We grow our fresh food as much as possible, but with the restricted water here lately as well as the fact that we are still getting established, we’ve found that we need to source food grown locally. Buying from local food stands, we find there is less packaging, we know the food is fresh, we pick it up on our way in or out of town with no special trips necessary. We’ve gotten so good at keeping food in stock at home now, we only go into town once or maybe twice a week.
Because we really don’t have enough flat space, we decided not to keep chickens because we’ve found it’s actually easier to pick up two dozen eggs for just $10 from one of the locals who has too many eggs. It works for everyone!
Living in a rural area mixed with a tourist crowd, we are able to pick up the following fresh produce once a week.
- Avocados grown locally on Tambourine Mountain
- Fresh laid free range eggs
- Raw honey (I’m sure we are feeding the bees we get our honey from)
- Bush Lemons picked off a neighbour’s tree
- Ginger, Tumeric, garlic and onions.
We have a great source of mushroom compost soil just down the road that has been a life saver to our property and garden. We sprinkle it around like black gold dust for indeed it is! We are using it not only to grow our veggies in (along with a mix of other things), we are using it to replace the top soil that has been eroding over time. Our grass is looking amazing, by giving the grass something to hold on to while also providing good drainage.
We manage to grow most veggies and herbs we like to eat from our garden and with the many different fruit trees that have been planted we will be much more self sufficient in a few years. With the addition of an upright freezer in one of our container sheds, we are able to freeze bread, meat and things like butter which we buy in bulk when they are on sale. It not only saves us money, it means less trips to town. We have a backup of everything in the pantry and as soon as I use the backup, I write it on the shopping list, (which is our pantry doors painted with blackboard) so nothing is forgotten.
Life here becomes simpler with some good planning and acceptance of our surroundings.
Shionagh
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