Fair Food

Posted on August 30, 2015 by cityhippyfarmgirl

‘Fair Food, stories from a movement changing the world’.

I close the book up and sit there, long deep thinking, and a little frown to concentrate harder as needed. There are so many mixed thoughts and emotions to grab hold of, it’s a bit of a lucky dip, grab one and run with it. Conversation starters, that’s for sure.

Over all while reading the book, I feel completely hopeful, and really excited on how wonderfully driven people are and all that they do for our current food system. Then on another page, I’m feeling the complete opposite. Slipping hope and questions of how the hell did we let it get to this??

As I’m reading, I dog ear so many corners and underline so many lines and passages, it ends up looking like a high school text book. Why? Because it’s important this stuff, I want to remember.

Fair Food is a book told through the different experiences of people within the Fair Food movement of Australia. Personal stories from backyard food forests, urban farming, activism, regenerative agriculture and something that I hold firmly to, radical homemaking.

All topics that are relevant, food and the way that we grow it, support it, buy it, eat it…this is something that effects all of us, every single one of us.

If we are lucky enough to have regular food on our tables, well then we should be educating ourselves on the food system that we buy into, understanding even a tiny corner of it makes a difference, and has a wonderful follow on effect.

While I loved all the different stories from people contributing to this book, I think it was Cat Green, the Radical Homemaker that I identified with most.

“Radical homemaking grounds my day to day life…” I loved reading from her point of view because she clarified things for me (well in my head anyway) that were there, I just needed to join the dots.

“It is a framework for social change that seamlessly entwines personal change with broader collective change.” Damn straight it is.

“My ‘work that matters’ comes from being actively involved in life, not sitting on the bleachers paying for someone else to do it.” Yes. A beautiful resounding yes.

So, while I’ve momentarily closed the book to think on it’s content, I know I’ll be opening it again soon. To read aloud, to quote parts that resonate and most importantly to pass it on to others.

Food for thought

The 3 daily meals Australians eat have travelled over 10,000km before they reach our stomach.

We waste nearly 40% of all food we produce.

The world produces enough food already to feed everyone on the planet.

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Important Links

Fair Food: the book

The Peoples Food Plan: food policy document

Fair Food Week: 2015

Australian Food Sovereignity Alliance

The permaculture community of Atamai

Posted on August 27, 2015 by cityhippyfarmgirl

There’s a word floating around my head at the moment that I can not seem to shake off. So I’m not trying to, and instead I’m embracing it. I’m going to hold on to that word, feed it, water it and shower it in all the love and attention that it requires of me.

Community… it’s important stuff, really important.

Enjoy this little video that gives a tiny glimpse into the wonderful community and permaculture village, of Atamai in New Zealand.

“I’m surrounded by people who know more than I do about things I want to know about…I spend my days learning…continually”

Ferragosto

Posted on August 19, 2015 by cityhippyfarmgirl

Ferragosto, the festival where all things Italian are celebrated and done so in a big vibrant noisy fashion that you just can’t help but get taken in by. I wasn’t sure whether things would still be running by the time we got there. Pushing by all the crowds, gripping my kid’s hands, I obviously needn’t have worried.

Despite having arrived in the middle of the afternoon, we easily squeezed in some Fiat 500 ooohing, icecream eating, coffee inhaling, pizza consuming, dance watching, tracked down the wonderful Five Dock City Farm (and all their amazing goodies), the end of a movie, while still getting home before sunset with a tray of cannoli in my lap. That’s a win right there I think.

five dock city farm || cityhippyfarmgirl.com

Ferragosto || cityhippyfarmgirl.com

Ferragosto is an Italian Festival held annually in Five Dock, Sydney.

In Italy, it’s also a public holiday on the 15th of August.

The importance of neighbours (city living style)

Posted on August 16, 2015 by cityhippyfarmgirl

At the beginning of the year, I said goodbye to our wonderful neighbours of nearly five years, (excuse me a minute while I stifle my sobs.)

