Coolana Olives WOW! World Class

http://www.coolanaolives.com/  
Results speak for themselves ….   
National Australian Table Olive Competition
See photos below

2008
Best of Show Silver – Garlic Lime Chilli Baked Olives
Silver – Sweet Thai Lime Baked Olives
Silver – BBQ Baked Olives
Silver – Semi Dried Garlic & Herb Olives
Bronze – Sicilian Baked Olives
Bronze – Sicilian Chilli Baked Olives

2007
Silver – Sicilian Baked Olives
Silver – BBQ Baked Olives
Silver – Smoked Baked Olives

Coolana Olives is a two person operation.   And what an inspiration they are.  Dot and Ian  have hand planted a 1000,  now mature olive trees of numerous varieties.  They have nurtured their  trees with their own organic fodder and they are now turning our arguable Australia tastiest olives and olive oil.  Not to mention the balsamic glazes and dukka!   From the olives on the trees,  they harvest, process, press, bake, package, label, the lot.  They do everything. 

Both Dot and Ian are accredited olive oil judges and Ian is also a member of the Australian Olive Oil Organoleptic Panel.  If you get the feeling they know what they are doing, you would be right. 

Their products, without exception are amazing.  Like WOW .   I will never go back to a Woolworth’s olive again.
The icing on the cake is  how charming  hospitable and genuine they both are. 

Coolana Olives is situated just outside of Lowood, South East Queensland.
The good news is their products are available online. 
If you are looking for an olive oil that you will want to put over EVERYTHING,  incredible olives, food that will make you go “WOW” then go to http://www.coolanaolives.com/

You will not be disappointed.

Coolana Olives www.coolanaolives.com

Hammer & Hand Collective

Hammer And Hand Invite You

Get along, support locals and share the love. 

Meemoh Handmade Toys

Duck Egg Blue Babooshka

Created by three Mums living in Byron Bay, Meemoh offers kids stuff that is natural, individual and fun. When decorating our children’s rooms, we found that the choice in the commercial market was limited. Our aim was, therefore, to create natural and quality products that appeal to both children and adults alike. We use 100% cotton fabrics and all products are lovingly handmade by our selves here in Byron Bay. We try to keep the designs simple as the fabrics speak for themselves.

Blue Zoo Bunny

Meemoh loves to work with an eclectic mix of vintage inspired and sourced fabrics in vibrant colours and simple designs, which are fun and fresh and will stand the test of time. So when we are not running around after our kids, we are designing, sewing and working on new ideas for the range.
Meemoh offers ranges for both girls and boys, from newborn and up.

You can find meemoh toys at the Byron Bay Markets or look at their range of products online at www.meemoh.net

Paul Jakubowski; A Resident Artist at the Byron Bay Markets

A professional artist specializing in painting and drawing in a wide variety of styles and techniques, Paul’s talent has been nurtured since early childhood and is a second generation artist. Most known for large scale paintings done for residential, commercial, corporate and public art. He is skilled at developing and rendering the ideas of clients. Completely mobile and enjoys traveling to new work sites. Respected educator who teaches a variety of classes in painting and drawing to children and adults. He inspires others in fun and exciting ways.

Watch Paul in action at the Byron Bay Markets and check out his website at www.pauljakubowski.com

Byron Bay, New South Wales, Australia By Bobby Vegas

No photos available of Bobby in Byron Bay. It is not that cold in Byron, more thongs and t shirt weather! Anyway back to Bobby!

Folks, I have arrived.  I only have a minute to type.  I’ve got no credit on my internet card!  But, the past two weeks have been so intense and powerful.  So good, though.  First off, my great, dear friend Travis from Outward Bound passed away while leading a mountain climbing trip in Argentina.  It’s been hard to grieve abroad, but things have been so inspiring since I received the news from my buddy Jason’s dad.  I had a ceremony at a cliff-side lighthouse which perches on the most easterly point in Australia.  Pretty heavy, huh?  Truly, though I have been blessed beyond belief.  BYRON BAY is so incredible.  The people have shown me love that I couldn’t imagine nor attempt to put into words.  From every culture I’ve been reached out to…italy germany france israel canada brazil england ireland…it makes me tear up to read that sentence back- no lie.  And man, I haven’t cried in YEARS. But the love is so intense.  I have decided to soak up the pristine beaches and twinkling starry nights here in Byron for a few more days to heal and rest my soul.  Yes, I recognize I sound hippie-dippy right now: which I am a bit.  But that’s me, for those who know me :)  In the next couple weeks, pray for good weather as I head to Coastal Queensland.  There’s been a cyclone hanging around, but not really affecting my world much, which is good.  Also, my tent broke which is a bummer. It’s still functional, but needs a bit of help to say the least  Headed off to Hervey Bay for whale watching, then the GREAT BARRIER REEF, while ending in the “backpacking carnival” town of Cairns. So yeah, I’m gonna stay put with the international family I’ve got going on right now at the ARTS FACTORY (which on a side note is the WORLD’S BEST BACKPACKER RESORT…CHECK IT ONLINE)

To check out more of Bobby’s travel blog just follow the link below.
http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/bobbyvegas/1/1237252200.html 

Attention Community Market Stallholders, Weekend Market Goers and Internet Browers,

I am sending out a request for your input/feedback into a Community Market Website l am designing.

Do your local markets have a web presence?   If so could you please send me the web address of their site?

The idea of the site is to provide market goers and stallholders with a useful online space for them to be able to find related information, contact each other and provide a platform for the promotion of the stalls.  I am looking for information from you as either a stallholder, a visitor to a Community Market or a on-line viewer of related Community Sites. 

