Glenyce Creighton’s one woman show

Victoria Cosford

Her mantra is ‘a little bit of this and not much of anything.’ Glenyce Creighton, one-woman show, is chatting to me at her stall of many delights – knobbly sweet potatoes lurk alongside bulbous beets and sun-dappled spiky cucumbers; there’s citrus and turmeric and soil-covered potatoes and custard apples. Not possessing a cool-room means Glenyce only sells what’s just been picked on the farm where she’s lived and worked for 40 years, so it’s spanking fresh and, yes, often only in small quantities. ‘When we first came to our farm,’ she tells me, ‘we put in three trees of everything, to have food all year round.’

Depending on the season, you’ll find turkey and goose eggs at her stall. ‘When I have them here they just go,’ she says, explaining that while turkey eggs are the size of duck eggs, goose eggs are much larger. ‘You just treat them as normal eggs,’ she says. ‘They just have longer times to cook.’

A well-worn leather boot knocks thick decaying barn doors. Settled dust from long ago drops to the floor, the hinges rattle, as if wallbolted shackles imprison the timber’s hope of escaping.

One final almighty kick and.... BOOM!

A mushroom cloud of dust erupts skyward, heaven bound. The doors hit the deck and slide to the far end of the saloon, the glass windows spray outward to the horizon, the ceiling lifts three inches off the walls that bow outward from the middle.

As the roof returns, a lone shadow stands where the double doors once hung.

Spurs, strapped to the heel of each boot grip the floorboards; knees slightly bent and head bowed, an old leather jacket adorns a tall and stoic figure who’s appeared in a cloud of slowly falling... lingering soot.

Crack! A swift upward jolt of the figure’s chin reveals deep green eyes that belong to the face of an Iguana whose scope is locked straight ahead.

Unmoving, Iguana takes in her surroundings. The unkept Wild West piano in the corner that once played tunes to drunken railmen and their crones; the stringless fiddle above the bar that once turned still men into mindless swagger machines; and the smouldering cigars on the bench – puffs foregone by jaw-dropped patrons returning her gaze.

The double-door-kicking, wall-bending, jaw-dropping iguana dips her hat, slowly, before tossing her woven lasso onto the wall’s only crooked hook. She orders: ‘One AZTECA Margarita, please.’

‘Shaken, or on tap?’ asks the barman.

‘Thought I was in a James Bond script for a second there. But strewth! on tap would float my boat to the nth degree, you’re obviously a wizard of the highest order,’ replied the Iguana.

And so… the barman sent Iguana off into the pink sunset with an AZTECA Margy poured straight from the goddamn tap. Yeehaaw!

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Hen and duck eggs she carries pretty much all year around and it’s the duck eggs used in the pavlovas she sells. They’re available on Fridays at the Mullum market as well as at New Brighton on Tuesdays, where there’s also a whole range of gorgeous baked goods like quiches and cupcakes, the very popular little lemon tarts, and familysized chocolate and orange cakes. Many gluten-free, these are the work of Glenyce’s

Pasta

wine/beer garlicbread

chef-trained daughter, who, together with her mother, is also responsible for those beautiful floral displays on sale.

‘We’re self-taught,’ says Glenyce. ‘I just love the whole process,’ she continues, when I ask her what the best part of her business is. ‘Now I’m working with my kids, and the grandchildren are learning.’ The worst bit? ‘Paying the bills!’ she laughs.

Glenyce Creighton is at New Brighton on Tuesdays 8–11am and at Mullumbimby on Fridays 7–11am.

Galleries A R T

ARTIST STUDIO GALLERY

Belongil Beach. Open by appointment. 0409 604 405 www.janrae.com.au

ARTIST’S HOME GALLERY

Byron Bay

Landscape inspired works imparting a ‘spirit of place’. Open by appointment. 6685 5317 jaypearse.com

H’ART GALLERY

Local art in the heart of Mullumbimby. Mullumbimby Comprehensive Health Centre, 60 Stuart Street, Mullumbimby. 0401 647 325

HEALING ART DESIGN & NEW AGE GALLERY

Shop 2B, 60 Marine Parade. 0408 868 793

LENNOX ARTS COLLECTIVE painting | photography | woodwork | ceramics jewellery | classes | workshops

2/72 Ballina Street, Lennox Head.

Open Tues–Sun 10am–3pm lennoxartscollective@gmail.com

FB & Insta: @lennoxartscollective

LONE GOAT GALLERY

28 Lawson St, Byron Bay.

(Located in the Byron Library building) .

Open Wed–Sat 10am–4pm lonegoatgallery.com.au

MACKAY HARRISON GALLERIES

79 Bayview Drive, East Ballina.