Timberlake Organic Village - Natural Healthy Living
Welcome to July, the Knysna Oyster Festival and the soccer World Cup finals. timberlake was excited to host the Dutch supporters Club at Zucchini restaurant as well as some fun and informative events early on in July...
Dutch Supporters Club
Wow what a final! It was a great atmosphere at Zucchini restaurant, which was adopted by the Dutch Supporters Club and had plenty of Orange support. Unfortunately it was not to be! (congratulations Spain). Thank you to the Dutch Supporters Club for supporting Zucchini's. It was a fun journey into the Finals and we enjoyed sharing those moments with you.
Raw Food at timberlake
An introductory Raw Food Class was held at Cafe de Afrique on Saturday the 3rd of July by Carol Surja. She spoke about the benefits of bringing Raw Food into your diet, demonstrated how to make a Green Smoothie and invited you to taste some Raw Food treats. A documentary about Raw Food was screened and everybody received a booklet of notes and recipes.
The Class only allowed for 20 people to attend and a number had to be turned away. If you are interested in Raw Food please reply to this newsletter so we can notify you of future events.
Cafe de Afrique is now serving a Raw Burger, Raw Pizza slice and Raw Falafel (pictured here with potato wedges for those who are sitting on the fence!) on weekends only. A Raw chocolate brownie is soon to be introduced and if you are lucky enough you may be chosen as a test subject!
Why Local?
There are two types of economies, local economies and flow economies. Local economies are based on local control and are closely interwoven with and influenced by local culture and values. In Flow economies everything has a price, can be bought and sold and the most important decisions are made by big National companies. Faced with the expansion of the flow economy, local economies are forced to withdraw. Deprived of the necessary economic base, the spaces of places lose the ability to reproduce their difference and gradually melt into the space of flows, which empties or fills them according to the market.
An example of this happens when a big supermarket chain enters an area. People often react positively because of the increase in variety of cheap commodities. But the closure of small commercial enterprises, no longer capable of standing up to the competition, creates unemployment, turns towns into deserts (or in our case solely dependent on tourism and construction), and eliminates commercial opportunities for local producers.
This is why timberlake has launched the Your Local Needs You! campaign.
Its time to get behind our local producers. The Your Local Needs You! campaign aims to show how easy it is to put your Rand into the local economy by seeking out products that are made, grown or reared in our area.
By supporting your local it means: strengthening the variety of local produce and products, less damage to the environment by avoiding unnecessary travel miles, energy intensive distribution and elaborate packaging, and finally more local jobs!
Each month we will feature a local producer that is deserving of your support and you will be surprised at how many quality local products and services are produced right here on your doorstep.
Your Local Needs You!
In two short years owner Lindy Gordon-Brown and parner Philip have created Red Barn free range chickens out of a dream to grow chickens in portable houses. Roaming freely outside and with their diet supplemented on mielies, wheat, lucern, and wholewheat bread, these are healthy, happy chickens.
They use Ross and Hybro chickens for meat and recently Boschfeld indigenous chickens for laying hens. Situated near the George Airport they are opening a shop on the farm in the beginning of August. See www.chicken.the-red-barn.com for more details. Red Barn free range chickens, and soon other products such as chicken sausage and free range bacon, are available at the Country Deli at timberlake.
The Country deli will also be stocking Almonds, sourced from Montagu, that are organic in conversion, raw and untreated. It is of concern that so many nuts are being imported (it is estimated that 80% of world Almond production is produced in California) when we have fantastic, locally produced, 1st grade product right on our doorstep.
Slow Food at timberlake
Slow Food is an organisation that was started in 1986 as a response to the first McDonalds opening in Italy and the
growing industrialisation of food. Slow Food has now emerged as an International movement with over 85000
members in 132 countries.
Siow Food is all about respecting where food comes from and who is producing it, learning about taste and the upkeep of food traditions and regionality. The Slow Food Garden Route convivium (chapter) was formed last year and is going to be holding 2 exciting events at the Barn at timberlake on the 19th of June:
Olive Oil Taste Workshop
It started off with some basic information about Olive Oils: how they are categorised and defined, the effect of heating, the importance of freshness, and the definition and impact of acidity in the Oil. Followed by a basic taste test of a sweet and a bitter solution, as used by professional tasters, to allow everybody to determine their personal sensitivity to sweetness and bitterness. Participants were then categorised into Tasters (sensitive to bitter) and Non-Tasters (less sensitive to bitter) and it was explained how this determined their preferences for certain types of foods and tastes.
