On market day over 100 stallholders set up in Talbot's historic precinct, along Scandinavian Crescent and surrounding streets. For sale is farm fresh organic fruit and vegetables, honey, wine, pasta, puddings, olives, organic meat, continental cakes, local flaxseed oil, home made cheeses, live produce and more.

Talbot is 15 minutes from Clunes or Maryborough, 30 minutes from Creswick or Avoca, 40 minutes from Ballarat and 60 minutes from Bendigo. If you’re coming from Melbourne, allow 90 minutes from Westgate Bridge on the Western Highway but why not take a little more time and visit Creswick and Clunes: together with Talbot they are the Villages of the Old Goldfields.

For a list of current producers repesented at the market - Click Here

Other Market features:

Don’t forget Talbot Farmers’ Market’s enormous raffle, a selection of goodies from our 70 or so producers. It is drawn in front of Quince Farm Café at London House between 12:30 and 1.00 pm, which will leave you enough time to explore gold rush architecture and mysterious winding streets, to find the old railway station and its myriad mysteries of railway memorabilia and drought tolerant succulents, and to visit Slightly Bent Books or find Fanny's Flat on Fyfe Street for vintage and modern clothing and accessories.

Explore the Town Hall market known for its treasures, more plants and hand made things, particularly popular are Ingrid Maschek's finely crafted and designed hand bags. Sift through more treasures and collectables at Jerry's garage sale next to Slightly bent Books. You could have a super Sunday roast at the Court House Hotel and Motel and stay over to travel the night skies at Talbot Astronomical Observatory.

TALBOT FARMERS MARKET STORIES

April 2007

Last month I popped out in the perfect weather to take a quick spin around the Talbot Farmers' Market early and pick up my favorite goodies. I stopped to taste those scrumptious vegan truffles and followed this with a long sigh. Sharn, from Veluxe vegan chocolates asked me if I was tired. But I wasn't, I was set to dreaming over those delicious chocolates. I imagined Sharn opening up a shop in Talbot to sell her wickedly delights. A small shop like the one in the film Chocolade ... of course. I longingly wished for an assortment of specialized shops, a town plump with individuality, not obese with franchise food full of potato scraps and corn starch cooked in vats of cheap rendered fat. I thought of a town dedicated to feeding by the season, food packed with flavor fresh from the farm and value added delights. I thought about the fact that most people might not imagine that vegan food could be so good that it seems wicked.

One of our favorite dinners is sweetly roasted seasonal vegetables served on a bed of cous cous dressed with a tahini and lemon sauce. My husband and I devour it as though it were a roast with all of the trimmings or a Christmas pudding. But we do eat meat, more often now we would prefer it only when we know where it comes from; carefully reared, small farmed and an attention to quality seems hardly the stuff of supermarket plastic meat packs. A small and lean steak from a grass fed cow is savoured rather than gorging on a giant burger from unknown sources and local lamb chops are the finest we have had. If this is all getting too political then suffice to say that my husband and I just enjoy really good food and starchy food with little depth of flavor just doesn't cut it for us. I am so glad that we live in a town where at least one day every month we can buy just about anything we ever wanted to eat or drink from highly individual people.

Some things to remember: apples are coming into season, Warrigal greens keep well, are a beautiful colour and an extremely versatile spinach native to Australia and New Zealand, everybody loves home made ice-cream and small quiches made from garden produce sell out fast.

March 2007

"The market that saved a town" - (The Age Jan 2007) turns three on March 18. Pop over and celebrate whilst stocking up on fine produce from 9 am until 2 pm and to to mark the occasion we have a few new producers, all organic.

Angelica Organic Farm will have basil, coriander, parsley, rosemary, oregano, dill, silver beet, rainbow chard, Warrigal greens, radishes, bok choi, mizuna, rocket, peas, various lettuces, radicchio, brocolli, spring onions & possibly snow peas, sugar snaps, spinach, new beetroots & a range of heirloom tomatoes are due. All are certified organic.

Two Peas in a Patch will be joining us with their freshly baked quiches mostly created from organic ingredients and often sourced from there own backyard in Clunes.

We also have Nola Hardess working from a kitchen near Beaufort and producing kasundi, three kinds of mustards and three flavours of organic popcorn.

