A co-op shop is a ‘weekly ritual’

By Seanna McCune, a local botanist and Flame Tree Co-op volunteer

For over 30 years I’ve been identifying plants, indeed many thousands of them – ranging from common, widespread weeds and undiscovered species to plant material implicated in forensic police cases and leaf and seed fragments removed from the stomachs of poisoned pets and livestock.

I’ve been chuffed to contribute to some very large projects like the identification of plants collected for Kew’s Millennium Seed Bank, an underground collection of over 2.4 billion seeds from around the world.

Through my work with the Botanical Identification Service at the National Herbarium of NSW, I help home gardeners, farmers, conservation groups, ecological consultants, veterinarians, and other government departments.

Flame Tree Food Co-op, too, plays an important part in my life. I love supporting locally sourced food like Highland Organics milk from Moss Vale, eggs from The Oaks, Bulli-based Illawarra mushrooms, honey from Flametree BeeKeeper, Pane Paradiso bread, not to mention the fermented goodies like kombucha from Darkes Forest.

But it’s not just the variety of delicious, nutritious food. For me, it’s also about connecting to the Flame Tree community. Through volunteering at the Co-op I’ve made some lovely friends. It’s a welcoming, nourishing, happy place. It’s also about reducing my packaging waste, and supporting a member-owned not-for-profit organisation. Oh, and on top of all that, being a volunteer reduces my weekly shopping bill!

Visit Thirroul’s Co-op at 355 Lawrence Hargrave Drive, flametree.coop

Want to work at the co-op? The Flame Tree Co-op is advertising for a Shop Manager and Retail Assistants.

Save the date: the Flame Tree AGM is on Saturday, 8 October at 4pm (venue tba). Four of the five director positions are up for renomination.