Raffle winner!

The FIG Christmas raffle was drawn after closing time today and the lucky winner was member Deb of Doyalson. 

Her FIG food hamper, which was around the value of nearly $100 after some more donations today, has been delivered already this evening.

Congratulations, Deb, and enjoy!

Last day of co-op for 2013

Monday 16th December heralds the last day of co-op operation for the year.

We will have member table markets, the FIG raffle (value around $90 of goodies), FIG tea towels...

Beautiful linen: hand dyed, screenprinted, ironed and folded by Figgie members, including Utopia Screenprinting.

... and some Christmas cakes!

We're back on Monday 6th January and wish all our members a safe and happy holiday season.

Christmas is coming!

We have three more co-op days before a short break.

FIG will be open on Mondays 2nd, 9th and 16th Dec

and then you won't see us again until 6th January!

We will have member table markets at all three December co-ops and judging by the success of last Monday's market day, these will be a good place to buy gifts and yummy treats for your family and friends, or more seedlings for your gardens. We now have FIG tea towels thank you to a group of wonderful members. Check them out next time you're in.

The last bulk order for the year is due to be collected on the 16th December, which means orders are to be in on 9th December. Order forms will be emailed out to members.

It has been a good year for FIG and we can barely believe 2014 is just around the corner...


See you at the co-op.

Free workshop on Thursday, 21st November

The new date for the Love Food Hate Waste Workshop has been set for Thursday, 21st November.

‘Love your lunch’

Hands-on activities and cooking demonstrations 

• Save money and the environment while creating healthy lunchboxes for school and work that loved ones will love.
• Inspiring and informative
• Learn how to store food effectively, use leftovers, plan ahead and provide healthy seasonal food that tastes good.

Bookings are essential; please call: Kariong Neighbourhood Centre on 4340 1724.

All participants receive a free lunch/tastings and a Love Food Hate Waste pack.

Thursday 21st November, 11.30am to 1.00pm, 

FIG Co-op, 

Ourimbah Scout Hall, Ourimbah Creek Road, Ourimbah

Tuesday co-op next week

Next Monday is a public holiday so FIG will operate on Tuesday 8th October instead.

Same hours: 2 pm until 5pm

Same venue: Ourimbah Scout Hall

Different day: TUESDAY!

In the meantime, we wish you safe and happy holidays...

This week at the co-op

The FIG Annual General Meeting is on tonight and all members are invited for that and also the general meeting which will follow.

Emails containing details have been sent to members.

This week also marks the end of our annual subscription period for the 2013-14 year. Members not renewing their membership by Monday 30th September will cease to be a FIG member, shall be removed from the email list and unable to order food boxes or buy from the extras table. Please contact us on info@fig.org.au if you are having difficulties paying your fees and we can arrange for you to begin paying them off.

The beautiful Kirkconnell pears have come to an end and the Pink Lady apples will soon, too. Tuckerflora Swiss Brown mushrooms have come back into production and we will also begin to get their avocados in from next week. We've been enjoying local blood oranges and Biodynamic mandarins as well as lemons galore. The navel oranges have been superb.

There's talk on the FIG Facebook page of a FIG Green Smoothie Challenge for members, starting in October. More information will be mailed out to members shortly.

Another Public holiday is looming up, so instead of opening on Monday 7th October, the co-op will operate in Tuesday 8th. Same times, same venue, different day.

See you at the co-op!

This week at the co-op

We began the ordering process not knowing if we would have many greens in the boxes this week, however are pleased to be able to say that we have a full compliment of greens - thank you to our farmers and members!

The drier weather has meant Ed's crops have slowed down. Jean's avocadoes should be ready soon. Hardly anyone has garlic left however it won't be tooo long before new season crops are ready. Ginger is in short supply as well.

However, there is lots of citrus! We have white, yellow and pink grapefruit, meyer and eureka lemons, juicy, tasty navel oranges, a couple of different mandarins and some blood oranges coming in today.

The bulk order team will be sweeping in today to weigh and pack all the fortnightly bulk orders. They will be waiting for collection down the back of the hall at opening time, and we have two trolleys and a volunteer to help get them to your car.

Today is the first of our monthly market arrangements, for members who have booked up table space... bring some cash with you! This market will be held on the last Monday of each month throughout the year except for December, however during December we shall be conducting weekly markets every Monday. It allow members to sell their surplus veggies, pickles, jams, kimchee, honey products and health concoctions!

See you at the co-op!

A new FIG year about to start...

Well, a new FIG year is almost upon us and guess what that means?

Yes... annual subscription fees are due!

We recently emailed our members, attaching a payment remittance form for continuing (ie: not new) members to complete and include with their payment. 

