James Shackell

Jun 4, 2024 | concreteplayground.com | James Shackell

A much-loved winter wine festival is back for 2024, with The Shortest Lunch kicking off on the winter solstice across Saturday, June 22 and Sunday, June 23. If you haven't heard of this one before, it's basically two jam-packed days of wine tasting, live music, incredible food and beautiful scenery, spread across nine family-owned wineries in the Yarra Valley. We're talking smaller, boutique names like Billanook Estate, Steels Gate Boat O'Craigo and Sutherland Estate.

May 6, 2024 | concreteplayground.com | James Shackell

It's impossible to fit Gippsland on a plate, but every year, Victoria's chefs, brewers and cheesemakers give it a red hot crack. Yep, it's that time of year again. The East Gippsland Winter Festival is back for 2024, running from Friday, June 21–Sunday, July 21 with more artisanal plates than anyone could consume in an average human lifetime. If you haven't attended before, bring your appetite.

Apr 4, 2024 | thelocalrag.com.au | James Shackell |Urban List

It might be surprising to learn that the green thing in your kid’s lunchbox is one of the most successful agricultural exports in Australian history. Yep, we’re talking about the humble Granny Smith apple, also known as “Can I please have an LCM bar instead, mum?” Granny Smith apples—a unique cultivar hybrid of ordinary Malus domestica and (we think) Malus sylvestris—are one of the most popular apple varieties in the world. Tart, acidic, cheek-puckeringly sour, green as a cartoon witch’s apple.

Jan 27, 2024 | theguardian.com | James Shackell

Three robots are growing vegetables on the roof of the University of Melbourne’s student pavilion. As I watch, a mechanical arm, hovering above the crop like a fairground claw machine, sprays a carefully measured dose of water over the plants. The greens themselves look fairly terrestrial – cos lettuce, basil, coriander and moth-eaten kale – but they are actually prototypes for a groundbreaking research mission to grow fresh food in outer space.

Jan 27, 2024 | ca.style.yahoo.com | James Shackell

Photograph: Penny Stephens/The GuardianThree robots are growing vegetables on the roof of the University of Melbourne’s student pavilion. As I watch, a mechanical arm, hovering above the crop like a fairground claw machine, sprays a carefully measured dose of water over the plants. The greens themselves look fairly terrestrial – cos lettuce, basil, coriander and moth-eaten kale – but they are actually prototypes for a groundbreaking research mission to grow fresh food in outer space.