Posts Tagged ‘local food’
Composter’s Composium with Costa
Posted in Events by Kate Archdeacon on April 29th, 2011
| 7 May , 2011 | ||
| 11:00 am | to | 1:00 pm |
Smith Reserve, corner of Alexander Parade and George St, Fitzroy, next to the Fitzroy public swimming pool.
Yarra City Council
Cultivating Community
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Cuba, the Accidental Revolution: Appetite for Insight Film Night
Posted in Events by paula on April 5th, 2011
| 11 April , 2011 | ||
| 7:00 pm | to | 9:00 pm |
‘Appetite for Insight’ foodie film nights* present our April screening: Cuba – the Accidental Revolution.
Oil and food supplies are intrinsically linked in our modern, global food system. What can happen to our food supply when oil is hard to come by? Find out how one nation confronted this dilemma head on. ‘Cuba, the Accidental Revolution’, screening on Monday 11 in St Kilda, examines how Cuba found itself unable to feed its population during a time of economic meltdown, but managed to turn matters around by growing food in the cities where it’s consumed.
“Anyone interested in ecologically sustainable development..will find this documentary thought provoking.”- Gregory Biniowsky, Canadian Development and Environment Consultant living in Cuba. This monthly film night event features guest speaker Pamela Morgan; a permaculturalist with first hand experience of Cuba and City of Maribyrnong Project Officer. Pamela will introduce the film and take Q&A session afterwards. Nibbles and beverage from the kitchens of eco-tucker host venue SlowDown!@Harley court are included in modest ticket price – $10 pre-booked on web (see link below) or $11 on the door (subject to availability).
‘Appetite for Insight’ foodie film nights* are presented by SlowDown!@Harley Court, in partnership with Transition Town Port Phillip and Port Phillip Urban Fresh Food Network.
7pm for 7.30pm (sharp) screening, Monday 11 April. SlowDown!@Harley Court, 56 Acland Street, St Kilda (opp McDonalds)
Web tickets: http://www.trybooking.com/Booking/BookingEventSummary.aspx?eid=9336
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Heritage Fruits Society: Apple Tasting Festival 2011
Posted in Events by Kate Archdeacon on March 14th, 2011
| 27 March , 2011 | ||
| 10:00 am | to | 4:00 pm |
http://www.heritagefruitssociety.org.au/festivals.html
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Our Food Future: Local More Important Than “Ugly”
Posted in Models, Movements, Opinion by Kate Archdeacon on January 26th, 2011
Image: beccaplusmolly via flickr CC
Reprinted with permission from Greenleap:
Dear Greenleapers,
See the article below – the big Australian supermarket chains are thinking of importing food on a very large scale, rather than selling flood/weather blemished stock.
Wouldn’t it make more sense if we had to live with the consequences of severe floods/extreme weather events and had to buy the local less than cosmetically perfect food? It’s a bit like having to cut water consumption in droughts.
If we import food on a big scale we will drive up international prices and in the end this will cause more poverty and even starvation overseas (as we push out problems onto others who have less purchasing power).
Maybe this is a campaign the Transition Towns and sustainable living movements could take up?
Cheers, Philip
Supermarkets, consumers face food price rises by Kirsty Needham, The Age, January 24, 2011
BIG supermarkets are contemplating the mass importation of fruit and vegetables — and are already stocking shelves with damaged produce from local growers desperate for cash after the floods. In what looms as a dilemma, Coles and Woolworths are weighing up whether to support Australian producers — and sell their water-damaged crops — or favour imports and keep prices down.
Coles is already selling so-called ugly fruit, which has blemishes, relaxing its quality classifications to keep shelves stocked. Woolworths said it would do the same with some products. Treasurer Wayne Swan yesterday warned households they will ‘‘inevitably see a spike in prices at the checkout’’, particularly fruit and vegetables, after flooding wiped out large parts of eastern Australia’s food bowl.
Melbourne Farmers’ Markets: January
Posted in Models, Movements by Kate Archdeacon on January 13th, 2011
January Update:
Greetings and best wishes for a fabulous year to come. At Melbourne Community Farmers’ Markets we have kicked off the New Year with a new look to our website. There’s a few new features plus regular updated information about our markets. We hope you like it and remember if you have any feedback please pass it on!
January will be overflowing with seasonal colour and flavour so revel in new season raspberries, capsicums, blueberries, beans, tomatoes, mulberries, peaches, cucumbers, strawberries, potatoes, eggplant, pistachios, garlic, lettuces, plums and zucchini – what a sensational range we are spoilt by at this time of year.
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Growing Abundance: Community Harvest Group
Posted in Movements by Kate Archdeacon on December 30th, 2010
Source: Mt Alexander Sustainability Group Inc (MASG)
The Castlemaine Community House with MASG, Transition Mount Alexander and Castlemaine Permablitz is managing Growing Abundance in 2011. The project will look at creative ways of strengthening our local food network and access to local food as a way of reducing our carbon foot print as a community.