For city-dwelling-apartment-living kind of people, that live the way we do? I can’t put enough emphasis on just how important it is to have a good relationship with your neighbours. For many house dwellers reading this you will be nodding and saying yes, yes of course, good neighbours are important anywhere. Which is, of course true, but apartment city living with a young family kinds? Oooh it’s really important.

Neighbours with kids: where your kids and their kids play safely and interchangeably throughout each others households. You know when it’s time to finish up, you can either holler from your back door for your kids to come home or turf your extras out and promising returns another day. Because of this, impromptu playdates are held almost daily. Mostly just in a shared space out the back where adult ears can listen but adult eyes don’t have to watch. There is a pack of kids out there keeping a tab on things, back in my child hood we roamed the streets like this and hung out in parks. In shared smaller living environments it still happens, just on a, well, smaller scale.

Need a cup of sugar? No worries, your neighbours got your back…or your cake or what ever it is you need that cup of sugar for. Neighbours are excellent for sharing cake with too. You give them cake and they’ll probably take all of your kids for an hour at their place. That’s a winning trade right there I tell you.

With more and more people living without extended family around them, or other close support to call on. Neighbours can be rather crucial in those tiny life moments when you just need a little hand with something or other.

You might need a pair of pliers.

A second opinion on a split head, (nurse neighbours are excellent. EXCELLENT.)

A babysitter.

You can enjoy their pet without owning a pet.

Someone to water your plants while you are away.

A neighbour can be someone to share good news with.

Someone to share bad news with.

Someone to share that huge bunch of bananas with.

Someone to chat to just while pegging out your washing, (living in an apartment does force you to be a little sociable.)

A friendly face to walk your kids to school while you are at home with their sick sibling.

Decisions can be made over shared laundry spaces. Options are talked over on back steps. Holiday mail collected easily and borrowed items returned straight away, (after all you know where they live!)

It’s certainly not always sunshine and roses out there, for every good thing there could be an equally frustrating annoying neighbourly thing. But for city small space living, it’s easier to work with your neighbours, to be a part of your immediate community. Each apartment block has a different set of people, dynamics and stories to be told. In this increasingly solitary life that people seem to be living either by themselves or even as a family, getting to know your neighbours is a really easy way to start and I think, an important one.

So after a good few months of being empty, a removalist truck sitting in the driveway and an array of cardboard boxes lining the hallway. I’m holding my breath a little. Now we wait for the new neighbours to move into the apartment next door… I certainly hope they like slabs of warm cake and little chats under the washing line.

The Power of Introverts

Posted on August 6, 2015 by cityhippyfarmgirl

This one is for all the introverts out there…(actually, and the extraverts.)

Coming from an introvert, these words were wonderful to my (sensitive) ears.

Quiet Revolution

Think. Eat. Save

Posted on July 30, 2015 by cityhippyfarmgirl

Food waste is currently costing Australians up to $10 billion each year, while two million people still rely on food relief. [Oz Harvest]

Standing next to the big tented kitchen and my stomach is grumbling. The smell coming out of it is incredible. Both in what it’s doing to my taste buds and also with the thought- that all those meals that are being created in there? Well, if it wasn’t for Oz Harvest, there would be no amazing tantalising lunches being handed out today and instead all that food would have gone simply into landfill. A sobering thought, that’s for sure. cityhippyfarmgirl

“Think.Eat.Save 2015 is to bring attention to the alarming amount of food wasted in Australia and around the world, where roughly one third of food produced for human consumption (approx. 1.3 billion tonnes) is wasted or lost along the way.” [ozharvest.com]

Monday morning saw me grabbing my camera and spending a part of the day with the wonderful people connected with Oz Harvest. The national Think Eat Save campaign was launched across ten cities around Australia, in conjunction with the United Nations- (UNEP and FAO) Oz Harvest is doing an incredible job in raising awareness for global food loss and waste reduction.

Oz Harvest is a company that collects good quality perishable food (that would otherwise be discarded and end up in land fill) from a variety of different outlets. They then deliver it to a number of charities around the country. 600+ charities to be exact, that’s some amazing work right there.

