Foodbank calls!

Wednesday, January 25, 2023
Lockington, Victoria, Australia
 BlazeAid camp, LOCKINGTON, Victoria. 15°-32°C. 
Back in camp after a break at home, galahs and cockatoos wake me around 6.30am. Two crews of workers leave for the morning. I enjoy the cool breeze wafting through my van and startle the others in the kitchen with my arrival inside at the ungodly hour soon after seven. 
Work at the  BlazeAid camp here continues. Volunteer numbers continue to climb. We have eighteen for dinner tonight and at least 35 farms on the books. It’s a great collection of people from diverse backgrounds. 
One of the most fascinating - and fun! - is Rae, a nurse educator and technically a Maori princess. She has six children and twenty-six grandchildren and can’t remember all their names! She is the leader of her large clan by descent from her grandmother and carries her feather cloak with her. She picks up remote nursing work and exam marking to pay for her petrol and otherwise drives her motor home from camp to friends and family to camp. 
Foodbank delivered a truckload of free fruit, veggies, groceries and personal care items yesterday... a shocking sign of the food wastage that the supermarkets tolerate. How can toilet paper be unwanted? Or sugar? Maybe there’s an explanation…
I am determined that the fruit will not be wasted here. I spend yesterday and today stewing plums and pears and baking more biscuits and slices for hungry workers. Last night’s plum cake was a great winner. 
In the cool of the late afternoon, we explore the local pub for an air conditioned drink. Roast chicken, salads and poached pears for dinner then a welcome flopping into my comfy bed. What a pleasure!
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