With open hands + open hearts

As most of you have no doubt heard, Rod May passed away two days ago after being in intensive care at the Alfred Hospital in Melbourne for a week following his road accident.

We join hands with everyone who knew Rod, his friends, family, colleagues, customers + wider community members to support those closest to him during this raw time of shock, mourning, remembering and deep deep love.

Tributes have been shared far and wide about what a beautiful man our Rod was. We were lucky enough to know him, to embody his kind wisdom with every mouthful of his veggies we took in, that filled our bodies and propelled our actions.

HRNers have been paying tribute to Rod. David Holmgren wrote this beautiful account of Rod's life and the relationship he and Su shared with him, and Patrick Jones wrote this moving poem. Eight years ago Meg Ulman took these photos of Rod's hands:

Your hands too can be this deliciously chocolatey on Friday. A working bee has been organised out at Rod's: Captain's Creek Organics, 89 Kangaroo Hills Road, Blampied (look for the large '89' sign).

There is one more bin of apples to pick and lots of kraut to make with all the cabbages. Come for as long as you can and bring a bite to eat to share. We will have a hot cuppa organised to warm our hardworking hands as well as our bodies.

Please join us from 9.30am and bring a big sharp knife and a big chopping board for cabbage if you can.

It's going to be a big couple of days of kraut making. Don't forget the Community Krauting Day this Saturday from 9.30am - 12 noon. Details here. Cabbage orders close on Thursday June 1.

Sending love to each and every one of you. Be kind, be brave, and please please be careful when you drive in cars.

Community Krauting Day

Come and learn the simple art of wild fermented sauerkraut at

The 2017 Culture Club

Community Krauting Day

Saturday June 3

Once again we have partnered with Glenlyon's Adsum Farmhouse who have grown sugarloaf cabbages especially for the day. So if you don't have your own homegrown cabbages to bring along, you can pre-order Adsum Farm organic cabbages which will be freshly picked the day before the krauting day.

Cabbages are $3 each. Pls email your order to daylesfordcultureclub@gmail.com by Thursday June 1 and pay on the day. Pls bring exact change.



Please bring along:

Ingredients

• one or more cabbages (if you are bringing your own)
• salt
• optional: onion, garlic, chili, spices (coriander, fennel, star anise, caraway etc)

Utensils

• large bowl (preferably stainless steel) for pounding into
• pounding tool - eg. pestle or potato masher
• grater
• large chopping knife
• chopping board
• wide mouthed jars or crock - size depends on quantity of ingredients you want to make up. About 1 litre is a good size to start with.

We are looking forward to seeing you there!!

Winter Solstice Dinner + a happy-sad farewell

Please join us in a month's time for our yearly winter solstice dinner, and to farewell community elders Maureen Corbett + Stephen Oram as they begin the next chapter of their adventure in Tassie.

As we press publish on this blog post and send it out into the world, we also send much love and support to the May family as they hold the space of healing for Rod, who was involved in a motorcycle accident last night. We wish him a steady recovery. xxx

Medicinal Ferments

Culture Club is one!!

It's been a year since the very first Culture Club meet-up, and what a beautiful year of healthful community sharing, learning + making it has been. 

As we head into the cold + flu season, we thought it would be a good idea to learn how to make some medicinal ferments to use at home and to give away to loved ones.

Pls bring any mothers, SCOBYs, MK + WK grains and starters along to share.

See you in a week!

David Asher: Change of time

Hi folks,

Due to unforeseen circumstances we have to change the time of the David Asher event this Thursday to 7pm - 8.30pm.

Because of the later starting time we are also now inviting people to bring along a dish of local food to share for supper. If you're a cheese maker, pls bring cheese to show off + share!

If you were hoping for an earlier night, we apologise. Perhaps you can go to the Daylesford community cinema that night at 6pm instead to watch the important film, A Plastic Ocean:

See you on Thursday night!

An evening with David Asher

Culture Club is having a break from its usual first Saturday of the month time slot for the month of April. We are most thrilled to share the news that David Asher will be joining us for an evening of talking about and sampling, if we're lucky, natural cheeses.

For those of you who don't know, David Asher is an organic farmer, goatherd, and farmstead cheesemaker, who lives on the gulf islands of British Columbia. His Black Sheep School of Cheesemaking offers cheesemaking workshops in partnership with food-sovereignty-minded organisations and communities. His workshops teach a cheesemaking method that is natural, DIY, and well suited to any home kitchen. He has been teaching cheesemaking for over seven years.

David will be in Daylesford for a number of workshops. We feel very lucky that he has offered to come and talk with us. We hope you will join us for a wonderfully delicious evening.

Almost autumn community dinner

Very late notice we know but we are hoping you can come along.
Take a night off cooking! Let us feast together on delicious local food and share stories while we welcome the autumnal months.

Pls note RSVP booking date and carpooling info.
See you next week, if not before!
Oh, and happy International Women's Day to all you fabulous feminists.

A is for apple

Love apples? Us too! Come along to the March Culture Club and join a group of people interested in maintaining good gut health while honouring our local pomaceous fruit.

Pickling Day Wrap-Up

Wow wow wow wow. It's true that everybody loves pickles! Culture Club's inaugural Community Pickling Day was testament to this fact.

Thank you to everyone who came along to celebrate the wonder of wild fermentation, community participation and the strengthening of our local food system. Thank you to Meg Ulman for facilitating the event, to Mara Ripani for taking these gorgeous photos, and to Edward + Fiona at Adsum Farmhouse for growing the gherkins that made the day just so wonderful. Thank you soil, thank you bees, thank you glass jar manufacturers.. We have so much to be thankful for. #collectivehealth #collectivegratitude ♥

Penny + Pickles

Penny Livingston-Stark has landed on Aussie shores and is looking forward to meeting us all tomorrow evening (Thursday Feb 2) at 7pm at Jubilee Lake.

It's going to be a lovely 27˚C day tomorrow - perfect picnic weather.

Pls bring a rug to sit on and a dish of local food to share.

* * *

If you're coming to the Community Pickling Day this Saturday - hooray! We can't wait to roll up our sleeves, put on our aprons and get our pickle on with you.

There are some extra things to bring along:

• chopping board
• small sharp knife
• measuring cup
• tablespoon measure

In case you missed our last post, here are the other things you need to bring along:

• exact change if you've ordered Adsum Farm gherkins
• as many clean jars + lids as you'll need for your pickles
• salt, garlic cloves, peppercorns, bay leaves, fresh dill or dill seeds, mustard seeds, leaves containing tannin (grape, cherry, oak, horseradish, green or black tea)

See you on Saturday!

* * *

A-tisket, A-tasket, this workshop looks fantastic:

http://connectingcountry.org.au/01/10-11-february-2017-local-plant-and-weaving-workshop-at-guildford-winery/