Christmas can be a boon for any enterprise, but the Buy Regional campaign has gifted an extraordinary one to some of the region's boutique businesses.
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Seasons of New England hampers have been going out by the truckload - and that's not just an expression: Sydney buyers wanted so many it took a community working bee to fill the orders.
About 25 people gathered to package up the hampers before Seasons' Andrew Toomey and son Jacob drove the goods down to the city overnight Monday.
Mr Toomey said they'd hoped to sell 20 of the hampers in the couple of months before Christmas. They've sold about 1500.
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The hampers include treats by Mrs Toomey as The Humble Cook, Whyworry Wines, Dobson's Distillery gin, The Lazy Mapgie preserves and seasonings, and Anna Sutherland's hand-printed teatowels.
"There are 16 different small businesses involved in those hampers, so literally 16 families directly benefit from it as well," Mr Toomey said.
"Everybody's working around the clock - it's at a scale none of us are normally used to ...
"Everybody's suffering from the drought and bushfires as well, so there's a real emotional benefit knowing people are happy to change the way they buy to support regional communities."
The city buyers included a northern Sydney rugby league team, a CBD legal firm and a Chatswood architect firm.
Mr Toomey said the Buy Regional campaign had brought in some "significant orders".
"We had one call from a potential buyer, and I heard Tara gasp from across the other side of the house; I thought something was wrong," he said.
The Lazy Magpie's Trish Rasmussen said she'd processed about 45kg of beetroot for relish for the hampers - "three or four days of solid work".
"It's a nice extra bonus obviously," she said - and one that "recirculates".
"I'll use that to spend for Christmas ... buy stuff locally to support local businesses," she said.
"I also work with the CWA towards the food pantry in Uralla, so I've got some extra cash to be able to help others in this time, too."