Scroggin, despite all the cookery programs and 5 a day campaigns many people do not seem to do much cooking. I offered a new neighbour some runner beans and she asked if they needed podding and how long to cook them. The pizza delivery man is a regular visitor to that house. On the other hand I gave some garlic to another neighbour who was thrilled to bits saying that she was the garlic queen.
In the 1980s when market gardening was still strong we looked at buying one of the LSA holdings which were being sold near St. Neots. At that time the Dutch Government decided to subsidise gas heating of glass houses. Needless to say the British Government did not see fit to follow suit. The natural result was the collapse of the British Market Gardening industry. There aren't many market gardens to be seen in the Lee Valley these days.
I've just thought. I love going to the local butchers, but there's no proper grocers nearby. The butcher closes at midday on Saturday and now I no longer have my Mondays off getting local fresh food is not as easy.
How many people who work 9 -5 Monday - Friday have fed this processed food because despite the cookery programmes and best intentions when you can't go local you go Tesco instead and find it cheaper to get the packet than the fresh.
On a slightly different tangent, hopefully we will stop the ridiculous practice of discarding fruit and veg that is perfectly alright but doesn't fit the ' perfect shape and size' criteria that we've all become accustomed to.
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It's a shame there isn't a National scheme for distribution of fresh veg along the lines of food banks( which only seem to take non perishable items).
That practice is generally not coming from the EU rules but from the supermarkets who will tell you (with some proof, experimentally) that 'people' won't buy the misshapen stuff. Now you could argue there's a difference between people avoiding forked carrots that are hard to peel and only selling parsnips that are exactly the right length but the argument is about where you draw the line, not the principle.
"FareShare" distribute to charities and the like who cook the food and provide meals to vulnerable people as well as to food banks which are, as you say, more limited in what they can realistically keep and hand on. They do take fruit and veg, mostly the in-date stuff that supermarkets are binning but they would take food from other sources I believe. Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall talked to them about taking food from fast food chains that would have been binned, as I recall, in his 'War on Waste' series.
Last edited: 28 October 2016 16:51:03
Gardening on the edge of Exmoor, in Devon
“It's still magic even if you know how it's done.”
I know given sufficient space I could supply my household with all the veg I would need to feed myself and and now shrinking household. The problem is space. I can grow all my summer veg quite easily in ground and in pots, the bulkier veg need more space. Fruit I can do as well, except for bananas. But it's a complex subject and some have raised very important issues about trade. Food waste is huge issue, with the bigger supermarkets trying to be all things to all people and failing spectacularly over stocking huge quantities of food. The system of food production is geared to mass production with a fall in quality standards, resulting in a growing demand for locally produced food with higher standards of welfare and quality. It would need a sea change in attitudes towards food for the larger non gardening population to seek change, which is unlikely. I think we can make a small difference, and from little acorns mighty oaks grow.
I would love to grow more veg and salads - but I would need to have a word with the slugs first!
Speaking to my friends/colleagues who "don't do gardening" there are numerous barriers to home-growing food - skills, time, space and money (perceived). I believe that everybody should have a try - even if it's cress or lettuce on a windowsill. There is something quite special about seeing a seed grow into a plant, and even more special to eat something grown at home.
It would be a slow revolution to make a nation of veg-growers - particularly as we can buy cherry tomatoes, from Spain, in January, from the garage on the way home...but some people will never "get it" suppose.
If we did have to become self-sufficient- I would miss those cherry toms :-( hehe.
Hope you find a fitting end for the squash, Aym. I think a Halloween soup could be tasty: roast squash and veg then blitz up with a dollop of cream and seasoning ?
Just to add to the mix there is hydroponics and aquaponics (promoted by Kate Humble). One of the finalists in the BBC Food and Farming Awards last year was a factory in East London producing micro-vegetables in a warehouse. Using LED lamps with solar panels on the roof and battery backup this can be very productive.
Posts
Scroggin, despite all the cookery programs and 5 a day campaigns many people do not seem to do much cooking. I offered a new neighbour some runner beans and she asked if they needed podding and how long to cook them. The pizza delivery man is a regular visitor to that house. On the other hand I gave some garlic to another neighbour who was thrilled to bits saying that she was the garlic queen.
In the 1980s when market gardening was still strong we looked at buying one of the LSA holdings which were being sold near St. Neots. At that time the Dutch Government decided to subsidise gas heating of glass houses. Needless to say the British Government did not see fit to follow suit. The natural result was the collapse of the British Market Gardening industry. There aren't many market gardens to be seen in the Lee Valley these days.
I've just thought. I love going to the local butchers, but there's no proper grocers nearby. The butcher closes at midday on Saturday and now I no longer have my Mondays off getting local fresh food is not as easy.
How many people who work 9 -5 Monday - Friday have fed this processed food because despite the cookery programmes and best intentions when you can't go local you go Tesco instead and find it cheaper to get the packet than the fresh.
That practice is generally not coming from the EU rules but from the supermarkets who will tell you (with some proof, experimentally) that 'people' won't buy the misshapen stuff. Now you could argue there's a difference between people avoiding forked carrots that are hard to peel and only selling parsnips that are exactly the right length but the argument is about where you draw the line, not the principle.
"FareShare" distribute to charities and the like who cook the food and provide meals to vulnerable people as well as to food banks which are, as you say, more limited in what they can realistically keep and hand on. They do take fruit and veg, mostly the in-date stuff that supermarkets are binning but they would take food from other sources I believe. Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall talked to them about taking food from fast food chains that would have been binned, as I recall, in his 'War on Waste' series.
Last edited: 28 October 2016 16:51:03
“It's still magic even if you know how it's done.”
I know given sufficient space I could supply my household with all the veg I would need to feed myself and and now shrinking household. The problem is space. I can grow all my summer veg quite easily in ground and in pots, the bulkier veg need more space. Fruit I can do as well, except for bananas. But it's a complex subject and some have raised very important issues about trade. Food waste is huge issue, with the bigger supermarkets trying to be all things to all people and failing spectacularly over stocking huge quantities of food. The system of food production is geared to mass production with a fall in quality standards, resulting in a growing demand for locally produced food with higher standards of welfare and quality. It would need a sea change in attitudes towards food for the larger non gardening population to seek change, which is unlikely. I think we can make a small difference, and from little acorns mighty oaks grow.
Last edited: 28 October 2016 17:49:51
I would love to grow more veg and salads - but I would need to have a word with the slugs first!
Speaking to my friends/colleagues who "don't do gardening" there are numerous barriers to home-growing food - skills, time, space and money (perceived). I believe that everybody should have a try - even if it's cress or lettuce on a windowsill. There is something quite special about seeing a seed grow into a plant, and even more special to eat something grown at home.
It would be a slow revolution to make a nation of veg-growers - particularly as we can buy cherry tomatoes, from Spain, in January, from the garage on the way home...but some people will never "get it" suppose.
If we did have to become self-sufficient- I would miss those cherry toms :-( hehe.
Hope you find a fitting end for the squash, Aym. I think a Halloween soup could be tasty: roast squash and veg then blitz up with a dollop of cream and seasoning ?
I buy eggs and vegetables, still coated with soil, from a farm shop.
Winter squashes store well. I keep them in the cool dry garage and I'm often using them right into March.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
Just to add to the mix there is hydroponics and aquaponics (promoted by Kate Humble). One of the finalists in the BBC Food and Farming Awards last year was a factory in East London producing micro-vegetables in a warehouse. Using LED lamps with solar panels on the roof and battery backup this can be very productive.