Food: Part Two

1- Extra virgin olive oil. I get it from a farmer friend. Every September I make my order of 10 liters of the oil and in November I get the oil.

Food again. So, how do I get the stuff I do not grow myself or forage for in the nearby fields and forest? Well, I source them directly from local small farms around here or get them through a solidarity group that convene once a month in a farm. This group is organized by small local producers; once you sign up with them for free, they sent you an email with the organic and local products they have and you make your order and the day of the meeting (every last Sunday of each month) you go and get it. ALL the veggies, fruits, cheeses, yogurt, and other products are organic and local; in the case of sugar, coffee, etc, they are all organic and fair trade. In the group there are local crafters as well selling their handmade stuff. Before I list the stuff I get from them or the local farmers, let me tell you that it is not as easy as it looks for someone like me who doesn't have a car. It would have been much easier just joining one of my friends on her weekly trip to the supermarket, fill my basket from the dreadful supermarket and get a rid back home. But I do not do such things; for my principles I would go through hardship and hitchhike and ride my bike for kilometers to get locally produced food. It is hard work but I do it. Of course I do not got to the meeting of the solidarity group ever month, as what I buy last me a long time. Here are the Organic and fair trade stuff I get locally as in photos:

2- Cheese. I get all the cheese from a local cheese-maker from Sardinia. Over the years we have become close friends and soon I will be doing an apprenticeship at his farm to learn cheese making.

3-The stuff in this photo I get from the solidarity group: Yogurt. I get from a local farm run by a Swiss couple. They make the best yogurt I've ever eaten. and if you return the empty glass jar, they give you back 30 cents! I used to get it through the group but now I struck a deal with the farmer's daughter to deliver the yogurt (10 jars) and some of their amazing cheese to the nearby town and I meet her up there. In the same photo: Apples from a local farmer. Sometimes I get bread too, made by one of the farmers' wife. the brown sack is lentils.

4-I also get flour, 5 kilos (of course organic and whole meal) for 5 Euros, butter, honey (I usually get my honey from a local producer who come to town every week and set up a stall in the piazza), and fairtrade spices, from a firtrade shop in the nearby town. They are member in the group and bring their products to the meeting to but one can get that directly from their small shop. they sell also coffee, sugar, salt, chocolate, tea, banana, and others. I get coffee and sugar (I use very little sugar) salt and banana from them

I also get biodegradable and chemical-free washing up liquid from the fair trade shop. I bring my empty bottle and they fill it up for me. I get candles and soaps from the honey keeper; his son makes candles and soap from the bee wax. 

Anyway, this is just a tiny bit of the stuff I get locally; they are all organic and local (or fair trade for the coffee and sugar. but I never but pineapple or other exotic fruits because I do not believe in eating what is not local). As I said, it is hard work but I will not have it other way; I will stick to this till the end. I just hope one day I will be able to grow more stuff, keep bees for honey, etc. That will be the day when I have my own farm, inshallah