hello cairns people, PLEASE CONSIDER SUBSCRIBING TO OUR LOCALLY GROWN REAL-FOOD NETWORK AND FOR THOSE THAT CANT USE ALL THE FOOD IN THE BOX, CONSIDER ALSO THAT YOU COULD GIVE IT AWAY AND THAT WE DO HAVE AN OBLIGATION TO OUR COMMUNITY AND FUTURE GENERATIONS TO KEEP OUR FOOD LOCAL, NON GMO AND REDUCE OUR DEPENDENCE ON SUPERMARKET CHAINS. IF YOU DONT KNOW WHAT DO WITH THE FOODS IN THE BOX, CONSIDER THAT WE HAVE FORGOTTEN HOW TO EAT FRESH (REALLY WOOLIES HAS PULLED THE WOOL OVER OUR EYES) AND MAKE AN EFFORT TO GOOGLE SHIT AND LEARN TO BE CREATIVE AGAIN. SO OK, I QUIT MY SUBSCRIPTION BECAUSE I DIDNT KNOW WHAT TO DO WITH THE FOOD SOMETIMES AND I GO AWAY A LOT - BUT - IF MANY OF US LET OUR COMMITMENT LAPSE IN THIS WAY, REAL FOODS WILL die. CHRIS AND SJOERD SERIOUSLY WORK THEIR FREAKING ARSES OFF TO MAKE REAL FOODS HAPPEN EVERY DAY... AND WE JUST SIT AROUND (NOT) LIKE LAZY CONSUMERS (NOT) SPOILED FOR CHOICE (NOT) AND GO : Let Someone Else Be Responsible for Saving the Planet from Ecological Destruction. THIS IS A FIRST AND FINAL CALL FOR ALL PASSENGERS OF PLANET EARTH TO ACT IN A RESPONSIBLE MANNER FOR THEIR LOCAL FOOD PRODUCTION AND TO RECOGNISE THE HUGE AMOUNT OF EFFORT BEING MADE BY CHRIS, SJOERD AND ALL OUR LOCAL FARMERS TO KEEP FOOD ALIVE AND IN LOCAL HANDS IN OUR REGION. SUBSCRIBE HERE TO THE REAL FOOD BOX: realfoodnetwork.au/subscribe.htm (TRY IT TODAY! - THEN RECEIVE MONTHLY, FORTNIGHTLY OR WEEKLY BOXES OF LOCALLY GROWN FOOD AT GUARANTEED CHEAPER PRICES THAN MAJOR SUPERMARKETS) BELOW IS AN EMAIL FROM THE REAL FOOD NETWORK I RECEIVED ON AUSTRALIA DAY: Is RealFood Network ‘sustainable?’ We don’t know. But we are about to find out. The word itself – sustainable – is being flogged beyond death. It is rapidly heading for ‘joke word’ status. So some explanation of how RFN is using it is in order. Of course, we doubt whether many would argue about the desirability of: Organic farming Seasonality Localised food economy Product Nutrition – by growing organically and harvesting closer to use-by date Product Taste – by emphasising heirloom seed and harvesting closer to use-by Product Freshness – by moving from farm to plate in less than 36 hours Reduction of food miles – by being exclusively local Support for local family farmers and rural communities Support for Primary and Secondary Education Social Enterprise and support for local community groups Training and Employment for persons with special needs Restorative Business Practice Transition from petroleum based economy to renewable practices Community taking responsibility for its own food Those who know us love us – whether they shop with us or not. We are invited to speak everywhere – from Symposiums to afternoon teas. We can hardly walk down the street without being baled-up and showered with laudatory remarks about RFN. Much appreciated – for affirmation that people know about the issues. So what is the problem? And why wouldn’t we be ‘sustainable?’ It’s about money and volunteers. Bottom line = we need more RFN Box Subscriptions. So the money part first. We are feeding 2 – 3,000 people something every week. That’s great. But it isn’t enough. Even without labour, there are still substantial costs – fuel for several vehicles across the region every week, rent (shops & markets) power (lots of refrigeration) and all the miscellaneous. Plus, we need to sell at least 3 food items to cover the cost of a single item not sold (very expensive compost). We are constantly working to fine tune purchases and avoid waste. Ditto fuel and power. So it really gets down to revenue. Markets are limited. A certain number attend. They all have their favourite vendor(s). There is room for a little revenue growth at markets and lots of room at the shop. But what we really need is more RFN Box Subscriptions. Our volunteers are fantastic. We suppose there have been over 200 since we started. It has been very casual. Many have truly put in very big efforts – dedicating hundreds of hours. Management, training and commitment needs to notched-up. This is in process, but will take time. People come and go. We need more. So it comes back to revenue and RFN Boxes. It feels great to be purchasing over 300 different products from over 100 farmers over 12 months. It feels great to be doing what we do at Redlynch State College and working with the students. The same with seeing all of our friends every week, shopping at Rusty’s, Speewah, Kuranda, Tolga, our Shop in the CBD and elsewhere. It is fantastic to know we are supplying great, clean, fresh food for their families and supporting local family farms in the process. But none of that will matter if we can’t stay in business. There is a lot of goodwill there. But we can’t eat it. We have financed losses for over 4 years. It wouldn’t make sense to do it forever. As they say – ‘it isn’t sustainable.’ And as nice as it all “feels,” to be honest, it does NOT feel like we are really effecting any social change at this level. In fact, 99.9% of all the management and staff at all the local, state and federal level, of all the government institutions touting ‘sustainability’ as the new catch-cry do NOT support RealFood Network. Plenty of ‘talking the talk,’ but very little ‘walking the walk.’ They still buy their produce at the majors, grown on mono-culture, petroleum dependent farms and shipped in from across Australia and around the world. Convenience. We ALL pay for it. So will our children. So 2014 is the year. We either make it or break it. Sjoerd has started the RealFood Revolution. Please join us and tell your friends. If we can get another 200+/- Subscriptions, we feel confident we can keep this programme going indefinitely. To those of you, most actually, who are NOT getting the RFN Box and NOT shopping with us anywhere, or at least not very often, producing this memo and the related conversations has germinated a seed of an idea to encourage more support. Hopefully, we can put it together in a ‘saleable’ form and come back to you again in a week or so. Please look for it. For now lets say this much: Were going the distance, keeping the food moving. You can find us in many locations click here. Thank you for sharing this letter with your networks, the more of us that know, the more of us can draw the line and help strengthen our local food economy. It is important. In the words of Weekly Foodbox subscriber ( since day 1!) Christine Doan,even if we don’t get our hands dirty much, most of us spend a bit of time each day eating! Were going the distance, keeping the food moving. You can find us in many locations click here. Thank you for sharing this letter with your networks, the more of us that know, the more of us can draw the line and help strengthen our local food economy. It is important. In the words of Weekly Foodbox subscriber ( since day 1!) Christine Doan,even if we don’t get our hands dirty much, most of us spend a bit of time each day eating! 2014 is the year. Join the RealFood Revolution- Chris Gloor Managing Director RealFood Network
Posted on: Thu, 20 Mar 2014 22:44:29 +0000