Charles Parsons describes himself as an Aussie battler. Certainly the past five years may have been tough, but the steep learning curve he and his family have gone through to produce their Charella range of goat's cheese, has been matched by the astounding success too, of the product.
The cheese has been served on Qantas First Class cheese platters and is used by many top Gold Coast restaurants and hotels, as well as those in Brisbane and the Sunshine Coast. But don't go looking for it in the shops. "We sell direct to the public," says Parsons, "strictly direct."
It was this firm decision that set him looking for the best possible way to meet his customers. Farmers' markets were just becoming popular a couple of years ago and so he waded in to begin the Mudgeeraba markets in early 2001, so he and the four other small cheese (two goat, three cow) producers would have a place to sell their cheeses. The result of these markets was so successful that recently he was approached to take over the running of the Marina Mirage market and keep it as a true farmers' market along the lines of the Mudgeeraba one.
Parsons knew just what to do. Acknowledging that the biggest problem for farmers' markets is to widen the door to allow non-farmers access, he was determined to keep focused on the primary aim. "We didn't want a farmers flea market," he says. Both markets strive to maintain the rigorous standards of a true growers' market, and only those who plant it, pick it, sow it, grow it, make it or bake it are entitled to set up a stall.
True to this Parsons set about encouraging more stall holders ("although it's not easy - you've got to keep a balance," he warns) and found out that what had seemed a problem - the Marina Mirage markets ran on the same two Saturdays as the Mudgeeraba ones - turned out to be a plus.
"People come to the coast with their produce," he says, "and one person takes the stall at Marina, the other at Mudgeeraba, and get both markets covered with one trip. They have the best of both worlds."
And while this doubling up is ideal, in practice the two markets could hardly be more different. Mudgeeraba is a country town, with a country atmosphere, 'country on the coast' they call it, on the Pacific Highway, less than 20 km inland. The markets are held on the showground and there is a country feel - something Parsons says the locals and business people work hard to keep alive. There's something about shopping baskets and stalls of sparkling fresh produce to set the scene, and certainly the markets, held on the first and third Saturday of each month, from 6am to noon, do much to give Mudgeeraba that 'small town Australia' flavour.
Maybe only half an hour away at Main Beach on the busy Gold Coast main drag, at the upmarket Marina Mirage shopping centre, the ambience is vastly different. Here the market stalls are set up throughout the centre, with produce massed in the parking lot.
Between the markets, and depending on the season, there are 120 to 135 stalls. Parsons advice to shoppers is "be early, because the stall holders sell out." This is despite the fact that some vegetable growers are planting and growing more, and still finding the locals' appetite for freshness and flavour they mightn't have found elsewhere, is almost insatiable. Six to eight thousand people, maybe more, now attend the markets, and each month the interest is growing, helped also by the fact that there is plenty of free parking managed by the local Lions Clubs.
Chefs also buy from the markets and find it an ideal way to make that important first contact with a supplier. After all, here they have collected together stalls from far and near, selling organic and hydroponic produce, vegetables and free-range eggs. There's fruit and vegetables from Stanthorpe, pineapple from the Glasshouse Mountains, lush strawberries and crisp vegetables from the Sunshine Coast, as well as Lockyer Valley vegetables and poultry, and hydroponic produce from Tamworth, NSW. One stall, run by a husband and wife team, sources the freshest seafood direct from trawlers, working along the eastern seaboard.
"We have food artisans too," says Parsons, proudly. These are the people who make the value-added products - jams, chutneys, sauces, gourmet jams, pickles, sweets, breads, hand made gourmet salamis and sausages, biscuits, hand made chocolates and hand made farmstead cheeses. And this, of course, is where the Parsons and their core group of stallholders fit in.
Charles Parson's background includes agriculture, work as an emergency room medical practitioner and a research scientist. However, he has always been a serious breeder of livestock. From there it was a short step to travelling to Europe and learning the traditional methods of cheese making, adapting old world recipes to modern conditions, and returning to create his range of top class goat cheeses that include hard vintage cheeses, pressed cheese and fetta.
Go early to these markets to see the produce at its best, a stunning rainbow of dew-fresh strawberries, eggplant, fresh greens, pineapples and blueberries. What's more, there's a pot of gold here too - a bonus for all, both stallholders and shoppers.
Which is quite appropriate, really. It's the Gold Coast.
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Travel Light. Jeans are a great addition, you can wear them over and over again, dress them up or down, sponge them off, iron them for a pep up. Underwear can be washed out in the shower and hung near a fan or heater to dry overnight.
Maree, Leppington
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