On sourcing food and growing your own

Every Friday is 'co-op day' for us, and this assortment of organic goodness is just some of this week's haul. I'm fortunate to be part of a lovely little community of people who share the tasks involved in ordering from the farm, picking up and packing our produce. We get a mixture of farm-grown and market-sourced organic produce and functioning as a co-operative means we're making significant savings on our food bill, which of course can get quite hefty if you want to eat mostly organic! 

I supplement this with produce from our local farmers markets, our local greengrocer (for organic milk and bread), ALDI, and as a last resort, the big two supermarkets. I'd love to say we eat lots of home grown stuff but that's just not happening at the moment, apart from a handful of green beans and cherry tomatoes. 

Our plan is to clear the yard for four large raised veggie beds, put in a tank and irrigation and get some chooks. When I was pregnant we had a permaculture design plan done, but it's taken a bit of a back seat until now. The 1950s Hills Hoist in the backyard is sadly meeting its end this weekend, but it's exciting to finally be making things happen in our sad and scorched looking yard!

I'm reading Jamie Durie's 'Edible Garden Design' at the moment and it's so inspiring, I really want to get outdoors and get my hands dirty. I have a little person who I know will be happy to join me too (though i'll have to keep him well away from the potting mix, he'd eat fistfuls of the stuff if he could!)

Do you grow much of your own food? How important is it to you where your food comes from?