Purple Pumpkin

One of my earlier posts (imagine the linky) was on how crazy it was I was buying my vegetables from the Farmers Market at Solway, when the lady that grows them lives within 2km of me.

Well at the weekend I went to the market. Ms Purple Pumpkin said "I haven't seen you in ages" And I said "oh, I can't come as often now because I don't have a car at the moment"

Then Ms Purple Pumpkin says "Oh, I could put you on my 'local list' becasue you live in **** St in that *** house **** (location) and I already deliver to a couple of houses down that street. Seriously, I almost fell over - that she knew where I lived. But then when I thought about it I think she is is probably friends with my neighbours daughter who lives near her. I rather defensively said "how do you know where I live" And she said "Oh I've seen you out walking and I run round ***** st".

Tonight as promised in my letterbox was the vegetable list for this week.

"Hi, here's this weeks list. I send the weekly list out on a Monday, the orders need to be with me by 12 noon Wednesday. I pick Thursday and deliver Thursday evening".

How good is that? Fresh 'organically grown Spray Free Vegetables' delivered to my door, including eggs. And how good is that in terms of food miles? Apart from growing it myself and swapping with the neighbours, you can't really beat it.

This feels like one more step closer to becoming a 'local'. My steps are slower than others - like I often thought of ringing Ms Purple Pumpkin - only to discover all along she had an existing local delivery list.

Anyway, I'm now on it and have just placed my first order including eggs. No need to buy chickens!!

I can plan my own vegetable gardening by what she doesn't grow eg broad beans. But I'm now set for eggs, spinach, silverbeet etc

NB Purple Pumpkin is the registered name of her business - which also inlcudes general horticulture advice.