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Are Farmers Doing It Tough?

I went to the market early last week and the honest answer is — most farmers are doing it tougher at the moment. The entire supply chain is under pressure, and with everyone trying to hold prices steady for consumers, it's often the growers who feel it most.

Where we buy direct from the farmer, it's better for them — and better for you. As we grow together, we can really start to stand out from the crowd and make a genuine difference for local growers.

We do a price comparison against supermarkets every week across the entire shop. Usually we're around 9–10% cheaper — this week we're 7.23%. But we don't want to position ourselves as cheap — quality and local are far more important to us than sacrificing and buying older stock.

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Welcome Back & Thank You

Welcome back to all those who have been on a break — great to have you and your support! We are so close to being fully self-supported.

A big thanks to Paul McCaska for taking on social media and getting the word out about who we are and what we stand for.

What we're building at Jointly is part of something bigger — a local food system. And it turns out, this model is exactly where public funding and research are heading:

• VicHealth is investing $6.5M in their Local Partnerships for Food First program — backing community-led food hubs focused on low waste, local supply, and helping those doing it tough. Jointly is already doing all of this — and going further with zero waste, recycling, less plastics, and our Nourish program feeding local families in need.
• Deakin University has a funded academic study commencing July 2026 — an independent assessment of Jointly's operating system including demand aggregation, supply coordination and hub distribution.
• Peter sits on the planning committee for the Frankston and Mornington Peninsula Community Food Innovation Action Group (CFIAG) — developing community food infrastructure models with substantial overlap with the Jointly approach.

Every one of you, by ordering through your Hub each week, is contributing to bringing back fresh, local, healthy fruit, veggies, products, meat and more — and still at very reasonable prices. That matters.

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Beef Update — It's Happening!

The animal is off for processing today and will be delivered to the butcher on Friday. Hopefully we'll have it ready for the 1st of May — we will text everyone closer to the day to confirm everything is on schedule.

Again, a true farmer-to-plate story — all done locally through our co-ordination.

Important: Meat will be delivered to the Hubs in eskies — please bring along your insulated shopping bags like you would to the supermarket.

Still available this week: (there may be more once we confirm the exact cold weight)

Pre-order at jointly.shop

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Fruit Update

🌽 New Corn from Hawkes in Boneo this week — same price!

🍎 Pink Ladies — will be back in price and local straight from the farm next week. Cannot wait!

🍎 Fuji Apples — back in kids and bigger sizes, new season

🍎 Gala Apples — new season and good eating

🍊 Navels — will be here after ANZAC Day, looking forward to them!

🍑 Plums — a bit smaller last week, price adjusted to suit — only 63c each

🍉 Watermelon — the variety isn't as good as our local summer variety, but still nice enough!

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Veg Update

🥔 Nicolas — note these are 'brushed'. There was 1 week they were washed just to confuse us — it was so they could quality control them.

🥔 Washed Potatoes — local Hawkes Sabegos this week, a good all-rounder.

🥦 Broccoli — up this week to $2.88ea. Note that we don't price and sell by weight — sometimes you get a bonus, other weeks slightly under. We mostly aim for over!

🌶️ Red Capsicums — slightly down this week to $3.60ea

🥬 Cauliflower — up slightly to $5.76ea

🥬 Iceberg Lettuce — only $2.70ea this week

🍄 Button Mushrooms — apologies for the small ones last week! Back to the good size this week.

🍠 Butternut Pumpkins — down to $3.60ea

🍅 Mini Romas — up slightly to $3.90ea

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Jointly Nourish Update

What a week! Nourish giving hit $600 last week — including $270 from newcomers and direct community giving. That is incredible and truly humbling.

If you know of anyone in your Hub community who could use a hand, please let us know. We're always happy to have part of our 5% giving allocation directed locally through you.

Thank you for making Nourish possible 💛

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Refer a Friend, Everyone Eats Well

Know someone who'd love fresh, local produce delivered to their Hub? Here's how it works:

🌿 Your friend gets — A free loaf of Bakery Lievito artisan bread & a dozen Somerville Egg Farm free range eggs in their first box
🌿 You get — A free loaf of Bakery Lievito artisan bread & a dozen Somerville Egg Farm free range eggs in your next box
🌿 A family in need gets — A $15 Nourish gift of fresh produce

Three wins from one referral — your friend eats fresh, you get rewarded, and a local family is supported. That's what community looks like. 💚

We've set aside 20 referral packs to kick this off — once they're gone, they're gone. So if you've been meaning to tell a friend about Jointly, now's a great time.

Just share your Hub link or tell your friend to mention your name when they sign up at jointly.shop