A Do Good Saturday in Melbourne

Saturday kicked off with brunch at Friends of Mine in Richmond. Without even tasting or viewing the menu, I could tell this place was a winner from the all bums on seat and buzz that echoed out to the faithful patrons loitering at the entrance and outside. Not only will you be charmed by the service (seriously everyone who works there has a twinkle in their eye - maitre d, wait staff and the boys in the kitchen), the organic domination and food quality, will make all your troubles go away at least momentarily. While I didn´t go the organic lamb (ooo the possibility to eat meat again...), I did pick Melbourne´s top 5 eggless breakies... the infamous smashed avocado, thyme buttered mushies and fetta on wholegrain or gluten free toast. Made perfect with an organic OJ to wash it down!

Next stop - Moral Fair Ground Fair@Square Festival. Following the success of their inaugural festival in 2009, it was imminent a second festival would follow. It was simply awesome to see the choices I had made throughout the year were the right choices and to also discover and learn what other amazing things were out there. You see the Fair@Square is a festival that celebrates and promotes ethical, socially rssponsible and environmentally aware businesses and services, so I´m sure they would have done the research as to who can or can´t participate.

Old friends who made the cut - Peppermint Magazine (Australia´s only environmentally conscious fashion magazine), Simple Phoebe, the Environmental Toothbrush, KeepCup, Savers, Fourth Daughter and Kitchen Wench who sources her ingredients from farmers markets or she grows her own.

New friends -
Gideon 100% Australian handmade sneakers from Kangaroo & Cane Toad leathers with 100% profit going to the Noffs Street University. I must say I do prefer leather over pvc. A natural fiber and a quality material that lasts. With Cane Toads and Kangaroos considered feral animals that causes. catastrophic damage and threaten our landscape, agriculture and industries, as long as they´re not farmed or are farmed humanly, this is the kind of leather I want.

"We just came back from the US ... We met with Kelly Cutrone (a fashion industry representative) who looks after Vivienne Westwood, Sass & Bide ... She loved the whole idea and took us out to dinner with the associate editor of Oprah magazine,"
- Mr Noffs co-director of Gideon.

Now that´s one step closer to Oprah than most of us got!

People & Planet raises funds for 37 Australian social-justice and environmental organizations, supporting the work of those organizations by promoting a just, sustainable world. The calendar I purchased is made from monza recycled paper (55% recycled and 45% Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certified sustainably-harvested fibre. I particularly like the below image as although it´s shocking to see how a single person can carry so much weight, it´s also a powerful image that gives truth and hope to the saying ¨when thereś a will thereś a way¨. You can check out other images via their website where you can buy the diary/calendar or a limited edition print.

Traditional Healthcare Not-for-profit organization dedicated to creating sustainable healthcare facilities in remote areas of the world. I was attracted to the concept, creating a natural/herbal sustainably built medical clinic teaching people how to take care of themselves and their families through the use of holistic medicine and doing it sustainably so that rather than have them rely on the clinic as a go to place for an instant fix, people can learn how to grow their own herbs and develop skills that can be passed on in the future, thus they become self reliant, which is the name of the game when we talk about sustainability. I´ve been told it will cost $60k to set up and have it functioning. So if anyone out there who is considering buying a car but is also needing to make amends with the world, this could be it! Think about it, you can make such a massive impact on an entire community and it´s future or you could purchase a vehicle that heats up the earth and shortens a possible future. After having a peruse through the proposal, I am intrigued with the research conducted. *$20K has so far been raised.

So if you do have a spare moment today (Sunday) do pop over to Federation Square and open your eyes to a world of possibilities!