Hello from Bello+Beyond…
This issue: the Shire tunes up for the Dorrigo Folk & Bluegrass Festival, we duck into Peaches Patisserie for something sweet, and get the dirt on the Permaculture Design Course taking root at The Patch. Plenty on below…
What's On
It's a big back half to October. Dorrigo's showgrounds and main street come alive from 23–25 October — alongside the Folk & Bluegrass Festival (more below), Hickory Street fills with stalls for the Dorrigo Handmade Markets. Then from 30 October, the Bellingen Taranta Festival takes over town for three days of Mediterranean and global music, dance and food, with a mostly-free program running through the weekend.
This Week's Journal Stories
Dorrigo Folk & Bluegrass Festival
Twenty-four years in, the Dorrigo Folk and Bluegrass Festival still runs on single mics and no headliners. Director Bridget Rees on why the sound stays small, who's on this year's bill, and the new beginner's bootcamp getting nervous musicians into their first jam. 23–25 October, Dorrigo Showgrounds — family-friendly, with its own kids' programme, on-site camping, and a site kept drug, alcohol, smoking and plastic-free.
Peaches Patisserie
Beth O'Loughlin always meant to open a patisserie in Dorrigo — a dream that started with the illustrated feasts in her childhood storybooks. Now Peaches makes everything from scratch, sources what it can locally, and has survived more than one road closure on the strength of a town that keeps showing up.
Permaculture Design Course — The Patch
Nidya Bellido-Beraun didn't set out to run a permaculture school — her own design course changed the direction of her life first. Now The Patch Organics brings it back to Levenvale Farm, 8–15 November: global facilitators, a working demonstration farm, and a framework for understanding nature most people don't expect from a gardening course.
Freshly Added
The listings library keeps growing — this week we've added The Patch Organics to Shop Local.
Good to Know
Cash Savage & The Last Drinks play the Loyal Bellingen Golf Club on 22 October, with Farm joining in duo/acoustic form. See tickets →
Bonsai & Brews brings a beginner-friendly bonsai workshop to Bellingen Brewing Co this Saturday, 17 October — two hours of potting, shaping and wiring, with your own bonsai to take home and a drink on the house. See the listing →
Bellingen Community Markets are on this Saturday, 8am to 2pm in Bellingen Park — fingers crossed the rain holds out and the sugar cane juice man makes an appearance. See what’s on →
Santa's Art Sale opens at Art Space Urunga from 20 October — an unplanned pre-Christmas pop-up of member artists’ work, everything priced at $200 or under. See the listing →
One Last Thing
If you've been enjoying these letters, the easiest way to help is to forward this one to a friend and let them know Bello+Beyond exists — word of mouth is how a project like this grows in a place like this.
And if there's something we're missing, getting wrong, or could be doing better to keep this useful for the Shire, we'd genuinely like to hear it — drop us a line any time at [email protected].
See you in the Shire…
Bello+Beyond