From Pascal Goux
In August 2008, I received a parabolic solar cooker that I have been using ever since. Many people around me saw that cooker and expressed the wish to get one. It made me decide to make a bulk order of 50 cookers from India. Those cookers have arrived and are available for sale.

To know more about this solar cooker and about solar cooking in general, please visit: http://pgoux.free.fr/ParabolicSolarCooker.htm

The price of one cooker is $270, it has to be picked up in Maleny or sent via courier (extra cost).

Contact Pascal at pgoux AT exemail.com.au or call 07 5429 6464

EARLIER START TIME - 10AM!

Hey Folks.....please note the start time of 10am! See you there :)

What kind of a feast can we have using only food grown within 100km? Join in on this ongoing playful gastronomic experiment to celebrate foods grown by neighbours and local farmers, or growing wild in the soils of the Sunshine Coast Hinterland.

The Local Food Picnic will be held at the Blackall Range Growers' Market, Witta Road, Witta, this Saturday morning. Bring some tucker to share, sourced as locally as possible. The market itself is an excellent source of local foods, so feel free to dive in and see what you can find. If you just want to roll up and have a chat, don't fuss too much about what food you've got or haven't got or where it came from; you're most welcome to join the party!

Sustainable Maleny is hosting this film screening and discussion evening which features the widely acclaimed documentary "The Future of Food".

Come along and get informed about what is really going on behind the scenes with our food production.

Light refreshments available.

More to follow...

Numerous events to celebrate 105 years of Maleny's co-operative spirit!

Individual events will make their way onto the Sustainable Maleny website calendar, but in the meantime please download a copy of the programme here:

http://www.sustainablemaleny.org/files/co-operative_maleny_2009.pdf

Slow Food Thursday
This Thursday 13th August, 10.30am (and every Thursday)
Hosted by Slow Food Sunshine Coast Hinterland
Maleny Community Centre
Suggested donation $4

This week Slow Food Sunshine Coast Hinterland is chuffed to present "The Future of Food" screening on 13th of August at 10:30am.

Shot on location in the U.S., Canada and Mexico, THE FUTURE OF FOOD examines the complex web of market and political forces that are changing what we eat as huge multinational corporations seek to control the world's food system. The film also explores alternatives to large-scale industrial agriculture, placing organic and sustainable agriculture as real solutions to the farm crisis today

Local Food Picnic
Saturday 19th September
11am at the Blackall Range Local Growers' Market
Old Witta School
Witta Road
Witta

What kind of a feast can we have using only food grown within 100km? Join in on this playful gastronomic experiment to celebrate foods grown by neighbours and local farmers, or growing wild in the soils of the Sunshine Coast Hinterland.

The Local Food Picnic will be held at the Blackall Range Growers' Market, Witta Road, Witta, this Saturday morning. Bring some tucker to share, sourced as locally as possible. The market itself is an excellent source of local foods, so feel free to dive in and see what you can find. If you just want to roll up and have a chat, don't fuss too much about what food you've got or haven't got or where it came from; you're most welcome to join the party!

Come to the Maleny Community Centre on Friday Aug 21st at 6.30pm for a talk by:

• Prof. Ian Lowe – President of ACF, author of A BIG FIX - Radical Solutions for Australia's Environmental Crisis, and an inspiring, entertaining speaker.
• SCRC Mayor Bob Abbot – dedicated representative of the Sunshine Coast since 1982 and passionate about our sustainable future
• Marcus Bussey - a futurist working at the University of the Sunshine Coast where he is Research Fellow in Regional Futures

Presentations and then discussions hosted by John Thompson, local entertainer and humorist with an amazing mind.

Baroon Dollar project grabs national media interest

It has been a busy few days for the Baroon Dollar project group following the Sunshine Coast Daily page 3 story about the project burst into the media early this week.

Since then, project workers Darren Mitchell, Kate Crawford and Barry Earsman have been on the 'frontline' providing radio and TV interviews.

To date, there has been more than 25 radio, TV and print interviews given to various local interstate radio stations; TV stories on most evening news channels and current affair programs and a live interview on the Channel 7 Morning Show.

The interest has been overwhelmingly positive with one radio station in Newcastle launching a competition to "name Newcastle's own currency".

The Baroon Dollar project seems to have captured Australia's imagination and desire to pursue proactive local economic action - it's been likened to a 'local stimulus package'!

After Saturday's forum, May 16th, thirteen local folks came together to share a beautiful lunch made from fresh local ingredients.

We basked in the warm Witta sun and gobbled up our treats that included sweet potato from Sandy Creek Organic Farm roasted in macadamia oil from Yandina with homegrown rosemary; local and homegrown vegetable frittata made from local eggs; gorgeous green salads that up until that morning were growing in Maleny gardens...just to name a few. Then, there was the fruit! Pineapples, mandarins, bananas. Your mouth watering yet??

What any local food picnic aims to highlight is the variety of food available within a short distance from where you live...it's local. Next time you're shopping, consider where the foods you buy are grown and/or made. Choose a local option, if possible.

So, organise your own local food picnic with your friends and family...it's easy, it's fun, it supports your local growers and producers and it's YUM!

This Saturday, March 28th from 8.30pm to 9.30pm is Earth Hour. It is a global event with more than 1 billion people switching off their lights to express unified concern about climate change and to demonstrate commitment to finding solutions to this crisis. Famous international landmarks such as the Sydney Opera House, the Eiffel Tower and the Acropolis, to name a few, have committed to switching off their lights for Earth Hour.

To take part, simply switch off all your lights for this one hour. "No need to sit in the dark on your own - Earth Hour candlelit dinners are gaining popularity in homes and restaurants around the world and are a really fun way to get family and friends involved too" says Elizabeth Campbell from Sustainable Maleny.