What we did in the second half of the Local Harvest Challenge week…
EAT OUT. Visited the newly opened “Rubarb Wholefoods” cafe in Seddon. A fantastic venue where you can BYO containers to fill up with grains and essentials and have a delicious meal as well. Wonderful space, lovely atmosphere, good food. There’s a great write-up by Lauren on her Footscray Food Blog.
GROWN. As mentioned I planted out our winter veg. Prior to this the patch looked like a right mess, but of course there are gems within! It’s been a while since we collected seeds. This time we saved lettuce, silver-beet and carrot seed. Nice to have the cycles continue.
If you can’t save ‘m, buy ‘m local! (beyond Bunnings). Where can you buy good seeds in Melbourne’s West ? …..
- POWer Plants, lowcost, sustainable vegetable seedlings to support local communities and economies
- Poyntons of Essendon, on the banks of the Maribyrnong
Not quite local, but not the large industrial duopoly complex either…
- Diggers Club, online sale of heritage seeds and seedlings
- Eden Seeds national delivery, non-GMO, organic
BAKED. In last year’s posts I noted experiments with making Homestyle ‘Arnott’s Savour Shapes’. Well this year I’ve perfected them. It’s a great compliment when the other parents from school want the recipe because their kids have been recommending them. Not that my son’s been sharing his food around…! (Secret ingredient is mushed up left-over roast vegetables – a nice flavour base).
ATE. Humble pie. I did the unthinkable. Ran out of money and bought IGA home-brand cat food. Then saw …. ‘Food People, Lower Prices‘ spoof ad on Shaun Micallef’s MAD AS HELL – where”Proud farmer Keith has become just like his dad – a worker ant for the supermarket duopoly.”
…So I have had to practice what I preach in terms of making’ trade-offs’ with my food purchases and not getting hung-up about it. Though I see it as a short vacation of ideals rather than an extended holiday.
So see what Coles and Woolworths have to say at ‘Supermarkets accused of not supporting local farmers‘ article (April 2014), and a good news story of people fighting back to help farmers – ‘Fruit and vegetable retailers join new campaign‘ (9 April 2015).
I CAN. Actually we can. Janet my wife does most of the bottling. We have a new old antique cupboard for the produce. Lovingly restored by my father and painted a brilliant green to match the brilliant flavours of all-year fruit within. The in-laws say it should stay in the shed but we love it right here in our kitchen. What do you think?
All in all, a good week. Not too stressful. Good to remember the stuff that makes us tick.
