I love good food and enjoy eating locally and seasonally.   So I am very blessed to be able to shop at my local Oxford Farmers Market on a Sunday morning, to be able to buy local organic fruit and veg, free range eggs, small goods and locally made cheeses.  We having been supporting the Farmers Market since it first started, it must be 5 years at least.  For the last 2 years or more we have bought Raw Milk (fresh the same day from the cows) from Village Milk in Oxford, which is less than 1 km down the road.  I plan to make my own cheese, just have to find a weekend or evening to enjoy the process.  Our freezer is stocked with 1/2 cow and a sheep which a friend reared, so we know they had a good life and low food miles.    I also grow a few vegetables and herbs in my kitchen garden.  I would like to grow more someday and be self sustaining.  

I love to cook from scratch, and in winter often have a big pot of soup or stew cooking.   Both my Mum and Nana taught me to cook good food, with English, German and Indian influences.   I learnt a lot about being resourceful, using up the leftovers and making the most of cheaper cuts of meat.    All basis skills but ones that I have really valued and call on regularly. I still get a great amount of pleasure from cooking a good meal and sharing it, particularly knowing that most of the ingredients were grown close by.  


Although I haven't done any preserving this year, I have made my own jams, chutneys and cordials in years gone by which we are still enjoying.   I have just finished my last bottle of homemade Gooseberry and Lime cordial, which was a real treat served hot on a cold day.   That reminds me, it must be time to pick the Rose-hips as we had a frost this morning.  They make a fabulous cordial which is packed with Vitamin C, so great for boosting your immunity in winter.