North Melbourne Primary School now hosts a “Farmers Market” on the first Sunday of the month. I missed out on the last Abbotsford Convent market, so was kinda hankering for a market morning – and the boy lives walking distance to this one, so I was quite looking forward to it.
I do hope this market picks up a bit, it wasn’t really what I would consider “up to speed” yet. I really didn’t like being accosted by GetUp! on my way there… go inside and have a stall and I’ll come see you if I want to folks.

The grounds of the school are quite well set up for the market, and to sit and have a coffee and a bit of breakfast, but the coffee was pretty ordinary, made with Coles UHT milk which was a HUGE step down from Schulz’s Organic Fresh Milk as we get at Abbotsford and Collingwood, and the beans were quite a mild roast.
The collection of stalls was a bit eccentric, but as it was the first market I can only hope it picks up. They were also quite sparse.
There was:
Ross Creek Garlic (who sold Garlic)
Honey
Lamadre Bakery
Olive Branch Preserves
Pud for All Seasons
A loose leaf tea seller
Little Creek Cattle Company/Killara Rise Lamb (from NSW!)
A Gozleme and turkish bread seller
Lockton Farm Gourmet Sausages (Chicken, Cheese and Asparagus sausages? Gourmet Pizza Sausages? Madras Curry and Cheese Sausages? I could go on but…urgh)
Marie’s Natural Herbs ‘n’ Stuff
Meredith Cheese
Flower seller
A Chicken shop
Someone selling stonefruit I think
A Market Gardener
Picanha Premium Beef
and perhaps a couple more?
There weren’t a lot of names on the stalls, and I missed the little bios that a lot of the Farmers put up at other more established markets. I used inverted commas in the first paragraph as there didn’t seem to be a lot of farmers – more of the value added stuff which isn’t what I look for at these markets.
But there was some good and some truly weird…
Now the dumpling stall took my fancy – I like dumplings! But I was disappointed to see only dim sims, hear the stall holder say ” well you can steam them, but they are much better deep fried” and then read the name of the stall..Wun Hung Lo? They’re kidding right? Seriously not impressed with the attempt at humour I’m afraid.

Then there was the scarf lady…seeing as it was more than 30 degrees yesterday that seemed really incongruous. Good thing it drizzled this morning I guess.

Then there was these guys – Michael and Jo, Red Bean coffee beans.

They were the suppliers of the beans in the aforementioned bland coffee, they asked me how it was, and I told them it was pretty bland, I blamed the milk – they blamed the roast the coffee makers had chosen (which they called a “girlie” roast). They sold me some Brazilian rainforest alliance beans. These two are ex-construction industry who have taken up roasting their own beans to make the kind of coffee they like to drink. I liked them, they were chatty (always a good sign at a market) and passionate about what they were doing. (You need a sign for that marque though lads!)
So…not a great start I’m afraid for this market, but hopefully things will improve with a better mix of stalls. Or maybe they will pitch themselves at the “Sunday Shopper”, buying those little indulgences. I certainly couldn’t do my weekly shop here – or even buy ingredients for a whole meal. But I’ll be back to see how they are progressing.
North Melbourne Farmers’ Market
1st Sunday every month (except January – second Sunday)
North Melbourne Primary School
210 Errol Street
North Melbourne
Inseason Markets