LFC News April 5 2023

Apr 052023
 

Thanks to the people who have contributed to this week’s newsletter: Emily Connors, Genevieve Rigot, Holly Gallagher, Jelena Kasabasic, Sarah Young and Virginia Solomon.

Joe’s Market Garden

Joe’s Market Garden now have a page in our Local Food Directory.

Joe’s Market Garden is a 2½ acre Certified Organic farm located next to the Merri Creek in Coburg. They grow mostly leafy greens, herbs and fruiting vegetables. Their farmgate at 34 Edna Grove, Coburg is open Thursdays to Sundays, 8.30am-1pm where, as well as their veggies, you can also buy coffee, toasties and fresh-baked pastries. Their produce can also be found in the CERES Fair Food veggie boxes.

It is Melbourne’s last surviving inner city market garden, having been farmed continuously by Chinese and Italian gardeners for over 150 years. CERES began farming here in 2003 under the guidance of Joe Garita.

Irrigation water is taken from the mains supply and a 100,000 litre underground water tank which collects rainwater from neighbouring townhouses.

Read their Local Food Directory page.

Welcome Emily and colleagues!

More on dyeing eggs naturally

With Easter imminent, this is a topical subject.

Jelena Kasabasic has written in with a suggestion: pick some herb leaves with interesting shapes, place them on an egg, tightly wrap a stocking over them and then put them into whatever colour you want.

Several of you have also recommended this article on natural dyed Easter eggs. It provides both a step-by-step guide plus the following list of colorations:

  • Red cabbage: blue.
  • Red onion: red-brown.
  • Yellow onion: orange-caramel.
  • Beetroot:: dark pink to red.
  • Turmeric: bright yellow.

Some tips for winter vegetable planting

In the April Sustainable Macleod newsletter, Robin Gale-Baker has written an article with 10 tips for winter vegetable planting in Melbourne. Here are her some of her tips related to brassicas (cauliflower, cabbage, kale, etc):

  • Plant brassicas so that the lower leaves are partially or wholly submerged in the soil. This prevents wobble which leads to poor anchorage in the soil and small heads.
  • Net all brassicas and secure the bottom of the net with weights to prevent the white cabbage butterfly from laying eggs on the foliage. These eggs turn into very hungry caterpillars.
  • Lay dripline if possible between rows of brassicas. Brassicas thrive on regular watering. As the plants expand, the leaf coverage makes it difficult for enough rain or even hand watering to get to the soil. Water right throughout winter.

Here is the newsletter of which the tips are a part. The newsletters are monthly and you can sign up to receive them on the Sustainable Macleod website home page.

Darebin Fruit Squad in the news

On 3rd April, the Darebin Fruit Squad featured in The Age (see graphic right). Thanks for the heads up, Holly Gallagher and Sarah Young!

As you probably know, articles on The Age website are behind a paywall. As you may or may not know, however, they are available for free from many library websites for registered users, including my own (Yarra Plenty Regional Library).

If you would like to support the Darebin Fruit Squad, one way to do it is to buy one of their t-shirts.

 

Could food be fairer?

Chris Ennis, the founder of CERES Fair Food, has recently written a short article on how his thinking about fair food has evolved over time.

His initial answer to the question Could food be fairer? was to provide an alternative to the way that Coles and Woolworths treat their farmers, supporting small organic and regenerative growers.

It then evolved to include fairer employment of vulnerable people.

It then evolved to include compostable and recyclable packaging.

It is now evolving to include more affordable groceries, and from ‘only organic‘ to ‘organic and‘,

Read the article,

Chris writes around one article a week and you can find them all at this page of the CERES Fair Food website.

Want to buy a book for your children?

If so, then Genevieve Rigot suggests that you consider A kid’s herb book, which “explores the worlds of herbs with fun activities, projects, songs, stories, healing remedies”.

A recipe for vanilla figs

This recipe has been provided by North East Region Permaculture (NERP). You can find NERP at Eltham Farmers’ Market on the 2nd Sunday of each month. At next Sunday’s market (9th April), they will have an expert on hand to chat with you about all things poultry, including chickens, ducks, geese and quail.

Ingredients

1¼ kg slightly under-ripe figs
1 kg sugar
½ litre water
½ vanilla pod, split lengthwise

Method

Peel three narrow strips in each fig or prick them all over with a small sharp fork.

Put the sugar, water and vanilla pod into a large pot or preserving pan and bring to the boil. Add the figs, a few at a time, allowing the syrup to come to the boil before adding the next batch.

Cook, uncovered, over the lowest possible heat for 5 hours, or until the figs are soft and translucent. Remove the vanilla pod.

While the figs are still hot, fill warm sterilised jars and top up with the syrup. Seal.

Keep for years if seal is unbroken. Once opened, eat within a month.

Eat with yoghurt or light sour cream as a dessert, or just on their own as a sweet treat.

Which link was clicked most times in the last newsletter?

The most popular link in the last newsletter was the position description for the job at Fawkner Food Bowls.

b33e661f-c100-4ebe-9ffa-847952e0da4e.jpgJoke (or pun) of the week

Submitted by Olaf Falafel: Someone’s replaced my passport photo with a picture of a marzipan fruitcake – I think my identity has been stollen.