February 2007

February 18th will be a record market with lots of produce loaded up as we enter the best season of the year but be early, almost everything sells out, which is why we will be adding a new organic fruit and vegetable producer to the list this month at Talbot Farmers' Market.

Talbot Farmers' Market is a great excuse for a country drive away from the city bustle. Try jars of pickled quince, marmalade or chilli cordial all stocked in the Quince Farm Cafe or wrap up some olive oil, heirloom seeds (hoping for rain) from Rosemary Stevenson who is starting up her own seed savers network, fine banksia honey and stock up on home brewed beer from Red Duck (as seen in Epicure).

Oranges are juicy and delightful all year round and seasonal fruit and vegies include all of the salad vegetables in February, for three markets a year we have grow your own mushroom kits, there are goat's cheeses, puddings, pasta (pumpkin ravioli is recommended), gorgeous cupcakes, locally grown and marinated chillies and traditional Macedonian sweets, pies, home made lemon butter, biodynamic and mandarin flavoured olive oils.

December 2006

Last month the strawberries were even better than any I ever had as a child, so very sweet and there were plenty of cherries, avocados, seasonal vegies, lamb, beef and rabbit plus seafood. This month so far our newest edition is Veluxe with vegan truffles and they are very fine and extremely addictive. Also santa will stopping by plus the enormous produce barrow raffle is perfect for Christmas. Quince farm cafe will have various hamper gifts as will many market stallholders.

Thank you all for your support in 2006. We could not have come this far without you.

October 2006

Dont forget the Talbot Tourism quarterly ART AUCTION at 1pm after raffle draw in front of Quince Farm Cafe to raise money for local tourism projects

In October Talbot Farmers' Market will have asparagus, grow your own mushroom kits, avocado, citrus, Tony Ghosthawk's organic sausage and native American fried breads, Barry Klemm's peonies and other spring fresh produce but get in early everyone is selling out. Also as always there will be will plenty of gourmet delights including, goat's cheese, puddings, wine, pasta (pumpkin ravioli is recommended), gorgeous cupcakes, Dutch cookies, locally grown and marinated chillies and traditional Macedonian sweets, biodynamic and mandarin flavored olive oils, lovingly brewed beer, and just about anything else you can think of.

This month there will be more room in Quince Farm cafe for the ever growing crowds and a new shop which had a soft opening last month, dipping it's toes into the farmers' market onslaught in the old servants quarters behind the Lyon's Commercial Hotel site on Scandinavian Crescent. Fanny's Flat on Fyfe Street, a 'petite boudoir' selling vintage and new clothing and accessories, glad rags and occasionally revamped originals (more on that to come) will be open weekends 10am until 4pm Saturday, 10am - 3pm Sundays and market hours on the third Sunday of every month.

September 2006

PUT SOME SPRING IN YOUR STEP AT TALBOT FARMER’S MARKET

The daffodils and jonquils are up and the wattles are great glowing golden beacons. The almond blossom is almost over but all the other fruit trees are budding up beautifully. There’s some new warmth in the air, chooks and ducks are laying and the wild birds are building nests. Spring is definitely in the air and all the Talbot Farmers’ Market stallholders have a spring in their step.

Come to Talbot and see what fabulous produce spring offers. Beckworthview Highland Cattle have fantastic beef and their are tender Pyrenees Gourmet rabbits plus organic spuds of too many varieties to mention from Fernleigh Farms and Captain’s Creek crunchy organic carrots.

Apples and oranges abound, tomatoes are coming back in and there are always fresh herbs to use in cooking or to plant in the garden. And what about smoked meats, brilliant breads, eggs, sweets, honey, chai tea, licorice, dried muscatels, finely brewed beers, gorgeous local wines, hot kranskies, curries, pestos, goats cheese and cow cheese (is that Farmhouse Cheddar ready yet?).

As if that wasn’t enough, there’s live music to put a spring in your step and fresh pasta, seafood, fresh olive oils, spice mixes, chutneys, pickles, jams, muffins, locally made dips, very local chocolate truffles, lavender mustard, heirloom seeds, fresh flowers, stock feed and chooks of all denominations, sizes and feather colours and shapes and our famous rare breed black pigs (as seen on Coxy’s Big Break).

