Get down for the gift economy
I ate a blood peach for the first time today. I picked it off a small non-descript tree in the front garden that I’d never really paid much attention to.
This year it’s full of fruit and when I squeeze a small purply furry peach it has a promising give.
I bite, expecting pulpy cotton, but my mouth immediately tells me how wrong I am. Sweet and tart velvet flesh, peachy and a bit plummy, this is a juicy, spectacularly bloody unexpected gift.
I quickly eat three or four more and from now on make a note to look after this tree.
The blood peach however, doesn’t care about my newfound ardour or whether it’s me, the rainbow lorikeets, the neighbour’s cows or the earwigs that eat its fruit.
No matter what happens it will still grow its peaches each summer for anyone or anything that wants to eat them.
Braiding Sweetgrass author Robin Wall Kimmerer says the gift economy practised by plants reminds us that true wealth is in relationships and our interdependence.
Every year around this time Harvest Festival at CERES celebrates our relationships and interdependence with plants, animals, the good Earth and the farmers who work with it.
This year we are kicking off our celebrations early with the Harvest Hoedown dance on the Friday night.
Our friends from Country Struts will be whoopin’ it up with a rootin’-tootin’ boot-scootin’ night of line dancing.
It’s beginner-friendly and Country Struts are here to help you walk the line. Grab yourself a hoedown ticket here. Friday 20th March 2026 6pm – 9pm.
On Harvest Saturday from 9.30am you can get to know the CERES Farm on a whole new level with guided Farm tours and talks.
There are kids activities galore, including the Scarecrow Building Competition.
We have live local music and our biggest marketplace of the year with local makers, growers and yummy eats.
CERES Home Harvest Awards
Calling all bakers, growers, preservers and makers – The Home Harvest Awards are back!
Get baking, bottling and growing to win yourself a CERES Home Harvest Award (and a few prizes too).
This Year’s Categories:
- Best seasonal preserve
- Best cake
- Best bake (Kids)
- Biggest fruit/vegetable
- Longest vegetable
- Best Fruit/Veg Edible Art – (Kids)
Find your Home Harvest entry here.
Bring your pickle, cake, bake or produce to the judging stall between 9:30am – 10:30am. Judging at 11am, winners announced at 12pm. Cakes & baked goods tastings will be available from 1pm – 3pm.
CERES Harvest Festival is on Saturday 21st March 2026 9.30am – 3pm
Grab your Harvest Festival ticket here or at the gate. Kids under 12 free.
Meditation for Recovery
Last week I wrote about stone fruit growers, Valda and Adrian Martin, from Mill Spring Farm in Ruffy losing almost everything in the recent January bushfires.
Christine Watts from East Gippsland knows the impact bushfires can have on farming families after her garlic farm, Blue Sky Organics, was burned in the 2019 Black Summer fires.
Blue Sky Organics received assistance from ORICoop’s Resilience Fund, including volunteer help from the CERES community, and now Christine would like to give back.
Christine, who teaches meditation, is holding an event at CERES Brunswick East, raising funds to support farmers who have been affected by the recent fires.
You are warmly invited to join Christine Watts and Audrey Haddacks for a meditation and sound healing gathering at CERES to support farmers who have been directly impacted by the recent bushfires.
Together, we will tune into the healing frequencies of meditation, crystal singing bowls and voice as we collectively send love and healing to the people, animals and Mother Nature.
Your attendance creates a healing to the grief, overwhelm and deep sense of loss felt by those affected.
Together, we will raise much needed funds to help farmers get back on their feet through the ORICoop Resilience Fund.
Knowing other people care deeply is a powerful message of love and support.
The event is on March 27th at CERES Brunswick East,
Join live or online – find tickets here.
100% of funds raised goes towards impacted organic farmers.
For more info, contact Christine – christine@e3innovate.com.au
There’s also more about ORICoop’s Resilience Fund here.
Have a great week
Chris