Read more jokes.

 

Regular activities over the coming week

Farmers’ and other food markets
Food swaps
Community gardens

Upcoming face-to-face events – not cooking

Fresh herbs and herbal teas; Thursday, 27th April, 10am-midday; free; Whittlesea.

Delve into the world of herbal teas. Learn how to grow and use fresh herbs in both tea and cooking and the benefits of so doing, especially leading into Winter. At Whittlesea Community Garden.

Autumn seasonal gardening with Kaye Roberts-Palmer; Thursday, 27th April, 11am-midday; free; Doncaster.

Prepare your plants for the winter months and find out how to have the best soil for a productive winter vegetable patch.

Introduction to permaculture (2 sessions); Saturdays, 29th April and 6th May, 10am-3pm; $120 ($12 per hour); Coburg.

Learn permaculture fundamentals in this hands-on course, combining concepts and practices of sustainability, gardening, horticulture, ecology, community development and design thinking. Organised by Reynard Street Neighbourhood House

An afternoon with Matthew Evans, the Gourmet Farmer; Sunday, 30th April, 2-5pm; free; Box Hill.

Speakers: Matthew Evans and Adam Grubb. Matthew lives and works on the Fat Pig Farm in Tasmania. He has featured on the Gourmet Farmer series on SBS and has written 13 books. He will talk about the ways that food and farming can frame the future, including food security, soil health and the sequestration of carbon through regenerative methods. Adam is from Very Edible Gardens. He will talk veggies: where did they come from, what do they need, and the things you can do to get started growing veggies successfully at home.

Beeswax wrap workshop; Monday, 8th May, 6-8pm; $55 ($28 per hour); Brunswick.

Emma will show you how to make beeswax wraps. All materials provided, though you can BYO fabric to be waxed and transformed into wraps. Organised by Brunswick Neighbourhood House.

Advanced composting workshop; Wednesday, 10th May, 7-8.30pm; free; Doncaster.

They will show you how to advance your composting journey, including: speeding up your compost; troubleshooting issues; and how harvest and use your compost.

Wild mushroom foraging and fermentation for beginners; Saturday, 20th May, 10am-1pm; $180 ($60 per hour); Mount Evelyn.

Learn how to identify wild mushrooms and gather them safely. Take a guided walk to search for mushrooms in their natural habitat. The Fermented Mumma will show you how to use field guides, spore prints, and other tools to identify mushrooms by their colour, shape, texture, and scent. You will also learn about the different parts of a mushroom, including the cap, stem, gills, and pores, and how to distinguish between edible and poisonous species. After the foraging expedition, you will have the opportunity to taste and smell a variety of mushrooms, including some that are safe to eat and others that are not. To finish off, the Fermented Mumma will cook up a feast of fermented mushrooms. Organised by The Food School Yarra Valley.

Mushroom foraging; Thursday, 25th May, 6.30-8.30pm; $85 ($43 per hour); Collingwood.

You will learn what spores are exactly and what their prints mean before moving on to tools and techniques for efficient and environmentally-conscious mushroom hunting and correct foraging etiquette. Then you will learn how to identify wild mushrooms, the common species that you’re likely to come across, which edible mushrooms you can use in cooking, and medicinal species, as well as hallucinogenic species and the downright dangerous. Finally, you will learn about ways to cook mushrooms, preservation techniques and tincture preparation, before ending with a tasting of some wild mushrooms.

The fungus amongst us; Sunday, 28th May, 10am-12.30pm; $60 ($24 per hour); Alphington.

Explore the Darebin park lands through a fungal lens. Participants will be guided to see and get close to the local world of fungi. The park adventure will be led by local ecologist Dr Sapphire McMullan-Fisher. Founder of Sporadical City Mushrooms, Julia Laidlaw, will then share the world of zero waste mushroom farming at her farm on the edge of the park land.

In April
In May
Regular events

Upcoming face-to-face events – cooking

Childrens Easter chocolate making workshop; Saturday, 8th April, 10am-midday; $10; Ringwood.

For children aged 7-14. Shabina will show the children how to make rocky road. They will then participate in an Easter egg hunt, where they will search for hidden eggs filled with chocolate treats. The children will get to take home their own handmade rocky road creations. Organised by the Central Ringwood Community Centre.

Easter chocolate workshop; Saturday, 8th April, 1-3pm; $50 ($25 per hour); Fitzroy.

Create unique and personalised Easter cards using chocolate and edible decorations. You will be provided with a blank card made of high-quality Belgian chocolate, and various tools and materials are available to decorate the card, such as edible colours, sprinkles, and chocolate figures. An instructor will be present to provide guidance.

Kombucha / Jun M.O.B.; Thursday, 20th April, 6.30-8pm; $85 ($57 per hour); Fitzroy North.

They will demonstrate how to feed your mother/SCOBY (choose between kombucha or jun). You will then flavour their own batch ready for second phase fermentation using fruits, herbs and spices. Take home your selected SCOBY and your personally flavoured bottle of kombucha/jun. M.O.B. stands for ‘mingling over bacteria’.

