MAD MOUNTAIN
My initial attraction was to the profusion of green, foliage in all different textures and tones.
Then it was the name, which I love, which I had to ask stall-holders Lyn and Tim about,
immediately.
The Gallaghers are fairly new faces at New Brighton, although they’ve been doing markets,
mainly around Murwillumbah, for about seven years now. Mad Mountain the name came
about, Lyn tells me, thanks to their daughter, and it was a reference to the mountain
community they became part of nine years ago. Up from Shellharbour, they’d bought into
an M.O at Tomewin. ‘There are fifteen shareholders,’ she says, ‘and it’s a happy-mad
community!’
The couple had retired. The only goal, when they moved, was to grow their own food, to be
self-sufficient – and yet they ended up with an abundance of produce like chillis and
pawpaw. Lyn started making ‘jams and pickles out of whatever we had’, she says. ‘Herbal
tea blends – we sell a lot of herbal teas.’
Forget retirement – they decided they wanted to offer something different and settled on
perennials: turmeric, ginger, chilli, spinach, as well as medicinal herbs. ‘Things,’ Lyn says,
‘you can’t find elsewhere.’
And oh the riches! Familiar herbs like sorrel, oregano and Vietnamese mint, but there’s also
lime balm and evening primrose, borage and chamomile, catnip and aloe vera. All the little
pots have helpful signs embedded in the soil, with growing tips and uses – and so I learn
that Dog Bane has leaves which, when crushed, release a strong odour capable of repelling
dogs. There’s vetiver grass which, Lyn tells me, is great for erosion control, reinforcing soil
structure. There are chillis and I’m unable to resist a small pot of something not too fiery, I
tell Tim, who selects a Bell Chilli for me, for my sunny balcony.
Mad Mountain is at New Brighton every Tuesday from 8 – 11am
Victoria Cosford
