co-op summer newsletter 2011
DESCRIPTION
Blue Mountains Food Co-op Newsletter for Summer 2011/12. Where Good Food Doesn't Cost the Earth.TRANSCRIPT
1
where good food doesn’t cost the earth
SUMMER 2011 NEWSLETTER
F inally the long awaited
and much anticipated
new counter and Point
of Sale system are
here. Despite the numerous
teething problems
encountered in the first
couple of weeks of operation,
the shop seems to have
settled into its usual rhythm.
The queues have shrunk and
most staff have started to
regain their sanity just in time
for the silly season.
Thank you to all our members
and other shoppers for your
patience and understanding.
It has been a challenging time
for us all and we hope to see
the benefits of the changes in
the near future.
What benefits you may well
ask? Where we had three
systems in the past to handle
our membership database,
stock control/sales and
accounting, the new system
has been custom designed to
handle all of these operations
in the one package. While the
check out process may seem
slower at the moment, as
some of the glitches get
ironed out and staff become
more familiar with the
system, this should speed up
again to match the zippy pace
of the old tills.
A big thank you also to the
staff responsible for the
implementation including
Shelley, our Office Co-
ordinator, who put in an epic
85 hours during the week it
was installed, Narelle, our
contract book keeper, who
was responsible for
researching and contracting
the system, and Mike Baird
for his care and attention to
detail in the design and
installation of the new
counter. Thanks also to all
staff who put in extra hours to
make sure that the shop
continued to function.
Halin Nieuwenhuyse
This Issue
P 1 New counter and tills
P 2&3 Great gift ideas
P 4&5 Meet our local growers
Changes to Eftpos
and Credit Card
Charges
Due to increases in bank
charges, the Co-op now charges
40c for an eftpos transaction and
a 2.5% surcharge for a credit
transaction.
THANK YOU FOR YOUR PATIENCE AND UNDERSTANDING
Softies queue patiently.
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O nce more the festive season is upon us and our baskets will be soon bulging with fresh
fruit, seasonal sweeties and tasty treats and good for you, good for the environment gifts.
As the season progresses quality will increase and prices will decrease so be sure to stock up on cherries, apricots, peaches, mangoes and lots of local raspberries. Look out for other local berries such as blackberries and loganberries.
Gluten-free shoppers will soon be gleefully gobbling gluten-free Christmas puddings and pies. Those with a wheat intolerance, or simply discerning diners, will also be satisfied with sumptuous spelt fruit mince pies.
The ever-popular Astrological
Calendar and Moon Planting Guide will soon be available for
2012, a gift that is sure to be gazed upon all next year. The Moon Diary and Permaculture diaries are also certain to be essential companions for the next twelve months. For the conscientious cooks in your life or those you’d like to influence and inspire, we have the latest copy of Amanda Quinn and Diipali Lilburne’s luscious and voluptuous vegan cookbook (featured on the next page). This year you might like to try Amanda and Diipali’s perfectly palatable Panforte recipe on p 6: a tasty figgy festive treat that makes a gorgeous gift for friends with a sweet tooth. And for your green fingered gardening friends check out Robin Johnson’s book, Your Sustainable Garden.
The Co-op has many locally made products that make gorgeous gifts. We have pleasurable and piquant
Pulp It jams, Nimbin candles in magnificent colours, Jackie Bushell's beauteous moisturisers and creams, and we have delicious smelling bush soaps, oils and smudge sticks from the northern South Australian desert.
Look out for the festive window display where once again our wonderful window dressers will excite and inform you with a feast of festive fings including some amazing beeswax candles. Get in quick for one of the do it yourself candle kits!
The seasonal glace fruit won’t last long and don’t forget our year-round treats like chocolate and nuts!
And if the festive food is just a little too rich we’ve got plenty of simply nourishing food to bring you down to earth!
