Following our Celebrate Organic event in Cape Town earlier in April, we headed off to Johannesburg to celebrate organic of a different kind. We spent a very special morning with our Johannesburg brand ambassador, Mari-Louise of Just a Mamma.
Mari-Louise epitomises a loving, caring, fun, creative, hands-on mamma. She invites her 3 daughters into every area of her life. From the extravagant to the mundane, they do it together, learning and growing along the way. Mari-Louise is also known for her thoughtfulness when it comes to her family’s health – mindful of what they put both onto and inside of their bodies.
With Mari-Louise as our inspiration for this event, we looked at how she celebrates organic. She is a huge advocate of supporting local companies and eating well. She cares for her environment, her health and brings a sense of intentionality into every-day city life. With her eldest daughter starting Grade 1, she has been inspired to pack healthy school lunch boxes and wanted to share her enthusiasm from her own experience.
Mari-Louise invited ten of her friends to join us at Jackson’s Real Food Market in Kyalami. We enjoyed a morning of connecting over coffee and sharing eco-friendly tips, whilst learning more about healthy school lunches and living an organic life. When we engage with topics such as sustainability, reducing waste and getting creative with food, we really want to create a space where we turn off our autopilot, and challenge ourselves to be more thoughtful and intentional in the way we live.
We packed Yum Box lunch boxes with colourful and creative treats. Included were beetroot wraps with pesto and chickpea falafel, grape and fig skewers, coconut yoghurt with honey almond nut butter and apricot oat balls. Shandre from Cookpad led the interactive demonstration with insight and enthusiasm, taking note of how busy moms are, and giving some pointers on how to nourish our family’s bodies while still keeping it quick and easy.
We loved seeing kids simultaneously create, learn, make mess and be nourished. Who knew coconut milk yoghurt could taste so good? We hope this event encouraged moms and dads to reimagine what their kids eat every day, in a way that inspires health and flourishing!
Of course, we had incredible local brands partner with us in this event, all of whom have their own ways of celebrating their organic. We are so grateful to them, not just for their generous contributions towards our event, but for partnering with us in Celebrating Organic every day.
Brands Celebrating Organic:
Cookpad is an app which is encouraging people to get cooking. In a culture where everything is so quick and instant, Cookpad motivates families to get back into the kitchen and create real food again. Healthy Homebox spoilt the kids with Pura Stainless Steel water bottles, Cloud and Co. helped supply beautiful yum box lunch boxes and Angus and Izzy gave vouchers for beautifully designed, personalised school labels. Buzzy Wraps removed the need for plastic wrap with their beeswax food wraps, and Silistraw contributed their incredibly popular silicone straw. Good for the Ground gifted everyone with biodegradable film bags and some organic dried fruit. EcoSprout is leading the way to a greener future by creating growing kits which teach children how to grow their own food. Pure Beginnings gave each family a new foldable shopping bag (by Hello Daisy) and well as organic skincare products – a Fun Time Kids Hand Wash, Kids Wash and Conditioning Shampoo. We are so grateful to Jackson’s Real Food Market for welcoming us into their beautiful space. It’s a place where one can see how slower and more intentional living can be achieved.
How are you celebrating organic? Are you putting more thought and time into your kids’ health, buying local, trying your best to use less plastic, or striving to spend more time outdoors? Maybe you’re committing to drinking more water, using chemical-free skincare products or growing your own vegetables at home?
This year, our desire is to encourage a movement towards being more attentive to how we live, and why, and inspire others on the journey! Each of our organic will look different – a beautiful collaboration of each of our stories.