Newstead's foodies were out in force the first Saturday of February 2011.  The Produce Exchange, held under The Red Store veranda on the first Saturday of the month from 10:30am, brings like minded food growers and gardeners together to share their excess produce, preserves and gardening tips and stories. 

This month saw a bountiful harvest including:  a huge tray of cucumbers, zucchini, tomatoes, herbs, bunching or pickling onions, salad onion, rhubarb, peaches, plums, lemons, squash, beans, eggs and even some sheep's wool!

In a world that is beginning to come to the realisation that humanity is going to experience trouble feeding itself in future generations, it's important to keep the knowledge of how to grow our own food and augment our dependance on supermarket grocery shopping with home grown fruit and veg.

The Produce Exchange offers more than just an opportunity to grab some fresh produce from the communal trestle table.  Rather, it brings together individuals in sharing knowledge about what grows well in this district and the associated gardener's tricks to get the best from your own plot.  The generation of our grandmothers and grandfathers had this knowledge.  Perhaps now is a good time to start spreading that wisdom so that our grandchildren may experience for themselves the joy and health that eating fresh local food can bring to life.  Grown the way it should be  - organic, biodynamic and free of the reliance on genetically modified seed.