August 2006

HOW TO MAKE IT RAIN 

Tell everyone it never rains on market day EVER and sure enough it will ... only a little bit and good for us all. Enough to blur my note pad so I don't know who has paid their site fee and who has not. Lucky producers. Also lucky because July market was busy with dedicated shoppers despite the drizzle. I made my purchases bright and early and words cannot express how much I enjoyed my Beckworthview Highland Cattle tenderloin steak with roasted Rosedale, Kipfler ad Fir Apple spuds from Fernleigh Farm. I don't think I've ever experienced anything quite like it. We are still talking about the tender sweetness of it all.
I don't know if we can top this one but Pyrenees Gourmet Rabbits may convince us in August. I am ashamed to say that last month we bought Blackwood Orchards pink lady apples for the first time in the two years since we launched the market and they were so juicy and sweet that  I am taking them with me everywhere for snacks. Langdale Orchard apples are equally delightful. In August we will enjoy winter greens and more beautiful potatoes, smoked meats, eggs, sweets, honey, chai tea, licorice, dried muscatel, freshest herbs, finely brewed beers, gorgeous local wines, hot kranskys, curries, pestos (because surely pesto never goes out of fashion), goats cheeses, cow cheeses, fresh pasta, seafood, fresh olive oils, spice mixes, chutneys, pickles, jams, muffins, locally made dips, very local chocolate truffles, lavender mustard, plants of all kinds for the now moist garden, heirloom seeds, stock feed and chooks and our famous rare breed black pigs.

June 2006 WELCOME WINTER PRODUCE AT TALBOT FARMER’S MARKET The liquid golds, fiery reds and plummy purples of Maryborough’s stunning autumn foliage have given way to the gentle greys, mauves and pearly pinks that tinge winter branches etched against a clear sky that can only belong to a perfect Central Goldfields winter day – just the sort of day to visit Talbot Farmers’ Market on the third Sunday of every month in the historic village of the Old Goldfields.

We’ve had good gentle rain at just the right time. Rich yellow quinces and orange gold persimmons dangle invitingly from shapely trees like minimalist Christmas decorations; scarlet pomegranates are swelling; and the soft blue-green-grey of amazing artichoke leaves are pushing through the ground and unfurling. 

At the market there are pumpkins of every size, shape and colour plus all the other essentials for hearty winter meals – carrots, leeks, onions, garlic, potatoes, spinach and silver beet – just add bacon from the stall around the corner. I think of all the different varieties of nuts, citrus, apples and pears coming in and dream of tarts, crumbles and pies – oh bliss, hot apple pie and farmhouse cheese.

Then I remember the exercise I’m going to need to work it all off and go looking for fruit trees to plant and straw for animal bedding, wheat for chooks, hay for goats and end up tickling the tummies of little large black pigs.

On the third Sunday of this month, I’m going to stock up on home made fresh pasta, pesto, olive oil and scrummy goats cheese so when the wind whistles, I can spend most of the day curled up with seed catalogues and gardening books in front of a roaring fire and still have a delicious dinner on the table in minutes with the family thinking it’s all my own work.

February 2006

My husband and I are volunteers at the Talbot Farmers’ Market, which means we HAVE to be there every month. It’s a tough job.

In January the market cruised along and we enjoyed chatting to the chook traders, checking out the Indian Runner ducks, chomping on the nectarines and sipping the local wine. We were also tempted by the Red Duck beer, delighted by the fresh herbs and are totally addicted to the marinated, salted and dried chilies. We bought our usual box of oranges which keep us healthy for the whole month and couldn’t go home without our proper smoked bacon and favorite beef and seafood ravioli adding a few bulbs of the finest local garlic and some perfect salad onions to our basket of delights. As always we lunched on cheese and chilli toasted bread to keep up our strength for packing up at the end of the day.

Then we went home and ate some more. Please spare a thought for us slaving away at the next farmers’ market on the 19th of February while you are enjoying your Sunday of rest.

