I believe in signs. As my plan to live in the country and do a work commute to the city has now fallen over, I have been on the look out for a sign that I was meant to move to the country (apart from, of course, that I am truly, deeply and madly in love with the Country Mouse).
Recently on a drive to our nearest large regional centre, past cows grazing in paddocks of course (for more on cows = country see the last post), there it was, the sign I’d been asking for. On an otherwise unremarkable street I spied a large barn of a building wrapping itself around a corner block, its signage read ‘Organic Feast’. I squealed to the Country Mouse “Stop the car, stop the car, stop the caaaaaar!”
I couldn’t get inside the Organic Feast building fast enough. It was oh so wonderfully familiar, my favourite kind of foody establishment - chunky wooden communal eating tables with books and magazines to pour over while savouring your wholefood-wholeseed breakfast or lunch. A guitarist in the corner played a Joni Mitchell classic, giving it just the kind of hippy ambience I love. It had a slightly Sydney Inner West health food café vibe, enough of a vibe that I knew it was a sign - I AM MEANT TO BE HERE.
Oh happy day!
As worked my way through the store, “oohing” and “ahhing” over the product line and giving the establishment my biggest compliment “this shop is just like a Sydney
Organic Feast, it turned out, had only recently moved to this new location, and it was right near the Country Mouse’s lair. I have weekend visions of cycling to the store, drinking coffee, eating organic food and reading the paper. On its website it says: Our retail Shop is located in the Heart of the Agricultural belt of the Hunter valley, an area that is re-birthing agriculturally through Organic / Biodynamic farming after being crushed by the supermarket industry.
An organic shop with politics, it’s all too perfect – and so obviously it’s a sign.
Mind you one drawback is that Organic Feast still has very country hours of trading – it closes at 5.30pm on weekdays, 2.00pm Saturdays (bad luck if you are late getting going on your first sleep-in day of the weekend) and is, wait for it city cousins, closed, on Sundays. Hmmmm…..shops closed on Sundays in the country!!!!!!! – that will be a posting, or probably an almost incoherent rant, for another time.
But back to the good news…
As we returned to the car I felt triumphant. I had found a café to call home, I did belong here. The Country Mouse was quiet; he looked regretfully at the Organic Feast building, “It’s a tragedy; it used to be our local hardware store.” I tried to console him, “You will always have Bunnings”, but he remained unconvinced.
This is my current conundrum. Can you be philosophically opposed to gentrification until it works for you, thus making you a complete hypocrite? I have spent decades railing against gentrification of the inner city of Sydney, sneering at upper middle class interlopers who have turned my radical, sub-cultural and alternative pockets of the city into a whitewashed (and now very expensive) version of their former gritty glory.
Am I now like one of those obnoxious Lower North Shore
Now as I drive around the Lower Hunter Valley
My conscience is troubled. What do you think?
Gentrification: to transform a run-down or aging neighbourhood into a more prosperous one, e.g. through investment in remodelling buildings or houses.
ReplyDeleteIs this what is happening! Dare I say - have you used the right word?
I Googled on Google maps and it shows the area is part of what would be classed (correct if I am wrong Country Mouse) ’one of the old parts of Maitland’, surrounded by houses and indeed the photo confirms Country Mouses lament - that it used to be a hardware store.
So Gentrifying is not going to work in that area, one of the appealing aspects of the Hunter Valley is that has crossed with the modern and the country and I like it that way. I love being able to travel for 15 minutes one way and be in the countryside or travel 15 minutes the other way and be in suburbia i.e. around Green Hills for example. (sorry Country Mouse)
So City Mouse your journey maybe to love what we have and not wish the City to invade too much!!
(PS: It is one hell of bike hike from Country Mouses house.)
Yes, I know of Organic Feast, well at least from the outside as I drive past it on a regular basis whilst at work. Haven't ventured in yet and being the extremely fussy eater that I am, I wonder often whether it would be worth my while to actually entire the store, peruse the goods then make a decision...one day maybe, one day.
ReplyDeleteOn another note, I am enjoying reading the mental dilemmas that pass through your mind Kimberly as you begin your venture toward total immersion in your tree change future.
And yes, I too equate cows with country, really where else would you be when cows are around besides maybe the animal husbandry section at the Royal Easter show.
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ReplyDeleteYes i believe in signs, however i think there is an underlying sign that your failing to see.
ReplyDeleteYou cant have your cake and eat it too!!!. So you either need to give up the awesome job and move to the country to be with the Country Mouse or you need to leave that dream as a dream and continue to be a City Mouse!!!
I am posting this comment on behalf of my friend Susan R. who emailed this to me:
ReplyDelete"I think maybe you need to just leave the city behind in your mind and accept the country for what it is. You can't just rely on one cafe to be your "intelligence staple" as a link to the city, you will only be disappointed once you need more and more "Organic Feasts" to forage at to satisfy the city needs and are unable to find them in and around Maitland. The only other option is of course to rent a shop and start your own little cafe and hope it attracts P.L.U's. Maybe this would be an work option as well if you had some spare cash (as long as in your cash flow plan you realise that for the first year of the venture it would not be a money making exercise until it got on it's feet)."