The Launch

We are getting  close to finishing our Archibull and it is time to turn our attention to our Launch Party.  We have been keeping Brocco in hiding and we are looking forward to launching him to our staff and community. 
Our Launch party is being catered by the wonderful Chef Shane Debnam at Azarak Experimental Kitchen (check them out on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/#!/AzarakExperimentalKitchen)

Shane DebnamExecutive Chef of Azarak Experimental Kitchen

 

As with our Archibull we wanted to keep our launch party as environmentally freindly as possible, so our invitation which was created by the fabulous Julie Debnam can be found at the following link.

http://goo.gl/hTy0UY

 

We hope to see you there!

A Prize look at farming

This week as suspected Brooco and some of our team members made it into the Illawarra Mercury.

Please read the full story below.

 

 

Sustainable farming

Farmers produce almost 93% of food consumed by Australians each day.  This is a mammoth job that employs 1.6million people which is 17.2% of the labour force.

To feed Sydney each day farmers produce;

·         303,726 kg of pork

·         8,664,032 fruits and vegies

·         472,603 kg of chicken

·         822,959 eggs

·         5,899 lambs

·         3,115 cows

·         1,817,315 kg of dairy

·         31,543 loaves of bread

·         8,191,780,822 grains of rice, using about 387,616 L of water to cook

·         12,603kgs of honey

Farmers in Australia are continually improving the way they farm to build more sustainable practices.  Farmers look after waterways by building fences, planting trees and not allowing effluent to run off into their farms.

Farmers use solar and wind power as an alternative energy source.  Dairy  foods are mostly packaged in recycled packaging.

You can help to build a sustainable nation by adopting a more sustainable lifestyle.  Changing some of your habits will have a great impact on the environment.  You can help by;

Recycling all products that are able to be recycled

Saving water, by having shorter showers and fixing leaking taps.
Reducing the amount of food wastage (please see our previous post on reducing food waste)
Supporting LOCAL Farmers by purchasing Australian grown produce.  You can support Australian Dairy Farmers by buying Paul’s milk such as Pauls ‘Smarter White Milk’ and Vaalia yogurt.

Food Waste

In Archibull we have been researching food waste in Australia. Here are some facts.

Why We Waste

·         Australians buy too much food that they don’t eat              

·         We put too much on our plate, when we get full we throw it

·         Farmers throw out food just because it’s not the right shape or colour

·         Shoppers reject blemished or bruised fruit

What We Waste

·         Australians waste up to 3 regular fridges per household a year

·         We spend $5 BILLION on food that is not eaten

·         1 out of 4 shopping bags purchased are not eaten which is 140kg per person over a year

Types of food that is wasted

·         33% of Fresh Food wasted

·         27% of Leftovers wasted

·         15% of Packaged Products

·         9% of Drinks

·         9% of Frozen Food

·         7% of Takeaways

Environmental Effects Of Food Waste

·         The major resources required to grow food are water, fertiliser, labour, land, transport, petrol and packaging – all wasted when food is thrown out

·         Dumping a kilogram of beef means wasting the 50,000 litres of water used in its production

·         47% of waste in landfill is food and green organic waste

·         Landfill pollutes rivers and waterways

·         Food waste in Australian landfills is the second largest source of methane – a gas 23 times more harmful than CO₂ from cars

What Can You Do

·         Buy only the food you need not what you want

·         Buy all kinds of fruit and vegetables because if they have bruises it means that it is fresh from farmers

·         Use leftovers; make sure you wrap them well so they don’t dry out in your fridge

·         Keep a food dairy so you know what you are wasting

 

 

Extra Extra

Last week Ms Harris was spotted around the school with journalist Kate Walsh and a professional photographer from the Illawarra Mercury. 

 It has been said that they were here to photograph our cow (Brocco) and some of the students in the Archibull club. I wonder why they chose Barrack Heights Public School to photograph?   Apparently Kate Walsh surveyed Ms Harris and quoted her in the article in the Mercury.  Please watch this space for updates on this event.

Young Farming Champion

This week we were very lucky to receive a visit from Jessica Monteith our young farming champion.  We spent an enjoyable afternoon hearing all about Jessica's passion for the dairy industry and munching on her favourite dairy food CHOCOLATE.

 

Jess taught us lots of great things about cow breeds and the importance of raising happy healthy dairy cattle.
Some quotes from some of our team about Jessica's visit.

I really enjoyed the pictures of Jessica with the calves (Porsha).
It was great to see how dairy farmers use computers in the dairy to keep track of how much milk cows are making (Jessica).
I liked that Jess gave us a few ideas of what we could add to our cow (Jorja).
We learnt about the different dairy farming areas in Australia ( Tenielle).
I liked how Jessica's job was to take care of the baby calves (Phebie).
I liked that Jessica works in a bank and on a farm (Lance).
Jessica asked of lots of questions which helped us understand her presentation (Tori).

It was really great to meet such a passionate young dairy farmer who has inspired us with some great new ideas for our Archibull.
As we were able to put a face to the dairy industry we feel even more passionate about buying locally produced dairy products.  For information on what we have already done about this please see our blog post about 'Supporting local farmers'.