On a weekend out of the city recently, there was talk of visiting a local farmers market. I quite like talk like that, even if I’m the one who initiates the talk (ahem).
So to market we went. Buying up on some lovely locally grown organic vegetables, a succulent for $2, and a chopping board. Now I’d been on the look out for a little board quite awhile now. Time was passing, calendar pages were changing their years and still, I hadn’t found quite the ‘right’ board. I knew they were easy enough to make, but I just didn’t have access to any decent wood.
Then I came across ‘The Man at the Markets’, a man who who knew his chopping boards, and every tiny piece of the different woods behind them. After a general chit chat about the weather and the local area, we started talking about the boards he had for sale. Giving each one a run down on the type of wood it was and how to look after them, and what I was going to do with it.
It was this little one that caught my eye though, asking him about it, it turns out it was from an old skirting board from an equally old house just a short distance away from the markets. You can still see the nail holes if you look closely.
It seems I had found my board. It was locally made, recycled, looked good and seemed to fit pretty well with the pumpkin soup I had planned to serve with it. (What type of wood it is, I’m embarrassed to say I have no idea. The man did tell me, but it seems I forgot as soon as I stepped out of the market area….lovely wood I think it’s called now.)
Where is my food coming from?
Pumpkin- Red Bank, Eurobodalla
Jerusalem Artichoke- (Crave Natural, Apple Tree Flat)
Creme Fraiche- (Pepe Saya, Sydney)
Interested in taking the challenge?
Just how local is local? Well this depends entirely on you. Only you know how you and your family eat. Raise the bar just a little from what you already do. If making sure the majority of your meal includes solely food produced in your country, than make that your challenge. If you want to make it a little trickier, go for produced in the same state…trickier still within 160km.
My aim is to really know where my food is coming from for at least one meal a month, (where I will be posting here in the last week of the month).
cityhippyfarmgirl 
Lovely board! I like this eat local challenge…good idea. 🙂
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It is isn’t it 🙂
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Aren’t farmer’s markets wonderful Brydie! I’m so lucky to have everything from organic meat to exotic mushrooms and even truffles at mine 🙂 I can sure eat like a king while eating locally indeed! If I made this soup, I could use my homegrown Jerusalem artichokes and pumpkin- how’s that for zero food miles 🙂 xox
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You are indeed lucky!
I shnaffled my first (and only) truffle a few days ago for this season. There will be truffle infused something or other tonight, oh yes there will!
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I like your addition of artichoke in the pumpkin soup, very different. Don’t worry Brydie, that happens to me all the time! It’s because I am more visual so when people are telling me specifics about natural fauna etc around here I forget if I don’t write it down. Then of course once I write it down i see it and never need to look at it again. If the wood is light or heavy that can narrow it down. It certainly was worth the wait for that chopping board. It’s a (simple and practical) beauty.
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Zena, it’s kind of embarrassing. I should know different woods, my mum is fantastic at naming them all and I should have learnt via her. I didn’t though, it goes in one ear and out the other.
On my ‘to do’ list, must learn about wood….well one day anyway.
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Is the board jarrah maybe Brydie?
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Maaaybe….she says awkwardly.
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Always Fartichoke Soup in our house – childish I know, but descriptive. Love the idea of adding pumpkin.
I’m glad you found the right board and even better that it has a history.
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Ah childish jokes are the best kind Anne. They are always guaranteed to make every one laugh then. The kids obviously as they love nothing better than some bum based humour and the adults get a laugh in as usually it’s contagious and you can’t stop laughing because your kids think it’s so hysterical. It’s win win 🙂
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Oh I like this idea. And I love the board, looks like my boardroom table which is Jarrah. 🙂
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Right. I think we’ll call it Jarrah from now on. Jarrah it is!
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I love a good wooden board Brydie…I am always looking to add to my collection. Have you ever looked at the website of Rabbit Trap Timber? They have gorgeous boards in various sizes. Your soup and bread looks delicious too x
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Oh Jane what have you done? That site is just beautiful.
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Love your wooden board – and your eat local challenge. Eating locally is a wonderful way to keep conscious about what we eat and when we eat it – why do we have to have grapes from America in winter? Let’s just enjoy grapes in summer!
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That’s nuts Sara. Absolute nuts. Why indeed are we even importing them??
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Because people want them, that’s all. They want to eat cherries, asparagus and grapes all year round. I personally love the anticipation that comes when you eat seasonally!
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This looks so good! And totally love the eat local challenge! 🙂
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Thank you 🙂
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How lovely that the old skirting board is now taking on a new lease of life. Your soup looks beautiful and I love the homemade bread served on the side – great comfort cooking xx
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Always a sourdough roll or two floating around these parts… Always!
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I love recycled wood. It seems to give so much more aesthetically because of it’s past life that usually involves being vertical and keeping up a fence or horizontal and weathering a storm of feet. Your chopping board is gorgeous. Wood has an incredibly sensual feel to it, its smoothness is made doubly unctuous by rounded edges and when paired with a bowl…don’t get me started on my bowl fetish! Fill that bowl with some gorgeous pumpkin and sunchoke soup and you have a meal made for the soul…and that bread is just the icing on the cake. Lovely post, lovely images and lovely recycle purchase :).
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oh brydie i adore your board and its provenance..when i put in my kitchen i was determined to use recycled timber..i sourced beautiful ironbark that had been salvaged from wool stores along sydney’s canals..it’s one of the three most dense timbers in the world so it doesn’t scratch or dent..i didn’t seal it but occasionally i give the benches a good scrub and oil them with a natural orange oil..
can never get enough soup in winter and the colour of yours is gorgeous..you’ve reminded me to put in some jerusalem artichokes..i keep meaning to..
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Thanks so much for this! I’ll be trying it for sure!
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