with Lebanese eggfruit, a long skinny variety called Anatalie, which she will be selling for $2.99 a bag (normally up to $8).  She said stuffed eggfruit is a popular Turkish dish and it can be stuffed with rice or herbs or anything you want.   And her tip for Mums and Dads is that “you can hide all your veggies coz kids don’t know what’s in it.”

The good news for members is that this weekend, N&M Tsimiklis will have a lot of produce on special.

“Because we are overflowing with produce, this weekend I’ll have lots of products going for $1.99 – we’ll have tomatoes, Lebanese cucumbers and zucchini in every colour,” she said.

N&M Tsimiklis have three properties and Meri shares a farm with her brother Paul, who is also a keen farmer.  Meri said that as a third generation farmer, fruit and vegetables are in her blood.

“From an early age I was on the property and that’s where I grew up,” she said. ““I know Mum and Dad’s parents did the same in Greece – farming – and everything they did was of the land. Without my Mum I couldn’t do this on my own. The Okra (lady finger) is actually Mum’s line.  At 76 she still has the passion for growing veggies and herbs.”

Meri said that she has regular customers who come at 9am each week to buy the Okra, which is in limited supply.  She said her Mum is also responsible for the figs and herbs.

“Along with her amazing large figs, she also grows basil , mint , coriander and rocket.  Mum has her special way with producing pickled green spicy olives and the everyday Kalamata olive too,” she said.

With figs now in season, Meri said that a lot of the trees that they have on the farm as very old but still “produce really well because they’re looked after.”

The family also have a number of animals out the back of the property with the veggies that haven’t sold.

“The free range eggs we use at home are from the never-ending chickens that roam the farm which are Dad’s pride and joy,” she said.

But Nick and Meri do the large proportion of the work on the farm, with Meri saying she works seven days a week and doesn’t get much sleep.

“I don’t stop,” said Meri, “I am lucky in a self-employed way  - you basically get up when you want. If you have to get up early, you get up, but I’ve also got the kids - a four year old and a 15 year old. There’s a lot of running around between the work I do.  My work days are 12 hours spread over a longer day. I don’t get much sleep but it’s always happening. If I’m at the work shed I get a lot of people that come past and buy here as well.”

And although she has lost her Sundays to the Market, Meri said the Market has still made her life easier.

“I used to have over 70 glasshouses selling to agents and it was hard to deal with them all,” she said. ”But I couldn’t do it without my husband Nick. He is like Mr Mum, he cooks and helps take care of our youngest son.  He works on the farm too.”

She said that the whole family has worked at the Market, including her daughter who is now married and her elder son who is now 15.

“Our son Nicholas is a Market baby,” she said, “He was born in the first year of the Market and I would put him in the work bin at the stall and all the customers knew him. Later we called it Nicholas’ play bin and he still knows the Market.”

Top