2012
Best Independent Local Retailer: Growing Communities Stoke Newington
From a humble box veg scheme, this north London
organisation has grown in 17 years to include an organic farmers' market as
well as a campaign for sustainable food.
Every Saturday for the past nine years in north-east
London, Growing Communities has been putting on the UK's
only all-organic weekly farmers' market. Today, at its new outpost in the grounds
of St Paul's church on Stoke Newington High Street, it hosts more than 20 local
producers and you can pick up organic meat and fish and seasonal fruit and veg
as well as more exotic items: raw milk, buffalo burgers and, on a recent visit,
mushrooms so alien they might have popped up from a different galaxy.
The market is only the most visible part of what Growing Communities
does. The organisation, set up by Hackney residents 17 years ago, started out
with a box scheme that now has around 750 subscribers. Unlike other schemes,
this one is organised on a pick-up basis, to encourage communal interaction,
and its customers automatically become members with the right to vote and stand
for the management committee.
So you're not the average retailer, I put it to
Julie Brown, the organisation's director. "No we're not," she laughs.
"It's great that we've been given the independent local retailer award
because that's the base line of what we do, but we're also a campaigning
organisation. We're trying to change the food system because we think the
current one is not sustainable." It may cost a little extra to buy their
produce, she says, "but we want to pay farmers a fair price so we can
enable them to survive".
"We're tiny in the grand scheme of things,"
Brown adds, "but in this part of London, people do have an alternative to
the big supermarkets in terms of where they get their fruit and veg." The
next step? "Our start-up programme, helping other communities to set up
similar projects. We're working with six groups around the UK at the moment and
are looking for six more groups to work with in the next year."
Reducing Our Carbon Footprint
All their farmers at the market are organic, biodynamic. Organic farming can help cut greenhouse emissions: it uses less water and less energy than conventional farming, which is heavily dependent on the high-energy processes and fossil fuels used to produce fertilisers and pesticides. They believe that organic food production is also better for wildlife, livestock, people and the environment.
The success of the market has enabled several of the farmers who attend the market to take on more land and convert it to organic production - over 400 acres has been converted since May 2003 when the market started. We now support a total of 23 small family-run farms and food businesses through the market. Most customers get to the market on foot, by bike or on public transport - 92% in our most recent survey - which means that the market is also helping to cut down on car journeys.
Buying direct
Because all the produce here has been grown, reared or produced by the people who are selling it, you can find out everything you want to know about the food and how it was grown or cooked. The money you spend goes directly to the people who actually do the work to produce the food you're eating - the farmers and makers - rather than supermarkets and wholesalers.
Seasonal produce
Buying local also means you stay in touch with the seasons. There won’t be apples in May but, when they are in season, from August to March, the farmers will bring in many different varieties. You’ll also find seasonal produce you may not have come across before, such as sloes, medlars, wild mushrooms and raw cow and buffalo milk. Have a good look round the market before you buy – just to check what’s in season – if you don’t know how to cook something just ask!
Hydroponics Systems from Chicfarm LED grower, http://www.chicfarm.net
沒有留言:
張貼留言