Hello Blackwood & visitors to our wee village

What an amazingly unexpected year it has been! Who else is looking forward to 2021, mind you have you seen the meme going around? If you thought 2020 was bad, Mad Max is set in 2021!

With restrictions easing & a view to being able to set the office at the hall up for the team to put produce issues together, I’m planning on submitting an application for a grant to the Bendigo Bank for the equipment we need.
I’ve had a taste of what working together might be like with Lisa Moore organising all the emails that come in so when I get to put the issue together everything is beautifully organised into folders ready for input & then Kathy Berrill spent the Sunday after deadline with me, learning the ropes of putting the paper together on a tight deadline. She searched for copyright free images, organised lists of upcoming events ready to insert, she learned how to prepare the photos for both the print & the online issue. She contacted folk to get last minute photos & articles & gently kept me sane. It is going to be marvelous when we can get into the office!

I want to thank everyone who supports the paper through articles, photos, donations & of course our advertisers. I wish you all a fabulous silly season & 2021.

~ Jinny Coyle, Communications co-ordinator


The Cafe with No Name

(Unfortunatly this article missed out being published, Our deepest apologies to Karen & the community.)

After a lengthy application process, Karen Bruno has been granted a permit to open a cafe at her home in Martin Street Blackwood. The former Lerdies building will once again be a food premise where we can enjoy delicious home style food as well as those beautiful views from the rear room and deck. Karen moved here 5 years ago and quickly setup a BnB which is still operating today. Next came the hat shop over 3 years ago and her plan now is to run the cafe as her third business.

Karen has always loved cooking and is particularly fond of and experienced in the home style cuisines of India and the Mediterranean. “My food is made from quality ingredients and cooked with love “ she says, and is in her “happy place” as soon as she starts to prepare. A lot of her recipes from India, Greece and Italy have been written down from the old Aunties, Yayas and Nonnas that have cooked them for years having learnt them from their mothers. “ I love the honesty of the old recipes where you can taste everything and know where it has come from” she says. The cafe menu will showcase these old recipes but have modern considerations such as GF and Vegan options. Food from our “food bowl” area will be served including a spud bar where you can choose from one of 4 Trentham grown spuds and then pick one of 4 toppings to go on them. There will be a strong vegetarian and vegan menu and of course curries and dahls and some absolutely delicious sweets including that amazing yogurt desert that was so popular when she cooked at the pub.

But with the year we have had, Karen has decided to first open a takeaway option from her food van which she will put on the block next to the hat shoppe and sell from there. This will mean she can open quickly- early December is the aim and then have time to get the cafe ready for a launch next year. She hopes that more people will stop in Blackwood and enjoy what the our little town has to offer.

The food van menu will be different from the cafe but will still be made from the same quality ingredients. It will include roast beef rolls, a spudbar with the choice of toppings, curries and also a “Buddha bowl” will be a refreshing salad option for the summer. A delicious breakfast wrap with Meat, Veg, VG and GF options should be perfect for those out early. And then the sweets- house made (really van made!) cakes, muffins and slices and even choc chia puddings and jars of fresh fruit will be served all day.

Jobs have been created with this new venture and Karen has 3 local staff lined up to work in the food van with her and in the hat shoppe. But she is still looking for one more person to work in the hat shoppe so if you are interested then please let her know.
The cafe still has no name and Karen is trusting that the perfect one will come. But in the meantime she will trade under “Karen’s Kitchen”for the food van.
Wishing you the best of luck- you go girl!


Download the December 2020 / January 2021 issue of the Blackwood Times (.pdf 5.3mb)


WILL YOU JOIN OUR TEAM?

No matter what your skills & time limitations are please reach out – the more the merrier I say! Please email team(@theblackwoodtimes.com.au & Lisa will be in touch.

Fiona is taking on the Times invoicing & financial work which is incredibly valuable especially as we prepare to apply for grants.

We’d love to find some one who gets about a bit who can do the distribution – this is a fortnightly run to Trentham to top up after the issue has been distributed to all our outlets. Please email editor@theblackwoodtimes.com.au if you can take this on.

When this crisis is over Brendan & I will continue to assist the new team to find their feet, but only in an advisory capacity, they hope the final hand-over to the community will be completed by the end of the year.

~ Jinny Coyle (acting co-ordinator)

Of course all our wonderful contributors articles are scattered through-out the issue.


Download the December 2020 / January 2021 issue of the Blackwood Times (.pdf 5.3mb)

Pick up a hard copy from either the Blackwood PO or Trentham Petrol & Stuff


Please consider supporting our future publications by donating when you download … this helps to pay for printing & other costs associated with publishing our Community paper.

Download the December 2020 / January 2021 issue of the Blackwood Times (.pdf 5.3mb)