If You Love Something- Support It!

If you love something set it free support it!

It’s so easy to say you love something, to give your support with ‘likes’ and clicks of approval on social media, but the honest truth is that the only way to really support anything you love is by putting your money where your mouth is- regularly.

Yes it may involve a bit of extra effort- but I tell you what- every dollar you spend with a local business puts food on the table for a local family.

Small businesses are generally run from the heart, the people that run them honestly care about YOU and they love what they do… there are some amazing people doing and making amazing things in our local area, but without all of us pulling together and making the switch to supporting those local businesses, they’ll quickly cease to exist.

I’ve been running FROG for coming on 8 years now, it’s been many years of ups and downs, but I have always stuck with it because I love knowing that I’m doing my bit for the health of our community, whilst helping to reduce the damage we are doing to this planet. It gets me out of bed in the mornings and gives my life purpose BUT it can be hard at times, and right now it’s harder than ever- and speaking to other local businesses I know I’m not alone in feeling this way.

For FROG the drought has really affected us recently and the news for the coming winter season isn’t much better as farmers haven’t been able to plant as many crops as usual due to water shortages. This is something that we’ll be dealing with for a while yet- and will it ever get back to how it used to be? I can’t say YES for certain. It really sucks. It sucks that we can’t get staple items like leafy greens, bananas, broccoli and carrots in large quantities or for a good price at the moment. Looking back on old price lists from 8 years ago when FROG first started, there has been a change- things are more expensive. No one is getting rich from it; it’s just the current price of growing real, organic food in todays climate. It’s the price we need to pay if we want to pay our farmers for the unrelenting hard work they do.

Supermarkets are destroying our small cottage farmers and brain-washing us to expect super low prices on everything. Small businesses don’t have massive buying power and control over our economy; we have to ride the waves and cross our fingers that those that love what we do, trust us and are willing to commit to the ride.

As much as I dream of going back to a simple life when supermarkets weren’t the rulers of our food supply, I know that probably won’t happen, but I urge you to take a step back and look at what you are voting for with your hard-earned dollars.

Fruit and veg are the foundation of life. Fresh food feeds our bodies and keeps us alive. I like being alive and healthy, and I’m sure you do too! Do you want to see our already struggling farmers give up on their farms, in turn reducing our local food supply? Or do you want to see them rise up and grow by contributing to the demand that will help them carry on doing what they do? I know what I choose.

This isn’t an easy post to write, I like to keep things light and positive here, but I feel like we all need a big shake up, because things are only getting harder for us all, and if we don’t step up and all make some changes NOW we have a bleak future ahead of us.

So what can you do? Well, focus on your motivations and the things that drive you. I love knowing that I’m feeding my kids good food. I would do anything for them and I believe that the best thing I can give them for their future is to make sure they are healthy and strong today. Yes we might have a higher fresh food budget compared to some families but we spend much less in other areas such as pre-packaged foods, take-aways and outings- by investing the time and effort and choosing to eat seasonal home-cooked food (nothing fancy- just simple, real food) we are able to live according to our values, and you can too.

There is always give and take but by following your gut and making those positive choices, we can all have a much brighter life both now and in the future.

So please, don’t give up on local businesses when the going gets tough- we appreciate every single bit of support you give us, more than you will ever know. When it comes to food- supermarkets don’t care if you walk through their doors from one day to the next, but small businesses are grateful for every dollar you chose to spend with us. Together we can do this!

Big Love
Celine