Hey there,
As we mention it to friends, they ask the questions - "So what about eating out?", and "what about the food in your pantry/freezer that is imported or not local?".
We need to set some boundaries on our project.
A family meeting is called - we acknowledge that spices are all imported (as they have been for centuries). I wonder if there are places in Australia that grow spices? We decide to do some research into bush tucker spices.
Is it cheating to use up the spices and foreign foods from our pantry? Do we give this food away? hope that it keeps fresh for a year? Have a big cook up and invite all of our friends over? Or is it OK to eat what's left and not buy any more foreign foods from then on? Maybe we spend the next month eating lots of curry and chai, and use them all up as quickly as possible. We decide to think it over for a week - any suggestions?
We had a "locavore" breakfast this morning - John Campbell's wood fired oven bread, home made pesto (made with local almonds, perennial basil, and olive oil), eggs from our street's chook co-op, and rocket and asparagus from our garden. See photo.
We normally go to the Willunga Farmer's Market to shop locally for our fruit and Veg.
When we shop there we don't usually ask where the food comes from as we assume it is from the Fleurieu Peninsula. Today we ask everyone.
The salted pistachios are from further away than 160km - the same with the sultanas, raisins and figs. I am concerned that we will go through pistachio withdrawal.
Mark McCarthy from Miss Merbein suggests that we do some wild harvesting in McLarenVale (he tells us a secret spot!) and in our own ecovillage, and generously offers to process a couple of buckets for us at his production facility in Merbein. We might just take him up on it.
We then go to the organic citrus fruit stall and ask where they are grown. Their farm is about 300km away, so, sadly, we say "see you next year!". Some research is needed to see if we can buy oranges at all this year.
It seems that everyone we speak to is supportive of our project, which is very encouraging.
first problem I encounter with the above plan is to possibly have Mark process locally picked pistachios in Merbein... that is quite some food miles to get it to Merbein and back.
ReplyDeleteAnd citrus, when it is in season, is very easy to obtain locally. but that is probably quite a few months away.
good luck.
Ellie F
Hi Ellie,
ReplyDeleteThanks for the comments, Mark said that he is making the trip to Merbein once a week anyway, so the only extra miles is if we need to drop off or pick up at times other than the market. Alternatively, we have another source for pistacios. The Food Forest in Gawler grows and processes them. It would mean a special trip to the Farmer's Market in Goodwood on a Sunday, but maybe it's better to do that? Swings and roundabouts?
You are right of course about the oranges, we like to buy organic, but we could find some locally that are not sprayed probably. Maybe someone who has a tree in their back yard who does not pick them? We do have some citrus planted in our garden and the wider Ecovillage orchards, but they are young trees and not yielding much as yet.
You could become a follower of our blog if you like. Bridget :-)
Hi guys, in case someone hasn't already mentioned this to you, you can get great pistachios from The Food Forest at Gawler: www.foodforest.com.au They sell at the farmer's market at the Adelaide Showgrounds. Andrew
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