Reskilling workshop Edible Weeds Sunday 7 October 2012

Edible weeds workshop

photographs - click on weeds

more details at  http://tbworkshops.blogspot.com.au/2012/07/local-edible-weeds-and-plants-workshop.html

Reskilling workshop bees 1 Sunday 9 September 2012

Bee Workshop 9 September 2012

Full

Transition Bellingen News as at 7 September 2012

First online Transition Bellingen News

Transition Bellingen News as at 7 September 2012

Tomorrow Saturday 8 September - Bellingen Seed Savers at the Plant Fair
8am to 2pm

Thursday 13 September - Food Exchange outside Kombu, Church St, 10.30 to 12.30 Permaculture Collective mnc

Reskilling Workshops - to see the the workshops planned for 2012-13 click on workshops
FULL Sunday 9 September - Bees 1 workshop - a second workshop is being considered for 16 September, please contact us if you are interested

Sunday 7 October - Edible Plants and Weeds
Learn where and how to collect edible"weeds". how to prepare them and their nutritional/medicinal properties - click on weeds

Sunday 28 October - Cheese making for Beginners click on cheese

Saturday 3 November - 2nd Bellingen River Festival
Building on last year's event, the Festival is looking good - to provide for the attendance that showed up last year along with the friends who will "definitely" come this year, there will be more food, activities, cultural experiences and music. Groups are invited to get involved: sporting groups; schools; clubs and associations. Do you want to showcase your group and invite others to join? Do you want to demonstrate your activities/skills? Or be part of the program in any of a number of other ways?
Contact Ben Perrim, the Festival Events Coordinator to chat about the options. telephone 0401 908 441 and email bellingenriverfestival@hotmail.com. See you there!

Chamber of Commerce Bellingen News Magazine September 2012 - Transition article "The Stupid Economy" to read click on articles

Other News


Bellofoodbox local nutritious food - click on foodbox news for latest
information and what is in the box.
Enter the Bellofoodbox Colour-in and Identify Competition!
Have fun with your kids, helping them to identify all the local fresh and seasonal produce, delivered in the foodbox. click here to see how to get the competition stencil.
Entries close 6pm on Wednesday 12 September

Community Groups - There are many local networks discussion and support groups - click on community to find contact details

contact by email: transitionbellingen@gmail.com 

Wild Fermentation workshop 26 August 2012

Sunday 26  August  -  FULL

Wild fermentation – Sauerkraut, Kefir & Rejuvelac

for  photographs click on wild photos  

for resources presented at workshop click on information 

Comments

Thanks once again  for helping me to acquire skills  which will lead to a healthier life.

Denis Hampton

I felt the work shop was fantastic

Your facilitation skills are exemplary, and I thoroughly enjoy your presentations. Your enthusiasm is infectious, and your knowledge base concerning this subject impressive. Rosa was also extremely interesting and quite generous with her knowledge and assistance.

Toni Lawson

Only positive feedback from me. The timing of it was good; good balance of theory and hands on.

Kerri Dene

Sourdough Bread Making Workshop 22 July 2012

Sourdough Making workshop

Comments

What a wonderful workshop, I thoroughly enjoyed it, and it was also a great opportunity to meet new friends. Penny's tuition was perfect, it certainly gave me the confidence to try again, after some previous not so good results. The most wonderful part of all, NO kneading!

Ziggy

'Bread making is a creative

endeavour with each loaf being a unique creative expression'.

regards

Pauline

Penny's easy going approach was fantastic, not too daunting at all for us beginners.

Julie

I thought the course was great. Good mixture of theory and practical. Penny is awesome, I love her style....she's a great presenter and obviously knows her bread stuff really well.

Dave

click on bread photos to see this exciting workshop

Jams, Pickles and Conserve Making workshop -winter Sunday 8 July 2012

Jams, pickles and conserve making workshop - winter

click on recipes and scroll down to see recipes from workshop

Comments


We had a good day and love our stash of goodies. Thanks so much to you all for a great lunch and lots of new ideas.

Margot and Paul

Thank you so much for the wonderful workshop on Sunday – I picked up some fabulous new tips, tricks and recipes!  Please pass on my thanks to Sue and Ute for their generosity and for sharing their experience and wisdom!

