#slowliving
Today I’d like to write about how #slowlliving has been a part of my life since I was a child.
My straight friends call me a “Hippie” and I’m fine with that, it’s the way I have existed since I was a child.
Buying food in Bulk was what you did in the 1960’s the local shops had everything you needed at the Bulk Store and my Mother saved the Nestle Coffee Jars with the Yellow lids to put, Pasta, Flour, Rice, Sugar daily necessities that were normal to buy in bulk, not just because you have decided to “Save the Planet”
We knew each and everyone of the shop keepers in ‘The Concourse” the Italian Family who sold the most delicious Fruit grown locally on small family owned farms in Heatherton & Dingley, things we took for granted as Children but became a novelty when Supermarkets began to push out the small guys and push up the rents for Retailers in smaller community supported Shopping Centres.
As the small guys suffered the Chain Stores began to take over, always promising cheaper prices to the public and we can all comprehend why it was inviting. I worked at both Woolworths and Mc Donalds in my teens, remembering fondly how my Mother or Father would run me up there for my shifts 4 klm away, sometimes I took the bus who’s drivers were all familiar with the local kids.
At the same time I was doing Ironing & Housework for locals to earn some pocket money to spend at gorgeous stores like The Art Market and Gina’s locally also learning Transcendental Meditation and Dancing Contemporary Dance at the local Community Centre.
That’s most likely where I developed the desire for all things made elsewhere in the World, especially Central & South America x
Anyhow this blog is really about how I continued to search for Bulk Stores in Melbourne to purchase my Food from, most notably “Friends of the Earth” https://www.melbournefoe.org.au which was on my work runs thankfully, and there has always been a kind of nurturing that goes on when you bring home your purchases, clean out the bottles & jars & replenish your sustenance.
Supermarkets have always been a last attempt to find something purchase, like the Tortellini I buy from a local Supermarket, things you cannot find in the Markets or Speciality stores here in Mexico where the Bulk Foods are Sold here along side the Cheese Sellers, the Meat & Fish Sellers who talk to you because you’re a familiar face and count the change into your hands like tits an important transaction between you both.
I will not cow tow to the “Big Guys” I have always live this way, I am an individual and I wish to support other individuals who create, sustain and talk to me.
In all the Towns I visit its one of the first things I begin to ask, is “where is the local Market?” “are Organic Foods sold locally?”
It’s the way for me to mix with like minded souls and know that my Bananas are not grown to be perfect they are “REAL” Unsprayed, un gassed, un wrapped, picked by the woman in front of me BANANAS!!!!
And the fondest memories i have of living in Australia are my Friday mornings spent catching up with friends @mullumbimbyfarmersmarket http://www.mullumfarmersmarket.org.au the day that reminds me how much i have crammed into the week and how i am going to enjoy the Weekend FRIDAY xxx
