Dave, creator of Feedback Organic is all about ‘growing foods future’

Dave adding a bucket of our spent coffee to our compost bins.

Dave collects green waste from businesses like estabar as well as homes around Newcastle, takes it back to his family property on the lush banks of the Allyn River and returns it to earth.

When the compost becomes sweet smelling dirt again, he brings it to one of his urban farms – unused plots around the city - and grows vege’s.

He then sells his vege’s at Newcastle Farmers Market.

Dave also wants to help people (YOU), connect with their food and the earth. He offers a 1 Hour Farmer program where anyone can go and spend 1 hour on one of the farms, getting dirty, happy and inspired.

Dave and his sister Sarah, who you will also meet on these pages, are 5th generation farmers. They’re choosing to stay on the land, to keep producing food for our plates and to farm in a way that regenerates and sustains their fields.

feedbackorganic.com.au

Little Big Dairy is bucking the system to produce milk fairly and sustainably

This is Ally

We hope you’ve noticed a big concern for us is the future of food, which is why we work with the people we do.

In 2019 we switched to Little Big Dairy co for our milk and cream. This family operation, located out past Dubbo, manages their milk from the paddock all the way to your cup. This way, they can charge a fair price for their milk and re-invest in their farm, their cows and their future.

Each of their 800 cows are known by name and they have a Ag Nutritionist who designs supplementary feed menu’s for each cow according to their health and the grasses available for them in the paddocks.  When they hit the buffet, a little tag on their collar tells the dispenser what to offer the cow. Wow.

littlebigdairy.co

I feel like there is a happy laugh always just below the surface, ready to burble up

This is one of Sams green bouquets, we’re still trying to catch him for a photo!

I enjoy visiting Sam at the Farmers Market so much.  He is wonderfully present.  Often he picks out a perfectly ripe fig, or a piece of mandarine or some other delectable sweet treat from his orchard and presents it to me ‘this is for you.’  

Another phrase I love hearing from Sam is ‘for you, I’ll do that.’ How often do we get to feel that special when we’re doing our fruit and vege shop? Every time with Sam.

We talk about the work he has been doing at the farm. I can tell it’s a lot for him, but he is always, always positive and pragmatic. Farming is a personal thing, for the farmers we work with anyway, and I see that so much in Sam.

Find Sam from Mangrove Mountain, at the Farmers Market.

this lady is focused on the future of good food and sustainable farming…we ridiculously in love with her

At first, we fell for Sarah because of her palpable passion for agriculture that grows good food for people in respectful and resourceful collaboration with the earth and animals.

We watched her for a while, knowing something would be happening soon. When she started with 500 ladies and offered eggs delivered a day or two after lay - we were interested. When we started hearing stories about Sarah making splints for chooks legs, sleeping under their caravans at night to make sure the fans ran properly, sitting with them for hours a day and buying all the ice from all around to keep them cool on hot days - well, we were hooked.

This lady is ‘the business’ we can’t describe how much we love her, and her eggs.

justbeenlaid.com

we hope you have someone like Maggie in your life

She is all heart, someone who just lives to love and support her community.

Maggie is a chef and one of only two professional Juice Therapists in Australia.

Yep, it’s a thing – juice therapy. Maggie works with all kinds of people facing all kinds of health challenges, helping them heal their bodies with nutrients found in fresh fruit and vegetables.

If you’re going to be putting broccoli in a drink, it’s handy to have the palate and skill of a chef. 

We call the blend Maggie makes for us Immune Juice. Made of Orange, Lemon, Carrot, Ginger and Tumeric, it’s a delicious way to boost your immune system over breakfast. It’s truly delicious and a favourite on our menu.

freshfusion.com.au

Donna Pinter keeps us in line... she has been our graphic designer since the start in 2004

Don is often our first go-to with a new idea. She knows our intentions so intimately and is great at spotting congruency and natural evolution versus knee-jerk, short term brain farts.

Donna would be appalled we’ve used fart here—on her page! Just as appalled as she is when she comes in and see’s visible blue-tac. #definateno-no

It’s a great privilege to have a designer who values the way we communicate and the way it makes people feel as much as we do. Like so many of the people we work with, Don has become family. Her little girls have grown up in and around estabar and we hope our space will always be a safe anchor in their lives.

donnapinter.art

When Anne isn’t creating community - she’s creating art

Anne is one of the most community spirited people we know. Her whole career has been about creating and supporting community in one way or another.

For many years Anne has gathered women together to ‘connect and craft’ to raise money for International Womens Day.

For IWD - 2020, Anne’s group of Newcastle craftswomen have been handcrafting textile flowers, stitching hope for a cure for Ovarian Cancer into each one.  

You can buy a ‘Fearless Flower’ or bouquet at the Fearless Flower Market to be held at Timeless Textiles Gallery on IWD, Sunday 8th March from 10:30am til 12 noon. Anne and the ladies would love you to join them for morning tea, some discussion and live music.

All sales go towards Ovarian Cancer Research by the Hunter Medical Research Institute.

In the lead up Saturday 29th Feb until the 7th of March you can tour businesses displaying these ‘Fearless Flowers’ and vote for your favourite in ‘The People’s Choice.’ Visit www.timelesstextiles.com for details.

Annes ‘day job’ involves another of her loves, you guessed it - fibre art. Anne brings artists from all over the world to her Timeless Textiles, just here in town.  

In her ‘spare time’ Anne felts tea cosies for your tea ceremony at estabar!

timelesstextiles.com.au

If you like to eat, you’ll love Urban Hums’ work to secure your future with food

Anna, Kelly and Polly with honey from hives in Kotara and Mayfield.

Anna and Kelly from Urban Hum have homed over 100 bee colonies in backyard hives all around Newcastle and as far north as Maitland. The health and vitality of bees is their main game.

We need bees to pollinate much of our food and we want the honey we buy to be real raw honey, not sugary fake mix ups. Honey can actually be medicinal for us, if it’s sourced raw and locally.

Kelly and Anna collect just the honey the bee’s wont need for food from individual hives, spin it and label it with the suburb the hive is in. So, buy a pot of Urban Hum honey from your suburb and put it in your first aid box for when your sinuses flair up next and your throat gets sore.

urbanhum.com