Jaquie


 click on photos to see the exciting workshop

Transition Cafe Wednesday 6 June from 6.00pm

Transition Cafe "What is happening in Transition Bellingen"

Projects include

Bellingen Seeds Savers http://bellingenseedsaversunderground.blogspot.com.au/
Permacutlure Collective mnc    http://www.permcollmnc.blogspot.com.au/
Reskilling workshops http://tbworkshops.blogspot.com.au/
River Festival  http://transitionbellingen.blogspot.com.au/2012/05/expressions-of-interest-for-bellingen.html
FREEMARKET http://transitionbellingen.blogspot.com.au/2011/12/free-market-held-on-sunday-4-december.html
Nap-In http://transitionbellingen.blogspot.com.au/2012/03/nap-zzzzone-at-stillpoint-st-andrews.html

Joint initiative Edible Streetscapes http://ediblestreetsbellingen.blogspot.com.au/

Nap-in challenge awards 15 May 2012

Workplace Nap Challenge:  Last week the results of the nap challenge - to take 2 powernaps a week for 2 weeks, were tallied.

Partaking in the challenge were: Kevin Doye Kombu, Mandy TraynorGO4 Media, Guy Saddleton, G S Real Estate, Nicole Rowsell

Burrows Child Care Centre, Dan Maher Affirmations, Jane Eales Council, Jason Brown No. 5 Church St,  Steve Doyle Bellingen Solar, Jason Johns

Uniting Church, and late but keen participant RosemaryStevens, Emporium

And the winner was ... Mandy Traynor, of GO4 media for consistency plus.. who used the local Nap Zzone to take her bi-weekly mini-sieasta. 

SPECIAL Mentions went to  ... 

Highest Number of Naps:  Guy Saddleton  9 naps all up , followed by Dan Maher with 7  (both are the boss with a couch in their office and a door they can close and as well.)

Most challenging conditions :  Nicole Rowsell with only half an hour for lunch, followed by Jason, no. 5 – start up café 

Positive Role modelling award.  Jane Eales

Progressive Minister Award: Jason for opening up his church for us to take a lie down

Culture Jamming Award: goes to everyone … it really is a counter cultural pose to strike, when you take a nap at work so thanks for being at the forefront of this culture-changing movement. 

Transition Bellingen News 25 May 2012

Transition Bellingen News

Transition Bellingen News 18 May 2012

Bellingen River Festival will be held in November 2012 and planning is under way. It is important that funding can be confirmed so that the size and scope of the festival can be determined.

Please let us know if you can make a contribution, money or in kind, no matter how large or small by Friday 25 May by emailing transitionbellingen@gmail.com or phoning  Vicki on 6655 9715.

Vicki has already received $600 from 7 businesses.

To remind you of how amazing the 2011 festival was, go to parade for Solveig's photos of the lantern making and the parade

TODAY HURRY TO THE NAP-IN CHALLENGE AWARDS AT 12.45PM AT NO 5 CHURCH STREET

Thursday 24 May - Permaculture Collective mnc Food Exchange outside Kombu 10.30am to 12.30pm - click on exchange

 

Transition Network News Letter May 2012 click on News 

Other news

Bellofoodbox - providers of local food - click on Foodbox to see this weeks newsletter  

Tuesday 22 May - Film Night at No 5 Church Street about biodynamic farm practices - "One Man, One Cow, One Planet" see film  for details 

Saturday 2 June - Bellingen High School Community Garden High School Open Day  click 

  

 here for full size poster

Saturday 2 June at Brierfield  - Transform your farm with Biodynamics -   click on workshop for Demeter course

Friday 8 June at Hydes Creek  - Biodynamics in the Home Orchard click home orchard on for course by Biodynamics Agriculture Australia - headquarters in Bellingen

Saturday 9 June at Thora -  Demeter Bio-Dynamics Field Day at Thora  click on Field Day for details 

Friday June 8 Registration -  Trash to Treasure for beautiful poster and registration information click on T2T   

Saturday 28 July  - Bellingen Energy Festival go to http://www.bef.org.au/

Community Groups: Click here to find information about the many local networks and discussion/support groups.

Information on "Intimacy Circle" has been added this week.

Thursday 24 May Bellingen Business Divas Network Biggest Morning Tea go to  Diva News 

The Transition Bellingen web site address is  http://transitionbellingen.org 

Expressions of Interest for Bellingen River Festival 2012

Sponsoship for River Festival 2012

Questionnaire on criteria and responses

Questionnaire sent out on 24 April 2012 


We have had an increasing amount of requests from various groups and individuals in our community to pass on notifications of various meetings, events, and causes via this email list. We are beginning to be a little bit challenged by all these requests, as we feel that you signed up to our mailing list in order to hear specifically about Transition events, and we don't want to flood your inbox with emails. 

