Meet your growers

Adrian Izzard grows a wide range of organic salad leaves (which won the award for best fresh food at the Soil Association Organic Awards in 2014) and Asian greens such as pak choi, tatsoi, mustard leaves and coriander in his unheated glasshouses at Great Abingdon, Cambridgeshire. He has recently taken on another 30 acres of land to grow field crops, so is producing root veg, such as parsnips and beetroot, for the box scheme and market. He grows a gorgeous range of tomatoes, courgettes, cucumbers and aubergines, all of which he brings to the farmers' market in season.

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Farmers' market: weekly

These Soil Association certified organic vegetable gardens form part of an organic farm with large gardens, a historic house and conference and education centre. The vegetable gardens are also key to the centre's work with young people, providing work experience for those in the Grow to Grow programme, providing supported placements for vulnerable and disadvantaged young people who are in transition, excluded or recovering from mental health problems, and young people in and leaving care. You can also camp at the site and check in on how your vegetables are growing.

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Farmers' market: weekly during peak harvest season (summer/autumn)

Fabienne and Simon Peckham run Galileo Farm – a small family organic farm on the Fosse Way in Warwickshire, south of Leamington. Their livestock includes grass-fed beef cattle and sheep, geese, turkeys, chickens, ducks and pigs so they sell chicken, poultry, pork and beef as well as eggs. They started the farm from scratch nearly 20 years ago on 30 acres and have built up their beef and sheep herds by renting grazing land adjacent to the farm. The farm has extremely high animal welfare standards – this is Fabienne and Simon’s top priority.  The farm only sells direct.

Farmers' market: weekly 

William Rooney grows organic oyster and other exotic mushrooms at his small farm in Great Bromley, Essex. He also brings wild mushrooms to the market in season including puffballs, chicken of the woods and woodear, as well as making delicious mushroom sandwiches while you wait. He also brings other seasonal goodies to the market, including wild leaves and flowers in summer and birch sap in spring - which is said to boost the body's cleansing properties. He also leads foraging walks around his home in Essex - visit his website for details.

Farmers' market: weekly

Master chocolatier Anthony Ferguson has been satisfying chocoholics on both sides of the Atlantic for nearly a decade with memorably addictive creations. Chocolates from Niko B (named after his son) are handmade in Hackney. Using only Soil Association certified chocolate, fruits, nuts, herbs, spices and flowers, as well as organic British cream and butter, the adventurous range includes exotic truffles, caramelised nuts, oozing nougats, salted caramel brownies and decadent ganache-filled, liqueur-soaked figs.

Farmers' market: weekly

Hatice Tuğrul makes her traditional Turkish borek or gozleme (a type of folded pancake) using organic ingredients such as spinach and mushrooms sourced from the organic farmers at the market. Hatice lives locally and is one of the ultra local producers we've worked with to help them get into sustainable food production.

Farmers' market: weekly

Pear Necessities sells organic pears at the market from September through to Christmas from their small organic pear orchard near Goudhourst in Kent.  The 10 acre orchard grows four varieties of pear: Conference, Comice, Packham and Concorde. Pear Necessities is a partnership established in 2008 to convert an existing conventionally farmed orchard to organic methods. Pear Necessities aim to grow fruit using carbon-conserving methods of feeding and disease control.  The farm received full organic status in August 2010 and is now planting a new fruit and nut orchard in a 7 acre pasture beside the existing pear orchard. In years to come they will be harvesting (and selling!) apples, plums, cherries, figs, apricots and more.

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Farmers' market: seasonal (usually from September to December)

Alison is an organic grower and ceramicist based on a smallholding in Lawford, Essex, where she grows fruit, vegetables, flowers and herbs certified to biodynamic Demeter standards. She makes a range of jams and chutneys, which are available for sale alongside the honey from her resident beehives.

Farmers' market: seasonal (usually summer and Christmas)

Eric Beaumont is a Hackney-based bee-keeper who sells honey and beeswax from hives in Hackney, Walthamstow, Tottenham Marshes, Stoke Newington, Epping and Dagenham at our market on a seasonal basis. He also often has comb honey and baker's honey (slightly too "wet" and often starting to ferment - perfect for cooking). He is always at the market in late autumn and in the weeks leading up to Christmas, and often has a stall at other times of year too. The Dagenham honey is made in hives set up by Eric on our Dagenham Farm.

Farmers' market: fortnightly until the honey runs out  

Alice and Ashlea from our Dagenham Farm grow a lot of produce for the veg scheme: salad and leafy greens, tomatoes, beans, cucumbers, rhubarb and herbs.

Fruit and veg scheme farmer

Capel Mushrooms, in Suffolk, supplies our veg scheme with mushrooms all year round. It is very much a family run business, initially set up by Peter Hearne, when he purchased his first site, Churchford Grange, in 1962.

Of his eight children, three work on the farm, and two have run or still run mushroom farms of their own.  Capel Mushrooms is now run by the founder’s sons, Damian and Patrick Hearne. In 1988 the decision was made to go organic. In all likelihood this makes them the first organic mushroom farm in the UK.

Closed cap white mushrooms, brown cap, portabello and portabellini mushrooms are grown on Organic compost at the site in Capel St Mary.

Capel mushrooms are particularly proud of their compost making facility, as most mushroom farms will buy in ready-made compost. The base material is wheat straw which, of course, must come from organically grown wheat. At the end of the mushroom cropping cycle most of the spent mushroom compost is sent to nearby Home Farm at Nacton, who also occasionally supply our veg scheme with vegetables.

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Langridge is an organic wholesaler selling UK-grown and imported fruit and veg through Covent Garden market. It also has its own farms, including Langridge Farm in Devon, which is run by David Govier. The farm consists of 270 acres of traditional mixed organic land, split between vegetable production, livestock and mixed managed woodland. David’s main crops are spinach, chards and kales. He also grows some wonderful purple and white sprouting broccoli along with hearty cabbage.

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Organiclea is a workers' coop based on the edge of Epping Forest in the Lea valley. They grow fruit, vegetables and herbs at the Hawkwood Nursery market garden outdoors and under glass. Like Growing Communities, Organiclea's star product is its salad, with a mix of over 40 different plants evolving through the seasons, but it also supplies celery, squash and other veg to the box scheme, as well as providing some strawberries in the summer. The site offers regular volunteering opportunities for those with or without previous growing experience, as well as both formal and informal training and skillsharing workshops involving practical work on the site.

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Oakwood Farm supplies our veg scheme with delicious apples. It’s one of only a few small licensed organic orchards in the Sussex High Weald. Owned by Matthew and Carol Wilson, the farm achieved full organic status in September 1999 and has been producing fabulous apples and a fabulous range of varieties ever since.

Matthew and Carol are passionate about the environmental benefits of organic farming. "Organic production means sustaining a natural, diverse and healthy balance between the crop the farmer introduces, and the surrounding ecosystem of good soil and beneficial wildlife - such as plants, insects, mammals and birds - that control fruit pests."

Apple varieties grown on the farm are: Cox, Egremont Russet, Fiesta, Ida Red, Jonagold, Spartan, Falstaff and Adams Pearmain with new varieties being introduced all the time.

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Bagthorpe is a family-run 300 hectare mixed organic farm, growing fantastic organic vegetables, cereals and beef cattle. Situated in the beautiful unspoilt countryside of rural North Norfolk, they started converting land into organic production over 30 years ago. Bagthorpe is blessed with a wonderful natural environment, which they have strived to enhance with their organic farming methods and environmental projects. They supply our veg scheme with incredible quality carrots, beets, potatoes and onions.

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