on air on Byron Bay’s bayfm 99.9 on 18 July 2011
It was a great delight today to talk with the new Byron Bay Writers Festival director Candida Baker about all the lunches and food centred talks coming up at the 2011 festival. She is a food lover and keen cook, as demonstrated by her neatly making sure that the truly obsessed can actually go to all food events – second helpings but no double bookings! For more info and links go to their site here. Be quick because a lot of the lunches and dinners do sell out.
Candida has one sister who is an ex-chef, another now cooking in the south of France (the popular one). Her father was an actor but his cooking was so popular with his friends that after many long and boozy meals he wrote his own cookbook. He taught Candida to make her own roast ham at Christmas, starting from raw smoked ham, a two day process. As soon as she can drag herself away from long production meetings she will send me the recipe to share with you.
And I have a recipe to give and a request from Joy, the riverina Express train cook who was on belly recently.
She’d like to share a guaranteed to work tea.
JOY’S FLUE TEA
1 part yarrow
1 part elderflower
2 parts peppermint
Mix herbs together and store in an airtight container.
Put one heaped teaspoonful in a mug, pour in boiling water, let stand 5 minutes.
Drink as often and as hot as you can.
And Joy is looking for a lemon myrtle slice recipe – can you help? If you can please email belly (at) belly (dot)net(dot)au.
BELLY BULLETIN
Here’s a tip if you keep chickens or other farm animals and predators have been trying to get to them. A farmer near Toowoomba has discovered a new way of deterring foxes from killing his lambs.
Organic farmer Jonathon Arkins has been collecting human hair from local hairdressers, putting it in old stockings, and tying it to fence posts around his property. The technique seems to be working so far. In his words :
“So farmers, you may have to go out and raid your wife’s or lady friend’s drawers for their stockings and you just get a handful of hair and stuff it down the bottom and tie a knot in it. And then just tie it up from the ground… that’s enough to get the scent out – foxes hate the smell of humans.” Or maybe the smell of hair dye.
Another type of experiment has been in the news with the destruction of the CSIRO’s Genetically Modified wheat plantings. In my last belly bulletin I told you about the world first GM wheat trials near Canberra, which were supposed to lead to human testing in about 6 months. Last Thursday Greenpeace activists whippersnippered the whole crop. You can look up the Greenpeace website for more information, but they say the CSIRO research has been compromised by its links to biotech companies, and human trials were to go ahead without adequate safety testing. Farmer groups and scientists have come out both for and against the GM wheat trials. Farmer concerns include the potential for contamination of the non-GM crop and damage to the multi-million dollar Australian wheat industry. The CSIRO says it will probably have to abandon this year’s plantings. CSIRO chief of plant industries, Dr Jeremy Burton, says :
“Differences of opinion are fine, but if it comes to this sort of action, it does seem to be unnecessary, really.”
In local news, a screening of the film ” The Economics of Happiness” will be held this thursday July 21 at the Mullumbimby Civic Hall. Doors open at 6pm. The fimmaker Helena Norberg-Hodge will be in attendance, and there is food by Santos. And congratulations to the staff and management of Santos Mullum for donating 10 000 dollars to Rainforest rescue and Sea Shepherd last week.
And finally, the head of Byron United was complaining in the Byron Shire News last Thursday that too many businesses are opening without first doing their homework and closing soon after, and that we need innovative ideas. Well here is a very innovative idea. I’m pretty sure we don’t have a cat cafe in Byron. Not – somewhere where you can take your pussy for sushi and organic cream. A cafe where the cat deprived pay to spend an hour surrounded by dozens of cats, and maybe also have a coffee. They are becoming very popular in Japan, Korea and Taiwan, where people often have no room for pets and horrible landlords that don’t allow pets. You go to the cafe, leave your shoes outside, disinfect your hands, and you may stroke any cat that is awake and feeling friendly. You can rent cat toys and buy them treats. And shouting or smoking please. Some cafes specialise in categories of cat such as black cats, fat cats, rare breeds or rescued stray cats. In Japan you can also rent a cat. I look forwards to the MUllum Moggy cafe, or the Byron Black cat bar.
MARA SEEDS FIELD DAY
This info came in too late to make it on the show – The Mara Seeds softer farming demonstration is happening this Friday, they will overcater in case unexpected guests turn up, but please try to contact them if you are interested.
This will be a fantastic opportunity to experience first-hand the Softer Farming Method trials being undertaken by Stuart Larsson and the Mara Seeds team as part of the Northern Rivers Food Links Sustainable Agriculture Projects focus area.
Email: admin@maraseeds.com.au | Phone: 02 6664 5145 (8:30am – 3:30pm, Mon – Fri)