Mike Patterson
Festive Foods, Seasonal Supplies
and
Perfect Presents
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Y es it’s that time of year again already!!! The end of the year is creeping up on us and all the flurry and fun
of seasonal gift-giving takes over again. Often gift giving is a way to express our gratitude to our friends and family for the things we have shared and celebrated and sometimes struggled with during the year.
Given that we are lucky enough to live in Australia, and in the beautiful Blue Mountains, many of us have enough stuff. We don't need to receive expensive, environmentally unfriendly gifts and nor do our family and friends.
One way of expressing gratitude for our exceptional good fortune in this lottery of life is give to those in need.
There are many groups and
charities these days that offer the opportunity to give to others in need in the name of a relative or friend. In most cases you make a donation to a particular cause and you receive a card detailing that cause. This card is your gift to your own friend or relative. My family has happily gone along with this way of giving to the adult members for some years now, and many friends are thrilled when they receive some protection for a native bird habitat or a bag of cow poo for a family's organic garden in Sri Lanka!
Some of the groups that I know of and use are:
Oxfam Unwrapped - supporting projects to combat poverty and hunger worldwide http://www.oxfamunwrapped.com.au>
TEAR Australia's Really Useful Gifts - supporting development and medical projects http://www.usefulgifts.org>
Bush Heritage Australia's Wildgifts - protecting our local bush and birds and animals http://wildgifts.bushheritage.org.au>
World Youth International - supporting children in Kenya and Nepal http://www.worldyouth.org.au/WYI_GiftCatalogue>
And there are many, many more. Maybe a group that you already support also has this kind of giving available?
Susan Ambler
Vegan Cooking
Recipes for A Peaceful World By Amanda Quinn and Diipali Lilburne
Vegan Cooking - Recipes for A Peaceful World is an Australian vegan cookbook with over 170 delicious new recipes from wholesome meals, fresh salads, tantalising desserts, cookies and did we mention cakes? Recipes include Indian curries and dhals, Mediterranean and Asian-inspired fare to delicious bakes and pasta dishes. Many new ingredients are explored and their sustainability and health benefits explained.
All the recipes are vegan, meaning that they contain no animal products, no dairy, eggs, honey or meat from any animal. A large range of our recipes are also gluten-free or have a gluten-free option. There is also a large range of cane sugar-free desserts, cakes, cookies and other treats. All of the recipes have been tried and tested using a range of readily available wholesome ingredients. This book is called Vegan Cooking - Recipes for a Peaceful World because the recipes cause no harm to any animals, but they also help reduce our carbon footprint. The vegan diet is one of the lowest carbon diets around, far surpassing the traditional omnivorous meat-eating diet and also lacto-ovo-vegetarian diets. Even if you are not a vegan and may never become one, by adding a few vegan meals to your weekly diet you are helping to reduce the strain on the earth's resources, and saving animals as well!
About the Authors Amanda Quinn and Diipali Lilburne first teamed up to write a vegan cookbook in 2005, creating the popular ‘Vegan Cooking - Recipes for Health and Happiness’. Being passionate foodies and long-time friends, another vegan cookbook from this team has been created which will be sure to delight.
Amanda Quinn is passionate about animal rights, environmentalism and
ethics. Amanda has been vegan since 1997, including during pregnancy, and continues to raise her daughter as a vegan. When not in the kitchen, lending her hand to community projects, or working in the Community Services field, Amanda is in the garden, power walking with her family, dogs or jumping on the trampoline with her daughter in the beautiful Blue Mountains.
Diipali Lilburne has been vegetarian for her whole life and has a love of cooking and creating new recipes. She lives with her partner and two children in the upper Blue Mountains. Diipali has studied graphic design and loves the creative process of making a book. She loves promoting vegan cooking as a compassionate way to cook and develop an awareness of how our choices affect other beings and our planet.
Real Useful
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B ecause us mountain folk eat such a vast quantity of organic fruit and veggies, most of the organic produce
the Co-op sells is sourced from the big organic distributors at Sydney Markets- Eco Farms and Organics Direct. It comes from all over Australia and is picked up from the markets in Sydney and delivered by Rob, our trusty delivery man, three times a week on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.
