Buying Local Produce
I suddenly twigged today that I’d not made the effort to find out if there were any farmers markets or markets selling regional or local produce going on in the area. After a quick search I found one that’s on a Wednesday in Chester (about 15 minutes away) and a few others, one of which was on today, but unfortunately due to my poorly car we can’t really get there. I guess we could take the bikes however I’m currently waiting on a delivery from Tescos (gotta love home shopping!) so really today is out for going too far.
However not to worry as my garden is pretty local and that’s still producing fruit and veg. I dug up the last of the potato plants and got a pretty good crop off just two plants (and disturbed the frog living in the shoots!), I’m still collecting raspberries off the canes and throwing them straight into the freezer, the tomatoes are ripening well, we have two types – a couple of cherry tomato plants and some larger salad tomato plants. The latter ones are producing large tomatoes where the skins are not splitting whereas the cherry tomatoes are tending to split (down to the use of grow bags apparently). We’ve also got a good dozen peppers growing quite happily too 
I decided to cut back a section of our wild brambles that grow over the hedge at the back of the garden. From all the rain last month the blackberries had gone mouldy and the brambles were dying off. We still have a load more along the tops of the hedge, I’ll just have to send someone taller out to pick them!
We’re already planning next year’s garden, where to put everything and whether we can squeeze any more in. Garlic and Shallots are on the menu, as are more strawberries as we’re getting a lot of plants rooting off the runners, and of course the rasberries will just be cut back to hopefully produce even more next year. I’d also like to extend the herb garden to add some more outdoor herb plants for cooking, such as fennel and thyme. Once I weed the herb area there will be plenty of space for some more plants, so just need to find somewhere to buy them ready grown as this is just so much easier than growing them from scratch.
- September 9th '06
Local produce is the way to go! Check out the jam recipe for your berries
At the end of the day, it is free food!
Still looking forward to your new top images Sarah!
David
http://www.EatingBritain.com
We get an organic box delivered every week from http://www.rivernene.co.uk.
I dont think they do your area though. 
David – I’ve been playing with the camera taking some photos of my home grown food but the photos don’t look too great, however perhaps this weekend I can get some better ones at my parents place as my Dad’s garden is a good contender for ‘the good life’!
Granty – sounds like a great service, I guess I’m too far away for it! However now I’ve got the car back (!!) I’m hoping to get to a market every fortnight at least. Next market is the first Wednesday in October in Chester so write up will follow
Have you tried local farm shops?
My other half’s brother lives in Chester and they’re always picking up good stuff from their local farm shops.
And then there’s the local ice cream farms….
Yeah, we passed a couple of signs for farm shops between Stoke on Trent and Chester, so we need to get around to going and finding them.
Would love to know more detail on where your other half’s brother goes as, of course, we’re about 10 minutes from Chester.