But back to Monday’s Think Eat Save campaign.

“Thousands of members of the public across capital cities will be served a free hot meal including surplus soup and rescued stews made from produce that would have otherwise ended up as landfill.” [ozharvest]

Getting more people to rethink food sustainability and security on a local level is something that should be on everyone’s thoughts. Why? Because this effects everyone, on everyone level, at every generation. We should be taking ownership of the waste that we produce. And food waste? It’s a big one that really needs a big reshuffle in this country.

So what did I take away from the campaign? Well a renewed sense of, ‘we really need to do better’ that’s for sure. Rethinking what we put into our shopping trolleys, the food we create for our families dinners and what exactly we are putting into our garbages. I was also blown away by the energy of the volunteers and wonderful people wanting to do more and say more about this issue…it’s really important stuff!

I’ve certainly got more to say, but will keep it for another post. To be continued, and in the mean time? Rethink what you are putting in the bin, it could be part of that $10 billion.

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Insta Lovers- Heads Up: Now if you are keen on sharing your delicious Sunday breakfast (or any other meal) with your teams of followers on Instagram, keep on reading. Oz Harvest and Virgin Mobile have teamed up for the #mealforameal hashtag. You take a pic of your meal (any meal), tag it and Virgin Mobile turns that into a real meal for someone in need. That’s a winner right there, so get snapping people.

Helpful links with more info

Oz Harvest

Food Wise

Love Food Hate Waste

loving…clear thought and raw stories

Posted on July 26, 2015 by cityhippyfarmgirl

Loving…. reading this book.

I regretted not buying it when I was in Hill End. I say there is no room for regrets. I bought it and it’s delicious. Every single word and picture.

Loving…. listening.

To people’s heartfelt honesty on the radio recently. The topic was how people remembered and stayed connected with loved ones after they had died. A single wooden spoon handed down through generations, wearing a mothers top on the anniversary of her death etc. Sobbing in the kitchen while cooking dinner, wasn’t quite what I expected.

Loving….Rough seas.

With sea spray on my face and hair flying wildly. It looked like a regular weekend visit to the beach. Except for the fact there was a big fat seal sun baking on the rocks.

Loving…. clear thought.

Those teeny tiny moments when your thoughts and ideas are completely clear, nothing else is being squashed in, no lists being checked off and the whole beautiful process is (momentarily) truly allowed to stretch its legs. (To some people this won’t make much sense, but to the handful it does? Yes.)

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The past two weeks have been a little loco, so it’s been good to sit down and do this little post. What’s happening in your world at the moment, what are you loving?

[“Often life’s pleasures pass us by simply because we don’t take a moment to focus on them… Make a point of noticing everyday something that uplifts your spirit or tickles your heart… Stop to breathe in the joy of this moment and then tell someone about it. Share your joy and revel in it. When your joy is savoured, and then shared, it is magnified…” ROBIN GRILLE]

Nordic Carrot Cardamom Cake (and a sunken disaster)

Posted on July 19, 2015 by cityhippyfarmgirl

I had four and a half hours before I had to get the kids to school. Surely plenty of time to get a cake baked and to be sitting cooling on the bench for when I got back, right?

Er, no.

It seems by getting up at 4.30am it gives you an increased sense of time security, that clearly wasn’t there. After jamming 21 ‘to do’ things into those morning hours, I simply ran out of time.

With time tick-tocking, the school bell never late and the cake clearly still not done. I decided I would have to leave it in the oven, turned off, but hoped the stoves residual heat would cook through any last of the gooey crumb. It had been baking for an extra 5-10 minutes already*, so surely that should be enough?

I get home hours later and enthusiastically reach into my oven to retrieve the cake and start icing it.

carrot and cardamom cake || cityhippyfarmgirl

Not quite what I expected.

Not really what I expected at all. Sunk like I hadn’t sunk a cake since 1994.** Hmmm, what to do? The cake being still far from cooked through on the bottom, I decided to bake it again and see what would happen.

