Letters to Ann

Dear Ann,

Well, after our first successful market for the new year Charley & I were raring to go! We conferred, deciding that – if possible – we would try & get booked into one for every Saturday & Sunday.

We were currently going to Warners Bay, Fennels Bay, Wickham & Maitland. We had been together to all of these. However, there are markets & markets!

There are two organisations in Australia that are renowned for raising funds for charity:  The Lions Club & Veteran Affairs. They do a lot of good work & are well known throughout the nation, These two organisations run a lot of markets charging minimum amounts like $10 or $15 for stall holders. The more stalls they get the more money they make.

However, Warners Bay & Maitland are run by their Chamber of Commerce, which is part of the local Council. To have a stall at their venues costs a great deal more. With the other markets mentioned it is more of a ‘first in first served’ whereas with the these it almost requires a definite booking, preferably a permanent stall. The cost can be six or seven times the cost of the others.

Charley & I now have permanent stalls at both Warners Bay & Maitland. It pays dividends because the stalls are quality & not bric-a-brac which makes up ninety per cent of other stalls, Therefore, this brings a different crowd of people who are looking for bargains & not home made produce.

From the beginning of the year we have been to all these market sites. Apart from Warners Bay & Maitland the sales have been minimal & I mean minimal. At Fennels Bay we sold seven jars. At Wickham we sold four jars.

We tried out two new venues at Swansea, where we sold four jars, & Adamstown to sell just one jar. Charley had decided to try Adamstown on her own as I was committed to Maitland.

We arranged to meet at home after these two markets. I doubt if I will forget Charley that day as she said as soon as she came in the door “No more markets run by the Lions Club as I only sold one jar.” Our philosophy has been “if you don’t go you never know.”

We also visited another market one Saturday a couple of weeks ago at Freemans Water Hole that we had been told about & found they only had a handful of stall holders. So we have been slowly sifting them out & are currently looking at booking into Farmers Markets that have a great reputation, plus Hunter Valley Vineyards, which would also be excellent.

However, it is more difficult to book into these, but Charley is dealing with that department & we are hoping to hit the jackpot in those areas.

On the day Charley went to Adamstown & sold one jar, I went on my own to Maitland as I did a few time last year when two of our markets clashed on one day. Their market is held at the local show ground & I have a permanent under cover stall in the pavilion. This means I do not have to set up a gazebo & the organisers have people to assist the stall holders if needed. Of course I always need a helper to carry in my table, chair & produce.

Even though I have done this trip on my own & know the way, last Sunday I took a wrong turn & got absolutely lost. I went up & down roads that I never knew existed ending up in a park where three ladies were walking.

I was in a mild panic as I have to be at the market on time or my stall can be let to another person looking for a site. I stopped the car in the middle of the car park road & called out to the ladies at the top of my voice as I was getting desperate.

They finally heard me & thankfully one lady came back to assist me as by that time another driver was wanting to get past my car in the middle of the road & no doubt saying some things not fit for sensitive ears!

The lady was a great help & put me onto the right track & when I reached the venue the gates were closed, but Catherine, the organiser took pity on me & I was allowed in.

I drove to my unloading space & felt so knocked out after getting lost that I asked the person nearest me if she knew of anyone who could help me.

She was dressed in a fluffy tulle skirt & had her face painted. She was really nice & beckoned to a smartly dressed young man in black shirt & pants who came over to see how he could help.

He was goodness itself & carried everything into my allotted space. Then he parked my car for me, which had to be quite a long way away because of my late arrival. After which he brought me back the key saying if I needed anymore help to ask him.

I thanked the young man profusely & gave him a large bottle of relish for his trouble. I then went about setting up the display. While in the middle of this activity two nice ladies came along & very interested in the home made relish. It was almost 8 a.m. by then.

I stopped what I was doing & set about getting my tastings out for her, only to find I had left my spoons in the car. “Don’t worry I’ll be back in a couple of minutes,” one of the ladies said & off she went.

True to her word she was back in no time with a takeaway coffee & a spoon for me to serve out the tastings. Both ladies were delighted with the product & I started the day with a $30 sale, which I took as a good omen & a better start to the day than I had had up to that point.

