Prior to purchasing the property, we became aware of the fact that we have wombats residing under the buildings on the property...awww cute yes...not so good for structures though and our pets (supposedly they lure cats and dogs into their lair and intentionally do harm).... So after consultation with the local wildlife group, we have found out that you cant actually move wombats, because if you do they will try and find their way back home and usually end up as roadkill or having a fight with another wombat over territory...ouch... So the only way is to encourage the wombats to move to another one of the homes (yes quite the entrepreneurial spirit, often having 2-3 unrenovated homes). This will be undertaken by setting up a low grade electric fence around the perimeter of the buildings, placing sand around the burrow and waiting until they have left for the evening. The electric fence is then put on, once they receive the gentle persuasion, they immediately go and renovate another one of their dens... Amazing , think we will miss the huge pot holes around the buildings and the idea that another beautiful creature wants to share the space, but we have located their other dens and know that they will only be a couple of meters away....Till next week on the farm
The Organic Empire is about delivering the highest quality organic foods all over Victoria. Real food grown by people that have passion for what they do and in turn create the freshest, healthiest organic foods around. To these our farmers, we take off our hats for their bounty is what keeps us healthy and alive.tastesbetter@organicempire.com.au
Monday, August 8, 2011
Organic Certification and wombats
So back to the grind this week, the first thing we need to address on our farm is organic certification. Have been going through the different certifying bodies, to determine what separates them from each other and the truth is not much. They all routinely do random assessments, and have the same rules...so its fair game. The OGA certified organic Australia, will be our badge of choice....look out for it peoples, will be completing the forms this week...tooo exciting.
Monday, July 25, 2011
Fountain of Youth
The Organic Center is a research facility in the US, they have released an interesting article on organic foods, antioxidants and the fountain of youth, check it out here....
FOUNTAIN OF YOUTH FOODSOrganic Blueberries, tea and cocoa, all contain tea and blueberries,catechins, antioxidants that can turn off damaging transcription factors and turn on protective ones. Cocoa contains procyanidin B-2, which can protects brain cells from inflammation and stop the production of pro-inflammatory chemicals that are released in the skin.
Organic Cinnamon is a powerful anti-inflammatory spice that regulates blood sugar and assists in keeping skin wrinkle-free.
Raw fresh organic foods in their natural state, offer a plethora of antioxidants and nutrients to nourish the body and provide anti ageing support and health.
Citrus Fruits–oranges, tangerines, lemons, limes, and grapefruit–all have vitamin C, known to reduce the risk of cancer and cataracts. In addition, citrus fruits contain limonese–a compound that may help the liver detoxify carcinogenic chemicals.
Sulfophrane found in cruciferous vegetables such as Broccoli, cauliflower, kale and bok choy contain a naturally-occurring compound in foods that neutralizes highly reactive, dangerous forms of cancer-causing chemicals before they can damage cells and promote cancer.
Sunday, July 24, 2011
Protect our daily bread
If you are new to the Genetically Modified food debate, please allow me to give you a basic rundown , genetically modified food is foods that are created in a laboratory, by modifying the genes of crops to make it possible to put more fertilisers and pesticides on them that it wont kill them...but possibly us.
Genetically modified foods have never been proven safe for humans to eat, yet our government is allowing this.
Apart from the the nutritional affects, if a genetically modified seed lands on a non GM farm, the farmer then has to pay foreign companies for that germination..... the most ridiculous thing ever... there are many court cases going on around the world as we speak, where little farmers are being taken to court. One such case already exists in Australia, an organic farmer in western Australia is battling these companies after his organic farm was contaminated by GM crops, losing his organic certification and ruining his farm!
So what can you do.....
GET EDUCATED
Check out this video
Boycott wheat, these amazing chefs are on board too , read more about it here
SUPPORT ORGANIC FARMS AND BUSINESSES
Join the True food Network
Shop responsibly, email the supermarkets tell them you don't want GM crops on their shelves
VOTE WITH YOUR DOLLARS,
Thursday, July 21, 2011
Wholesale Markets moving to Epping
So it was announced yesterday that the Wholesale produce markets are officially moving to Epping, this has so many implications for anyone who eats in Melbourne unless of course you live in Epping or in the vicinity of Epping.
This is not just the organic world it will affect but the conventional markets as well, forcing increases in the cost of food, which is three fold, this in conjunction with rising oil prices and a new carbon tax, fruit and vegetable vendors have no choice but to either raise their prices or shut up shop. The relocation will also mean that the vendors will have to refurbish their stores and this costs money, which ultimately the consumer will wear!
Speaking of that already way to many small fruit and vegetable vendors have decided that by the time this move occurs they will have shut up shop. This is really sad for the fresh food industry in Melbourne and means that the bigger players, namely the supermarkets will dominate the market even more. The repercussions of this are disastrous for our farmers, our food and our livelihood.
So what can be done, now that the decision has been made, unfortunately not much in terms of lobbying. I think the most important thing that can be done is supporting your local fruit and vegetable vendors, ensuring that you vote with your dollar and keep the world of fresh food alive. The alternative is that when the big players totally dominate, your 'perfect' foods, waxed apples, sprayed tomatoes will take over this world.... Keep the power people, vote with your dollar and while we are on the subject 'go organic, support our local farmers, work with us'
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
Organic Cheffie
Spread the word tell your friends, lets get creating together...a true masterpiece of health.
SORRY ONLY FOR FOODIES WHO LIVE IN METRO MELBOURNE
Wednesday, July 13, 2011
MIRANDA KERR AND ORGANICS and KIDS ORGANIC FARMS
I think its fabulous when a high profile celebrity such as Miranda Kerr, backs an industry. Miranda Kerr is a big proponent of organics and a down to earth realist, she has also developed her own organic skin care range KORA organics.
In Australia she is also backing the 'Organic School Gardens' program. This is a fantastic program that we will be hosting on our very organic farm 'Scattagnolo'. The 'Organic School Gardens' programs seeks to educate primary school children on the skills of organic farming and provides practical support to teachers and children alike. You can even use this program in your own educating your kids on farming methods that you can demonstrate in your backyard.
For more information on our farm, check us out here
Monday, July 11, 2011
CARBON TAX V ORGANIC FARMING
All this conversation about the carbon tax can be very confusing, is it right to charge more and penalise for use, or would it be best to teach new ways, foster new methods. Charging people, industry more for use just increases our cost of living, when there are soooo many more methods for positive change, one of them being organic farming. This is known as carbon sequestion.
Through the process of organic farming, carbon is sequested from the environment, this is a process through which carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere is absorbed by trees, plants and crops through photosynthesis, and stored as carbon in biomass (tree trunks, branches, foliage and roots) and soils. This relates to the organic matter in organic soil being mainly carbon. In conventional farming the organic matter is typically depleted.
The Rodale Institute has translated this to if '10,000 medium sized farms were converted to organic production, they would store so much carbon in the soil that it would be equivalent to taking 1,174,400 cars off the road, or reducing car miles driven by 14.62 billion miles.'
Makes good sense...just another reason to GO ORGANIC.
Just another bit of information:
Other methods of carbon reduction would be to stop the logging of old growth forests, tropical deforestation accounts for around 20% of the WORLD's carbon emissions.
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