It seems cake miracles do happen, and it did get a little more height (than the mess pictured.) It was still sunken in the middle though, so what to do about that?

I was going to ice that cake, like I’d never iced before, that’s what I was going to do!

Covering the cakey crater with a vanilla mascarpone mixture***, I then carefully smoothed the tiny bit left over to the edges and sprinkled walnuts on for extra hiding of any problems.

Verdict?

Best cake I’d made in ages. Seriously, I wish all mistakes tasted that good.

Carrot and Cardamom Cake || cityhippyfarmgirl.com

Carrot and Cardamom Cake recipe can be found here, (coming from the new cook book The New Nordic.) *

The photo actually made it look taller than it was, a total height of 2cms on the sunken gooey bottom. ** I found the 200C too hot for my cake, use your judgement, and remember recipes are a guide, you know your oven best.

It also needed far longer than stated, but…I shouldn’t haven’t been squishing so many things into the morning. ***

The cream cheese and butter icing as stated in the recipe was substituted for a Vanilla Mascarpone number which is more the way our family roll.

living off grid for $80 a week

Posted on July 16, 2015 by cityhippyfarmgirl

A little something to get deliciously inspired by on a Thursday.

Jill Redwood, writer for Earth Garden Magazine lives on about $80 a week, totally off grid with over 60 animals to keep her company…she also leaves my wood chopping skills to shame.

Getting the balance right… in Bellingen

Posted on July 12, 2015 by cityhippyfarmgirl

Dorrigo || cityhippyfarmgirl

Time to be creative, in making, in music, in words and in play.

Time to talk, time to think, time to just be.

Tell me, why does it seem so damn tricky to find this beautiful balance on a regular basis?

How do you balance it? The creative time, the music making, the thinking, and the play time? Is it a juggle? Does it only ever happen on holidays? Is it even a priority? I’m curious…

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Some time in the last week was spent in the beautiful township and surrounding area of Bellingen. I don’t do reviews on this blog, but I do, ‘do’ experiences, and for this place? Five, crystal clear illuminating stars. A stunningly beautiful part of the world, that I’m dead keen on getting back to.

Imagination, Nature and Coffee (don’t forget coffee)

Posted on July 1, 2015 by cityhippyfarmgirl

Can I let you in on a tiny secret? Lately I’ve fallen completely in love again, in love with the city in which I live. I’ve always had a soft spot for it, but lately? Lately it’s been something a little different. Utter city love.

So what do I put this down to? To be honest, I think it’s coming up for some air after years of intense little people parenting. There are countless joyous, beautiful moments that have shaped the person I am today and I’m incredibly grateful for, but there are also moments when it’s a bit of a slog.

While my kids are still pretty young and certainly still need me a lot, things have become a bit more flexible these days. With that flexibility, opens up a more doors in what I can do with my kids, (five hour car trips for weekends away are no longer the prison sentence they once were.)

So what’s this got to do with falling in love with my fair city? Well with the kids, we’ve been playing. Mostly during the weekends but occasionally we also cut loose the military precision of a week day afternoon as well. They are the perfect age for having little adventures fuelled by imagination and nature around them, and living in this stunningly beautiful city by the sea that I’m totally in love with? Well we don’t have far to go.

Here are 3 of some of the best family friendly places to visit in this fair city.

1. Centennial Park

Why you should go? Nature calls

Cost? Nothing

It’s well established by now that kids often don’t get outside enough, Nature Deficit Disorder, it’s most certainly a thing. Antidote? A really simple bike ride or scoot around Centennial Park. Climb a tree, let growing young bodies drape themselves around the top branches of a tree. Go wandering through the swamp, look for possums and marvel at the fruit bats. Run down hills, leap from rocks to rocks, play soccer, fly a kite, collect things, tip toe through the forest- if you are quiet enough you might see a tiny fairy.

Ignore the designated kids playgrounds in Centennial Park, the whole 189 hectares is one beautiful playground just waiting to explored.

2. Kitchen By Mike, Rosebery

Why you should go? Social outing

Cost? Whatever you choose to eat, or just go for a little wander around the medicinal garden that is part of the grounds.

