Welcome to the second and final part of our visit to Norfolk Island where I’ll share with you some more secret treasures of living on this fascinating island. And first of all you should believe them when they tell you that Norfolk Island’s Farmers Market are “wee” – they really do mean it. In fact it’s about three stalls big. Perhaps the lightly falling rain has something to do with it but we nevertheless proceed to visit the three stands. First up is a stall manned by three young local boys selling little fudges and chocolate cups for 50c all made by one boy’s mum. When we ask the boy if he minds if we take a photo of the fudge he says no problems “It’s not trademarked.” Brilliant!
The second stall sells local pork which is bred on their 25 acre farm near pictureque Anson Bay. Among the many cuts, there are ham steaks and pork smoked over pine wood. If only we had time to buy and cook some!
Matt Bigg
Our third stop is the stall owned by fruit and vegetable grower Matt Bigg who supplies to most of the restaurants on the island and also to the consumer trade. There are only four fruit and vegetable items imported into Norfolk Island and these are only brought in because the growing conditions aren’t quite right for them and they use so many of them that they couldn’t produce enough.
Matt, along with a few other producers supply the entire island with fruit and vegetable produce and he tells us that the key for a grower on Norfolk Island is variety. He has to virtually stock a greengrocer’s selection for the public, many of whom already have gardens but perhaps don’t grow enough to eat.
There are bowls of orange and purple beetroot, cucumbers, enormous zucchini, several types of hydroponically grown soft lettuce, cauliflower and it looks like the type of produce that you might find in a home garden rather than with the uniformity of supermarket specimens. None of his produce is ever sprayed. He works to maintain a healthy soil so that the crops don’t become susceptible to pests. And did you know that here on Norfolk Island butcher shops actually sell fruit and vegetables in the store?
Butcher shop selling fruit and vegetables
We follow Matt back to one of his two farms. He is a Pittcarin/Bounty descendent and the operation has four staff in total to meet the demand for supply. There are many hydroponic trays of red oak and butter lettuce which flourish when grown this way. “It’s either feast or famine here” he says and when a crop is in season it is absolutely abundant and if the weather conditions change which is their biggest challenge then things can become a challenge. He points at the row of bananas “We use bananas as a windbreaker. We are a small island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean and we are open to the elements” he says.
Cucumbers
One of the advantages to the island microsystem is that they are absent of many pests like fireblight, boil smut disease and fruitfly. Before we go, he comes out showing a pineapple which another grower has just started growing. He’s excited at the quality of the pineapple and it is a new item for the island-it has been about 20 years since pineapples were grown on Norfolk Island.
Sublime
) big slices of juicy, grilled beef amongst pieces of lettuce, cucumber and tomato with a delicious sesame dressing drizzled on top of it. It sits in a deep fried cracker cup and the serving size is that of a main. I immediately start worrying about whether we will be able to fit in the mains.
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