I’m calling it out for the niggling reality it is. Call me sexist but there is a thing we can’t seem to let go of … the guilt. Working mothers and guilt. Can you recognise this concept? Managing to raise a family and hold down a job and keep the house going…it’s a constant juggle. So much so that something always gives… and that is often the quality of the food. The price of convenience is often ultra processed food over consumption. Easier to grab some thing quick like a pizza than face in to cooking a meal from scratch at home after a long day at work…
 
I have found some solutions to this dilemma over the years.. one is definitely having a slow cooker and prepping in the morning. But am always seeking another solution for us band of mothers.. wouldn’t it be wonderful if our children in school had a wholesome organic meal to depend on? Or should I say wouldn’t it be wonderful if we could depend on our systems to support us as parents on this journey? How much time do we waste on the guilt mindset that could be better utilized? If we were confident that our children were effectively nourished in schools/centres how much extra stress would be taken from us and what would be the impact of that relief?
 
The argument is always cost. Good food, organic food is expensive. What is the cost of our guilt burden instead, I ask, as we increasingly witness our children being exposed to the lowest common denominator of foods and suffer the fallout of the effects.
 
Here is the proposal. Invest in our children! Offer nourishing organic foods of quality in schools and centres as standard. Ensure this is a key policy for the most vulnerable. The return on investment is beyond your wildest imagination. Guilt free parents who see their children thriving. The potential for what’s possible is limitless.  

Anne Maher

A discussion that is happening repeatedly from farmers is about the lack of small abattoirs locally that would help with local meat production. Here I am going to concentrate on offal so look away now if you are mindful that plants don’t have feelings too. Here’s the deal. The large abattoirs can process and monetise all parts of the animal. Offal is frozen and sent abroad for human consumption. Small abattoirs have restrictions on selling and effectively cannot monetise. Of course we then don’t have the access to this nutrient dense food. The slow race to the bottom continues. Our old cookbooks showed how to utilise this nourishing food and Limerick itself was known for offal being a traditional common food. Packet and tripe anyone? How easily a nourishing food can disappear out of our diets…I do believe we need to be on the alert for this trend because we go through periods of feast and famine in cycles…
 
Raw milk is making a comeback though and the experience of this journey shows that there are so many factors influencing whether we can have the access to nourishing foods at all. It’s not a given at any time despite periods of prosperity and our agricultural culture…The danger lies in complacency. Stay awake. 

​Anne Maher

Food prices have risen – a topical issue of course. Revolutions have happened when food prices reached the triggering point. Politicians have always known that the population must have access to affordable food. Subsidised food is so normal to us now we have little idea just how much it actually costs to bring it to our table. For many years we have had the luxury of wasting food also because there is such excess. How difficult it is for us to transition to the real life reality of what food costs!
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A story from a customer struck a cord when I thought about this topic. We were discussing the craft of lacemaking as an old tradition. I had recently met the folk showcasing the Limerick lace traditions and was amazed at the fine work and detail involved. How skilled people were and this is an important tradition to protect. In any case she told me of her grandmothers story of being a child with siblings in Mayo making lace all winter long and working hard to save for a cow. Months of detailed work by candlelight, I guess, with the prize at the end of a living food source. Milk, butter, cream…I imagined the longing for this prize. The achievement and satisfaction to have earned this valuable prize. Alas the story did not end well as the cow died soon after! How devastating this must have been. The fact the story carried on through the generations echoes the enormity of the impact. It is no harm to be reminded though of how valuable food actually is. Butter will never taste so good.   

Anne Maher

Blindboy ran a great podcast recently about unstainable meat. A gifted story teller weaving the history of Pigtown as a sustainable food system compared with the current system of cheap food that is far from sustainable. It’s gorey and bloody and while he certainly warns folk of the sensitive nature of content it is a fascinating listen. Pigs sustained Limerick. The Limerick Ham was a delicacy and highly prized, the offal was an inexpensive nourishing food for all. Skills in butchery were valued. Pigs provided food and a living. It seems ridiculously simple that a single food source could achieve so much. We cloak ourselves now in the righteous indignation of animal cruelty to prevent ourselves dwelling on the reality of this lifestyle familiar to Limerick older generations. Imagine going back to this type of life again? Local foods expertly processed to nourish. Local foods that provide a living and a lifestyle. Imagine that! Fruit & Veg won’t be enough to fit this model. Soya is not local…and its production is not sustainable. We need meat.
 
