If you haven’t taken the pilgrimage from Pam’s Store up the Gulaga Mountain walking track, you may not be aware of the magic that is hiding there. There is a quaint, honour-system roadside stall filled with local treasures, including local seasonal fruit and veg, fresh flowers, eggs, botanical wonders, special salt mixes and home-baked specialties.

The Tilba Tilba Roadstall, open Saturdays and Sundays, is the creative genius of Yvonn Deitch and her partner Colin Thomas.

‘We’re mindful of not wasting food, so were inspired to set up the roadside pantry initially to share our excess produce from the pantry and garden with the community,’ said Colin.

‘It was the extension of our kitchen really, but it has evolved into much more,’ Yvonn said.

You’ll find home-made products such as their Fire Cider – a blend of ginger, turmeric, lemons, chilli, nasturtium flowers, cinnamon, and apple cider vinegar. And their ‘Honeymoon Honey’ is a mix of raw honey from Tilba bees steeped with beautiful herbs, designed to help you sleep. Their handcrafted salt mixes are blended with local nasturtiums, rosemary and seaweed, and locals are also dropping off items to share on the stall.

Yvonn Deitch at her Roadstall

Apart from the beautiful produce, the stall is an experience in itself. There are unique postcards you can buy and pop in the old cast iron letterbox for posting; a desk and a ‘Book for Wanderers’ in which visitors can share their experiences (travellers from Sydney to New York have made entries).

It’s the thought and care that Yvonn has put into creating a kind and generous experience for visitors that gives the stall its sense of magic. ‘If you push back the curtain, you’ll find the poem of the week, which resonates with what we’re doing’, she says.

Hikers’ lunchboxes or a quality picnic basket can be preordered at Foxglove Gardens. Keep up to date with what’s happening via the tilbatilba_roadstall page on Instagram. Yvonn also sells her delicious, freshly baked focaccia on Saturdays. Why not pop down around 8.00 am when it’s still warm and heads up: it sells out fast!

Shanna Provost