To market, to market...
...to buy a fat pig. Home again, home again, Jiggety jig!
Not sure if that Nursery rhyme is familiar to anyone else. It is one sung in Ireland to toddlers as they are bounced around on adult shoulders getting piggy backs to make them squeal with laughter.
Today we went to a local market in Speers Point park. It is held on the second and fourth Saturday of each month. I think many of the stall holders can be found at other locations on the other weekend mornings in the Newcastle area.
It is a wonderful thing to see real people selling real things that have come from the hard work of their own hands, fruits, vegetables and craft items. I have grown so used to buying cheap things through the large shops that often my idea on what something "should" cost is quite far from the real cost.
I know myself when I make a card for a friends birthday it can easily take an hour. Even if I tried to be very time efficient and made, lets say, ten identical cards quickly in that hour by the time I take the cost of the raw materials and my time into consideration I just cannot see how I could then price them up to be a profitable small business. My hat goes off to all those (predominantly) women who put many hours and love into creating beautiful items and then manage to sell them and make some money to put in the family pocket. And for those passionate people who run a family business making something unusual and then make their way to parks like ours on weekend mornings to sell.
We came across one of these family businesses this weekend called JumJum. We were offered a taste of what looked like a piece of sausage on a cocktail stick as we walked past this stall. (You can just see the man loading up another plate of tasters in the background)
It tasted amazing and when we asked for more info we found out it was a duck sausage. We decided to buy a pack to bbq for lunch. Together with some fresh bread and a jar of homemade relish from another stall and some lovely vibrant greens from one of the farmers tables we had everything we needed for a scrumptious lunch.
I know it isn't always possible to buy local and eat such fresh and amazing food. Only this time last year I had to tighten the purse strings to avoid increasing my work hours and now I do the weekly shop at Aldi and try my best to budget and be creative with in season (cheap!) food items. However, every now and again it is so good to be able to spend a little bit more on something special and stop and appreciate it too!
Agreed, especially this time of year (for us), with endless fruits and vegetables perfectly in season! Happy Bastille Day!
Lovely post. I like to indulge on nice food from time to time, but normally I am very carefull with my expenses, as you do.
I was in Canberra this weekend and went to a fantastic market - so much interesting, locally produced stuff - food, craft, etc. It was great! And yes, I left with a few unique interesting things. If I am going to spend the extra money (which I don't/can't do all the time!), I figure I would rather help a small family business than get the top Aldi/Coles/Woolies guys make more money.