Temperatures are set to soar into the 40's on Thursday, but don't let that get in the way of your last chance to buy local ingredients for your festive feast.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The last Slow Food Earth Market for the year starts at 12.30pm in The Levee and this time there will be some cool changes.
Stallholders with fragile food will be housed in the shop alongside Subway instead of along the street - thanks to the goodwill from Maitland council. The rest will be outside under marques.
Earth market chairwoman Amorelle Dempster will be serving every shopper a free scoop of mango sorbet in a cone to thank them for their support during the year.
The sorbet has been made from leftover mangoes that were sold in The Levee earlier this month.
"We're going to create a lovely market within that shop and make sure that things that can't be out in the hot sun are cool and we'll keep the farmers and customers cool too," she said.
"The farmers are doing it tough and running out of water but they are still continuing to produce food because they need an income.
"They are growing this food for the local community and some are only just growing things for this market. We need people to come out in the heat and support them."
If the Christmas gift shopping still needs to be done Ms Dempster suggested some of the market produce could be given as a gift.
There will be a wide range of produce to choose from including Southern Glen and Italian Purple garlic varieties as well as jams and pickles.
"I want people to buy Tom Christie's garlic which was planted in March and he has taken care of it and then harvested it and dried it to bring it to the market," Ms Dempster said.
"I want people to buy Noeleen Milburn's jams and pickles that have all been made from rescued produce. She puts a lot of love into that to make that food into jams and pickles."
The next earth market is on January 16 at 12.30pm.