Yesterday I paid a visit to Bishops Waltham country market, country markets are co-operatives of growers and producers of homemade goods whom sell their produce directly to their community.
As readers of my blog will know, I have a visceral fear of mass produced, processed food, the more research I do the more horrified I am about our food chain. Country markets offer the customer homegrown, homemade, high quality, seasonal produce, something we should all value and support!
Country markets were previously known as WI markets. It has been recognised that the first WI markets were started as outlets for surplus produce from members gardens and small holdings to provide local communities with food during the war. This was a collaborative effort between a number of WIs and gradually, after the war, markets were running in Sussex, Kent, Berkshire and Buckinghamshire.
Bishops Waltham country market is part of the country markets network of over 450 local markets in England, Wales and the Channel Islands, if you have a country market in your vicinity I urge you to visit it.
When I arrived yesterday morning I was greeted by the lovely ladies selling their produce in such a friendly way that my mood was instantly uplifted. The camaraderie amongst the ladies and their customers was infectious and I can understand why the local community include country market day as one of importance on their social calendar!
With our high streets rapidly vanishing, and with it the personal touch, there is something truly endearing about the passion and care that has gone into all the lovely produce on offer at a country market. I firmly believe that food which has the energy force of love within it is healthier. It is well documented that the mother who lovingly prepares food for her family with a sense of happiness and kindness, has added emotional nourishment which is deemed to be healing. Food produced on a factory production line by people who don't want to be there is soulless and tasteless. Animals that have been subjected to intensive farming and die traumatised, fruit and vegetables treated with fertilisers and pesticides, processed ready meals packed with chemicals and trans fats, none of these are conducive to a healthy diet surely.
Several of the ladies keep chickens in their gardens, you can't get more free range than that.
Support your local country market, treat yourself to some delicious homemade produce and raise your levels of consciousness in relation to the food you eat.
'The very fact that we are having a national conversation about what we should eat, that we are struggling with the question about what the best diet is, is symptomatic of how far we have strayed from the natural conditions that gave rise to our species, from the simple act of eating real, fresh, whole food.'
- Mark Hyman
Love Donna
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