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Are you a Keen gardener? Do you need sheep manure? Let us help! Students travelling to Japan fundraiser All monies go to aid students travelling to Japan on a school trip (AHS and DUVAL HS) in October Holidays. PLEASE email all orders to melissa.wood4@det.nsw.edu.au Sheep Poo can be picked up from the Growers Market. Orders of 3 or more bags can be delivered. COST $8 LARGE FEED BAG PICK UP:
What is Produce for Pupils? Produce for Pupils is an initiative of the Armidale Farmers’ Market and Car Boot Sale. It has several aims:
How would it work? The farmers’ market is held on the first and third Sunday of every month at Curtis Park. Participating schools would ask the families of their students, and any other interested volunteers, to help raise funds by growing produce for sale at the market. The school would have a market stall to sell the produce. All revenue from the produce sold would go to the school. This would involve a couple of volunteers from the school community running the stall on the day of the market. This could be on a roster system in order to distribute the commitment. All that would be required from each participating family is the establishment of a very small vegetable plot. Families without a garden could participate by growing herbs in pots or by voluntering to run a stall occasionally. Even fresh flowers from existing garden plants could be sold. Families not participating in the growing could support the school by buying its produce. Where a school already has a vegetable garden, it may wish to donate this produce to the stall. Alternatively it may wish to start a vegetable garden for this purpose. Participating schools could promote the sale of their produce to the school community in their newsletters. Even participating familes may wish to buy produce, items they do not grow themselves, from the stall. Also, the produce will of course be available for sale to the general community. How much would it cost to participate? Stalls at the farmers market are only $20 each. The school would need a 3m x 3m market canopy to provide shelter for the produce and stallholders. These can be inexpensive. Twice per month may be difficult for the school to achieve. The school would not necessarily need to have a stall at every market. The school may decide to only hold it once per month. However, plants keep growing and fresh produce does not keep so it is recommended that a stall be held at least monthly. What types of produce could be grown? This is up to the participating families. They may decide to grow a range of fruit and vegetables, in either large or small quantities. Some families may already grow fruit and vegetables and decide to just donate their excess. Some may decide to specialise in one thing such as herbs, or just parsley. Bunches of flowers from existing plants, or plants/seedlings may be also sold. Does the produce need to be organically grown? There is no way of enforcing this but participating families are encouraged to grow chemical free produce. This type of produce is now in demand and tends to be expensive if purchased in shops. Produce can not be sold as “organic” without certification and for many people, this may not be practical. However, where the produce is grown without chemicals, it should be labelled “chemical free”. How do we price the produce? The price put on the produce is up to the school. It can be helpful to check what the same produce is currently selling for in local supermarkets and other shops. The school may ask the grower to price the produce. Alternatively, it may have a market committee to do this. Produce can be sold by weight (eg. price per kilo). Otherwise, a set price can be predetermined (eg. $1.00 per cucumber, $5 per bunch of flowers, $2 per bag of tomatoes). This eliminates the need for reliable scales. What would we do with any excess produce at the end of a market day? The school may decide to let the volunteers running the stall have any excess produce in return for their time. Alternatively, it could be dontated to a local charitable organisation. What about packaging? Market attendees are encouraged to bring their own bags. Where it is necessary to provide packaging, schools are encouraged to use biodegradeable packaging (eg. brown paper bags). Old newspapers can be used to wrap some produce. Used cardboard boxes, to hold the produce, can often be sourced at no charge from local businesses. I am interested. How can I get this started? The market organiser, Robert Gasparre is available to discuss the inititive with the school and/or school P&C.
Where: St Peters Pre-School off O’Dell St. Details: This will be a tree planting day for the National Tree Day What to bring: Lots of planting gear as well as your own personal protection gear (gloves, hats, sturdy boots, sun screen etc). we will also need to spread mulch around the plants so mulch spreading gear would be great. A morning tea and BBQ lunch will be provided for a gold coin donation. We expect the day will be over by about 1.30pm. The site is registered on the http://planetark.org/ web site as site number 47961.
As part of the legislation, a review of the Scheme must be undertaken as soon as possible to identify how it has performed against its original objectives. Mr Lynch said the Solar Bonus Scheme was established in January to encourage renewable energy, build green jobs and promote renewable energy technology. He said there had been a rapid uptake of the NSW Scheme with about 30,000 households now being paid to feed renewable energy into the electricity grid. “This is the right time to evaluate the Scheme against its objectives and identify how it can continue meeting the community’s needs,” Mr Lynch said. Public submissions will be received before 30 September, with the review to be tabled in Parliament towards the end of the next session of Parliament. Mr Lynch said the review by NSW Industry and Investment would look at a range of issues relevant to the Scheme’s objectives. Under the legislation, a further review must be undertaken by the Auditor-General early next year. Mr Lynch said the important terms of the Scheme, such as its length and the tariff rate, were locked into legislation. “If any changes are to be proposed, the legislation would need to be amended and we are on the record stating that any changes would not be applied retrospectively,” Mr Lynch said. “That means no customers who have already entered the Scheme will be affected by the review,” he said. Submissions can be emailed to solarbonus.review@industry.nsw.gov.au or posted to Solar Bonus Review, Industry and Investment NSW, Level 17, 227 Elizabeth Street, Sydney, NSW, 2000 by close of business 30 September, 2010.
The renewable and sustainable energy initiative of the New England Sustainability Strategy (NESS) has recently launched their solar air heating and cooling systems. They have managed to get good prices for a bulk buy and are able to discount prices to those interested in being a demonstration house. |
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Copyright © 2010 Sustainable Living Armidale Inc. - All Rights Reserved |
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As much a workshop as a lecture, the forum will be presented by Debra Mill who has spent over 15 years helping individuals and communities develop resilience in dealing with the challenge of change. Her presentation will focus upon the importance of understanding the psychology of change, both for individuals and for communities. It is a complex issue; “approaches to change are ultimately guided by a person’s beliefs, culture and worldview” says Debra “so what you say may not be what the person hears”. The workshop on Readying People and Communities for Change will be on Tuesday 7th September at 7pm at Kent House, Faulkner Street, opposite Central Park.
The Solar Bonus Scheme has reached its first milestone – a capacity of 50 megawatts – triggering a review of its performance, Minister for Energy Paul Lynch said today.
