as we travel, sometimes we are blessed with the generosity of people giving their home grown produce to us,

Such as Karen who not only spontaneously hosted us for the night but farewelled us with vibrant greegroans dried mango from her garden!

or at the close of a market Jesse can sometimes be laden with produce, like yesterday at the Rockhampton Market he came back with a bag of luscious herbs…

sometimes we find a neglected fruit tree dripping ripeness to the ground (like the above mandarins)

sometimes it’s fruit trees in a public area, more of a rarity, or overhanging a fence.

We check with the property owners and often come away with an abundance of good food for free.

Foraging has some particular reward that is unique, (I haven’t fully articulated it to satisfaction here)

sure it’s great to save some coins when we live on a small budget, but more than that I appreciate that the fruit will be nourishing someone rather than dropping to the ground rotting, and the sharing of abundance when one has it. The village concept of exchange and generosity.

I love to find community gardens, where often in exchange for some weeding we can harvest some fruit, veg or salad greens, usually organically and lovingly grown, this food has a specialness and connection, as I relate to the scents as we gathered it, the weather at the time, the people we connected with and how the children brought me flowers and herbs, observed nature and learnt about how and where our food comes from.

We all seem to relax in these big green spaces and find some retreat from the stimulation of travelling, communing with plants and critters fills our souls again.

In Bellingen where we have been based the last two years there is a fantastic community garden, actually two now!

Also a program of edible gardens in the town, my favorite stop is by the real eastate agents front yard full of salad greens and herbs!

and we often visit Mullumbimby Community Gardens which has a fantastic Food for All section.

I deeply appreciate the work of the committed folk who keep these places going.

We often joke about our bus roof garden complete with chickens and a milking goat…..