Perhaps you have noticed that you ordinarily receive one email from us per week, usually on a Friday - which lists first all events connected directly to Transition Bellingen, and then other events. We have tried to limit these other events by using the following criteria: (1) local initiatives that will help make our community more resilient in the face of shocks such as peak oil, climate change and financial crisis, and (2)  initiatives from community-based, not-for-profit groups whose work is relevant to this goal, and that do not publicise commercial or party political initiatives.

But it often more complicated than that. Here is an example: Yesterday, we received a request to urgently publicise an event on Lyme Disease which is happening this  Thursday (2 days time). Do we send it out at all - it is local and it is non-profit and it is about resilience, albeit not directly connected to climate change, etc. Do we send it out immediately or don't we? Well, in this case we are being creative - we are sending out the notification  - but we are also taking the opportunity to ask for your feedback about what you think about this.

Specifically:
(1) Do you want TB emails to be specifically about TB connected events, or do you want us to continue to include notifications of other events that fit our criteria as listed above?
(2) Would you prefer getting an email from us once a week, or would you mind  getting more emails from us mid-week if necessary?
(3) Do you have any comment on our criteria as listed above?


Results


Responses from 10% of recipients


Of those answering the questionnaire, most were happy for us to decided what should be included and to judge if urgent an email should be sent out, before the next Friday Transition Bellingen News


Send out urgent email - 81%


Only send out Transition Bellingen News items - 13%


Send out all relevant other news using own judgement/criteria - 87%

Transition Bellingen News - review of frequency and content

Dear TB supporter.

We would love your feedback on something that is perplexing us.

We have had an increasing amount of requests from various groups and individuals in our community to pass on notifications of various meetings, events, and causes via this email list. We are beginning to be a little bit challenged by all these requests, as we feel that you signed up to our mailing list in order to hear specifically about Transition events, and we don't want to flood your inbox with emails.

Perhaps you have noticed that you ordinarily receive one email from us per week, usually on a Friday - which lists first all events connected directly to Transition Bellingen, and then other events. We have tried to limit these other events by using the following criteria: (1) local initiatives that will help make our community more resilient in the face of shocks such as peak oil, climate change and financial crisis, and (2)  initiatives from community-based, not-for-profit groups whose work is relevant to this goal, and that do not publicise commercial or party political initiatives.

But it often more complicated than that. Here is an example:  we received a request to urgently publicise an event on Lyme Disease which was happening before the next issue of our newsletter . Do we send it out at all - it is local and it is non-profit and it is about resilience, albeit not directly connected to climate change, etc. Do we send it out immediately or don't we? Well, in this case we are being creative - we are sending out the notification  - but we are also taking the opportunity to ask for your feedback about what you think about this.

Specifically:
(1) Do you want TB emails to be specifically about TB connected events, or do you want us to continue to include notifications of other events that fit our criteria as listed above?
(2) Would you prefer getting an email from us once a week, or would you mind  getting more emails from us mid-week if necessary?
(3) Do you have any comment on our criteria as listed above?

If you have gotten this far, thanks for reading - we look forward to hearing back from you with whatever you have to say.

Yours, in the spirit of transition,

David and Lisa, on behalf of the Transition Bellingen hub

Take the Nap challenge 16 April to 11 May 2012

Nap Challenge

Workplace Nap Challenge

work smarter, not harder

Monday April 16^th to Friday May 11^th, 2012 Bellingen

No matter what your profession, personal sustainability is essential to your livelihood.

So why not try the powernap as a potent source of ‘renewable energy’

and a proven performance enhancing practice?

The Challenge:  Powernap (i.e for up to 25 minutes) TWICE A WEEK for 3 WEEKS

at the Nap Zzone, St Andrews Church, Hyde Street or in a space that suits you.

It doesn’t matter if you don’t sleep. You just need to stop, lie down and take a break.

Why?  Research shows that a nap as brief as 10 minutes can:

Alleviate tiredness and increase alertness

Improve mood and concentration

Reduce workplace errors and accidents.

Evidence-base aside … the mini-siesta offers sweet relief from being “on” all the time. 

Participating in the challenge is an opportunity to:

·       train yourself in the habit of taking a brief energy-boosting  break during your working day, rather than simply pushing on despite fatigue, or relying on artificial stimulation to get you through the afternoon

·        help re-shape our Western work culture into one that recognises the mini-siesta as a smart and socially acceptable practice. 

