Ben’s best on-farm chicken abattoir / Christmas break
Ben’s best on-farm chicken abattoir Yesterday, I drove out to Taranaki Farm in Woodend to see Ben Falloon and his new on-farm micro-abattoir (that’s it and Ben above). You may remember Ben’s Pozible campaign where eight hundred and fifty people pledged $111,507 supporting Ben’s vision to process his chickens in the most ethical, healthy and humane way he could. Coming up the Taranaki Farm driveway the grass […]
Our Merri Creek
Gathering together to acknowledge, cleanse and reclaim our safe spaces along the Merri Creek and across our community.
Mushin’s magnificent millipede
On Friday while picking up some tomato seedlings from CERES Propagation I spy the unmistakable red bearded figure of Steve Mushin creating some kind of metal hooped sculpture up on the hill. This vision can only mean one thing.
If ever there was a week to eat tart. The sound of good gut music.
Loafer Bread’s Andrea Brabazon bakes these delicate pastries, slices, cakes and biscuits and lays them out in a simple wood and glass cabinet at her bakery in North Fitzroy. In the way of an artist Andrea takes simple organic ingredients; flour, butter, eggs and sugar and through a mixture of finely honed skill and magical pâtissiering she creates this exquisite edible exhibition – not just once a year but every day. […]
A week to be thankful. Christmas specials and a little break.
Over December I’ve been on long service leave with my family in Vietnam. We’ve just been to Can Tho on the Mekong River to visit the famous floating wholesale produce market. That’s it in the pic above, if you are a vegetable logistics enthusiast it’s a must see. Later that day at our hotel while I was watching our kids swim in the pool I got talking to a young waiter called Khanh. Khanh was the first son of a rice farmer and had come to Can Tho to study and find work. The next night we all went out for dinner and learnt a little aboutKhanh’s life. Fresh out of university with a degree in tourism Khanh hoped one day to be a tour guide but for the moment was working two hospitality jobs (he also had a job at a local Burger King). He told me his wages were about $150 month, $50 of that going to pay for his room in a boarding house. Later when we went for ice cream I worked out the price of our 5 cones were equivalent to Khanh’s wages for that day. Now Khanh isn’t badly off by Vietnam standards; he’s educated, well fed and clothed, has a steady income and good prospects. There are many people in his community living far more precarious existences but It just made me think […]
Hassan and the longest, longest wait. festival 21
Today we were over at our park having a Christmas family portrait taken to be sent to the grandparents and uncles and aunties scattered around the world. Our sons went from cute to bored to completely weird as they coped with the interminable ordeal of being dressed relatively smartly,sitting in one spot for several moments and smiling. It was as mundane and everyday as could be – […]