Existing members may pay online and advise of their payment via email, or by cheque or cash in an envelope with the remittance form, dropped in to the front desk.

Please do NOT pay for membership at the extras table! Remittance advice forms will be available at the co-op front desk, and amounts are as follows:

For continuing membership, 1st July 2013 until 30th June, 2014:

FULL volunteering (once a month or more)             $30                 Concession $15

PARTIAL volunteering (once every two months)      $50                 Concession $25

NO volunteering                                                   $80                 Concession $40

Please note that these annual fees are payable up until 30th September, 2013. After that, members not paid up or those not in contact with us in regards to their membership fees by that date shall cease to be FIG members, in accordance with our Incorporation policy.

If you have any further queries, please contact us at info@fig.org.au.

Remember, this information is for existing members only. New people joining FIG instead complete a Membership Application form.

Forms, forms, forms! Please note that they can be emailed, 

and for paper forms we use 

100% recycled paper and recycled ink cartidges.

Thank you very much for your attention to this matter.

FIG Directors.

No co-op today - tomorrow instead :)

Hello to all our members and anyone new thinking of popping into the co-op.

FIG is not open today.

It is a public holiday Monday and so we shall be opening tomorrow instead:

Tuesday 11th June - 2pm until 5pm

See you there...

How to order a FIG box

From time to time we run through a few procedures to make it clearer for those new to FIG.

Today we're explaining how to order the weekly food boxes. 

FIG operates every week throughout the year, except for a fortnight or so over Christmas/New Year. Members can elect to set up an automatic payment system for weekly boxes, which can easily be stopped if they're planning a holiday, however depending on the situation at home and if they're growing some of their own food, it may be that a fortnightly box suits some better. Others order two boxes a week.

It doesn't matter how often or how many boxes you order, what matters is to order/prepay one week in advance. That means stopping by the front desk at the co-op and paying for a box the following week or fortnight. We finalise the numbers on Tuesday mornings and begin ordering for the following week straight away.

If you have been away and are wanting to resume collecting a FIG box, then please email one week before it is required. You will then be sent account details for payment online. The email addresses to use for ordering are either info@fig.org.au or fig.centralcoast@gmail.com. Either one will work!

At present we cannot offer direct online ordering but are investigating options, and hope to be able to offer this service in the future.

We do order spare boxes however sometimes these have been taken by Friday; sometimes we may have one or two still available Monday morning. If you email late in the week for a box the following Monday, you may have to be placed on a waiting list. Should a box become available, we will let you know.

The key is remembering "one week in advance" and a Monday night cut off. After that we cannot guarantee a food allocation for you the next week.

We hope that this has made ordering at FIG clear and easy.

See you at the co-op...

Autumn update

It's Autumn, with beautiful warm days and nights turning chilly. Good growing weather, they say...

We have Ed's garlic in at present for any of you wishing to grow some of your own garlic. It's the Italian White variety and very nice. We also have a supply of Russian (or Elephant) garlic in suitable for growing as well. The Italian garlic is stronger in flavour and the Russian variety is milder, even suitable raw, in salads.

Here is some information on growing garlic.

Bill of Beulah Organics has been harvesting some beautiful red capsicums and eggplant. He sent down some tomatoes last week for us to try (beautiful!) and always has terrific Lebanese cucumbers. We reckon he polishes them, they look so good, but have actually heard this rumour may be correct! Whenever polishing, he does so with just a cloth, that is - no chemicals or waxes!

Those Gala apples from Kirkconnell are fabulous and members are raving over them. Remember if you want a supply of them for munching and school lunch boxes, order a half or full crate of them in the fortnightly bulk orders. The latest bulk order form will be sent out to members over the weekend.

We're receiving a number of new enquiries as the interest in chemical free and safe food increases. People are (rightly) concerned about what is sprayed on their food but also what is added to the soil in which it is grown.

If you have found our blog and want to trial an organic food box, please email FIG on info@fig.org.au.


See you at the co-op!

A change to co-op operations

After a trial period and consultation with members, the FIG Board decided to change co-op hours, effective 25th March 2013, to closing at 5pm instead of 6pm.

This means no more extras will be sold after 4.30pm and, should you be running late, please ring the FIG phone on 04166 47715 to arrange a bag to be packed for you for collection during pack up.

Hours are now 2pm until 5pm each Monday 

- unless there is a public holiday.

And....... there is a public holiday Monday next week, for Easter!

As usual, co-op operations will move to the  Tuesday - 2nd April, from 2pm until 5pm.

See you there...

The Pulse Co-op

At the co-op recently, we have received some enquiries as to when the next PULSE Co-op order will be sent out. We've now had news that it is due in March.