The tasting of 4 different Olive Oils commenced after a description of the technique to be used and the attributes that they would be focusing on: Aroma intensity, Sweetness, Bitterness, Fruit intensity and Pungency. Participants then rated and recorded their responses. By aggregating all the responses we created a visual taste profile, which allowed us to discuss the qualities of the Olive Oils: the similarities and differences, overriding impressions, and the varietals of olives used to make the oils. Some definite 'ah-ha' moments were had as the experience and information came together nicely.
After the concentration of the tastings everybody relaxed to enjoy 2 warming Bagna Caudas (an Italian styled fondue of olive oil, anchovies, garlic and butter) with raw organic veg and ile de pain bread for dipping and a complimentary glass of Waverley Hill organic red wine.
Coffee Cup Tasting
Michael started off with a History of coffee and some interesting facts about where Coffee comes from. He explained the difference between washed and unwashed beans, the ways to blend and roast coffees and how these all impacted on the final taste. It was interesting to hear how the big roasting companies can roast a batch of green coffee beans in 90 seconds whereas an artisanal roaster typically takes between 19 to 20 minutes. Noting some of the other ways that large scale roasters use to speed up the roasting process and the impact this has on acidity and taste, it becomes apparent that Slow Food principles applied to Coffee create an end product that is tastier and healthier.
Everybody was afforded a chance to come up and touch the green and roasted beans from different regions and note the difference between Robusta and Arabica beans. Michael, being an expresso drinker, explained why he always blends some Robusta into his expressos even though they are regarded as a cheaper bean. Michael then demonstrated the roasting of a batch of Columbia beans using his table top roaster and everybody paid attention to the first crack and the machine stopped shortly thereafter to create a light roast. During the roasting Michael talked about the importance of the grinding process and the technique in preparing an expresso in creating an excellent cup of Coffee. A cup tasting was then poured and everybody was given a spoon to taste with a loud slurp. A question and answer session followed with the tasting of some complimentary Raw chocolate truffles from Cafe de Afrique.
Thank you to all our local Olive Oil companies: Olyfberg, Willow Creek, Prince Albert Olives and Waverley Hill Organic; the Suppliers: Tony from Cheese Head, Num Num and Brett Bard, Markus from ile de pain, Vivienne from Cafe de Afrique; and finally Michael Schaelchlin from Fat Suzis for his time and effort in running the Coffee workshop.
If you would like to become a Slow Food member or find out more about Slow Food please visit www.slowfood.com. Membership costs only 5 euros (+- R50) and if you would like to join please specify your convivium as the Garden Route.
Soccer Art&Craft competition
The winners of the timberlake Soccer Art&Craft competition were chosen on Saturday the 19th of June by an independent panel of judges.
Stefni Muller a Knysna based artist and jewelry designer won the Best Overall Design prize, a R1000 cheque from Katherine Wood Fine Art and a night for 2 at Cinnamon Boutique Guest house. Nikki Schaafsma-Harris won the Best Visual Impact prize of R300 cash and a Zucchini restaurant gift voucher. Heather Boyle won the Best Eco-Ball prize of R200 cash, a Cafe de Afrique raw burger voucher and an aromatherapy massage by Kheli Body Awareness. All three prize winners received a sponsored trip to Design Indaba courtesy of Knysna Tourism.
Although there were fewer entries than expected the winning balls were all worthy winners. Stefni's fabic ball was hand sewn and it reportedly took 2 days for her hands to recover. Nikki recruited the help of her daughter and worked to 2pm in the morning to get hers finished. Receiving her prize, Heather was quoted as saying she "has never won anything before" but her cabbage ball and soccer players made from carrots was chosen unanimously by the judges as the best eco concept and design.
Thank you to our sponsors: Cinnamon Boutique Guest House, Katherine Wood Fine Art, Knysna Tourism, Zucchini Restaurant, Body Awareness by Kheli, and Cafe de Afrique.
... You Are Inspired
Subscribe to our interesting and informative Monthly Newsletter
If you would like to receive our Monthly Newsletter, packed with interesting info, local news and timberlake happenings, please enter your details below:
Contact Us
We invite you to contact us at info@timberlakeorganic.co.za for any additional information.
Artist Tony Scullion has taken up Studio space at timberlake.
