Category: Local Economy

Political Mindgames have to stop

Australian Federal Elections – 20 days to go and I still have no-one I am prepared to vote for.

Every House of Representative candidate in my division is standing for a political party. They are only there to represent the interest of their party.

The offerings from the parties, particularly those that may win, is to shower the voters with cash and other trinkets, increasing the Australian debt, just to gain the win for the party and its faithful. Meanwhile the 4 year term they win will be spent paying for the cash & trinkets they dish out.

And the important issues of Government, well those issues are complex and involved – we will see if we get to them. Maybe in time for next election.

Whilst we do not have policies that will take our Country to a better place, just cash and trinkets, we want your vote as the better option of who is in the running.

I AM SICK OF THE MINDGAMES THEY PLAY

If no-one is offering a path forward to lead our Country to a better place – then no-one gets my vote. I will not accept the best of a bad bunch.

From the Australian Electoral Commission website ” Your vote will help shape Australia” – This is not the Australia I want to support.

STOP the mindgames – where are our leaders????????????

How to support Co Vid-19 recovery locally

Spending at your local farmers’ market adds extra dollars to the local economy

Spending $50 buying local product from local farmers at local markets adds a minimum $150 to your local economy. Spend $50 with a local farmer – the farmers spends it locally (now $100) and they spend it locally (now $150). Spend $50 with a national retailer – $3 stays within the local economy – the local employee spends it locally (now $6) and they spend it locally (now $9). Which supports the locally economy best $150 or $9 – that extra effort to support locally contributes to a strong vibrant local economy. read more

Other reasons to support your local farmers

  • Taste Real Flavours

The fruits and vegetables you buy at the farmers market are the freshest and tastiest available. Fruits are allowed to ripen fully in the field and are brought directly to you—no long-distance shipping, no gassing to simulate the ripening process, no sitting for weeks in storage. This food is as real as it gets—fresh from the farm.

  • Know Where Your Food Comes From

A regular trip to a farmer’s market is one of the best ways to connect with where your food comes from. Meeting and talking to farmers and food artisans is a great opportunity to learn more about how and where food is produced.  Connectivity is available in the food community – see websites and social media pages that provides transparency of the farmer to know their story. Learn about the people who work hard to bring you the most delicious and nutritious food around

  • Learn Cooking Tips, Recipes, and Meal Ideas

Few grocery store cashiers or produce stockers will give you tips on how to cook the ingredients you buy, but farmers, ranchers, and artisans at the farmers market are often passionate cooks with plenty of free advice about how to cook the foods they are selling. Many have recipes on line to access the best cooking advice from the producer.

  • Enjoy the Season

The food you buy at the farmers market is seasonal. It is fresh and delicious and reflects the truest flavours. Shopping and cooking from the farmers market help you to reconnect with the cycles of nature in your region. As you look forward to asparagus in spring, savour sweet corn in summer, or bake pumpkins in autumn, you reconnect with the earth, the weather, and the turning of the year.

  • Support Family Farmers

Family farmers need your support, now that large agribusiness dominates food production. Small family farms often have a determination to manage their raw materials with sustainable and renewable practices to ensure they are available for future generations. Buying directly from farmers gives them a better return for their produce, encourages them and others to undertake sustainable food practices and gives them a fighting chance in today’s globalized economy.

  • Protect the Environment

Food travels an average of 1,000 miles to get to your plate. All this shipping uses large amounts of natural resources (especially fossil fuels), contributes to pollution, and creates rubbish with extra packaging. Conventional agriculture also uses many more resources than sustainable agriculture and pollutes water, land, and air with agricultural by-products. Food at the farmers market is transported shorter distances and is generally grown using methods that respect the land and water minimizing the impact on the earth.

  • Nourish Yourself

Much food found in grocery stores is highly processed and grown using pesticides, hormones, antibiotics, and genetic modification. Some of it has been irradiated, waxed, or gassed in transit. These practices may have negative effects on human health. In contrast, most food found at the farmers market is minimally processed, and many of our farmers go to great lengths to grow the most nutritious produce possible by using sustainable techniques, picking produce right before the market.

  • Discover the Spice of Life: Variety

At the farmers market you find an amazing array of produce that you don’t see in your average supermarket: lemongrass, purple cauliflower, truffles, marinated varieties of meats, green garlic, watermelon radishes, quail eggs and much, much more. It is a wonderful opportunity to savour the biodiversity of our planet.

  • Promote Humane Treatment of Animals

At the farmers market, you can find meats, cheeses, and eggs from animals that have been raised without hormones or antibiotics, who have grazed on green grass and eaten natural diets, and who have been spared the cramped and unnatural living conditions of feedlots and cages that are typical of animal agriculture.

  • Connect with Your Community

Wouldn’t you rather stroll amidst outdoor stalls of fresh produce on a sunny day than roll your cart around a grocery store with artificial lights and piped in music? Coming to the farmers market makes shopping a pleasure rather than a chore. The farmers market is a community hub—a place to meet up with your friends, bring your children, or just get a taste of small-town life in the midst of our wonderful big city.

Farmers Markets are evolving

Home delivery & Market delivery

Farmers’ Markets have developed within our communities with regular markets building the relationships between the Consumer and the Farmer. The chance to meet, learn their story and commitment to the produce and the soil and water they manage to produce it. Not to forget the preparation tips and recipes that they make available.

The current CoVid-19 virus, with the forced temporary closure of many markets, has seen the development of the relationship to include home delivery and in some markets a group home delivery where you can order the produce from more than one farmer and have it packed and at your door in one delivery (1 delivery charge). 

Looking at the Sydney markets the likes of The Market Drop and Lucy, Paul & Zoe The work is undertaken by the stallholders themselves adding a certain surety to product quality & service.

Will it ever replace the actual markets? – not a chance; the markets are where relationships are built and understanding and respect for their contribution to our health and wellbeing are appreciated. They will however have a future, just like the online order and home delivery service offered by the Supermarkets. It is handy if regular attendance to the markets cannot be assured – personal commitments, weather – hopefully no more pandemics

View the farmer, the markets and the delivery options of these stallholders on this purpose built Sourced Club app