For that there has to be death. Our local butchers are that conduit. It’s time to cultivate their importance again in sustainable food systems.

​Anne Maher

It was hard to believe it possible that some people had to endure 3 weeks of no electricity in recent weeks after the storm. All in all a reminder that we are grateful to have had a minimal impact from the weather this time. We are mindful that our suppliers have had varying experiences also. Not all good. Our food is so precious and valuable as well as vulnerable. How many people actually truly know this? Immersed as we are in products that pretend to be food, it is easy to be conned into believing that there is plenty of food.
 
Until there isn’t.
 
Electricity supplies the power to store much food supplies and sadly there was a lot of food wasted because that support was not there. We are ill prepared for such disaster preparedness. Adverse weather events happen. They always have and always will. Advanced warning systems allow us some preparation time.
 
What do we do in the preparation time? How about we start to get our act together and learn more preservation techniques that do not rely on electricity to maintain?
 
I rely on my freezer at home as do most folk. Recently though I have been looking at YouTube videos showing how to bottle meat. Homesteading influencers take up my social media attention with their innovative ideas and recipes. They could be on to something!

Anne Maher

It was quite surreal to be cut off with snow and watch the unfolding catastrophic wildfires in LA happen in real-time. To lose everything in an instant. In a crisis what do you do? What do you grab at the last minute to escape with your life? For many, they acknowledged that possessions were not important and that people and pets were. The stories that emerge afterwards though take my interest. Managing to feed people in crisis situations is a business. With war zones and famine zones, disaster relief is not uncommon. Tailored though to each culture is the challenge. What will this event bring forward as lessons to learn regarding how we live our lives? Will LA be rebuilt with a completely different food culture? Are the previous homeowners queuing for handouts getting what they need to nourish them through the difficult time that is ahead? For now, with the TV cameras on the celebrity culture, it is early days. We can never take our food culture for granted. When disaster strikes we need access to the basics. Food and shelter. Deliveroo and Just Eat may not cut it. It will be interesting to see how the new systems develop.
 
For what it's worth I am struck by those houses that withstood the blaze. Or rather the insights of the owners who set up systems to protect their houses. Unlike many who relied on the insurance only or waited for the government to solve the problem. Setting up generators to pump water from the pool to the roof to prevent ignition. These were relatively cost-effective ways to withstand the ferocity of the inferno. The lesson from this? Take charge. Don’t rely on the system to protect you. Find ways to protect your house. What a metaphor for our health! 

Anne Maher

You will no doubt have noticed that Raw Milk ( it deserves capitals) is not on the shelf these days. The cows are having a break from lactation and will be back in the spring as the days get longer. A common commentary is that Sean had us spoiled with raw milk provision all year round so that to now do with out shocks us out of our complacency. Tory Hill dairy was popular  and delicious! We miss it! But what a lesson to learn.
 
Real food is not that straightforward anymore. It involves effort and commitment from not only the producer but the consumer also. Supermarket shopping has lulled us into a false sense of security with the wide variety of products continually available. Abundance replaces just enough and our instincts suffer. We loose track of seasonality and natural rhythms. We loose touch with the natural hunter gatherer in us.
 
My sense is that the break from Raw Milk will be a good thing. Like fasting it will be a reset. Our bodies will be grateful when it returns.. In the meantime if you cannot hold out that long it may be no harm to get yourself out to an organic farm and buy direct. Get those hunter gatherer instincts fine tuned again. Real food takes effort. When a local farmer produces fantastic food close by we really need to be grateful. Perhaps deprivation is the tool we need to improve our gratitude index… 

​Anne Maher

I admit to loving winter stews at this time when the nights are long and dark. Slow cookers are just the ticket and if it comes to a choice the air fryer will lose every time.

Filling and nourishing and can hide a few select “special” ingredients…I run the risk of repeating myself on this topic each year.

​It’s not just the flavour and value, it’s the timing. The realisation is I have more interest and motivation to cook in the morning, than in the evening after a day’s work. The chopping, slicing and dicing seems easier and less daunting at 7am than at 5pm. How rewarding to walk in the door to aromatic smells of dinner ready...not quite the private chef but damn it’s close. I figure I can then spend some saved time to catch up on Instagram chefs like Straker instead! Bon appetite! 

Anne Maher