Tring in Transition blog: 5/3/2010
I'm trying to buy fruit and vegetables from local sources – the ones I don't grow on my allotments. In Tring we have quite a few choices.
My three main ones are:
Dunsley farm (opposite Tesco).
Phil sells a wide range of fruit and vegetables, mostly English. I find that they are cheaper than Tesco – and better quality than Waitrose. Not a bad combination! Phil also has free range duck and hen eggs at very low prices – but sells out of duck eggs early each day. No one, it seems, can supply him with Khaki Campbell laying ducks. There is a massive national shortage. I wonder why. The farm shop also sells local meats, oil, preserves – and some truly wonderful meat pies.
Meads farm shop – by Wilstone reservoir.
Meads press their own rape seed to make a cold pressed rape seed oil. Rape seed oil is very similar to olive oil in health properties. You can buy it by the bottle or can of 2 litres. Excellent for cooking as you can use it at a higher temperature than olive oil. Meads also have a wide range of fruit and vegetables and locally produced meat. They also sell bulk mushroom and farm compost that I use on my allotments plus wood, coal etc.
Tring Farmers Market – every other Saturday at the same date as the Auction. A wide range of fruit, vegetables, meats , dairy products, fish, bread preserves etc.
So why go to Tesco or Waitrose for fresh produce when we have so much available locally? A lot of the supermarket produce comes from enormous distances.
Last June at the height of the UK onion season I bought 1Kg of Tesco value onions to use in cooking at DENS. They came from NEW ZEALAND!!
How crazy. Of course I should have looked at the country of origin before I bought, but I assumed onions in June would be EU, if not UK.
Food miles account for a lot of CO2. Buy locally and save food miles – in addition I have found it cheaper! On average I save 25% buying fresh produce and eggs at Dunsley farm compared with Tesco.
Of course the cheapest and best fruit and vegetables come from my allotment – but the unusual autumn weather has meant poor yields of leeks and greens, and the same problem summer weather meant poor yields of onions and potatoes.
I am wondering whether with climate change I should change to seeds and potatoes from Northern Italy as our weather seems to be becoming similar. I have trialled beans, lettuce and kale from Northern Italy with good results. You can get the seeds from most suppliers.
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Weather for Tring
Saturday 26 May 2012
Today
Sunny
Temperature: 11 C to 23 C
Wind Speed: 18 mph
Wind direction: East
Tomorrow
Sunny
Temperature: 11 C to 24 C
Wind Speed: 15 mph
Wind direction: East
