Stories From: Sustainability

Esther Sokoya’s passion for bringing people together is the driving force behind her latest community venture which has been enthusiastically supported by locals and businesses alike.

This week, Tracie McMahon takes a walk with author John Low, a former Blue Mountains City Council Librarian, and now Portland resident, around the Millpond at The Foundations, Portland.

I find myself feeling nostalgic when I think of the corner stores I grew up with. The ones I knew as a child have long-since vanished, but that nostalgia was delightfully triggered last week when I popped by to check out ‘Molly’, a vintage style van that’s just started serving coffee, drinks, snacks and homemade light meals from 71 Evans Lookout Rd Blackheath.

‘Too beautiful for the tip,’ the ad said. A story of how an old piano found new life, and how its new family discovered its superpower of connecting people.

On my visits to the Central Mountains Men's Shed in Lawson, two things stood out to me: here were a group of men who gained skills, fulfilment and pride from their work at the Shed, and here were a group of men with strong bonds and friendship.

Lithgow features as a backdrop on ABC TV’s The Messenger, as the fictional town of Moledale. This is the story of one of our prized buildings and the community that built, maintained and restored it to become the Maldhan Ngurr Ngurra Lithgow Transformation Hub.

Tracie McMahon takes you on a foraging journey of discovery and delicious meals with local experts in fungi and foraged plants.

Hamish Dunlop visits Megalong Restaurant and Lot 101 Farm in the Megalong Valley. He talks with Chef Colin Barker and Farm Manager Mark Wells about their philosophy of sustainability, being self-sufficient and reducing the time between pasture and plate.

Under the artificial lights of a shopping aisle, it’s easy to forget the origin of food. For Polona and Nathanael of Bullaburra, raising their own meat is a way of taking themselves out of the global meat-impact equation. Discover their story here.

Almost 30 years ago, the Blue Mountains Wildplant Rescue Service began salvaging local plant species from building sites. Its Katoomba Native Plant Nursery continues to preserve and propagate the plants of our World Heritage area while helping locals recreate a piece of the bush at home.