Cafes. We live in a very cafe culture time. Whether you have kids or you don’t have kids, there’s a good chance cafes factor into your life. Coffee obsessed some might say. I’d say well yes, yes I am! Sydney is lucky in that there are countless different types of cafes to choose from. From tiny holes in walls with stools to perch on, to family friendly places with resident animals to entertain the kids. Whatever your coffee cafe wish is, Sydney is bound to grant it.

Cafes also play an important part in being an almost extension of the increasingly decreasing back yard for many families. I could go on and on about the social importance of cafes in big cities, however lets stick to the what’s what, and Kitchen by Mike it is. There’s cake, there’s coffee, and there’s lovely tables overlooking the garden, which is perfect for the kids to explore in.

3. Hornby Lighthouse, Watsons Bay

Why you should go? Imagination kick starter

Cost? nothing

Hornby Lighthouse is located in the Sydney Harbour National Park, this place doesn’t feel like you are in the city of Sydney. I’ve always had a soft spot for light houses (thank you Enid Blyton) and if this place with its old fortress, cannons, red and white light house, and rocks to leap from, doesn’t ignite a multitude of possibilities for the kids imagination, I would say go seek out some Enid Blyton books quick sticks.

Perfect place for family picnic, a swim at one of the nearby beach coves and a cracking spot to watch the sun go down.

Three very different places to hang out with your family in this beautiful city of Sydney. One for the banishing of any Nature Deficit Disorder niggles, one for a social outing (importantly added coffee for the adults) and one to kickstart little imaginations.

Now the question is…what shall we do next weekend?

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This post is part of Voices 2015 and #shareaustralia

Gold in the sky, Hill End

Posted on June 14, 2015 by cityhippyfarmgirl

The clocked slowed down, I’m sure of it. Somewhere over the Blue Mountains it gained time, (or lost depending on which way you looked at it.) There’s no other explanation for it. How else could you combine climbing through an old gold mine, historical street wanders, bush walks, long hot coffees, games of cricket, museums, river explorations, meandering meal times and copious amounts of rock scrutiny? This is what happens when you spend a long weekend in Hill End, you gain time, by going back in time.

If you hadn’t heard of Hill End, you probably wouldn’t be the first. It’s a tiny old gold rush town that used to boast 10,000 people living within it’s gold encrusted hills. Not now though, now it has a whittled down community of about 120 permanent people apparently.

Along with gold, Hill End has also been a draw card for many artists. Peter Adams did an incredible photographic series (and stories) of all the long term locals that had lived in the area. (This book is absolutely divine, and I’m kicking myself for not getting it when I was there.)

Russell Drysdale and Donald Friend were also regulars going back a bit further, with the iconic Australian painting- The Cricketers (R. Drysdale) set there.

The tiny township has (and is) being preserved for its historical past as a part of National Parks and Wildlife. What this means is that, you can walk down the street, and really imagine how it all used to be. Signs and photos help bring this old gold town to life again. You can imagine the muddy streets, the noise of the mine work and the smell of the days that once were. Amazing stuff.

Hill End || cityhippyfarmgirl

Another thing that makes this town a bit special is that I have family buried here. For someone who thinks quite a lot, my brain got quite a work out imaging the lives of some of these people while wandering through the old graveyard.

Orange, reds, brown and blue. There were many trees still with their autumnal colours in the tiny town. A most vivid of blue sky, and stars, so many stars.

You can easily forget just how magnificent the stars truly are when you live in a big city. Sitting out in the pub’s beer garden on one of the cold nights, all rugged up and eating our food, I quietly wondered whether the gold seekers over the years had ever looked up.

I hope so. Looking up at the sky on our last night, it looked like the night was littered with all the gold specks that the miners themselves had been so desperately seeking. It seems it was there in the sky all along.

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Hill End

A wonderful place to visit if you want a tiny snapshot of Australia’s gold rush history.

cityhippyfarmgirl

simple connected living, city style

Category Archives: Connecting with Community