Doing the rounds
We’ve been a busy bunch of Co-op members lately, getting out and about to rub shoulders with eco-foodies in Leura, spruiking our gardening credentials on 89.1 Radio Blue Mountains community radio show Green Thumbs, and hosting our own panel discussion on meat consumption at The Carrington Hotel.
Mingle
Halin, (pictured below with Manu Prigioni, Beth Healy and Jacinta Parissi from Lyttleton Stores) and Jacqueline attended the Leura Garage ‘mingle’ event to check out their new Closed Loop composting system. Leura Garage owner, James Howarth, is pioneering sustainable waste management in the upper mountains and hopes Leura will become the first village in Australia to eliminate all restaurant food waste from landfill.
Media
Green Thumbs is the Edible Garden Trail’s (EGT) community radio program. Sponsored by the Co-op and hosted by EGT founder, Susanne Rix, the show airs every Wednesday between 9 – 10am on 89.1 Radio Blue Mountains and features local gardening gurus and environmental groups. Listen out for the Co-op’s regular monthly guest spot. Most recently we interviewed Manu (pictured below with Susanne) from Lyttleton Gardens.
Meat
The Our Biggest Dilemma panel discussion proved to be an informative, entertaining and well attended event. Keynote speaker, Matthew Evans, aka The Gourmet Farmer, presented some illuminating facts from his book On Eating Meat and even got a little riled up by talk of fake meat. Dietician, Sallyanne Pisk, provided a nutritional viewpoint, and Tara Lilburne voiced her experiences and opinions from a historical vantage point for the Co-op. Conservationist, Chris Darwin, added some environmental aspects to the conversation and also provided some light relief with his stuffed kangaroo “Chip” on his shoulder.
If you missed out on the event you can listen to the whole conversation here.
Although there were some questions left unanswered we feel the main takeaway from the discussion is a big wake up call to examine our eating habits, explore the provenance of our food, be reminded that even in the production of grains and vegetables there is loss of life to animals, and to find ways to come together to support small scale farmers in their efforts to produce food using regenerative methods.
The Co-op plans to hold a member survey later in the year on this issue.