Firey Feast at Geeveston says thanks to the Huon Valley’s firefighters

A Tasmanian town has held a community feast to thank the volunteer firefighters who kept it safe during the bushfire season, writes ELAINE REEVES

Cassandra Rolph of Deep End Farm samples fare from Pocket Curries at the Geeveston Feast. Picture: ELAINE REEVES

IT takes me about an hour to drive to Geeveston from where I live, but it’s only 10km away as the embers fly, so I was pleased to add my gratitude to the firefighters for their heroic efforts over the past couple of months.

For about three years now Geeveston has been holding a community feast in the town hall (which also is the visitor’s centre) on the first Thursday of the month.

Organiser Cassy Faux said after a stuttering start it has been held consistently, persevering right through winter.

That is, except for last month, when for the first time, a Geeveston Feast was cancelled because food providers and feasters alike were too busy actively fighting fires, defending their properties against ember attack or had simply got their lungs out of there.

So the first Thursday in March saw double the number of chairs and tables ready for about twice the usual numbers for a Firey Feast.

And on each food stall or truck inside the hall or out in the carpark was a bucket, where feasters could put in some money to shout a firey a drink or something to eat.

Grateful stallholders at the Geeveston Fireys Feast included, back row from left Kimberley Ashworth (American Pi), David and Donna Peyr (Pocket Curries), David Rolph (Deep End Farm), Karan Spilling (The Princess and the Fatman), Katie Devenish (Yeastie Beasties), David Spilling (The Princess and the Fatman), event organiser Cassy Faux, and Becky Phillips (Our Place in Paradise). Front: Anne Riley (American Pi) and Michelle Ewikowski (Michelle’s Roundhouse). Picture: ELAINE REEVES

Fifty firefighters and their families were invited, and none of them was to pay for anything. They arrived in groups, in uniform, looking self-conscious and not at all bold, but soon relaxed and dispersed into the crowd.

Karan Spilling was there serving rabbit cider stew made with apple crisps and rabbit pies at her The Princess and the Fatman stall.

“I can’t talk highly enough of the fire service,” she said. Her husband David stayed home to mind their farm. “He had a water tank on the back of the ute, and many a time he would see a spot fire and he would go to drive up the back and he would see a chopper come over and ‘splash’ the fire was out. They were amazing.”

Karan had been putting in some hard yards taste-testing for neighbouring stallholders mother and daughter Anne Riley and Kimberly Ashworth of American Pi.

Stallholders Anne Riley, left, and Kimberly Ashworth, of American Pi. Picture: ELAINE REEVES

Kimberley and her husband Stephen have two lakes on their Geeveston property, from which choppers have been scooping water for weeks. It was only their third outing as American Pi — spelled that way because Anne is a retired maths and science teacher.

She grew up in Provo, Utah, where her father Carl Shipman was a baker for more than 50 years. At one stage she sat down at his bench and wrote down all his recipes — including his own invention cinnamon butter flake rolls — and then spent some more time scaling them down “because he would use 30 pounds of flour and things like that”.

On only their third outing, they brought 100 pies — pecan, blackberry, kentish cherry, cheesecake, lemon meringue and cinnamon butter flake — and hoped it would be enough.

Another mother-and-daughter team Marie and Carmen Tibuliac of Bakers by the Bay (Granny Gibbons Bay) were inside with savoury tarts, a scrumptious apple and plum galette, apple strudel, cinnamon scrolls and, for those watching their weight, a Thai sweet potato soup.

Mathew Tack stayed with his Our Mate’s Farm at Geeveston during the fires, given the difficulty of “putting 40 pigs, 60 sheep and 13 cattle in a pet carrier and whacking it into the car”. On Facebook he also expressed his appreciation of they “flying tadpoles”.

On this night he was serving steamed or deep fried pork and chive wontons made with “our pork, our chives, our love” as the sign said.

Cassandra Rolph, of Deep End Farm, on fire patrol in her garden last month. Picture: DAVID ROLPH

A far happier Cassandra Rolph at the Fireys Feast at Geeveston last week. Picture: ELAINE REEVES

This column on February 5 was headed “Where there’s smoke” and under it a photograph of Cassandra Rolph behind a smoke mask, taken by her husband Dave, at the Deep End Farm at Geeveston.

They are regulars at the feast with their steamed buns. All the meat and veg or their steamed pork, beef or vegetable steamed buns comes from their own farm.

Donna and David Peyr of Pocket Curries were serving 90kg or 200 serves of curry. David makes a thin flatbread that is shaped into a cone and then filled with rice and topped with either butter chicken curry, a vegetable curry or an organic vegan dahl. David also makes from scratch beautifully coloured chilli sauces — hot and less so.

It all created a rather more benign rosy glow than we’ve been used to of late.