What do you want to see when you go looking for market information?  

Is there any Community Market information you want to know that you cannot find at the moment? 

Have you noticed anything handy or useful when you have been looking at other information sites?

I would appriciate any  ideas, comments or feedback you have.  Please click on the comments link at the bottom of this article and leave me your thoughts. 

Thanks for sharing.
Regards Pip

Byron 2 Tweed All things bright and beautiful

Who does not love a frangipani?

Imagine going to a wedding. You find your seat and there on the table for each guest is a neatly  package living frangipani stick ready to be taken home and planted in your garden or a pot.  What a great idea. What a beautiful way to remember your friends wedding.  Sit back and watch it bloom.  I am taken with this idea. It think it is a winner.

Byron 2 Tweed specialise in all things frangipani.  Postcards, gift cards, prints, canvases, plants and of course gift sticks.  You can find them at the Byron Bay Markets or call them on 02) 6677 1980.   They will happily mail anything out to you.   You can also visit them on line at www.byron2tweed.com.

Nurture with Nature. Soaps oils incense and orangutans.

Hand made soaps

Your skin is the body’s largest organ, if you nuture your skin it can eliminate up to one third of the body’s toxins. At NURTURE with NATURE we have developed a beautiful range of soaps that will nourish and respect the skin that you live in.

Hand made soaps. They smell good enough to eat!

OUR SOAPS CONTAIN:
NATURAL essential oil blends based on AROMATHERAPY, NATURAL colours, NATURAL exfoliants, food grade vegetable oils of, coconut, olive, Ricebran & hempseed combined with lye water and French clay.

Our soap recipe guarantees you a luxurious, rich, lathering soap that will leave you and your bathroom smelling great. We invite you to indulge in this simple yet amazing experience provided by NATURE for YOU.

Just add water and enjoy
TESTED ON HUMANS

 

100% Pure Essential Oils

 

 You can visit nurture with nature online at www.nurture-with-nature.com , at the Byron Bay Markets or in the Arts & Industry Estate at 13 Acacia St.  Open Tue-Sat  10am to 5pm.

Byron Natures Gift – Chemical Free Skin Care

Healthy glowing skin is a combination of healthy eating, exercise and taking good care of the skin using only natural organic ingredients without harmful chemicals which can be detrimental to our health.
Some ingredients in skincare are actually industrial strength chemicals and petroleum by-products.

All you need is few minutes in the morning and evening to cleanse, tone and moisturise your skin.  What a wonderful way to start the day by cleansing your face, stimulating circulation and refreshing the skin with  floral water enriched with plant extracts. Your skin will feel soft and silky smooth.
All you need is a light application of nutrient rich day cream to leave your skin feeling pampered and protected all day.   Also what a lovely way to end the day by taking few minutes to pamper yourself and infuse your skin with luxurious rich moisturisers that have been enriched with high concentration of active organic ingredients with ultra healing powers of rose hip and plant extracts to work on you skin while you sleep.

You will feel the difference evolving as the high concentration of fresh active ingredients begin to repair,
regenerate and heal your skin, giving it a healthy glow.

www.byronnaturesgift.com.au

 

Organic Skin Care At Its Best

                                                                                          www.byronnaturesgift.com.au

Byron Nature’s Gift products are free from synthetic ingredients; sorbolene, mineral oils, petroleum products, synthetic and paraben preservatives, artificial colours and fragrances, sulphates.

In Byron Nature’s Gift products we use:
highest quality certified organic ingredients which penetrate the skin to achieve the maximum benefits for your skin with superior results.  Therapeutic essential oils and herbal extracts with healing and anti-ageing properties.  Natural preservative blend of herbal and anti bacterial extracts, anti-oxidants, essential oils and vitamins – natural preservative safer for your skin and general health.

We use recyclable, hand-blown blue glass jars and P.E.T. bottles to protect our products from sunlight, which can break down the active ingredients.

Shelf  life of Byron Nature’s Gift products is 12-14months. We encourage you to use the product once it has been opened to achieve the best results for your skin. Product requires ambient temperature (10-25 degrees), away from direct sunlight. 

Byron Nature’s Gift products are freshly handmade in small batches to ensure high standards of quality control and to insure that only the very best and purest ingredients are being used to make our products.

Our products do not have any animal ingredients and are only tested on people.
You can find the lovely people from Natures Gift at the Byron Markets or check out their devine products on line.  www.byronnaturesgift.com.au

Gumboots mandatory at The Blues Festival

The must have item of the 2009 Blues & Roots Festival

 

Do not leave home without your gumboots.  It will come as no surprise to the many regular Blues and Roots goers that Belongil Fields already resembles a swamp.  More years than not the Blues and Roots Festival is wet.  It is more or less the norm.  No sooner have the campers put their tent pegs into the ground and the skies open. 
This year the rain got in before the campers,  with the best part of two weeks worth prior to the big event.  You can imagine the state of the grounds.  To my suprise  there were a fair portion of the crowd last night wearing thongs!  After a while, as their feet became muddier and muddier, it became difficult to determine exactly what was on their feet.   The tell tail trail of mud up the middle of their backs,  flicked up from their thongs was the give away.

Mud or no mud, everybody was out to have a good time.  And as for the couple of showers during the evening, the tents are so massive there is plenty of shelter for everyone.  I did not see any unrest or aggro, just lots of dancing and lots of smiles and of course lots of good music.

My B&R tip..If you are concerned your shoes will not cut it and keep the water out, put a fruit and vegie bag over your socks before you slip your foot into your shoe.  Dry feet make for more dancing!

If you are lucky enough to be attending have a great time.