Organic vegetable growers Ann and Peter Brooke are based in the hot sunny Riverland. Their property is a soldier settlement farm, thanks to Peter’s grandfather who was a Gallipoli veteran. They are the third generation to manage the property. Peter and his father were both born in their current home.

Their 85 acre (35 ha) property is within half a kilometre of the township of Barmera. They have a beautiful 50 acre vineyard with 20 acres of Chardonnay, 9 acres of Pinot Gris, 9 acres of Pinot Noir, 6 acres of Shiraz, 5 acres of Cabernet and 4 acres of Gordos.

They also have 1000, 25 year old mature cherry trees with the main varieties being Stella, Lapin, Sir Don and 300 trees of the very popular white cherry “Rainier”.

They also have irrigated paddocks for farm animals.

They started growing Sweet Potatoes when a friend brought around one for them to try! After realising how easy they were to grow they decided to produce them. After trialing the regular orange variety they decided to try other colours and now have 4 varieties growing. The Purple/purple variety is gaining popularity, being the healthiest of all the sweet potatoes.

While sweet potatoes are definitely their primary vegetable, they also grow year-round beautiful long stemmed red rhubarb, strong flavoured garlic, butternut and jap pumpkins, and turmeric.  

Everything is hand planted, hand weeded, hand picked and hand washed! No plastic or disposable drip lines are used. Rotation and sustainability are their goals with no chemicals. Their only external input is ‘Rapid Raiser’, the organic fertilizer used on all their vegetables!

All their veggies are exclusive to the Adelaide Showground Farmers Market and you will find them seasonally at the market usually fortnightly.