In the last few years we have started to source more produce direct from local growers. This ranges from small amounts of produce lovingly grown in members’ back yards sold on a consignment basis, to large quantities grown by certified organic growers. Since many of you are becoming more interested in knowing where your food is coming from and how it is grown we thought it might be nice in the next few newsletters to introduce you to some of our growers, both large and small.
In this issue we’d like to introduce you to Robin Johnson, a back yard grower from Blackheath, and Lin’s Organic Produce a certified organic market garden in Windsor.
As many of you become more concerned about your carbon footprint and future food security we hope that you might also be inspired to grow more of your own food and share the excess with others.
Selling Your Produce
If you have excess produce in your garden that you’d like to sell, you can bring it in on Monday, Wednesday and Friday mornings. Small amounts of local produce are sold on consignment which means that you get paid for what sells. When you bring it in we negotiate a price with you so that after we put on a 29% mark-up, the price will be a little bit below the certified organic price. Even though we hope you use organic gardening methods, we can only label your produce as ‘local’ not
‘organic’ unless you have organic certification.
All the other fruit and veggies sold in the Co-op without a ‘local’ label are certified organic. Some things, however are both local and certified organic and come from our certified growers in Bathurst and Windsor. So if you’re looking for food that is organic and hasn’t had to travel for hundreds of kilometres to get to your plate, look out for this produce.
We welcome herbs like parsley, coriander and basil that are bunched with a rubber band. Other herbs like rosemary, sage, oregano, thyme and mint don’t sell quite as well but if they are well-presented and in small quantities it may be worth your while and ours to bunch them and bring them in. We’d love to sell your summer lettuce, rocket, beans, tomatoes, zucchinis, and potatoes and summer fruit like berries and whatever else you might have.
Halin Nieuwenhuyse
GROWING LOCAL Spotlight on our Local Growers
Kale and Hearty - Lin’s Organic Produce
Lin and Belinda, a Taiwanese husband and wife team, bought their property at Windsor about seven years ago with
the intention to start a market garden. As part of a primary producer TAFE course Belinda completed in 2005, she
visited numerous other (conventional) farms in the area and was shocked to see the amount of chemicals used on the
produce. She decided then and there that she wanted to become an organic grower. The organic certification process
Lin and Belinda began on their property four years ago is finally paying off and they are beginning to make a profit
from all their hard work, love and commitment to growing the best quality veggies they can. They sell their produce
directly to the Co-op and also through organic distributers Back to Eden and Organics Direct at Sydney markets. All
winter Co-op shoppers have enjoyed an endless supply of kale, sweet lettuces, celery and herbs.
Lin and Belinda are helped out by their son and friend the ever cheerful May who delivers the produce to the Co-op twice a week. When we visited the garden May shared some of the secrets of the couple’s abundant crop. Every morning cheerful Chinese music is broadcast across the paddock from speakers housed in the utility shed. Garden beds are fertilised with certified organic chicken manure. Once a week the veggies receive a sprinkling of seaweed solution and the plants are generously irrigated each day with water from a dam at the bottom of the property. Lin and Belinda have found the most efficient way to grow their produce is to purchase organic seedlings in large trays which are planted out and raised to maturity in between four and six weeks.
Halin Nieuwenhuyse
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Robin’s Rich and Wonderful
World of Compost Meet one of our committed and passionate local
growers Robin Johnson.
Retired Head Gardener of
Parliament House in Canberra,
Robin is now Head Gardener of one
of the most inspiring and
productive suburban gardens in
the Mountains. He and his wife
Marilyn chose their house for its
excellent north-facing aspect and
sunny backyard. In the three years
they have been there, they have
transformed a fairly typical dry
mountain block into an oasis, all on
Robin’s dedication to compost,
hard work and a clever watering
system.
