Months ago, early during the virus pandemic, I walked to and from the Farmers Market in Hobart’s CBD one Sunday – a three hour return trip by foot. A week ago I travelled to the city by bus for the first time in over three months and was delighted to be reminded of the ease of that form of transport. What a pleasure it was to be back at that market amidst all the wonderful produce that had been picked only hours before here in Tasmania.

I love the idea of the reduced carbon footprint that is required to bring these fresh vegetables to consumers. More than that, I love the high quality of the produce that is usually free of intolerable pesticides and fungicides. Produce that is grown with love. I always delight in talking with the stall owners and listening to their passion about the food they grow. And I always appreciate their willingness to explain how they grow their produce and more about all the processes. This is because they care, have humble pride and derive great pleasure from sharing information.

Back home I emptied my backpack; a cut of pumpkin, a bunch of golden beetroot, spring onions and another of salad onions, a head of broccoli, a bag of shitake mushrooms, and a loaf of sourdough bread containing tasty Kalamata olives.

As usual, my no waste approach took over. The leaves of the beetroot were lush and voluminous.

I removed these and much of the green tops from the salad and spring onions, chopped them roughly before loading into a pot with vegetable stock and a decent powdering of ground cumin seed.

I let these simmer until limp but before the colour had been drained. Meanwhile, I cooked a substantial quantity of brown/green lentils. Ultimately, all of these ingredients went into the blender with a dessertspoon of tahini. There was sufficient quantity to fill many containers of an extremely tasty soup; these now rest in the freezer. I kept a bowl full of this delicious soup for my lunch accompanied by a little of the fresh sourdough bread. From paddock to plate with not much time in between!