Mangrove Mountain Fair

FIG had a stand at the great little country fair at Mangrove Mountain yesterday. It's the first time we have been there and the turn out was fantastic, with a very good atmosphere.

Our mission was of course to talk to prospective FIG members but also to try chat to farmers and encourage more of them to come on board and grow for us, organically of course! We made a few connections so time will tell if the day was successful in that regard.

It certainly helps - and puts weight behind such a quest - to have been in operation for about two-and-three-quarter years and to have settled into a good rhythm of operation, and it helps no end to have farmer Michael Champion singing our praises to anyone who will listen, from local farmers and families to the NSW Farmers Association, who were next door to us at the fair. We must be doing something right - or a whole lot of things, actually!

Thank you to our wonderful volunteers on the day - you know who you are! - and Permaculture Central Coast for the loan of their marquee; to Dawn for her wonderful little posies of colourful flowers and herbs which are delightful. Thanks, also, to visiting FIG members who came over for a chat as well.

I'm hoping David may have photographs of the day; we had a pile of organic magazines and material to hand out (thanks, Michael) and to read, hung photo boards, signs and mini posters and also the following, which prompted quite a few comments - and laughs!

Source unknown

See you at the co-op...

Maree :)

Catching up on what's happening...

We had a smaller but successful day at Ourimbah yesterday, with our combined co-op due to the public holiday Monday. A number of members were away on school or uni holidays so it was a quieter and less-busy day than usual, made more so due to there being no school finishing time to get people out the door and off to FIG before collecting their children!

Co-op days and venues shall be back to normal next week, and it seems the rain will continue to be with us most of the time between now and then. Rain is important however also presents a challenge to farmers and backyard growers when it's heavy and consistent. 

At Wyong, we are trialling a shorter opening time as most of our members have been and gone by about 4pm or shortly after. We are therefore now closing at 5pm, however packing up sees us there till about 5.30pm anyway, to catch anyone popping in making new enquiries. We shall see how that goes and if Wyong members continue to have been through and collected their produce earlier in the day, we may look at closing even earlier.

On the produce front, we have been a bit sad to learn that our local supply of eating apples has come to an end. Many of our members have commented that these have been The Best apples they have ever tasted, so we look forward to being on the receiving end of them again next year. We have a few apples left however from next week, the major supply will begin coming in from the organic wholesaler and our apples will come from further away.

We have been really pleased to have been offered some surplus produce from members new and old. Some of their produce you will find in the FIG boxes, some of it on the extras table. Thank you to all concerned.

Our FIG article writer and delicious recipe generator is moving away! We are therefore putting the call out for those members who like to cook and maybe also to write, to occasionally put together a few recipes and/or article for the blog or the website. Please email us at FIG if this seems like something you could do.

Some of the crops at Champion Mountain Organics which have ended up in our FIG boxes!

FIG is looking at having a stand at the Mangrove Mountain Fair on 22nd October, and one of the aims of the day is to talk to local farmers and encourage more to grow organically. For FIG to grow and to buy more local produce, we need more organic farmers! 

That's all for today. See you at the co-op!