My weekly indulgence

Following the theme of this month’s Natural Parenting Carnival on food, this month’s APLS Carnival asks us to celebrate food too.

We’re asked to share our favourite farmers market experience.

I’m privileged to experience my favourite experience every week!

Cravings!

When I was pregnant I craved apples and carrots. I think I ate over 1 kilo of each per day! I found a wonderful organic farm shop in a small nearby town and Caroline, the woman who grew the food had amazing energies. I felt great eating that food.

I continued to visit when my daughter was young and some of her first foods were indeed those apples and carrots.

Foot and mouth

When my daughter was a year old, we had a horrendous outbreak of foot and mouth disease in the UK. A total of 2,030 cases were confirmed, animals were slaughtered and farmers kept people off their land. I remember one day we were delayed by 2 hours trying to get through the country lanes. The roads had been closed as officials rounded up animals for slaughter and set fire to the land in a bid to stop the disease spreading. It was a tragic sight.

My dear Caroline shut up shop and fought to keep her animals alive. She told me, in all seriousness, that she would take her cows into her lounge if it meant she could keep them from being slaughtered. I only had to look into her eyes to believed her.

That shop and Caroline, with her passion and integrity was a great loss to us.

Not the same

I found another organic farm shop, but it wasn’t quite as good. I tried organic vegetables from the supermarket but they were lacking a certain life that I couldn’t quite put my finger on. I tried growing my own, but brassicas do not thrive on our soil…

So imagine my delight last year, when I heard about an organic farmer who was running a weekly market stall in the very same small town. It had to be the same person, right?

I did some investigations, but her name was different, so I figured my farmer had probably moved away for good.

A few months ago, the same town came on to my radar again. I was told there was a small shop there, a shop selling organic fruit and vegetables, grown on a farm nearby.

A new organic shop

I couldn’t resist a visit as I always follow messages from the Universe once they’ve been delivered a couple of times,  and lo and behold, it was Caroline! With her hair cut short and a change of surname, she had relaunched herself.

I introduced my daughter to her, now a tall and proud 9 year old and she was hugged as if we were long lost relatives. I stuffed my basket full of apples and carrots and all sorts of other delicacies – deep purple beetroot that were sweet and juicy, potatoes that tasted of the earth, broad beans that were creamy and tender, tomatoes that tasted of the sunshine and kale that was tender and sweet. I indulged myself that week like a child in a toy shop and we ate like Royalty!

Safe, organic food

This has now become a weekly ritual and every week I am privileged to find an assortment of life-giving, beautifully tasting, sweet and succulent fresh produce. I don’t have to worry about pesticides, air miles, GM or fertilisers.  I don’t have to contend with packaging, with only being able to buy the amount the shop wants me to buy or eating tasteless, watery food.

I feel very abundant and full of gratitude whenever I visit that shop. The people who work there are passionate about the quality of the food, they smile, the put their great energies into the things I eat, they want to know me, they want to help me, they are happy when I’m happy, they share recipes with me, they show me photos of their family, they ask about my life, they pack my box, find me things, suggest new ideas and for that, I’m deeply grateful.

The best part

At the end of the day, our little ritual as a family is to share the worst part and best part of our day. For me, when we’ve had a visit to our special shop, the best part is always “visiting the farm shop and getting some lovely food!”

This is my contribution for the July APLS Carnival topic on farmers markets Join us for a wrap-up on July 18!