Monday, March 17, 2008

Cody: an advertisement for healthy eating

In today's paper, Pierce Cody, founder of Cody Outdoor - you know, that company that owns billboard real estate across the country - tells us where he ate last week.
In 2004, Cody became part-owner of Macro Wholefoods, which up until then had been
a small organic wholefoods grocery store and cafe located at Bondi Junction for 20 years, and regarded as "an institution" by the locals.
I guess owning an organic wholefoods store is a business proposition for Pierce, not something that is reflected in the way he lives (and eats).

Thursday, March 13, 2008

save our blue mountains food co-op

received and email today from my blue mountains friends, and with it, a call to action. there are some concerns about recent events, including resignations from the Board of Directors. a petition has been launched to request that a General Meeting of the Directors be called. I see that Sybbi has resigned as bookkeeper. this must be serious. Sybbi has been bookkeeper for the food coop for as long as i have known her (6 years), and has been an active member since almost the beginning of the coop. i have always respected Sybbi's input. though we might not always have agreed on matters, Sybbi has consistently stood up for what she believes in.
residing in melbourne means i'm no longer actively involved
the blue mountains food coop, however i have a strong interest in seeing the coop continue to thrive as a sustainable community resource for the blue mountains. it embodies all those things i feel passionate about; food, community, organics, sustainability and local action.
i recall that even during my time on the Management Committee, there were tensions. aren't there always? the issues then were related to the two "p"s. people and premises.
back in 2002-03 a fair amount of discussion, and some division, arose around the issue of whether to remain small, or whether to grow. despite varying views, a search for new premises began in 2002. this proved to be a difficult proposition as few sites in central Katoomba (ie. the main street) provide the necessary floor space in which the coop could expand.
at the same time, some issues were arising amongst the coop workers. i saw some of this activity as a response to growth. with the need to increase staff numbers and extend opening hours, the coordination of staff became a larger and more complex job. yes, personalities were involved, but more importantly what was missing was the ability to sensitively and compassionately manage the impact of the changes that were resulting in problems. trust was becoming an issue, and i could see a rift opening up between "workers" and "management" which i know neither party wanted.
these issues remained unresolved when i resigned my directorship in 2003 (or was in early 2004?). seems like they are coming to the surface to be resolved now.
i have cast my vote on the website to call for a General Meeting, because i believe that the only healthy way to resolve a situation like this is through open and honest communication. because this is a cooperative, it absolutely must honour the views of it's members. open forum is essential.
i'll be watching this space . . .




Tuesday, March 11, 2008

Are oats raw?


Wow. Seredipity at work. Cathy and i had this conversation yesterday, on the way back from seeing a film. She asked me if rolled oats were a raw food. I didn't have an exact answer, but had heard that some brands were and others were heat-treated above 45 deg. In summary, it depends. Mental note, to do more research. Then in today's paper . . . here it is!

Demeter Farm Mill "oats are not heated when they are rolled".

Sunday, March 9, 2008

Welcome to my blog

Welcome. After many years of toying with blogs, fiddling behind the scenes and staying too attached to my paper diaries (and the wonderful experience of hand-writing them), i realise it is now time i started publishing these gems. Here, the greatest obstacle has been (as has always been the case with my written diaries) how to organise the blog (s)? Do i have one blog, or many? Do i organise them by personal and professional, by topic or how? As an information management consultant, it seems ironic to be held captive to the classic dilemma of the "cobbler's children". Whatever. So today, in the spirit of a "do it now" impulse, i am launching this raw blog.

It's raw because i want to gather together my thoughts on how i live. This is the journey of my experiences with food. Occasionally it digresses into related areas; growing food (permaculture, community gardens), housing (sustainable living practices) and other sustainable practices (eating vegan, buying local, food miles, sustainable transport); but the theme is food and the food is primarily raw and living.

What is raw? The raw foodists call it food that has not been heated above 45 degrees celsius. Below that temperature, the food is still "alive". It still contains living enzymes, minerals and has a high nutritional value. Heat it above that level and the enzymes, minerals and highly nutritional things die. Raw food is not processed. Unless the label says so, all processed (generally, food that comes in a packet; including drinks) food is cooked or pasteurised. Cold does NOT equal raw. In essence raw food is whole, un-processed, fresh and as close to nature as is humanly possible. Some raw foodists include (fresh) raw animal flesh and other raw animal products (e.g. milk) in this category. As a vegan, I don't.

I hope you enjoy my ramblings. I hope you'll contribute your thoughts.