Hello!

How's our amazing FROG community doing today?
I hope you are surviving the mounting pressures of the external world, staying true and connected to who you are, and nurturing your body and your soul in whatever way you see best.
Yes, its a crazy time we live in- one I'm sure no one could have envisaged. Now more than ever it is time for us to stay in our power, do what feels right for US and to really focus on building our local networks.

Everybody take a deep breath and say OOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHMMMMMMMMMM

Remember the lessons we learnt way back in early 2020- when shit hit the fan, it was our local growers, suppliers and small businesses that pulled together, adapted and helped us all to thrive. I can see that some of those lessons have gone to the wayside as people have fallen back to their default settings (which is a very human thing to do), but remember, it's not the huge corporations that will ever have your best interest at heart, but it's also the small businesses that are struggling the most now... its time for us all to nurture and protect businesses and people that operate from the soul, for the good of those around them. If we help build them up, keeping them strong, we will always have the local strength we need to support one another whatever may come our way. Keeping communities strong is a team effort and we all play a vital role, so own your power and make empowering decisions as you go about your daily life.

Whilst I have so much more to say (some would say too much- but I have never been one for self-control or staying quiet!), it's time to shift our focus to FROG and give you a much needed update on whats going on...

Firstly local avocados from the Young family farm in Childers are finishing up for the season, so this will be the last week we will have them. They have been so lovely and will be sadly missed- but as they say, all good things must come to an end (for now anyway). 

Peter from Bauple had a week off picking last week, but he'll be back up his ladder this coming week, filling his picking bag with (floppy skinned) mandarins, Joppa oranges, grapefruit, lemons and starfruit. I hope having a week off gave you time to clean out the last of the citrus that was in the fridge, so you can get a fresh start again this week. Peters mandarins are starting to slow down so enjoy them while they are here.

The Veggie Patch has enjoyed all the lovely winter rain and has all your leafy greens covered- with lots of lovely lettuces, rainbow silver beet, rocket and endives, as well as all the herbs you love so much. 

It was so nice having Julies Hydroponic Harvest lettuce mix bags again last week, after an unexpected last minute hiccup in supply the week prior, which I know left many of you in the lurch (including us at FROG). Sadly some things cannot be avoided.

Fraser Coast mushrooms treated us with large flat mushrooms a few weeks ago, and anticipated that they would have lots of big ones again this week just gone. But sadly they just didn't grow big enough in time for the FROG pick- in fact they really didn't grow at all which has left Kim and Dave a little stumped. Keep an eye out for them though as they will be back on and off. There's a fine art to growing mushrooms, a lot hangs in the balance and sometimes they just don't want to play along, so we'll just have to go with the flow and enjoy them when they decide to grace us with their presence.

Brother Brother eggs are now available in all 3 sizes once again (600g, 700g and 800g). Their new flock of chooks have settled in well although they struggled through the nesting box training and needed a little more help to learn the ropes which has kept Nick and Amanda super busy. As the chooks are allowed to roam freely on open pasture they need to learn to lay their eggs inside the mobile chook caravan- turns out some flocks find it easier than others to get the hang of it!

As you can see by this FROG update, the main points are that in order to enjoy fresh produce, we need to remember to go with the flow. Ditch those mis-conceptions and mental images of supermarket shelves laden with the same, identical looking produce day in and day out 365 days of the year... true fresh produce comes in ebbs and flows ... supply hiccups can happen, farmers sometimes need a break, bugs get hungry too and when it rains it pours which is sometimes a good thing, but if the timing isn't right it can stuff up supply for many weeks to come.

Our job as consumers is to be grateful for everything that lands on our plates, and be willing to let go of the need for control. Cooking is a creative process, so be willing to switch out ingredients, treat your taste buds to different flavours as the seasons change and remember that Mother Nature knows best... so if its growing well, eat lots of it- it has all the nutrients you need to perfectly nourish your body at that very moment.

Oh and roll up your sleeves- and enjoy that nourishing, vitamin D packed sunshine too!!!

Life is good, lets enjoy it together.

♥ Celine