Robin’s garden is divided into
numerous raised beds packed with
veggies, herbs and flowers as well
as three poly tunnels which give
added protection to plants during
the cold Blackheath winters. All of
the garden beds are made from
the rich and moisture-retentive
compost that Robin makes in
abundance at the side of the yard.
Robin collects lawn clippings and
leaves from about 12 local lawns
including the five he mows himself.
With these humble ingredients and
a bin of Co-op compost each week
he has produced enough compost
to make each raised bed about ten
inches off the ground. Once
established, each garden bed get a
few buckets of new compost every
6-8 weeks. As his produce reveals,
nothing else is needed except
water, sunshine, experience and
love.
Robin has had a love of gardening
since he was about five years old,
when he used to help his parents
with their garden in England. A
degree in horticulture and 15 years
at Parliament House has given him
plenty of experience. The sun
shines for free, but the water can
be a little bit trickier. Mother
Nature does her bit by providing
rain, but it can’t always
be relied upon when you
need it. In the middle of
summer plants need a lot
of water to thrive. Robin
has solved this problem
by installing water tanks
with a capacity of 7500
litres at the rear of the
property connected to a
pump and irrigation
system. Plants in the poly
tunnels get a light mist
three times a day to
maintain a moist micro-
climate which the plants
love. In the heat of
summer exposed plants
are covered with a 25%
shade cloth for part of the
day to prevent too much
heat stress.
Robin grows all his
produce from seed which
he sows in trays and
pricks out into larger
containers as they grow.
The seedlings are planted out into
the garden beds when they are
large enough. He stresses the need
to be always thinking three months
ahead because that’s how long it
will take for most plants to mature.
He only grows what he knows will
work up here, which includes
things like onions, lettuce (lots and
lots of lettuce), silverbeet,
cabbage, potatoes and tomatoes.
So look out for Robin’s gorgeous
produce. Even though it’s not
certified organic, know that it has
only been grown with compost,
love and rainwater.
If you want to know more about
using natural resources to their
best advantage in your own
garden, check out Robin’s book,
Your Sustainable Garden on sale at
the Co-op for $10 to members. It’s
full of ideas about garden design,
water-wise plant selection and
watering systems.
Halin Nieuwenhuyse
Photos by Alison Garland
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Panforte Try this recipe courtesy of Diipali Lilburne and Amanda Quinn from their book Vegan Cooking: Recipes for a Peaceful World. It makes a gorgeous gift idea or impressive festive dessert. Serves 8-10
1 cup walnuts, 1 cup hazlenuts,1 cup dried dates, chopped
1 cup dried figs, chopped, 1 cup wholemeal flour (or gluten-free plain flour for gluten free option)
1 tsp ground cinnamon, ½ cup rice malt syrup.100g vegan dark chocolate
½ cup coconut palm sugar or raw sugar, 1/3 cup water
Method
Preheat oven to 180° C. Place the nuts on a dry baking tray to roast in the oven while it is preheating, for around 6-8 minutes. Once roasted set aside to cool.
Grease and line the base and sides of a 10cm x 23cm loaf tin, set aside.
Place the dates, figs, flour and cinnamon in a large mixing bowl. Add nuts and mix well.
Place the rice malt, chocolate and sugar in a heavy based saucepan on low-medium heat, stirring constantly until the mixture becomes a runny syrup.
Make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients, pour in the chocolate syrup and water and stir until combined.
Press the mixture firmly into the prepared loaf pan, bake for 30 minutes.
Allow the Panforte to cool in the tin to room temperature. Cool completely in the fridge before turning out and cutting into thin slices to serve.
Occupy Wall Street?
Occupy your own street
With the tipping point for irreversible 2-4 degree
climate change predicted to be 2017, the frequency
and severity of extreme weather events: droughts,
floods and hurricanes, will continue to increase.
These events impact on more crops than just
bananas, and combined with increasing fuel prices
mean that food imported from great distances will be
prone to shortages and price spikes. So we need to
get serious about local food production.
