Eat Local. Eat Like the Queen.

Eat local. Eat like the Queen. My friend says she can get all she needs to eat on her bicycle.

That may not seem impressive to urban dwellers, who can purchase their food at local stores. It is a little more impressive that my friend lives on a dirt road in rural Nova Scotia, miles from a local store. Like most of our neighbours, her food is predominantly organic. There is honey, goats milk, maple sugar, free range chickens, free range turkeys, grass  fed beef, fresh eggs sold at farm doorsteps, organic fruits and vegetables filling freezers and served  from the mismatched plates all around us. Nova Scotian women "put up" the abundance of summer and rejoice in their goodness throughout the winter.

Wild raspberries, spray free, hand picked strawberries, currants, blue berries, homemade jams, apples too many to name, with names our great grandmothers would recognize.

Tomatoes, tomatoes, tomatoes, tomatoes

In the fall squash, potatoes, onions, carrots, a rainbow of cabbages, parsnips, turnips stored in the cool.

Pumpkins, pumpkins, pumpkins. Fields of pumpkins.

October is our time of thanks giving.

As I stand hanging out my clothes, yes, in the ocean breeze, I watch the fishing boats come into the harbour at high tide, bringing scallops, haddock, mackeral, mussels...and lobster. Down the hill I can buy their fresh catch. Dulse is a local snack food, but I don't partake.

I no longer ride a bicycle. I drive my beloved aged, ailing, Ford truck to my favourite market about thirty miles away.  Everything is there, that I can't buy nearby my home, with my loonies and toonies. I buy my bread at the Mennonite bakery.

Saturday market is a weekly celebration of friends, food, creations and music.

An old, brick apple storage warehouse  is being converted for winter use, so goodbye to the cramped winter space, generously  made available in Acadia University Students Building.

So what about the Queen?

When the Queen visited Nova Scotia last year The Halifax Herald, the provincial paper, published where the ingredients for the Royal Dinner had been purchased. There was cheese from Foxhill, meat from Meadowbrook, grass fed beef from Wolfeville Market, vegetables from local farmers and lobsters from our sea. The wine  came from the Annapolis Valley. I don't know whether they chose an organic wine or not.

I can't remember what was for dessert, who cares?  I know where to get real gelato and real ice cream.

So, they shop for the Queen where I shop for my table. Nothing comes with Royal Seals, but it certainly comes with my approval.