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News News from the farmsBox Scheme Co-ordinator Nicki had a long chat with our regular supplier Graham Hughes today about how things are going on his farm and the neighbouring farms that supply Hughes Organics in Norfolk. Graham was pessimistic, he said that most of the greens had been lost in the cold weather and because it had been relatively mild in the November/early December period other greens had “peaked too early”. He wanted to warn us that we really did have to expect lots of cabbages and roots over the next month or so – if we are going to stick to our aim of getting as much produce as possible from the UK. The rapid thaw and large amounts of rain has also made most of the fields, (in Kent as well as Norfolk) into giant mud baths. Penny from Ripple Farm described her “platform” boots made of mud after a day of pulling up leeks…We’re not trying to depress you but it is good to have realistic expectations of what veg really is out there in the fields – and the difficulties involved in getting it in from the fields! We’ll do our best to make sure that we give you recipes and advice on how to deal with vegetables, (such as cabbage) which you may well feel you’ve had enough of – and we will carry on putting one or two items into the bags which come from Europe, (like the courgettes from Italy this week) just to ring the changes a bit.New Pick up Point and Microsite at the Castle Climbing Centre, Green Lanes From Thursday 4th February, it will be possible to pick-up your Growing Communities’ organic veg and fruit bags from our newest community pick-up at the Castle Climbing Centre in Green Lanes, N4. The pick-up enables people living in and around the Finsbury Park area to get access to more locally and sustainably produced fruit and vegetables from our community-led box scheme. We are also launching a new micro-site in the grounds of the Castle which will eventually produce organic salad leaves for the box scheme. Ida Fabrizio and Sophie Verhagen, who both graduated from the Growing Communities’ Urban Apprentice Scheme last year, will be clearing the site over the next few weeks, ready to start building raised beds which will produce the salad. The Castle micro-site will be part of Growing Communities’ Patchwork Farm project. In the future, box scheme members who pick-up from the Castle will be able to see their salad being grown before their very eyes! Ida is also running a wider growing project at the Castle which will include fruit trees, fruit bushes and herbs. For more details on the Castle Environmental projects and policy go to http://sustainablecastle.blogspot.com/. To join the pick-up at the Castle go to our Box Scheme page.UK’s Sustainable Development Commission highlights Growing CommunitiesAt the end of December last year, the UK’s Sustainable Development Commission published a report, Setting the Table, in which they looked at how the UK diet needed to be changed to make it more sustainable and healthier. As well as making recommendations such as eating less meat, dairy and sugar and more organic food, they also assessed 41 practical initiatives from across the UK on the basis of how successful they were at making food more sustainable. Growing Communities was one of only three projects that were seen to have successfully addressed this issue and whose work could be shown to be having a real impact. You can read the report here. Stoke Newington Farmers’ Market launches pioneering scheme to help families on low-incomes.From Saturday June 13th farmers at the Stoke Newington Farmers’ Market, run by Hackney-based group Growing Communities, will accept Healthy Start vouchers for fresh vegetables, fruit and milk. It will be the first farmers’ market in London to do this. Stoke Newington Farmers’ market is the only all-organic weekly farmers’ market in the UK. Under the Healthy Start scheme, low income families are offered vouchers to exchange for milk, fresh fruit and vegetables. Growing Communities’ Director Julie Brown said “We know that that lots of people on low incomes would like to buy organic fruit and vegetables – especially produce that has come from local farms. We can’t change the fact that organic food costs more to produce and we want the small family farmers we work with to get a fair price for their produce, but by accepting Healthy Start vouchers we hope to enable more people to buy locally produced sustainable food - which has got to be good for them and good for the environment.”
Market Chef at the Farmers' Market After the success of the first Market Chef, we'll be running the event on a regular basis at the Stoke Newington Farmers’ Market. The next will be one will be on (tbc). We are looking for local people to demonstrate their favourite seasonal recipes at the market using ingredients from the market. All food will be cooked in an outside kitchen. As well as watching the demonstrations, visitors to the market will be able to taste the final dishes – and give their verdict.
This is a great way for local people to impress their friends, show off their favourite recipes for seasonal food and give everyone a chance to learn more about how to make delicious meals from the fresh, organic food on sale from the farmers. Although we can’t promise you your own TV series – we want to make Marketchef a regular feature at the market –we’d also like it to be a launchpad for some new Hackney-based organic food businesses – who could sell at the market.
Marketchef Elizabeth Reeds cooking toasted pasta with seasonal greens at the Stoke Newington Farmers' Market, May 09 If you would like to take part in the Marketchef project please contact Growing Communities on 0207 502 7588 or growcomm@growingcommunities.org Carbon Calculator If you want to calculate your carbon footprint, you can check it on this webpage! Triodos Ethical Small Business Awards June 2008 Director Julie Brown was one of the three finalists in the Triodos Ethical Small Business Awards. On our press page, you can watch a short film with Julie talking about Growing Communities' aims and projects, with shots of the Farmers Market and packing of the bags for the box scheme! Pensioners' Bag Scheme June 2008 We have a new scheme for those on a state pension. The bags will be exactly the same, but will cost less for pensioners. If you are already a member and wish to change to the scheme, please contact us (see below) and then change your standing order (it would help us if you changed at the beginning of the month). New members can complete the form in the usual way, but tick the pensioners' scheme box(es). Prices will be as follows: Small
veg - £4.80 a week (£20.78 a month) Small
veg + standard fruit bag (£48.76 per month) Growing Communities fruit and veg scheme now accepts Healthy Start vouchers August 2007 Our box scheme is now part of the government’s Healthy Start scheme which means that if you are in receipt of healthy start vouchers these can be used towards the cost of your produce order with us. For more info about eligibility for the scheme visit Healthy Start and please get in touch with us by email or phone if you want to use this option to help pay for your order with us. |
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| Growing Communities 61 Leswin Road Stoke Newington London N16 7NX 020 7502 7588 growcomm@growingcommunities.org
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