Co-op information for December and January

The end of another year is fast approaching. Where does the time go?!

The co-op is open for another two weeks on the 15th and 22nd December, then will have a short break.

FIG will be closed on 29th December and 5th January, and resumes on the following date:

First day back in 2015

Monday 12th January

Due to increases in the price of produce box prices will be $33.00 from January 2015.

During the final two weeks of co-op for this year, we will conduct the normal weekly boxes, a bulk order, have the usual extras table produce overflowing with goodies, and see two more weeks of the Member Markets - a great place to stop and buy some pressies - bring your cash with you!

See you at the co-op.....!

National Organic Week

It's National Organic Week! 

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We realised this very late in the piece and didn't have time in between moving and setting up the at the new venue to organise a big and bright event so we conducted a box draw. 

We put the names of all our members in a hat (well, a box!) and drew out JACQUI's name. 

   Congratulations to Jacqui!!    

Your next FIG food box is FREE...!

FIG updates 22nd March

Just a quick update today, to keep you informed of what's a-happening...

The biggest and latest news is that FIG has really, finally, become officially Incorporated, and is now known as Food Integrity Group Co-operative Limited. We have now received our Certificate of Incorporation and are currently in the process of changing the bank account and notifying suppliers of our new ABN and so forth.

Five Directors were elected and members will be kept informed of meeting schedules, including when the AGM shall be held, shortly, via emails and notices here on the blog.

Due to the bank account change, those members on automatic direct debits for the payment of their FIG boxes, or who pay online for their produce and/or bulk orders, will be sent an email shortly outlining the new details with a request to update their records.

Last week, the FIG box contents were 100% local, which was fantastic, and something we are aiming for, eventually for every week.

We see 2012 as a period of growth for FIG. As more people hear of us; as we find suitable venues with storage facilities and increased refrigeration, and as the farmers grow more to supply us, we can supply YOU, the residents of the Central Coast, with safe, healthy food for your families.

Something we really want to develop this year in earnest is the FIG Friend, or Box Buddy, system, where members take away a few food boxes so that other members can collect from the FIG Friend homes instead of everyone driving singularly to FIG each week. If you are keen to be a pick up point - a FIG Friend - or would like to join FIG and cannot get there during operating hours, then please email us on info@fig.org.au and we'll see what we can do to help set up something in your area.

Come visit us any time during operating hours, to see what we do and order a FIG box to try the following week, or email your enquiries to info@fig.org.au.

See you at the co-op!

And the winner is.......!

Congratulations to Jane of Wyong who won a FREE FIG BOX this week in the Wyong Co-op's First Birthday Draw!

Each year, on FIG's birthday, we hold a draw, and it's almost hard to believe we have been at our Wyong venue for a whole year but there you go, we have.

If you would like to come and chat to us about organising a FIG box, have a look at the extensive extras table and hear about the fortnightly bulk fruit orders we place (for families who eat a lot of fruit or want extra potatoes, or for those who juice regularly or drink smoothies), then the Wyong hours are 3.00pm until 4.30 pm on Tuesdays in Room 5 at the Wyong Neighbourhood Centre in Wyong (map here).

We're also at Ourimbah on Mondays (except for public holidays) from 2.30pm until 5pm at the Bill Sohier Community Centre, Ken Cook Way, Ourimbah (map here).

It's FIG's third birthday at Ourimbah in February so we shall be holding another draw then. Although we have seen a lot of new members walk through the doors in that time, we still have many of the originals who continue to support the co-op and the local organic farmers, ordering their weekly or fortnightly FIG box containing organic or guaranteed chemical free produce grown locally*.

Plans for 2012 include a farm tour and workshops for members in Cheese Making, Preserving, and Sourdough Bread Making.

See you soon at the co-op...





* At times, depending on the season and what the local farmers are growing, we may need to top up from the Sydney markets to fill your box. Carrots are simply not grown locally and many of our members want fruit included, of which very little is grown locally - except for an abundant supply of beautiful citrus of course!

More courses and information

Well after that superb article on Kohlrabi this week, it seems there may not be any next Monday! We were under the impression they would be available for a few weeks however perhaps the next crop just isn't ready yet. If we do happen to find some, they'll be on the extras table.

The severe frost earlier this week has affected local green leafy vegetables so some adjustments will need to be made to the orders over the weekend, as usual! The red mustard greens will be turning up again and some of the co-op members wonder how to prepare them. Kel, the farmer, advises they can be eaten in salads but if you don't like the "heat", can be sauteed or popped in stir frys or any dish you would normally use spinach and silverbeet in, and it loses the bite.