It doesn’t take long to set up the display & from then on I had a steady flow all morning & the relish was fast disappearing. I only used my spiel once during the whole time I was there as there was no need to. The public was only too pleased to get home made relish & this was the first time we had displayed the relish on its own at Maitland, without the Christmas puddings.

I was in for a surprise also as the good Samaritan that unloaded my car for me came along to see if I had everything & was okay. This time he had a long striped waistcoat over his black outfit & the long tail was cut like a pixie’s shirt – he looked very smart.

He very evidently was not hired by the organisers to help little old ladies like me as I had thought, but was a stall holder. He introduced himself as Ty & his wife was Ash. They had a stall in the pavilion next to mine. He made balloons in the shape of animals & showed me the photos of them all & Ash did face paintings. I never got to know Ash, but Ty visited my stall several times during the morning & watched as my supply gradually disappeared.

By 11 a.m. I had one $15 jar of relish remaining. Two people were coming straight towards my stall so I smiled asking if they were going to purchase my last bottle of my Curried Zucchini Relish. They certainly were & the youngish man, Wayne introduced himself & his Mother, Dorothy.

They were both very chatty & very friendly, especially when Wayne said “You are the original Newcastle’s Pudding Lady aren’t you?” I admitted it & he said he had heard a lot about me. He shook my hand making a little bow saying how pleased he was to be in my company as I was so famous!

They asked lots of questions about that part of my life. I told them how it all started through a prayer & Wayne shook my hand again. As they were so interested I told them the Queen had received the Christmas Puddings by request on two occasions so Wayne shook my hand again. I think he shook my hand five times during our chat.

By this time it was 11.30 & I had sold my last jar of relish. I certainly will not forget my interlude with Wayne & Dorothy. It was very pleasant. I most certainly will expect them to call at my stall in future as it was almost a friendship had taken place.

The market ends at 2 p.m.. I had to get permission to drive out early, with Catherine assuring the other organisers that I truly had sold out!

Ty’s panda!

Ty was at my side in no time & offered to get my car for me. I went with him to the other end of the showground. When Ty parked the car to go & get my empty cartons & the rest of the gear I waited outside for him. He took a little more time than I thought it would take, which didn’t matter as I had plenty of time.

When he came back he had made a Panda balloon for me to take home. He had gone to his stall to make one especially for me. That was so sweet & in giving it to me said that he & Ash would be there for me any time I needed help.

Now that just made my day & although it didn’t start off too well it certainly ended well. There are more nice people in this world than we think.

I didn’t get lost on the way home, two hours before anticipated, but whacko I had a rather fat wad of cash in my pocket. I had to stay calm as I waited for Charley to arrive to swap notes. Although disappointed with her day it was great to share such a successful day with her when she arrived.

Can’t help but say Charley’s spirits lifted somewhat! Plus a joint decision to go for the markets that may take a time to break into but we are gong to give it a go,

Love You Dear Heart. Dawn X O X O

Dear Ann,

Charley & I well were well ready to get back into marketing again after the holiday break. The Christmas Pudding season was over & it was back to relish again. With one of our best markets first on the list we needed to go shopping.

Up until now I had shopped at our local super market for ingredients, but with the New Year we thought we should get into our project with zest & save money by patronising the Harris Farm Market that was only about fifteen minutes away at Glendale.

That should sound familiar to you with Glendale in LA very close to you too. Both venues are large shopping outlets & not favourites of mine as they are spread out & not under cover like shopping malls. Driving to Glendale here is not on my list of favourite things to do as it is outside of my comfort zone. However, now I have a co- pilot I can sit back & let Charley drive.

So we tootled off to Harris Farm to purchase all the ingredients for our relish. When we arrived Charley picked up a small carry basket that was very smartly replaced with a very large shopping trolley when I mentioned that first up we needed fourteen kilo (30 lb.) of tomatoes & ten kilo of onions, not to mention several bunches of celery & many capsicums.

It was as funny as a circus as everything was so cheap with other bargains too good to pass by that had nothing to do with our relish, but just for ourselves. This comprised of a very large tray of huge mangos, peaches, nectarines, raspberries, smoked salmon (a favourite of us both) & lastly, a mammoth tray laden with about twenty punnets of strawberries for a mere $7: too good to miss!

