The fun starts today at 10am at the Orange Farmers Market at the Showground, where students will demonstrate their culinary skills in the annual Schools Cooking Competition. Competitors will be required to cook a dish using a variety of locally-grown produce generously donated by Orange's Agrestic Grocer. 

Judging will be done by Alison Karbowiak, one of the many talented chefs in the central west.

 Five local primary schools will be competing for the honour of Orange Sustainable Living Week Cooking Champions for 2014. 

The schools involved will be Spring Terrace, Orange Christian School, Calare Public School, Millthorpe Public School and last year's champions Canobolas Public School. The event is in its fourth year, so come along and cheer for your school and witness the amazing level of skill demonstrated by these young chefs.

This afternoon there is a not-to-be-missed tour of some of Orange's finest school kitchen gardens. Organised by the Environmentally Concerned Citizens of Orange (ECCO), the tour will take in three of the many kitchen gardens that have proliferated in schools throughout Orange and district.

 The three to be visited at Calare, Orange East and Orange Anglican  Grammar schools are great examples of how a school kitchen garden is used to develop important concepts of sustainability such as caring for the soil, food production, good nutrition and the satisfaction of growing, harvesting, cooking and eating produce with your friends.

The tour starts at 2pm from the Orange City Council car park. A free bus will be available.

The family fun continues on Sunday afternoon at 3pm with the inaugural ‘cycle cinema’ at the Orange PCYC.

The cycle cinema consists of a generator powered by four ordinary bicycles, which provide sufficient energy to show a movie. Members of the audience provide pedal power for the audio and the visual.

 The bike generator is a great way of demonstrating just how much human effort is required to power everyday appliances, something we tend to take for granted. 

The movie The Education of Little Tree is a heart-warming story of handling adversity, respect for the environment and for each other.

It is ideal for all of the family and should be great fun. So bring the kids and lots of energy. Admission is by gold coin donation.

Finally, next week sees the largest single event within Sustainable Living Week, the Sustainable Science Schools Program from Monday, September 15 to Friday, September 19. The program is funded by the Rotary Club of Orange and conducted by energetic and entertaining presenters from the CSIRO.

This year more than 1100 school children from across Orange and district will attend educational workshops on energy, air, atmosphere and weather, investigating climate change and a renewable energy workshop.

The sessions will involve stimulating, interactive experiences encouraging students to “think like scientists”. Students will have the opportunity to engage in 'hands on' activities associated with the topics explored. The sessions will take place at the Orange PCYC during school hours.

For a calendar of Sustainable Living Week events visit the Orange Rotary Club website rotarycluboforange.org.au. We hope to see you out and about over the weekend!