This is the time of year for citrus and and we have chemical free oranges, mandarins and lemons coming in from Mangrove Mountain, Dooralong and Hawkesbury districts, as well as lemons, limes and grapefruit from co-op members. Vitamin C is important for general health and wellbeing, especially so at this time of year to help ward off or lessen the impact of colds, so keep up with the oranges and the kiwi fruit we have at present from Ourimbah, which is an excellent source of Vitamin C. If you would like some kiwi fruit in larger quantities, please see us at the desk to arrange.

In keeping with passing on information to our members about learning to grow their own food - the freshest and the best option of all! - we are pleased to advise of the following:

~ Workshops at Purple Pear Organics, via Maitland, are being held on Propagation and Seed Saving on 24th July and Making Compost and Worm Farming on 25th July. As Purple Pear make some of the best compost in the world, book in and learn their methods!

~ Permaculture Design Certificate held over five weekends at Purple Pear, beginning 7th August.

~ TAFE Outreach, Wyong, is going to be running some free courses in growing your own food, Permaculture, Eco Food Shopping and many others and enquiries can be made with Kerry on 4350 2370. These fill up fast so ring asap.

~ Interested in Aquaponics and growing fish and vegies in your backyard? One of our highly talented FIG members runs Tank To Table Aquaponics and will be holding an information session for FIG co-op members on a Saturday in August, with workshops following in Spring for those who want to take it further. Please email your expressions of interest in joining us on the day to fig.centralcoast @ gmail.com (minus the spaces).

We have added in some new links on the left in regards to buying seeds and growing information and update the blog quite regularly, so please call back soon and have a look around.
See you at the co-op....

Maree

FIG updates 9th April, 2010

Thanks for all the favourable comments about the produce. They have been passed on to our farmers who are quite appreciative, actually.

We have added a section to the FIG blog, for those who have requested it, which you'll be able to click on after 8pm Sunday night to see what produce is expected for the FIG boxes the following day. You'll find this information in the sidebar to the left, under the title "What's in the FIG box this week?". As mentioned previously, there can be last minute changes such as the eggplants this week which many of us were eagerly anticipating and which did not arrive, sending the FIG folk into a whirl of what to substitute! Edited 10.4.10

We were delighted to have some fresh produce from local gardens again this week and some chilli and herbs set out to be taken for free. A big thanks to our members for providing these. Next Monday we will have Ruby Grapefruit - if you tend to drop by late and would like us to put some aside for you, please email FIG at fig.centralcoast @ gmail.com (minus the spaces).

Did anyone try that beautiful Ourimbah honey this week? Very delish! And how more local could it be?

Tonight we have been invited to a talk with the Central Coast Plant Society, given by Dr Tim Entwisle of the University of Sydney and the Botanic Gardens Trust on The Seasons of our Region. This is of relevance to the gardeners and food growers amongst us, and will be held at 8pm this evening at the Narara Research Station.

On Tuesday 20th April, Permaculture Central Coast will be holding their next Information Evening at Tuggerah with April Sampson-Kelly of Permaculture Visions as guest speaker. If you are keen on growing your own food and wish to live a more sustaining life, have been wanting to complete a Permaculture Design Course but cannot get to one, then April conducts courses by distance education which may suit.

One of our members is building a rammed earth and strawbale home at Ourimbah and is going to be conducting some working bees. If you are interested in helping out and even learning from this experience in view to building your own home, please contact FIG and will we pass your details on.

Don't forget the management meeting next Monday, due to start as soon as we're packed up and swept up after co-op has finished for the day. The end of the financial year is looming which represents the end of an official FIG year too, with only two meetings left to go after this one. We think this is a good time to reassess our method of operation and whether we bring in any changes from July. If you are a member and would like to be included in on the discussion, please come along.


See you at the co-op...

FIG box contents 6th April

We weren't able to post a list last night of expected produce for 6th April as we were waiting on a confirmation or two, however here it is so far (updated Monday night):

Bananas
Oranges
Passionfruit
Mushrooms OR rocket OR kale
Lettuce
Broccoli OR brussel sprouts
Cauliflower
Cabbage
Roma beans OR Lebanese eggplant
Roma tomatoes
Silverbeet OR bok choi
Potatoes
Pumpkin
Zucchini


See you at the co-op...!

