Wizarding Wednesday, the Second

Before I dive into wizarding world speculation, I would like to mention that yesterday marked six years since I began this blog. It's exciting, isn't it? Six years ago, I was starting my last year of college. It seems like a lifetime away. For those of you who have been here since the beginning, I thank you. For anyone else reading, thanks to you too. I really appreciate that anyone would take the time to read my silly ramblings.

My question tonight is: where do wizards do their grocery shopping?

One argument is that wizards do not do grocery shopping, and in fact grow or raise everything that they might need. This could be very likely, especially when one considers that wizards have any manner of clever gardening spells at their disposal. A skilled witch or wizard could procure seeds (say at a gardening shop in Diagon Alley?) and be able to grow anything, regardless of the plant's required growing season or climate. I can just imagine going out into Mrs. Weasley's greenhouse. "And here are the potatoes and carrots, and over there we have pineapple, coconuts, and papayas!"

I can get on board with the growing your own fruits and vegetables, but what about meat? What about wheat and milk? What about butterbeer and fire whiskey? (I suppose Mr Weasley could have a magic distillery in the cellar...) But it seems unlikely that every wizarding family would be running a pared-down farm, even with magical capabilities.

So what are the options for the wizard without a food-producing operation? With Apparition, it would be simple for a witch or wizard to simply travel to the grocer of their choice to pick up anything that they need. The grocer could be within a wizarding area, such as Diagon Alley or Hogsmeade, or could be in the middle of nowhere, perhaps on a wizard's property. They could have a large farm, etc., and set up shop in the middle of a field, and then people would just show up to shop.

A delivery service is another option. Delivers could be made by owls, or, a faster method, via the Floo Network. We know that it's possible for hands to reach through Floo Network fires (Umbridge clawing at the Gryffindor fire in The Order of the Phoenix), so maybe the grocer just sticks their hand in the fire and delivers bags of groceries. You hear a noise in the kitchen and go in to find your shopping sitting neatly on the hearth. I like it.

That's the extent of my thoughts on the subject. Any ideas from the readers?

As always, thanks for reading.