January 2006
Capturing the Australian Spirit: Talbot Farmer’s Market is Shire’s Community Event of the Year

This year at the Central Goldfield Shire Australia day celebration Talbot Farmers’ Market was proclaimed Community Event of the Year. In announcing the award, the Mayor, Councillor Brian O’Connor said: “The combination of a sociable and dedicated group of volunteers, a welcoming town of vibrant personalities, faithful weather, a well planned variety of produce, the charming backdrop of Talbot’s remaining gold rush architecture and mysterious winding streets, festive music and happy pigs and chooks is what makes this market truly unique.
In accepting the award on behalf of the Farmer’s Market working group, Tiffany Titshall paid tribute to all its members, past and
present, and all the volunteers who work so tirelessly to make it the outstanding success it is. Tiffany also told the crowd: “We were told we would never get anyone to come to Talbot when we first raised the idea. It just goes to show that if you stop worrying about whether something is going to succeed and put your head down and do it you can achieve anything.”
The framed Australia Day certificate now hangs proudly in the Quince arm Café at London House, which also stocks a range of products from loyal producers who set up in Talbot on the third Sunday of every month.
Why is our market so popular in such a tiny town? A sociable and dedicated group of volunteers, a welcoming town of vibrant personalities, faithful weather, a well planned variety of produce from over 60 friendly producers of the goldfields and beyond, the charming backdrop of Talbot’s remaining gold rush architecture and mysterious winding streets, festive music and happy pigs and chooks are all part of what makes Talbot Farmers’ Market special
Talbot Farmers’ Market volunteers are dedicated to creating one of the best markets in Victoria through hard work and attention to detail. We believe it is important to look after our producers and support community spirit as well as encourage local tourism ventures in the villages of the old goldfields.

Talbot Farmers’ Market articles published pre 2006 below:

SPRING SPECIALS AT THE TALBOT FARMERS’ MARKET

On the third Sunday of every month the streets of Talbot are alive with the sound of music and people snapping up the freshest produce around from the people who grow it – oranges and lemons, eggs and cheese, apples and pears, potatoes and pumpkins, beans and silverbeet, onions and garlic. And, as spring pounces upon us, the range is growing.

There’s not only fruit and vegies, there’s honey and wine, fresh pasta and wood-fired sourdough bread, venison, smoked chicken, ostrich sausages, and fresh, fresh seafood, olives and new season olive oil, special tea blends and a plethora of preserves from hellishly hot relishes to gourmet sauces, jazzy jams and challenging chutneys.

It’s not too late to put in productive fruit trees, ravishing roses, grasses, natives, herbs and seedlings and it is the perfect time to stock up on traditional, open pollinated seeds so, come summer, your own garden can delight your senses and provision your kitchen.

For those with a fancy for feathers, there’s chooks and turkeys and ducks, ready to fluff around your garden and chomp up wriggling pests. If you haven’t room for a pig or two, at least come and see the large black ones plus the goats and rabbits. While you’re there, stock up on wheat, hay, straw and pet food.

If you can drag your children away from the animals, let them try the jumping castle or plaster fun and face painting. Meanwhile, you can plan to lavish your life and health with lotions and soaps cleverly made from olive oil, emu oil or goat milk.

After all that, it’s time to stock up from the tantalising array of home-made fudge, nougat, cupcakes, puddings, Dutch cookies, pastries, pies, tarts, nori rolls and even gluten free biscuits and cakes. Then, refresh yourself with coffee, tea and treats from the Quince Farm Café or the Red Geranium.

Before leaving this town of Talbot that is sustainably reinventing itself, you can also search for treasures at the Town Hall Market, check out the Astronomical Observatory, search the past at the Museum, log on at the Internet Centre, rustle around the old Railway Station that now is a tough plant nursery, hardware store, framing shop, gallery and museum all in one, have a cleansing ale at the Court House Hotel and Motel and suss out the terrific accommodation available for when you next visit.

SUMMERTIME LIVIN’ IS EASY AT TALBOT FARMERS’ MARKET

Think asparagus and artichokes, berries and cherries, peaches, plums and apricots, beans, peas, lettuce, tomatoes, zucchini and corn.

Think barbecues – venison of course – with corn on the cob dribbling with butter and luscious salads drizzled with virgin olive oil. On the salad side, how about zucchini and basil or green bean, almond and fetta, Thai beef or chicken and cucumber Or how about an asparagus omelette or grilled peaches. Then, what about the classic summer pudding bursting with raspberries. And all matched with the finest wines and fruit liqueurs. If you visit Talbot Farmers’ Market on the third Sunday of the month, you won’t have to think because the freshest produce around will stimulate your taste buds.

One of my favourite childhood memories of summer is the watermelon smile and then the competition to see who can spit the pips furthest. One of my favourite activities now is using the summer bounty to make preserves and thinking up tasty new combinations but why bother when I can buy them at Talbot and spend my summer lazing in the shade with superb wine and cheese and a good book.


