Rhoda and family, sharing more than fruit and veg
Photo supplied
Growing up on a market garden farm in Canada, and now at Meander Valley Fruit & Veg in Deloraine, Rhoda Weaver enjoys sharing their produce with the local community.
By Lorraine Clarke
RHODA WEAVER is a young lady with the right background to run a greengrocer’s store. She is the youngest of 11 children, who grew up on a Canadian farm where her parents were market gardeners. From childhood, she helped the family pick acres of peas, beans, strawberries, raspberries and more, to stock their roadside stall, for farmers’ markets or wholesalers. When Julie and Mark recently retired from the Meander Valley Fruit and Veg store in Deloraine, Rhoda and her sister Joanna bought the business. Joanna is away for a few months, and Rhoda’s parents Harold and Phyllis Weaver step in to help until she returns. The shop is open from Monday to Saturday. Home is now a 300 acre rented farm, where they raise sheep and cattle, and grow some produce for the store. Phyllis is famous for her jars of home-made jam that gleam like jewels, complementing the display of seasonal fruits and vegetables, honey, eggs, cheese and other delectable fare. ‘We’ve always had an interest in growing produce, and now we’re on the other end of it,’ said Rhoda. ‘We really enjoy it in here. We have a nice flow of tourists and regular shoppers. I look forward to meeting new friends every week. The bigger benefit of the business is meeting the people.’ Her extended family is now scattered across the USA, Canada, Europe and Tasmania. Parents Harold and Phyllis emigrated here nine years ago to answer the call of locals who had heard of the Mennonite faith through reading Christian literature, and needed a pastor
Today 900,000 Mennonites around the world follow the teachings of Menno Simons, a former priest who rejected the Roman Catholic church and joined the Anabaptists in the early 1500s. The Tasmanian Mennonite community has grown rapidly. Other families also made the move from Canada or the mainland, and children are springing up like mushrooms. ‘We definitely call this home. We think Tasmania is a very nice place to be,’ she says. Our winters are much milder than Canada’s where several feet of snow blanket everything each year, making the farming life so much harder. ‘We are living in interesting times. I hope it makes people stop and think about what is most important in life. There is more to life than the here and now. Eternity is coming. It’s a time to be there for others. We have to do our part, being careful so the coronavirus doesn’t spread.’ The Mennonites recently took on the Uniting Church building in Deloraine, and warmly welcome everyone to any service there. Although church meetings have been temporarily cancelled due to COVID-19, they normally meet on Wednesday nights at 7 pm, Sundays at 10 am, and host a song service on the third Sunday of each month at 6 pm. As Rhoda explains, ‘The Christian life gives you purpose. Peace and joy now, even in this turmoil. You don’t have to be caught up in the fear of death because you know you have a home in heaven. It’s not always easy but we know Christ has everything we need. The Lord gives us strength and courage every day.