Source of photograph

Pulse is run by some friends of FIG, is based close to Ourimbah, and it's focus is on good healthy food. You can order organic nuts, seeds, grains, flours, and much, MUCH more, in bulk, either to store or share with family and friends. Orders occur around 3-4 times per year.

FIG members will be emailed the order form when it's ready however for anyone else interested, you may email Pulse directly on <pulsecoop @ gmail.com>, removing the spaces and the < and >.

Similar co-ops exist in northern Sydney and Newcastle.

Thank you, Pulse, for all your efforts in bringing this wonderful, organic and Biodynamic food to the Central Coast.

~  ~  ~  ~  ~

Pat Collins workshops on the Central Coast

Our friends at the Pulse Co-op are organising another series of Home Healing Workshops by Pat Collins, due to begin next month.

FIG members have been emailed the information however it's open to anyone on the Central Coast who is keen to participate and learn much about healing and making their own remedies, skin care, creams, lotions and potions!

Please contact Pulse direct for enquiries and bookings: <pulsecoop @ gmail.com> , removing the spaces and the < & >. Here are the details:

"Beginning on the second Saturday in February Pat Collins will begin her home healing courses again at Jilliby. Each course is very extensive, comprehensive and full of Pat's helpful healing tips. An extra course is now available also, course number 11 which is on depression and anxiety. Pat has added this course to her program as she is finding it more and more common in her practice.

Pat Collins runs a very successful natural health center in Muswellbrook called the Total Health and Education Centre (THE Centre) and you can learn about her at www.patcollins.com.au

Pat has been teaching courses in TAFE, community colleges, throughout various communities and at her practice for over 20 years, has written 6 books and appears on the local radio as well as working 4 days a week in her very busy practice. She is a qualified Herbalist, Iridologist, Hypnotherapist & Reflexologist and still frequently attends conferences and seminars to keep up to date with the ever changing world of health.

The courses she held during 2012 were very successful and inspiring for all of the students who are now practicing home healing in their own homes. It gives one a great feeling to know that on many occasions, you can take the health and well-being of your loved ones into your own hands and send them along the way mended and whole again. It also gives much more awareness of the world around us and nature and how it can all work together once we educate ourselves. These courses also focus on preventative measures to help you set up a life of health and abundance. It is no less than life changing to say the least - you will never look at a weed the same again and will always be able to think more about the choices you make for your health and well-being  It is very powerful to know these simple truths.

If you or any of your family or friends are interested in Pat's course for 2013 please email me ASAP with your details. I will be doing all correspondence for these courses over email and will be finalising the role in the next week.

Each course will be held on the second Saturday of each month from 10am till 4pm at Jilliby Hall (except for the December class which will be on the first Saturday) & we all bring a pot luck lunch to share. The cost of the course will be $70 for the day and will include all products to take home as well as rent for the hall. Please know that you leave the day with much more product than what you pay for; Pat is very generous with her goodies - some months we made up to 10 products each such as fresh herbal teas, capsules, creams and ointments, just to name a few. Not only would we come home with a bag of wonderful freshly made goodies, we knew from our teachings that day just how to use them in our lives. Each month we would come back with stories of success of the products we made and tried on our families!

The first half of the day is spent being taught by Pat on the chosen topic of the month and the second half is spent making all the products we leave with. You therefore learn all you need to about the product you are using and how to make it yourself - groups have been formed where the class has gotten together on their own to make products for themselves as we have been given the know-how to do this after learning from Pat.

Payment will be required in advance to secure your spot. I will confirm this with those who are interested and each month it will be required that you pay in advance for the next month. This payment system was used last year and attributed to the year being so successful and a full class most months.

Please contact me directly asap if you would like to be placed on the roll. It is expected that each student will attend each month, but if you are unable to make all months, please let me know.

Kelly"

NO Co-op today, tomorrow instead!

Remember, there is no co-op on today, as it's a public holiday.

FIG will operate tomorrow: 

Tuesday 29th January 

from 2.00pm until 5.00pm.

See you there!

Public holiday operating hours

There's a public holiday looming up and, as usual, FIG will meet on the Tuesday of that week instead.

As a scouting group is due to use the hall late Tuesday afternoon, we shall need to be packed up nice and early with no extras being sold after 4.30pm.

The FIG Co-op operating hours will be:

2pm until 5pm, Tuesday 29th January.

NO CO-OP ON MONDAY 28TH

Please note that co-op on Monday 21st will be the normal operating hours - 2-6pm.

See you at the co-op!

Starting off in 2013

Hello everyone, and a Happy New Year to all...

FIG begins operations next Monday, 7th January. Same times, same place:

2-6pm, Ourimbah Scout Hall

Ourimbah Creek Road 

(first on the left after service station)

See you there!