Hospitality (8 sessions); Tuesdays, starting 2nd May, 9.30am-midday; $50 ($3 per hour); Lower Templestowe.

This is a cooking course that will develop your basic skills and confidence around the preparation of food. This course will run in a supportive group session and has possible pathways to further study. Organised by Living And Learning @ Ajani.

Cooking for one (5 sessions); Thursdays, starting 4th May, 11am-1pm; $50 ($5 per hour); Lilydale.

Learn how to cook easily just for one person. Make the meals each week, and eat together what you have made. Organised by Lilydale Community House.

Sourdough breadmaking; Saturday, 6th May, 10am-12.30pm; $64 ($26 per hour); Lower Templestowe.

Learn all the steps to make your own sourdough at home with this simple recipe. You will take home a sourdough starter and some dough to bake. Take a 2 litre container with a lid and an apron. Organised by Living And Learning @ Ajani.

Honey ferments M.O.B.; Wednesday, 10th May, 6.30-8pm; $110 ($73 per hour); Fitzroy North.

Learn how to make 3 different ferments all with a focus on honey: wild mead; jun (similar to kombucha); and honey fermented garlic. Go home with 3 jars of ferments. M.O.B. stands for ‘mingling over bacteria’.

French patisserie – Mother’s Day cake; Saturday, 13th May, 1.30-4.30pm; $125 ($32 per hour); Lower Templestowe.

Learn how to make and bake a red velvet cake with cream cheese frosting which you will then apply to your cake. To finish off, create your own decoration to make that cake extra special. Organised by Living And Learning @ Ajani.

French patisserie – macarons; Wednesday, 17th May, 6.30-8.30pm; $85 ($43 per hour); Lower Templestowe.

Tish will pass on her techniques for making macarons. Take an apron and a container. A limit of 4 participants in total. Organised by Living And Learning @ Ajani.

How to make fresh ravioli; Thursday, 18th May, 6-8.30pm; $49 ($20 per hour); Lower Templestowe.

Make fresh spinach and ricotta ravioli and a sauce. Enjoy tasting the dishes then take some fresh ravioli home to cook for the family. Take a container and an apron. Organised by Living And Learning @ Ajani.

Dumpling making workshop; Friday, 26th May, 6-8.30pm; $75 ($30 per hour); Park Orchards.

Make Chinese dumplings from scratch. The dough you prepare can be used for either boiled dumplings (shui jiao) or potstickers (guo tie). Then make vegetarian dumplings. Facilitator: Miki. Organised by Park Orchards Community House.

Sourdough breadmaking (2 sessions); Saturdays, 27th May and 17th June, both 10am-12.30pm; $150 ($30 per hour); Park Orchards.

In the first session, Nadine will take you through the basics of sourdough breadmaking. In the second session, you will make a seeded sourdough loaf. You will also get to sample different loaves, including a fruit loaf and olive and herb loaf. This class is best suited to those who have some experience with bread making, however it is not essential. Organised by Park Orchards Community House.

Filled pasta with Piera; Saturday, 27th May, 10am-1pm; 140 ($47 per hour); Thomastown.

Learn how to make the dough from scratch and how to shape the pasta. You will be making both balanzoni (large green tortellini-like pasta filled with ricotta, mortadella & parmesan cheese) and ravioli di pesce (half-moon shaped pasta filled with mascarpone, crab meat, snapper, thyme & lemon). At the end, enjoy the pasta you have made together with a class of wine. Host: Piera Pagnoni. Organised by That’s Amore Cheese.

Feta, haloumi and mascarpone cheese making; Saturday, 27th May, 10am-4pm; $240 ($40 per hour); CERES.

You will learn: the cheese making process using cultures and rennet; salt – brining and dry-salting cheese; and marinating feta in olive oil. You will take home what you make. Presenter: Kristen Allan.

French patisserie – macarons (advanced); Saturday, 27th May, 1.30-4.30pm; $115 ($38 per hour); Lower Templestowe.

Extend your macaron making skills to make two fillings and different shapes and bi-colour macarons. Take an apron and a container. A limit of 4 participants in total. Organised by Living And Learning @ Ajani.

Gluten-free kitchen skills; Sunday, 28th May, 10am-3pm; $120 ($24 per hour); CERES.

Presenter: Melanie Leeson, from Mettle + Grace. After an introduction to gluten-free flours and their texture, taste and how to use them, you will have the opportunity to cook a collection of recipes, including: a cake using your own gluten-free flour blend; crackers to pair with a seasonal dip; pizzas; and a short-crust pastry dough for quiche. At the end, the class will sit down to eat lunch together.

Farmhouse sake / doburoku night; Wednesday, 31st May, 6.30-8.30pm; $125 ($63 per hour); Fitzroy North.

Make your own sake using rice, koji and water and time. This is a 3 step process and you’ll take home stage one in a 3 litre jar – with koji for step 2 – and a couple of bottles for the final bottling step. They will also cover amazake – the sweet, more immediate (overnight) drink.

In April
In May
Regular classes

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