On July 1st, eleven years ago at our old warehouse in Beavers Road Northcote, Fair Food received its very first order.

The storm that tore through Victoria a week and a half ago brought down so many mature trees that Hayden Cronin, Fair Wood’s manager, has been inundated by emails asking for help – including one from a landholder in Newbury who had lost more than 100 trees.

On a crisp autumn morning a few weeks ago Wurundjeri elder, Uncle Ringo Terrick, came to the Fair Food warehouse to conduct a Welcome to Country ceremony.

In times of trouble we seek sanctuary and in weeks like these CERES, more than ever, feels like a Mother Tree.

So much happening around CERES during this wintery weather! From firewood and awards for Fair Wood, to our waste-free beetroot curry workshop, and Joes Garden Feathery Fundraiser (complete with bird-themed dress up) at the farm gate. Busy season!

My own failed veg box experience was years of composting the limp beetroot and yellowing cabbage my family didn’t eat and feeling a kind of “veg box shame”.