Local food-related events
Macleod Vegie swap runs from 11am to 12 noon this Saturday. Immediately after, Julie French will present a workshop on Permaculture in Home Gardens. This talk will provide a brief overview of the principles of permaculture and will give examples of how these can be practically utilised in a home garden.
Diamond Valley Library, Garden Group. Tuesday May 21, 11am. Book-a-chook. Fleur will provide an introduction to backyard chooks, which covers all the basics. Come along to find information how to set up your coop & meet some friendly hens for some hands-on fun.
North East Ranges Permaculture Group, monthly meeting, Sunday, May 19, 1:30 pm. Building swales to capture water and making tea from home grown herbs. Contact Ben on 0418 212 433.
Montmorency Primary School Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden (SAKG) Program would like to welcome new volunteers to our program. The SAKG program encourages children to learn about seasonal gardening and food growing, harvesting and cooking with seasonal and local produce. We currently have vacancies in our morning and afternoon gardening sessions on Tuesdays and Fridays – so if you enjoy gardening and would like to join our team of volunteers then we’d love to hear from you. Please call Michelle on 0488383889 or call the school office on 9434-5944.
The Sustainable Rebuild Project is running a permaculture garden tour Sunday 19th May, 2013, 10am-2pm. FREE to attend, for residents of Strathewen, St Andrews and surrounds (Hurstbridge, Kinglake, Cottles Bridge etc). Venue will be provided upon registration. Light lunch provided. Presenters: Andrew & Angie Barr (who run ‘Cultivating Resilience’) & Wendy Mather (the St Andrews ‘Food Farm’). RSVP essential: Lucinda – 0434 546 881 / 9718 0126 or Lucinda@goinggreensolutions.com.au
Other food activities/information
From a reader, Olivia:
We get great grass fed beef from Little Creek Beef. They offer free delivery (by great people!) straight from the farm @$10 a kilo for 60kg (we halve this with another family).
From Frank:
Scientists studying the massive global bee die-off have unearthed evidence on the devastation across the food chain caused by the most widely-used pesticide on Earth, neonicotinoids. Once they enter the water supply, neonicotinoids also wipe out dragonflies, snails and other waterborne life. The European Food Safety Authority just imposed a two-year ban on neonicotinoids. With up to a third of all honeybees vanishing each winter, beekeepers are saying that we are “on the brink” of not being able to pollinate all our crops. As consumers, we need to demand that all retailers pull the pesticides from the shelves.