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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

8

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 editor.foodcoop@exemail.com.au 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: hello@bluemtnsfood.asn.au

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:

editor.foodcoop@exemail.com.au 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.