IF it wasn’t for the likes of Cveta Mangalavite an obscure culture of the mid-20th century would fade into oblivion.
Many country towns received an influx of Italian post-World War II immigrants and their cottages could be easily identified by the thriving vegetable gardens, olive trees and grape vines that started at the front gate and surrounded the house, while yielding a veritable cornucopia of daily fare.
That generation has all but passed on and few of the younger generation practise those traditional self-sufficient gardens.
Macedonian-born Cveta and her husband Tom not only remain true to their Macedonian and Italian roots, but are actively encouraging others to adopt the healthy and fulfilling pastime of growing their food and according to Ms Mangalavite, Wagin has beautiful soil and a great climate to work with.
It helps that she is a passionate gardener and anyone who doubts it just has to see the fruit and vegetable section at the Wagin Woolorama.
Every year she has driven car loads of freshly-picked produce for the competition classes plus a few extra items to create an eye-catching display.
For Ms Mangalavite it is not about winning or the few dollars of prize money, but more about the opportunity to showcase what Wagin can produce despite winter frosts and hot blasting summer winds.
Wagin is more than just the giant ram and she likes the idea that people will see its climate and what it can produce and choose to live in Wagin, the town she adamantly calls home.
Ms Mangalavite was born on the land in Macedonia and learnt many of her skills around the family table.
“We didn’t have a television and we would sit around stringing chillies, making passata or pastes,” she said.
She has lived in Australia for almost 35 years but it is only in the past 20 years, since she married and moved to Wagin, that she has been able to revive her gardening traditions.
The couple has a farming property but to Ms Mangalavite the world revolves around her garden in town.
“I go out first thing in the morning and stand there with a cup of coffee and look at every vegetable, flower and leaf,” she said.
“You can cope with frosts by planting at the right time of the year and you can plant windbreaks but you have to accept you will have a high water bill.”
Close friend Loshni Mercurio considers Ms Mangalavite her adopted mum and thanks her for teaching her how to garden.
She said she killed two gardens before she finally heeded Ms Mangalavite’s advice.
“I listened to her for the sake of my children,” Ms Mercurio said.
“I didn’t want them to grow up thinking that fruit and vegetables just came off the supermarket shelf.
The Mangalavites have two grown children, Amelia and Seb.
Seb keenly gets his hands in the soil but both enjoy working in the garden and have absorbed much of the knowledge and skills needed to be self-sufficient, including some of their father’s home-made methods for smoking meats, making dried Italian sausages and salamis, pancetta and prosciutto.
Their garden is strictly organic.
Ms Mangalavite relies on plenty of manure, natural pest remedies such as using garlic and chilli sprays, companion planting and keeping a close watch to eliminate small problems before they become big ones.
She also collects seed for future sowing that perpetuates some of the rarer traditional vegetable, such as pink onions and Macedonian pumpkins.
Most years will see two summer crops planted.
One is eaten or preserved for later and there is a second crop timed especially for Woolorama.
Not surprisingly there is always a huge planting of tomatoes, chillies, garlic, egg plant, artichoke, capsicum, Macadonian pumpkin, sweet corn and a myriad of herbs being the mainstay.
Ms Mangalavite also has a list of friendly olive tree owners around the district who are only too happy to see their fruit going to good use pickled or crushed for oil.
The tradition of lively family gatherings has lived on and justifies the 200 bottles of passata the family makes every year.
The section’s head steward is local Steve Donohue but it is Ms Mangalavite who takes over to decorate and make the display stand out.
One class in the section that is worth noting is for the largest pumpkin.
It has inspired some intense rivalry between growers in Wagin, Katanning and Narrogin and gardeners are guarded on the progress of this year’s specially pampered plants.
Farm Weekly has had a sneak preview in one garden and if the pumpkin in question makes it to Woolorama it will be worth stopping by the section for a look.
Special note: Seb is in his final year at Narrogin Agricultural College and last year won the prestigious Joe Batt memorial junior stock handler award at Woolorama.
He received a Suzuki 4-wheel motor bike valued at $6000 from donor Phil Patterson who awards the prize in memory of the master stockman at the helm of the renowned former Jenderwarra Poll Hereford stud at Wagin.