A great place to start might well be outside your front
gate. Food gardening in the nature strips can be also
be a fantastic way to get to know the people in your
neighbourhood. On the south side of Katoomba, Vale
Street residents have colonised three street frontages
and planted pumpkins at the top end as a beautiful
example to the neighbourhood. There are still some
hearts to be won over, and one absentee landlord
wants ‘her’ nature strip restored to grass. It’s a
shame, as the micro-climate against that particular
north-facing wall is the best in the street. The
gardeners are hoping that a care package of tasty
vegetables this summer might sway her.
In response to the recent surge in the popularity of
community gardening, Blue Mountains City Council
created its first ever policy on community gardens
this year. Their view is that gardening on the nature
strip is fine by them as long as the gardens are well
maintained and do not impede pedestrians. In North
Katoomba initiatives are sprouting as if wind-blown
by the nearby established community gardens, with a
horse trough garden on Victoria St. and slightly more
off-street gardening kicking off further up the hill.
Local residents on the connecting lane between
Freelander and Station Streets, Winnifred Lane are
planning a garden that makes good use of this slope.
This overgrown parcel of land is a well-used
pedestrian thoroughfare so there are lots of people to
lend a hand clearing weeds, and local residents are
brimming with ideas to make this a sustainable place.
Words by Jed Walker and Kat Szuminska, picture by
Jed.
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In the third and final chapter of
recycling at the Co-op, we are
looking at how the Co-op deals with
rubbish. How do we as Co-op staff
and members deal with our waste
and try to tread lightly on the earth?
What we do with the waste we create in the shop?
Most of our bulk products such as nuts, grains and dried
fruit come in boxes with plastic bags. We try to select
the most reusable boxes and plastic bags and put them
out on the box rack for you to use to get your shopping
home. We also use plastic bags for bin liners.
Useful bags such as hessian sacks, calico and woven
plastic bags are also put out on the box rack. They get
put to a wide variety uses such as weed collection and
suppression, art and craft projects, shopping bags and
the Co-op has even used them to make decorative
bunting.
The reject cardboard boxes get sorted and taken for
recycling by a local recycling company. If you need
some cardboard to use as mulch on your garden just let
us know and we’ll gladly fling a few your way. The bread
boxes that come in on Tuesdays are especially good for
that purpose as they large and don’t have any ink on
them. The wax and polystyrene boxes that the fruit and
veggies come in get reclaimed by the fruit and veggie
distributer. They like to tread lightly on the earth too.
The sticky stuff at the Co-op has to come in something,
and it is often a bucket. Some companies take these
back and reuse them, but the ones that are left are put
outside for you to take home—our own little free reverse
garbage moment.
Then there’s the compost. We try to offer a few bargains
by first reducing the price of fruit and veggies that are
past their prime. Even though it’s lovely to feed the
chickens and the earth, we aim to feed people first. But
sometimes it goes too far. We have a wonderful team of
compost collectors who come and take the compost
each day to feed some of the most productive gardens
in the mountains. Read more about the glory of compost
in the profile one of our local growers, Robin Johnson
on page 5 of this newsletter.
Just a note of thanks to all of you who so kindly bring in
your label free jars and egg cartons so that others can
use them. Please refrain though from bringing in plastic
containers, as we are not able to recycled those, and
they often end up in the rubbish.
Alison Garland
Recycling and Reuse at the CoRecycling and Reuse at the CoRecycling and Reuse at the CoRecycling and Reuse at the Co----op op op op Sew Softy
What is a Softie doing in the Co-op window?
After all, you don' t eat softies, though babies often take a nibble...
Last year a small band of local craftsters got together and made some Softies as Christmas gifts for children in Kinship Care. This was inspired by a similar project in Melbourne, 'Softies for Miribel Foundation'.
Softies are soft toys sewn, knitted or crocheted with love for babies to 10 year-olds. Our Softies were displayed in the Co-op window and then passed on for distribution to local kids through Kinship Care, an organisation based in Springwood that supports the carers of children who live with their next of kin because they can’t live with their parents.