Solve all your Christmas gift problems by giving food made with love and attention or one of the stunning new Talbot Farmers’ Market aprons – dark green, beautifully embroidered with our classic artichoke in white and a real deal at $19.95.

The Talbot Farmers’ Market is all about fabulously fresh produce and animals sold by the people who grow, rear, catch or make it. Help your pocket and the farmers’ – there’s no middle man so the producer makes more, you pay less and be reassured your food hasn’t travelled for days and days and thousands of miles to go into your Talbot Farmers’ Market calico shopping bag.


Excerpts from Talbot Farmers’ Market Grant Acquital Report in 2004

Talbot Farmers’ Market:
provides Talbot and district residents with regular access the fresh fruit and vegetables
· enables local producers to sell goods directly to consumers
· is reconnecting consumers with the farming community that surrounds and serves them
· is fostering community spirit
· is strengthening the local economy
· is encouraging visitors to Talbot and its goods, services and tourism attractions, as well as the goldfields’ heritage and history

Talbot Farmers’ Market has become a hallmark for the district and is attracting regular repeat visits to Talbot. Its success is yet another example of carefully planned and strategically developed human community capacity building initiatives and firm platform for Talbot to show how, with a little bit of help, small towns can get back on the map and focus on quality of life issues.

FRESH PRODUCE NEW GOLD FOR TALBOT (March 2004)

Top quality fresh fruit, vegetables, herbs, flowers, and value added products was gold for Talbot, the tiny Central Goldfields town in Victoria, on Sunday 21 March.

Up to 1000 people from as far away as Melbourne streamed into the first Talbot Farmers' Market in Scandinavian Crescent to find quality farm fresh produce at reasonable prices.

The inaugural Talbot Farmers' Market was officially opened at 10.00 am by local MP, Joe Helper. By the time it closed four hours later, many stalls had signs saying 'Sold out – come back for more on 18 April'.

The emphasis was on variety and quality, with a preference for organic produce. There was bok choy and sweet corn, rhubarb and nashi, basil and onions, potatoes and melons, bread, olive oil and wine, venison and beetroot , large black pigs and preserves, ducks and chocolates, hydroponic local tomatoes and lettuce and more.

Local organiser Graham Taylor commented: "We were overwhelmed by the interest and those who came to buy local produce and to talk to the farmers who grow it.

"In our sixth year of drought, the response from growers was nothing short of amazing – and consumers knew it and appreciated it."

He went on to say: "This is a monthly community farmers' market. We knew people wanted seasonal produce with choice, quality and variety – real food produced by real farmers with minimum or no chemicals. The demand surprised both us and the farmers and home growers."

An added attraction for bargain hunters was the Town Hall Market around the corner in Ballaarat Street where the local fire brigade made an unprecedented $500 on its sausage sizzle.

24 March 2004

TALBOT GOLD RUSH FOR FRESH PRODUCE (March 2004)

Talbot was teeming with so many people last Sunday 21 March that it was like another gold rush. This time the gold was top quality, fresh fruit, vegetables, herbs, flowers and value added products at reasonable prices, direct from farmers and producers.

The inaugural Talbot Farmers' Market was officially opened at 10.00 am when local MP, Joe Helper, cut the green and white ribbon stretched across Scandinavian Crescent. Up to 1000 people thronged the streets over the four hours of the market and many of the 25 stallholders were rushed off their feet.

As well as professional farm producers, local home growers from Talbot, Lexton, Avoca and surrounding areas displayed and quickly sold the a wide range of produce from their own gardens – a real feat in a time of severe water restrictions.

The emphasis was on variety and quality, with a preference for organic produce. There was bok choy and sweet corn, rhubarb and nashi, basil and onions, potatoes and melons, olive oil and wine, venison and beetroot – all freshly gathered.

An added attraction for bargain hunters was the Town Hall Market around the corner in Ballaarat Street where the local fire brigade made an unprecedented $500 on its sausage sizzle.
Contact Talbot Farmers’ Market office on T: 03 5463 2001 between 10am and 3pm on weekends or leave a message at other times.

E: talbotfarmersmarket@bigpond.com
Seasonal produce direct from farm to consumer
Finest local wines and best fresh food
Live music