Local Food Connections

Guy Palmer is the creator and publisher of the Local Food Connect website which aims to connect people with local food sources, markets, and local food- related events. As the person who built and maintains the site, Guy has a unique understanding of the scope of local food production in the North East Region of Melbourne. In this episode we discuss the data, connections, and insights he’s gathered over the last decade.https://localfoodconnect.org.au/

Deano Goodbrew is an artisan kombucha brewer, fermentation enthusiast and political agitator. He joins us in this episode to discuss the real health benefits of non-pasteurised kombucha, packed with live probiotics — and why pasteurised, mass-market versions are vastly inferior. He also shares the struggles small brewers face going up against big brands and explains why supporting raw, local kombucha matters.“When you pasteurise kombucha, you're killing off what makes it special — the live cultures.” – Deano Goodbrew https://goodbrew.com.au/

This episode features some more voices from the Zero Waste Festival 2025 that was held at Federation Square on 6 September. There are one or two people whose interviews we couldn't air because of sound quality. Your words were valuable and we regret that we couldn't share them with our listeners.Local Food Connections thanks Formidable Vegetable for their song You Are What You EatFollow us on Social Media and check out our affiliate Local Food Connect msha.ke/localfoodconnections3cr(link is external)

The Zero Waste Festival 2025 was held at Federation Square on 6 September. There were panel discussions of recycling, food, textiles, plastics, supermarkets, the circular economy and the kinds of action required to bring about change.  There were stalls showcasing many of the ways that waste can be reduced. I spoke with several of the the stall holders and you can hear some of them in this and next week's episodes.Local Food Connections thanks Formidable Vegetable for their song You Are What You EatFollow us on Social Media and check out our affiliate Local Food Connect msha.ke/localfoodconnections3cr(link is external)

Today, we're joined by Elspeth Hay – journalist, broadcaster, and author of the book Feed Us with Trees - Nuts and the Future of Food. Elspeth argues that our current food system—with its emphasis on annual grains and industrial agriculture—is ecologically damaging and built on shaky assumptions. Drawing on indigenous knowledge and study of history, she tells compelling stories of  a healthier, more sustainable future in which perennial nut trees (like oaks, chestnuts, hazelnuts) are, again, at least in the northern hemisphere, staple food sources. Elspeth also hosts an excellent public radio show called The Local Food Report broadcasting to the people of Cape Cod Massachusettes and beyond. You can find it wherever you find your podcasts.According to Readings, the book is due for release in Australia in December 2025

The Rain Moth Community Nursery is a pop-up nursery named after a pop-up insect called the Rain Moth. It is volunteer-run, offering low-or no-cost native and edible plants, with the goal of supporting food resilience and biodiversity in the Melbourne area. They run working bees, plant sales, and creative workshops, often held at venues like East Coburg and Newlands Neighbourhood Houses, with members bringing plants for sale that they have tended in their own homes.

In this episode, we chat with Filiz Takar, of the Junior Herbalist Club – a hands-on educational program designed to introduce children to the healing power of plants. Filiz shares her journey into herbalism, the inspiration behind the club, and how she's empowering the next generation to connect with nature through herbal knowledge.Find out more https://theherbalway.com.au/pages/junior-herbalist-clubRead Filiz's articles on medicinal plants  https://localfoodconnect.org.au/

Vicky Rae Ellmore is the Climate Co-ordinator at Friends of the Earth Melbourne. She is currently promoting the Act on Climate campaign which is working towards climate justice with frontline communities and workers to build climate resilience through local solutions (Friends of the Earth Melbourne). Today Vicky chats about her activism which encompasses reistance to what is not working as well as building better systems that will promote human flourishing in the future. This includes building a localised food system in a sharing economy.

Robin Gale-Baker from Sustainable Macleod shares her knowledge about the Queensland Fruit Fly which now threatens fruit-growing as far south as Melbourne. She describes how they have eradicated it from the Sustainable Macleod Community Garden using a combination of netting, lures and careful management of affected fruit.Read about it here: https://localfoodconnect.org.au/lfc-news-august-13/

'Single-use coffee cups have become a significant environmental concern, with a staggering 1.87 billion cups estimated to end up in Australian landfill each year. And according to a 2023 report by Sustainability Victoria, Australians dispose of approximately 1.9 million tonnes of packaging waste annually' https://streat.com.au/siptember/Fiona Meighan and Kirsty Bishop-Fox join us in this episode to tell us about STREAT's campaign to reduce greenhouse gasses by swapping disposable food and beverage containers for reusable ones.Find out more about STREAT and the Siptember campaign here:https://streat.com.au/siptember/