When guests sit down to enjoy an amazing Matt Golinski lunch at the Noosa Biosphere Grow For Noosa Gala at Peppers Resort on 1 November, they will be met by a table setting centerpiece that is as apt as it is unusual.
The brainchild of Permaculture Noosa president Cr Tom Wegener, the 18 found-wood planter boxes, one at each table, will be auctioned during the event as part of fundraising for the Grow For Noosa fund.
“The box captures the whole Agri-Hub concept in one piece,” Cr Wegner said.
“In it we have climate-appropriate plants, some Indigenous plants, the plants that will feed us through the coming droughts.”
As well as coming up with the idea, Cr Wegener hand-made and planted all the boxes, using his backyard surfboard factory at Cooroy as his workshop.
He told Noosa Today: “Actually, it’s been so long since I made a board it was good to get in there and get the machinery running again.”
Cr Wegner said the plants he’s using, sourced from Cooroy Community Garden, are low maintenance, nutritious and tasty. They include arrowroot, Brazilian spinach, subtropical fruit and veggies that grow really well here.
“In the summer heat you just walk outside and pick from a forest of food.”
The boxes will be enhanced by repurposed coffee cups used to hold seedlings, supplied by deadly Espresso and Galeru bush foods’ boss Terri Waller, one of the food and agriculture panelists at the Gala.
“They feature turtle art by local Kabi Kabi woman Shauna Hill,” Ms Waller said.
“They’re a bit grungy but that’s part of the look, and they tell our story.”
The Noosa Biosphere Awards returns for its second year as part of the Gala.
Four category winners will be announced as part of an exciting awards program that celebrates sustainability excellence in the Noosa Biosphere by nominating a local sustainability champion or project.
Described by organisers as “a conscious alternative to a Melbourne Cup luncheon”, the Gala will feature a two-course menu plus amuse bouche featuring local, seasonal products, designed by View Restaurant executive chef and slow food ambassador Matt Golinski on his last event appearance at View, drink on arrival, plus three-hour drinks package, silent and live auction prizes worth over $5000, a food and agriculture industry panel discussing a sustainable food future, and an eco-fashion parade.
For more information or tickets, visit noosabiosphere.org.au/gala/
