Tuesday, May 28, 2013

A thriving Huon Valley

We were driving up the hill towards home from the Franklin Market on Sunday (having well and truly emptied our wallets) when Dad rang to let us know that there was a story on the Huon Valley coming up on ABC Landline. It's a story about a project to use the 1880s sailing ketch Olive May to take produce from ports around the Huon Valley to a market in Hobart. It features lots of local produce - wine, apples, goats milk soap, cider, potatoes, timber, honey (our favourite) - as well as of course the glorious views of this beautiful part of southern Tasmania. We commented how refreshing it was to see a positive story like this, when often what we get through the 'meeja' is fear, negativity and general whining overshadowing the news about people getting off their backsides to do great stuff. We see it happening all around us, so it's great to see even a little bit of it showcased on national TV.

"The produce may have changed over the years, but it's hoped the agricultural sector will continue to be just as strong. If enthusiasm counts for anything, the producers of Tasmania's Huon Valley are thriving."

If you missed it, you can watch it here.

4 comments:

  1. It was a good show, i watched it on tv on Monday. Great to see so many local small business doing well

    jo

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  2. We had a few phone calls about the show too - because my partner Martin used to own the Olive May. In fact that is how I met him. I was on holiday in Tasmania in 2000 (escaping the heat of South Australia 40 degrees+) and decided that I would like to have a trip on the Olive May which was sailing around the Port Esperance bay in the evenings, looking at the stars. Martin was the owner of that charter company and to cut a long story short, two years later I moved to live in Tasmania. So the Olive May has a very definite soft spot in my heart.
    Jan

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  3. Jane and I rowed thru the canal with some garlic and pumpkin which was loaded in Cradoc and made its way to Hobart.
    Shane Johnson

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  4. Hi Shane, I thought I saw you in a rowing boat in the clip!

    And what a great story Jan, no wonder you were sold on Tassie :-)

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