A week to be thankful. Christmas specials and a little break.
Over December I’ve been on long service leave with my family in Vietnam. We’ve just been to Can Tho on the Mekong River to visit the famous floating wholesale produce market. That’s it in the pic above, if you are a vegetable logistics enthusiast it’s a must see. Later that day at our hotel while I was watching our kids swim in the pool I got talking to a young waiter called Khanh. Khanh was the first son of a rice farmer and had come to Can Tho to study and find work. The next night we all went out for dinner and learnt a little aboutKhanh’s life. Fresh out of university with a degree in tourism Khanh hoped one day to be a tour guide but for the moment was working two hospitality jobs (he also had a job at a local Burger King). He told me his wages were about $150 month, $50 of that going to pay for his room in a boarding house. Later when we went for ice cream I worked out the price of our 5 cones were equivalent to Khanh’s wages for that day. Now Khanh isn’t badly off by Vietnam standards; he’s educated, well fed and clothed, has a steady income and good prospects. There are many people in his community living far more precarious existences but It just made me think […]
Unglut your gut for 2015 with Pat & Dr Chan. Fair Food is back in town next week.
This year we are doing our 2nd annual Unglut Your Gut Challenge. It’s a month long, post-festive season good gut restoration. Last year more than 300 households took up the challenge and this year, with the help of our friends at Pat’s Veg and Dr Chan’s feeling good ferments, we’re doing it again. To take the challenge there’s […]
Putting sultanas into very small boxes isn't easy. Ladies & gentlemen, start your microbiomes.
This week on their Mildura farm Peter and Helen Kamavissis (that’s them above) are busy harvesting and packing their green menindee grapes which we’ll be putting in most of our set boxes (although not in our Small Mixed Box, if you’re keen you can get some from theFruit and Veg Section). Every year from January to March during the grape and melon season all kinds of people flood into Mildura […]
Renewing vows with Joe Sgro. Is this a bloat I feel within?
I’ve been buying vegetables from Joe Sgro since 2001 when CERES started its Organic Market (that’s him above). I pledged then that CERES would always stick with him and he promised he would always take care of us. At some stage of every year since we repeat a version of this conversation and it’s like we are renewing […]
The Beautiful World of Dan The Egg Man. What's In The Box is Back
This is a story about a man who throws in his corporate city job to follow his passion and become a farmer. With the help of his giant white chicken protecting dogs he repairs the pastures, protects the bush and native animals and builds his free range chicken flock. Dan begins selling his eggs, immediately […]
Basil, tomatoes, zucchini and a bumper crop of cherries, maybe. Rewiring the food system – you really delivered!
Lately, everything we’ve been missing over winter and spring seems to be announcing itself to the season; check out CERESfarmer, Katherine’s, shiny basil crop above, Labertouche’s cherry tomatoes are arriving next week, Craig and Shelley Heppell will be dropping off their new zucchinis at the warehouse tomorrow and there’ll be cherries, yes cherries, in almost all of […]