TO REGISTER: 

Choose 3 weeks within the designated month for your challenge, then contact Thea O’Connor to sign up and for further details. enquiries@thea.com.au, 0412 190 860. FEE: $4 (for starter nap kit)

The Nap Zzzone at Still Point, St Andrews is a collaboration between Transition Bellingen and the Uniting Church in support of human beings (versus human doings). The Bellingen Chamber of Commerce supports NapNow! as a sustainable and tangible benefit for business owners, managers and staff. Transition Bellingen supports NapNow! as part of a larger social movement building community resilience and exploring sustainable ways of living now, and in the future.  

NAPNOW is a cultural change movement designed to normalise the mini-siesta in our work culture www.thea.com.au/nappingproject

Nap Zzzzone at STILLPOINT (St Andrews Church) from Monday 12 March 2012

Press Release

Opening of the Nap Zzzone at ‘StillPoint’

This week Transition Bellingen in collaboration with the Uniting Church opened ‘StillPoint’ - a silent zone at St Andrews Church, where people can come and stop, rest, reflect and recharge. 

“Many people say they would love to take a brief nap mid afternoon at work, but just don’t have a place to do so.  Or they fear it’s a socially unacceptable habit, so push on despite their fatigue,” says Thea O’Connor of Transition Bellingen.  “Well here’s a public space available for anyone who wants to take a few minutes out of their routine to recharge their batteries. Research demonstrates that an afternoon nap as short as ten minutes will increase alertness, improve mood and reduce workplace errors, so it’s a very smart thing to do.”

The Nap Zzzzone at Stillpoint is open Monday to Wednesdays, 12 to 3 pm so will be available during the post-lunch dip.  Blanket and pillows are provided, but you might want to bring an eye mask or ear plugs.  Transition Bellingen is supporting the project, recognising that personal sustainability is just as important for creating a resilient vibrant community as environmental sustainability. 

Any type of silent practice is welcome so there will be a space for meditation, prayer or simply sitting as well as a lying-down space for nappers.  “Times of silent meditation, contemplation and prayer are acknowledged to be important in all spiritual traditions,” says Rev Dr Jason John, who is really pleased to see the historical church opened up for community use.   “These practices are simple but take considerable discipline.  Practicing in the company of others sometimes helps.” 

StillPoint will be reviewed after a three-month period so if you’d like to see such a space become part of our community come and have a lie down!   

Contact: enquiries@thea.com.au

Transition Bellingen World Cafe 15 February 2012

Transition Bellingen WORLD CAFÉ summary – 15 February, 2012

(Held at No. 5 Church Street – approx. 70 people participating through the evening)

“If we have done a good job “transitioning” our community, what will it look like in 2020?

(Each table shared their “most exciting” ideas with the whole group – which were written up on a large piece of butcher paper. Categories added by me.)

(FOOD SUPPLY)

Massive daily produce market

Eating seasonally

Edible landscapes

Raw milk

Massive seed bank

(ECONOMICS)

Viable local employment

Well paid jobs for all who want them

Well established barter system

(PUBLIC SPACES)

Car-free CBD

Better public spaces

(TRANSPORT)

Cycle ways everywhere

Safer roads

More bikes

Light rail to Coffs etc

Better public transport

(BEHAVIOUR/HABITS)

“Me” turning to “We”

Habits change

Less consumerism=less waste

Time rich

More happy people

Connections between all

More communication

Holding on to things that are good and that we cherish

(GOVERNANCE)

Local self-governance

Respect between Council and community

More independent thinking and acting – breaking the law included

“Law” or “Lore”?

(GENERATIONAL RELATIONS)

Children teaching adults

Intergenerational care

Eco-Aged care facility

(HEALTH)

Affordable alternative health care

(ENERGY)

Solar energy

(HOUSING)
Shared spaces

Safe accommodation for all

Sustainable housing

Co-housing

Efficient housing

(BIODIVERSITY)

No cows in the river

More birds

Taking care of and treasuring our natural world and it’s creatures

(CULTURE)

Maintain and nurture arts and creativity

World cafe 15 February 2012

World Cafe at No 5 Church St - photographs at TB events pictures
links on World Cafe concept

www.transitionnetwork.org/tools/connecting/community-brainstorming-tools

Short, colourful, to the point
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KvXHsTHRCkw&feature=related

http://www.theworldcafe.com/history.html