Hey Sustainable Peeps! It’s Easter Monday and I’m feeling blue. I’m sure it was a weird Easter and also possibly a weird Passover for some of you as it was for me. I missed having the grandkids and their parents with me to watch the annual Easter Egg hunt and enjoy a festive Easter Sunday dinner with all the chatter and jokes and compliments for the meal we created together. But, hey, we’re in weird times and my loved ones are coping as I’m sure you and yours are too.

So, in spite of the challenges and fears associated with this pandemic, many of us have had the importance of living sustainably confirmed. Buying local farmers’ products through The Cobourg REKO network has proven to be a way to purchase organic and/or organically grown produce and grass fed beef, without the risks involved in conventional shopping and certainly avoids much of the plastic packaging. There are other platforms, like Community Supported Agriculture ( CSA), which many of our local farms are a part of. On-line buying of organic local flour and other ingredients for cooking and baking, is also an alternative to having to do without.

So that raises an interesting outcome to all of the changes we have had to commit to with regards to purchasing prepared food, and that is, making it ourselves! A surprising number, have returned to the kitchen to make their food from scratch! And many, who have never before considered growing their own food are now planning to try their hand at planting a vegetable/ kitchen garden as was done during the war. Victory Gardens grew everywhere both here and in Great Britain.

All of these actions are part of creating a culture of sustainability and we want to help you. We’re putting together a directory where anyone can find companies that provide naturally grown ingredients and produce. If you have any suggestions do send them to us. We would really appreciate it.

As we move through this crisis, it’s also providing time for us to consider how to do things differently, how to take back control of our way of life by changing how we live. We have the knowledge to be resilient and it has never been more essential to use and share that knowledge: growing our food, cooking, preserving, baking, yes, you’re right it’s like being a homesteader! And that’s a very sustainable thing.

Be well and keep in touch. There’s so much more…but you’ll have to wait till next week;)

Warmly,

Gigi