The little Shoreham workshop is filled with a beautiful mix of heady aromas — blue gum, peppermint, citrus, lavender and rose geranium. This is the home of Polly’s Farm, an artisan producer of soaps, scrubs, soaks, lip balms, salves and botanical candles. Each one is handmade by Kimberley Kidger, a woman with a vision to make pure skincare products using traditional techniques and natural ingredients.

“We worry about what we put inside our bodies but sometimes forget to think about what we put on the outside,” says Kimberley. “My soap is made with extra virgin olive oil sourced here on the Peninsula. I grow my own saltbush, calendula and lavender in the garden, and source my kelp from Flinders”

Kimberley doesn’t use chemical fragrances — instead, she chooses pure essential oils, and forgoes artificial colours in favour of natural clays to give her range a soft, pastel palette.

Kimberley is a popular stallholder at the Hill & Ridge Community Market. “I love the Hill & Ridge Market,” she says. “It oozes integrity from the ground up, and is such an authentic representation of our region. It also shows what a creative community we have here — people who hand craft and grow practical, beautiful things, not to mention delicious fresh food.”

Pic @foodcornish

www.pollysfarm.com.au

“Making cheese brings me sheer joy,” says Bittern cheesemaker Melinda Voss. Three years ago Melinda and her husband Shane moved to Bittern to treechange, downsize and make cheese. Melinda turned away from the corporate world of jargon filled meetings to the meditative rhythm of making traditional European style cheese at The Truffet Emporium, their very own artisan cheesery.

Melinda works with fresh, unhomogenised milk from Gippsland Jersey — a dairy known for quality milk and fair pay for farmers. Using skills learnt from a master French cheesemaker, she gently transforms milk into curd with cultures and rennet, before salting and ageing it into a variety of cheeses.

From tangy fresh Gervais, sharp farmhouse cheddar and rich nutty Asiago, to luscious, buttery Coulommiers and smooth Mountain Swiss, each cheese reflects her care and passion.

Melinda and Shane are regulars at the Hill & Ridge Community Market, chatting with locals and offering tastings. “Watching people enjoy our cheese is the best part,” says Melinda. So, pair a wedge or two with a loaf of Balu’s Bakery, pack a picnic, or create a cheese platter to enjoy with some Peninsula pinot back at home.

Pic @foodcornish

www.thetruffetemporium.com.au

Retro Print Merchants

“We’re image hunters,” says Matt Learmonth. “We search the globe for beautiful, unique, and early to mid-20th century pictures and posters. We take high-resolution images and slowly and painstakingly restore them to their original glory.”

Retro Print Merchants print the images on high-quality archival-grade paper stock (or canvas) and frame them using sustainable Australian hardwood timber. Their range of tea towels is printed on a linen/cotton blend.

Matt and his wife Penny live in a stunning historic weatherboard home in Red Hill. It is filled with French antiques they collected when they ran the very popular La Brocante store in Red Hill South. A large collection of antique French and Italian prints hang on the walls.

While the couple are avid Francophiles, their range also includes lovers enjoying a glass of Aperol, cars racing in the 1936 Monaco Grand Prix, Max Dupain’s iconic Sunbaker, and a pair of glamorous 1950s women waterskiing under the banner ‘Mornington Peninsula’.

“We go to extreme lengths to make sure the old prints are printed in exactly the same way as when they were first issued,” says Penny. “It’s that sense of quality and authenticity that we really love.”

“There’s some less-than-perfect quality prints being sold online,” adds Matt. “People like seeing us at the market so they can see what they are buying and know that we are true print enthusiasts.”

www.retroprintmerchants.com.au

Words and Images By Richard Cornish

Dawn and Martin Allen of Peninsula Wildflower are more than growers and florists – they are true artists. Each day, they wander through their three-hectare wildflower forest in the dunes above Boneo, surrounded by towering banksias, vibrant proteas, delicate leucadendrons, and a host of other spectacular blooms.

With secateurs in hand, they hand-pick each stem, looking not just for vibrant colour, but for personality – a curl in the petal, an unexpected form, foliage with striking contrast, even bark with an intriguing texture. Every detail is considered.

Their arrangements combine these treasures with banksia cones and foraged foliage from local eucalypts, along with other seasonal finds. The result is work that feels as wild and alive as the dunes they grow in.

At Hill & Ridge Community Market, Dawn and Martin invite visitors to choose from an ever-changing collection of rare blooms rarely seen in commercial florists. Right there at their stall, they create bespoke bunches that celebrate each stem’s natural shape and the subtle palette of the season.

Every month, they arrive with flowers freshly harvested the day before, their pop-up florist brimming with dramatic textures, soft hues, and unexpected beauty. Meet them at the market and discover their unique, deeply artistic approach to floristry – a craft rooted in nature, and shaped by the hands of two true creatives.

Photos @foodcornish

Baker David Allan keeps his sourdough simple: stoneground flour, sea salt, water, and a natural sourdough starter. “I bake bread that is good for you,” says David. “It has the natural wheat germ for nutrition, and the way we slowly ferment our sourdough means the gluten breaks down – it’s more digestible.”

Flinders Sourdough is based in the historic fishing village of Flinders, where David bakes in an 80-year-old red brick Scotch oven. Fired with red gum logs, the oven heats the hearth to nearly 300°C. Onto this, David and his team carefully place hand-shaped loaves of sourdough using a traditional hand-carved kauri peel.

 Each month, David and his team from Flinders Sourdough bring a selection of their freshly baked loaves and buns to the Hill & Ridge Community Market. This includes The Slipper – a traditional Vienna-shaped loaf with a dense but soft crumb. There’s the High Top – a delicately sour 1.1-kilogram loaf, perfect for toast and sandwiches. And the Weedy Sea Dragon – an ultra-nutritious and delicious mix of hemp seeds, pepitas, sunflower seeds and olive oil, baked until dark with a chewy crust and nutty crumb.

 Those with a sweeter tooth will love the Beach Buns – fruity sourdough buns packed with sun-dried muscats and citrus. And then there’s the famous Flinders Yo-Yo – two buttery shortbread biscuits filled with real vanilla bean cream, perfect with a hot cuppa.

Come and meet the Flinders Sourdough crew at our next Hill & Ridge Community Market.

Plastic? Forget it. Mick makes timber treasures that last a lifetime

Woodworker Mick Yandell is obsessed with timber. He savours the intensity of the grain, the lustre of the wood, the way it feels in the hand and how it transforms a home.

A true artisan, Mick found a second calling after leaving a career in IT. He now works exclusively with recycled timbers, crafting them into beautiful, functional pieces for everyday life.

“I wander the streets walking the dog and spot old posts, fallen trees or home renovations,” he says. “After a quick chat with the owners, I bring the timber back to my workshop and turn it into chopping boards, spoons, spurtles, bowls, games and toys.”

Mick works with deeply grained stringybark salvaged from old holiday homes in Somers, along with fine, lustrous she-oak and silky grevillea robusta. In his studio you’ll find a light yet strong spoon carved from blonde-hued London plane, and chopping boards inlaid with rich burgundy slices of river red gum.

No two timbers are the same, so no two pieces Mick makes are identical. Every spoon and spurtle has its own weight, balance and centre of gravity—made to be held and felt in the hand.

His chopping boards aren’t just tools, they’re heirlooms in the making. “People are sick of throwaway plastic boards,” Mick says. “The ones I make from foraged timber will last a lifetime.”