I took the latter to my friend, Richard – father of Rachelle, the owner of Micheles Patisserie – who loves making jams & chutneys etc. Now I have enough strawberry jam to feed an army & giving it to all of my friends. I promised Richard a Christmas Pudding for what they call here “Christmas in July.”

Plus, Charley & I indulged in smoked salmon for the next couple of weeks, living like kings!

I like pushing a trolley as it gives me a bit of stability, but the trolley that day was unpushable. Well by me anyway as things were sliding off the top.

It was loaded to the hilt & even Charley had a job directing that trolley to the car. We were both amazed at what Harris Farm had to offer. I think we changed the rule of five veges per day to five fruits daily!

I hadn’t been to Harris Farm Markets for years & was truly amazed at how it has grown & developed. We both remarked that, when Philip & Greg come back here for a visit, this place it’s a must for them, as it is so interesting. Greg would love it as he is quite a chef & does love to cook. It is a few years since he has seen it.

Somehow we got everything into Charley’s small car, but what an experience.

Anyway, we soon had it all unloaded into my kitchen/dining room & got to work at the kitchen bench with chopping boards & some sharp knives. Charley & I work well together & we chopped up enough ingredients for four batches of relish. We had bought enough for fourteen batches, which yielded just on 120 jars as we had little left from last year & needed a good supply to start the New Year.

Charley came to help out the next day also as she had plans for this year. David makes a delicious Tomato Chutney that he shares with a lot of people& gets many accolades for it. Charley has had in mind for some time to make this chutney to include in our list of culinary produce.

It seemed, now was the time to introduce a new product. I was happy to along with this, but with youth on her side I told Charley this was her baby as I had enough to do with the relish & Christmas puddings.

I peeled all the many kilos of tomatoes for her chutney & helped out with the peeling & vitamizing of the kilos of onions & then left her to it. I still had masses of relish to make, which kept me busy for a day or two.

I have two very large Cordon Blue saucepans, famous for French cooking, that I purchased about forty years ago at great cost. However, they have proved to be invaluable over the years as they are what I boil the puddings in.

Now Charley was to use them to make Dad’s Tomato Chutney. The contents have to simmer for a few hours to reduce the content. What I forgot to mention to Charley was to keep stirring the mixture.

Charley mans the stall at the Warners Bay market.

At the end of the process there was a nice burnt mass on the bottom of the saucepan, which took some elbow grease to remove. However, when I tasted the chutney it was quite delicious, with a nice smokey taste. It wasn’t like chutney, but more like a sauce so we we invented a new name: Smokey BBQ Sauce.

Charley got 10 out of 10 for her efforts & we had a new product to sell: a dozen nice big jars of Smokey BBQ Sauce, which looked good in recycled coffee jars with a glass lid.

So with the relish all bottled, labelled & priced – likewise the new Smoky BBQ Sauce – we set off for our first market for the year, which was at Warners Bay. This is one of the best markets & we were looking forward to it.

The date had been changed from second Saturday in the month to the third Saturday. The venue had also been changed from the park where it was held previously, to over the road on the foreshore of Lake Macquarie where the boat racing was held in October.

This was indeed a lovely venue which will now be permanent & all the stallholders were keen, but wondering if it would still entice the public. We need not have been concerned as it was great. I think it will even become greater as time goes on.

Charley & I went together, set up our stall & had a great day. It was nice & sunny with a lovely breeze from the Lake & the public seemed to like the new product.

We have learnt a few things along the way. At a market as good as this one we only put the relish in jars of a similar size, so that it’s all priced accordingly from the smallest size up to the next three sizes ranging from $10 to $20.

To begin the New Year trade we sold forty five jars in all.

We came home elated, took the costs from the sales & shared the rest with the knowledge that the new Smokey BBQ Sauce was a success: a feather in Charley’s cap even though it took two burnt saucepans! If this was an indication of things to come from our markets & we really were raring to go!

Love You Dear Friend. You are never far from my mind. Dawn X O X O