Every year in our area, hundreds of fruit trees growing on both public and private land go unharvested either because people don’t notice them, aren’t physically able to harvest them or there are just too many fruits ripe all at once.
Through the Growing Abundance project, a Community Harvest Group is being formed to harvest the seasonal glut of local fruit and make it available to the local community. The Harvest Group is a team of volunteers who will find, harvest and maintain neglected fruit trees around town, sharing the harvest equally between the fruit tree owners, the harvest group and local community organisations, cafes, charities etc who can make good use of the produce. We will also be preserving the damaged fruit and turning it into chutneys, sauces, ciders, jams etc which can be sold to support the project (and ourselves).
Contact Sas Allardice at the Castlemaine Community House – harvest@cch.org.au or 5472 4842
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December Farmers’ Markets: Regular & Twilight!
Posted in Movements by Kate Archdeacon on December 3rd, 2010
Source: Melbourne Community Farmers’ Markets
December Update:
There’s no holding back now; Summer is officially here. Whether you’re feeling overwrought with deadlines and over-commitments or lucky enough to have the headspace and to dream about a little lie down sometime over the public holidays coming up, the year’s end is screaming towards us!
Don’t forget we have a couple of twilight markets coming up at the end of the month at Veg Out and Slow Food, as well as your regular Veg Out, Collingwood and Gasworks markets for December.
SUMMER PRODUCE AROUND THE MARKETS…
The very fickle year continues; just when it seems Winter’s finally let up, we get this rain! And for producers so desperate for rain in the last decade, the irony is that for some, so much has been a disaster!
Stone fruit is very susceptible to heat and moisture so just as it is ripening, the last thing it needs is moisture and humidity, and it’s had both which means splitting fruit and potential for rot. The combination also brings out pests in huge numbers which makes young vegetable seedlings very vulnerable. And equally, wind plays havoc with cellular plants like broad beans laden with its heavy crop.
But in good news, there are bumper crops of other produce; all the berries are just around the corner, spuds are nearly ready to dig, garlic is everywhere, first sightings of zucchini, capsicums etc and there’s so much to be thankful for!
This Christmas be sure to get your orders in early, make sure you come along and do your farmers’ market festive shopping and help us make up for another tough year.
MARKET DATES FOR SUMMER
Public holidays and the reality of successful markets have meant we have made a few changes. The market dates are as follows:
Veg Out Saturday 4 December
Collingwood Saturday 11 December
Gasworks Saturday 18 December as normal, then…
Veg Out Wednesday 22nd December 4 – 8pm
Slow Food Thursday 23rd December 3 – 8pm
No Veg Out FM in January but then back to the normal routine.
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Melbourne Farmers’ Markets: November
Posted in Movements by Kate Archdeacon on November 5th, 2010
Source: Melbourne Community Farmers’ Markets
The Cup is done and won for another year and that means tomato planting time. This month you’ll find CERES with organic seedlings at all markets, Russell from Kensington Garden Centre at Veg Out and Gasworks, and Howard Gibb, all the way from Whitlands in North East Victoria at Collingwood and Slow Food at the Abbotsford Convent. All have a fantastic range of self-propagated seedlings for backyards and balconies plus great advice.
The season is gradually catching up after the long, cold winter and you’ll find strawberries, broad beans, garlic shoots and snow peas back in season. Fare thee well to several apple, citrus, kiwifruit and nut growers, but let yourself dream in anticipation of the season’s luscious stone fruit, which is reported to have greatly benefitted by all that early spring rain… it’s just around the corner!
Sign up to the MFM newsletter directly for all the news – http://www.mfm.com.au/news.htm
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Melbourne Farmers’ Markets: October
Posted in Events, Movements by Kate Archdeacon on October 1st, 2010
| 2 October , 2010 | ||
| 9 October , 2010 | ||
| 16 October , 2010 | ||
| 23 October , 2010 |
Source: Melbourne Community Farmers’ Markets
Local Food Forum + Open Space Session
Posted in Events by Kate Archdeacon on September 22nd, 2010
| 23 October , 2010 | ||
| 10:30 am | to | 4:00 pm |
Food for Thought with guest speaker Kirsten Larsen from the Victorian Eco-Innovation Lab (VEIL)
You are invited to attend a forum on local food in Preston! The first half of the day is a forum to set the scene for local food in Preston. Our guest speakers will tell us about what climate change and the end of cheap oil means for food, how people in Darebin are faring with food security, and what the City of Darebin, and community groups, are doing about these issues. Over lunch you can meet some of the groups in our area who are involved in exciting food-related projects before participating in an ‘Open Space’ session to explore the question: how will Preston feed itself over the next twenty years?
Please RSVP by the 9th of October – the website has registration details.
Saturday 23 October, Preston Shire Hall 10:30-4:00
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