The Co-op often works to support charities and organisations with food donations and fundraising activities, but this was our first foray into something you can cuddle. Our Softies window display served as a lovely collection point but also presented an opportunity to show off some of the creative talent in our community. And, it inspired us... this inaugural window display became the first of a series of installations designed and put together by Ashley and myself. Over the year we have highlighted products such as our new indigenous bush medicines, events such as the Co-op's Thirtieth Birthday party, and even encouraged the many uses of jars.
This year, for our second fabulous display we invited contributions from Co-op members, friends and anyone who was feeling kinda crafty. Thank you to everyone who made such generous and inspiring contributions.
Alison Garland
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what’s in your basket?
Calling for member contributions!
We would love your contributions of enticing recipes, exciting environmental news, tantalising tales, fantastic photos or anything you think would be of interest to Co-op members. If you have anything to add for the Autumn newsletter please send your content to Halin at [email protected] The deadline is the 2nd Feb 2012.
Sarah Mann, her partner Dan and
son Oliver stock up on a weekly
supply of luscious fruits, veggies
and herbs.
OPENING HOURS
Monday 9.00-am 6.00pm
Tuesday 9.00-am 6.00pm
Wednesday 9.00-am 6.00pm
Thursday 9.00-am 6.30pm
Friday 9.00-am 6.00pm
Saturday 8.30-am 5.00pm
Sunday10.00-am 4.30pm
Public Holidays 10.00-am 3.00pm
Shop 1&2 Jones House Ha’penny
Lane
(underneath the Post Office)
Phone: 02 4782 5890
Email: [email protected]
Web: www.bluemtnsfood.asn.au
Post: P.O. Box 305, Katoomba 2780
If you have something to offer our community and would like
everyone to find out, send your enquiries to Halin at:
[email protected] or leave a message at the Co-op.
ADVERTISE IN THE NEWSLETTER
Wonderful
Wednesdays
Over the last few months we have
been delighted to have local
naturopath Kay Ridgway in the
shop every second Wednesday
morning from 10am–12 noon. Kay
will continue to be available in the
New Year to answer any of your
tricky nutritional and health related
questions, and offer cooking tips
for many of the Co-op’s wide
variety of unusual and nutritious
ingredients. Please check the
blackboard outside the shop for
dates.
Kay Ridgway (on the right) chats to
Rosemary Schofield (left) about the
pleasures of locally grown raspberries.
2011
MEMBER’S DAY
AND AGM On Saturday 19th November the Co-op held its Annual General Meeting and Member’s Day at the Katoomba YHA. Those who attended enjoyed some interesting and informative talks by Craig Linn on GM wheat, David Sakoura, one
of our growers from Bathurst discussing plant varieties and Kay Ridgway and Penny Henderson on health and nutrition.
A delicious lunch prepared by Kym Dow was available by donation. The proceeds of the lunch raised $300 for the East Africa appeal with the government matching the amount raised dollar for dollar. A big thanks to Amanda Quinn for organising the day and Kym for her hard work cooking into the wee small hours the night before and serving on the day.
Chairperson Georgia Page gave an optimistic and positive summary on the Co-op’s current state of good
health before elections were held to fill the four vacant director positions.
For the first time in several years we are lucky enough have a full quota of 7 directors. This year we said goodbye to the hard working and committed Sam Munn who held the first ever staff position on the board and has now moved to Melbourne. Stepping in to the staff board role we welcome Kym Dow. We are also happy to welcome two new directors, Will Maclean and Amanda Quinn and very pleased to have Ian Dudley-Bestow and Georgia Page back for another term. Even though Ian said in the previous newsletter that that he wouldn’t be standing again this year, we are pleased to have the continuity and stability of his contribution on the Board. Our two
other mid-term directors are Larry Buttrose and Marlena Bloomfield.
The staff look forward to working with the new team in the new year to continue to establish a stable, happy and productive system of governance for the Co-op and continue with planned improvements to the shop.