Sunday, January 24, 2010

Haiti-need a different kind of change

Ok so I know that everyone has gotten on the Haiti bandwagon, and I am not writing to badger you to donate money but rather to encourage you to badger the International Monetary Fund to cancel Haiti's debt so that they can rebuild their country.
Please follow these links to the Oxfam site and sign your name to petition the IMF to make some positive change. No man is an island.....


The email from Oxfam below.....




22 January 2010
Take Action Send To A Friend

Make sure that earthquake relief doesn't create a new debt burden in Haiti


Dear Activist, As you read this, Oxfam's staff is rushing clean water and emergency supplies to earthquake survivors in Port-au-Prince, Haiti.But while our immediate focus will remain emergency relief, one major threat could still hamper all efforts to rebuild this country: Haiti's crushing foreign debt.Oxfam and other groups have helped extract a commitment from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to cancel Haiti's debt. But we need your voice to get them to actually follow through on their promise without delay.Will you help? Please, join us in urging the IMF to cancel Haiti's foreign debt now.Even before the earthquake, Haiti was weighed down by debt. They owed over $891 million to the IMF and others - a legacy of loans to unelected governments of years past.If these debts aren't canceled, Haiti will be sending tens of millions to the IMF and other international bodies even as it struggles to rebuild.World leaders are meeting in Montreal on Monday to decide on the amount of aid that they will give to Haiti. The IMF has said that it will work to cancel the debt, and this now needs to happen.If these debts are cancelled, the Haitian government will have a better chance to build their country, so that it is stronger than before.Email the head of the IMF, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, to demand that they cancel Haiti’s debts immediately.Make sure that earthquake relief doesn't create a new debt burden.Campaigning works. Thanks for taking action.Oxfam Australia's Campaigns Team.PS. To find out more about our earthquake response, visit our website







GET ACTIVE DONATE LATEST NEWS CONTACT US
Oxfam Australia works with communities around the world to find lasting solutions to poverty and injustice. ABN: 18 055 208 636Oxfam Australia, 132 Leicester Street, Carlton VIC 3053, AustraliaPhone 1800 088 110, 9am - 5pm AEST campaigns@oxfam.org.au

Salsa Anyone



A great addition to any savoury meal, a tomato salsa can be served as a salad in its own right, or serve it upon some grilled fish or perhaps some Mexicana foods.



500 g organic ripe tomatoes
4 organic spring onions, sliced finely or 1 red organic onion finely chopped
1/2 cup chopped fresh organic parsley
1 tsp sea salt
1/4 cup extra virgin organic olive oil

Cut the tomatoes in half, dice the flesh and place in a medium bowl along with the spring onions, fresh parsley, olive oil.
2. Stir to combine, then stand for 30 minutes to allow the flavours to develop.

ORGANIC EMPIRE, organic home delivery melbourne, local organic foods

Why eat organic tomatoes?????

Tomatoes are one of the vegetables that signal the summer months. Even though they are available almost all year round, it's in the summer and late autumn months that tomatoes are at their best in Victoria. Vine ripened and full of flavour, they lend themselves to so many different dishes and can be eaten as they are, straight from the vine.

At the moment there are so many varieties of tomatoes available, there are the local heirloom varieties as well as the standard tomato varieties that are available. Let's have a look at some of these varieties:


Rouge De Marmande: these are a big 'beefsteak' variety. Ribbed fruit with an outstanding flavour.



Tigeralla: has decorative striped fruit.








Black Russian: has an unusual black colour, but brings a beautiful flavour to the plate

Tommy Toe, which has an outstanding sweet flavour, and the red or yellow fruit, is delicious to eat straight from the vine.

Conventional tomatoes has an average of 34 recordable total residues, these include 2 known or probable carcinogens, 15 suspected hormone disruptors, 7 neurotoxins and 3 developmental or reproductive toxins, comprised of methyl bromide, nevinphos, parathion and many other chemicals. These conventionally grown crops not sounding so tasty.

Organically grown counterparts offer a plethora of vitamins and minerals minus the chemicals. High in vitamin C, E, K, potassium, beta-carotene and lycopene, the organic tomato definitely has more flavour. An interesting fact on organic tomatoes is that they have been found to deliver three times as much lycopene, an amazing antioxidant than conventional tomatoes. Order some local organic tomatoes here.

We have two farmers supplying our tomatoes, we have a farmer who runs his farm using solar power, and we have our local heirloom farmer, the punnets of organic heirloom tomatoes are sensational. Both farmers are providing exceptional produce, get stuck into some organic goodness this week


ORGANIC EMPIRE, organic home delivery melbourne, local organic foods