29th March at the co-op

This week at the co-op we have lots of lovely local produce and the food boxes are scheduled to contain:

• zucchinis (2 types to choose from)
• tomatoes
• broccoli
• cauliflower
• Swiss brown mushrooms OR yellow squash
• Cabbage OR brussel sprouts OR rocket
• capsicums OR Lebanese cucumbers
• passionfruit
• watermelon
• bananas
• Valencia oranges
• pumpkin (2-3 types)
• Lettuce (2 types)
• carrots
• beans

The list changes weekly depending on what's available from the farmers (hope we haven't forgotten anything in the list above), and fairly often there can be last minute changes, depending on the weather, the rabbits or the wallabies, and so forth. If there are any late changes we order and substitute another vegetable.

On the extras table we will have some gramma (for yummy gramma pie), bunches of rocket and silverbeet, purple radishes, beetroot and coriander, bok choy, and good ol' Aussie garlic and ginger.

We're crossing our fingers that Antje is back with her hand made bread, and we hear that some members are turning up tomorrow with home grown (and chemical free of course) beans, lemon cucumbers, bunches of basil and local bananas.

Thank you to those FIGGERs who arrive from time to time with produce to give away. This is generally herbs and bay leaves, and the dried chilli a while back was extremely popular! Last week we had a huge range of herbs and edibles brought in. Thank you very much, to everyone for your generosity in sharing with others.

Don't forget to provide feedback on a FIG seed swap as some members have expressed interest in this.

Don't forget FIG can order in organic local goats milk, too. Order at the desk.

See you at the co-op...!

Where we're at, March 2010

Well, well, it's been quite a year. So much to catch up on and to tell - but we'll stick to the basics!

FIG has just celebrated it's FIRST BIRTHDAY, Woohoo!!

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We began operating on 23rd February, 2009, and the first co-op day was held at the Cedar Valley Centre Hall at Jilliby. This was a bit too far for our delivery guy and many of our local families to drive however a venue was urgently needed and we're very grateful the hall was available. We were able to quickly organise another venue at Ourimbah, where we remain today, and began operating in our current format, dealing directly with local organic farmers and suppliers, at the beginning of June, 2009.

It's been an exciting time in which we've been involved with the Central Coast branch of the Sydney Food Fairness Alliance and the subseqent Food Forum in Wyong; were announced as the Community Environment Network's Environment Group of the Month; witnessed our local avocado supplier newly being certified for mushrooms as well (and they're beautiful!); commenced bulk ordering of organic meats and bulk fruit as an additional service; welcomed Antje turning up weekly with her yummy home made, hand-kneaded, bread; organised a community harvest event on a local kiwi fruit farm and subsequently included the produce in the weekly FIG boxes and a jam making session; held some workshops and information sessions, and steadily increased our numbers. The feedback from our members after using the produce from the FIG boxes in meals for their families has been positive and wonderful to hear. Some of our aims were to give local farmers a fair price for their produce and to also make it affordable to local families and we think we're doing that. Thank you, everyone, for your comments.

Special thanks must go to Michael Champion, local organic farmer, for not only supporting FIG but co-ordinating several farming families here on the Central Coast and Kirkconnell (west of Sydney and just within a radius of 160 kms from here) to bring a larger range of local, seasonal, fresh produce to us weekly.

Thanks also to the key management group for getting us this far so successfully and with very few glitches; to Andrew who continues to advise on all matters co-op, and to Lani who hosted us all in her loungeroom when we were getting together and chatting about how we could go about all this. And where would we be without our members who support the co-op week in, week out, supply us with their surplus herbs and eggs and vegetables, and regular volunteers who help set up, pack up, bag vegies, wipe benches, vacuum the floor, etc?!

THANK YOU TO EACH & EVERY ONE OF YOU!

Now to some details for anyone new reading this or wanting a refresher: FIG operates weekly from 3-5.30pm each Monday - except for when Monday is a public holiday and we move to Tuesday. Address, phone number and email address are to be found in the bar on the right.

Our first priority is to order from what is available locally and then, depending on the weather, rabbits, varieties and quantities planted and so forth, we have to supplement our order with produce from an organic supplier in Sydney. As our members also like to have carrots, potatoes and some fruits such as bananas in their boxes, we generally order these weekly from Sydney as well. One day more of these items may be grown organically on the coast, in which case most of our FIG boxes would be sourced locally.

More information to come shortly.

Bye for now from all of us at FIG!