February 23

Hello Canberra,

Hello Canberra,

🌦️ Weather: 32°. A mostly sunny morning. A 70% chance of showers in the afternoon and evening. A possible storm.

📆 Today: It’s Friday 23rd February

🥩 Made in Canberra: Barbell Foods

Canberra company Barbell Foods make healthy meat snacks including Biltong. Biltong is similar to jerky and originated in South Africa. While jerky is rapidly dehydrated in an oven and is usually covered in a pretty unhealthy sauce, Biltong is slowly air-dried with just vinegar and a few herbs and spices. It has a softer texture and a more natural flavour.

Barbell Foods was started in Canberra back in 2016 by friends Luke, Rory, Matt & Tom. South Africans, Luke and Rory grew up eating biltong before they could walk. When they arrived in Australia they found their favourite snack was in short supply so set out to create the meat snack here. Barbell Biltong uses organic meat, raised using better farmer practices. All of the products are made right here in Canberra at their factory in Hume and they are now sold across Australia including in Woolies. Find out more.

News: 29 Sites Across Canberra Could Potentially Contain Asbestos

Worksafe ACT has identified 29 sites in the ACT that could potentially contain bonded asbestos. One of the sites is a residential complex. Contact tracing is also underway to locate approximately 50 cubic meters of affected mulch that had been sold in smaller quantities. More.

Coming Soon: 🍷 Contentious Character

Contentious Character is a popular Canberra region winery in Wamboin. They will soon be opening a brand new venue in the Dairy Road precinct bringing their popular brand of hospitality a little closer to the Capital. There aren’t too many details about the new venue yet and no opening date has been announced.

Today: 🎢 The Canberra Show

The Canberra Show is starting today and will run until Sunday. It’s a packed weekend of family fun. You can view the program here.

Public transport is free to get to the show, provided you’ve bought a ticket in advance. Details here.

Coming Up: 🚶 Melanoma March

The Melanoma March will be happening on March 3rd at Black Mountain Park. The event is raising money for Melanoma Institute but it’s also about awareness and reflection. You can walk either 2.5 or 3km around Black Mountain Peninsula. It’s pet and pram friendly. Details here.

On Now: 🎨 New Exhibitions at M16

There is a new collection of Exhibitions happening at the M16 Artspace in Griffith. They are running until the 17th March. See the exhibitions here.

This Weekend

The full rundown of what’s happening this weekend in Canberra is here.

p.s - I’ll be highlighting more products made in Canberra over the coming months. If you have any suggestions let me know.