Where to from here?
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Lynne Dempsey
Oct 29, 2008, 1:37:13 AM10/29/08
to ttopoti...@googlegroups.com
Dear people on the Transition Town Opotiki Coast List
This is a response to Kazel's e-mail asking "Where to from here?" which you will have read:
I've been watching Jamie Oliver's 'Food Nation' programme in which he is trying to get a town of 10 000 people who mostly live on junk/takeaway food learning to cook - (some expensive ingredients it seems to me - salmon? proscuito?) - by giving 10 willing people a cooking lesson each week with the idea that each person will teach the recipe to two others - who will then teach two more - until the whole town has learnt to cook!! Fantastic idea - but Jamie is tearing his hair out because his novice cooks are NOT 'passing it on'!
The Transition Town concept is similar - as a community we are facing an unprecedented global financial melt-down and soaring food costs. Many people can't cook. There is huge uncertainty about future oil prices and how/when our climate will be upset. Some of us are doing okay for now - we have jobs or savings - but others will need new skills to cope with unemployment and general stress - and these will take time to learn. Those with the know-how and awareness need to pass this on to others - because we are all in this together!
Kazel has set up a painless (for us) Food Co op - but we need more than ten people to join! Could someone do a comparison with supermarket prices and get this out to encourage others to join? That would be great...
Can we commit to buying the free-range chickens from Young's butchery? After the shocking British programmes on cheap factory farmed chickens I never want to touch another one again - smaller portions of free-range is the answer - with good stock from the carcase a bonus.
We had a fantastic workshop learning about seabed enhancement with REAF - who have some funds from EBOP to develop this pioneering community endeavour to improve the in-shore fishing - but hardly anyone came! Can you come to the next one?
I am looking forward to the Local Market-place concept getting underway - can those of you planning to sell stuff - let us know through this discussion group when you will be there and what you have to sell - so we don't miss out?
We started out with such enthusiasm - lots of talk and good projects - I would rather we got those established and passed the concept on to more people before we spread ourselves across more talk-fests!
I am enjoying Barbara Kingsolver's easy to read 'Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: Our year of Seasonal Eating' heaps of growing/preserving tips (you can freeze courgettes!) and recipes (you can make mozzarella cheese!) - be good to have this in our library. The author is aiming to get Americans growing/eating locally and frequenting Farmer's Markets - which are expanding across all states!
I will set up some Green Screenings which are a huge success in Whakatane (admittedly 4 times our population) so hope some TTers can come to these now and then.
And finally a political notice: I tried for 10 days to set up an all-candidates meeting in Opotiki with no success - only two of five candidates could come on any of the dates offered. So wearing my Green hat - I am organising a public meeting to meet the local candidate, Catherine Delahunty - Tuesday 4th November at 7 00 pm at the Heritage Art Centre. Scrumptious supper - all welcome - we want to spend some time looking at the cattle-contaminated Otara river and how we can clean this up!
(Anyone is welcome to send out notices of other political meetings).
Hope to hear from lots of you!
Regards
Lynne Dempsey
This is a response to Kazel's e-mail asking "Where to from here?" which you will have read:
I've been watching Jamie Oliver's 'Food Nation' programme in which he is trying to get a town of 10 000 people who mostly live on junk/takeaway food learning to cook - (some expensive ingredients it seems to me - salmon? proscuito?) - by giving 10 willing people a cooking lesson each week with the idea that each person will teach the recipe to two others - who will then teach two more - until the whole town has learnt to cook!! Fantastic idea - but Jamie is tearing his hair out because his novice cooks are NOT 'passing it on'!
The Transition Town concept is similar - as a community we are facing an unprecedented global financial melt-down and soaring food costs. Many people can't cook. There is huge uncertainty about future oil prices and how/when our climate will be upset. Some of us are doing okay for now - we have jobs or savings - but others will need new skills to cope with unemployment and general stress - and these will take time to learn. Those with the know-how and awareness need to pass this on to others - because we are all in this together!
Kazel has set up a painless (for us) Food Co op - but we need more than ten people to join! Could someone do a comparison with supermarket prices and get this out to encourage others to join? That would be great...
Can we commit to buying the free-range chickens from Young's butchery? After the shocking British programmes on cheap factory farmed chickens I never want to touch another one again - smaller portions of free-range is the answer - with good stock from the carcase a bonus.
We had a fantastic workshop learning about seabed enhancement with REAF - who have some funds from EBOP to develop this pioneering community endeavour to improve the in-shore fishing - but hardly anyone came! Can you come to the next one?
I am looking forward to the Local Market-place concept getting underway - can those of you planning to sell stuff - let us know through this discussion group when you will be there and what you have to sell - so we don't miss out?
We started out with such enthusiasm - lots of talk and good projects - I would rather we got those established and passed the concept on to more people before we spread ourselves across more talk-fests!
I am enjoying Barbara Kingsolver's easy to read 'Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: Our year of Seasonal Eating' heaps of growing/preserving tips (you can freeze courgettes!) and recipes (you can make mozzarella cheese!) - be good to have this in our library. The author is aiming to get Americans growing/eating locally and frequenting Farmer's Markets - which are expanding across all states!
I will set up some Green Screenings which are a huge success in Whakatane (admittedly 4 times our population) so hope some TTers can come to these now and then.
And finally a political notice: I tried for 10 days to set up an all-candidates meeting in Opotiki with no success - only two of five candidates could come on any of the dates offered. So wearing my Green hat - I am organising a public meeting to meet the local candidate, Catherine Delahunty - Tuesday 4th November at 7 00 pm at the Heritage Art Centre. Scrumptious supper - all welcome - we want to spend some time looking at the cattle-contaminated Otara river and how we can clean this up!
(Anyone is welcome to send out notices of other political meetings).
Hope to hear from lots of you!
Regards
Lynne Dempsey
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