Selfsufficientish.com

we had a continental market recently - bad mannered french men and inflated prices generally. OK there were a few nice meats and cheeses but I would rather have been treated to that good old fashioned Scottish hospitality and bought some locally grown/prepared food. We can do it ourselves - we don't need to have it all shipped in.

Just my tuppenyworth

Shirlz x

French markets are all rubbish anyway - wish someone would bring a Scottish market to France!

mmm... tempting thought...

Shirlz... need any help? I could do with a holiday!!!

Tigerhair wrote:Shirlz... need any help? I could do with a holiday!!!

Need help growing it first - you can have a busman's holiday in Scotland if you like

And when you've fionished digging Shirlz' garden - mine could do with a bit of attention, too - and it's not that far away!!!

Ina

ina wrote:And when you've fionished digging Shirlz' garden - mine could do with a bit of attention, too - and it's not that far away!!!

Ina

Gone quiet now on the volunteer front

Fairly local to me are farmers markets each month, also 'continental' market - Darlington based, and we go to a range of organic outlets in Barnard Castle, where they are still fighting the rise of the supermarkets and have a good range of small produce shops, butchers, game suppliers, veggies and whole food shops. There is an organic farm in Richmond, North Yorkshire, who have a veg delivery scheme (part of Farmaround North - you can google it) who have a wide range and are very helpful. There are also organic growers in Walworth, Co. Durham but their delivery area is quite limited - you can visit them and buy surplus. Additionally, Bishop Auckland Castle (home of the Bishop of Durham) hosts a food fair two or three times a year which is worth visiting as most of the local farm producers are represented there - the last one lasted two whole days and attracted more than 20,000 people!! Anyone know any others local to Bishop Auckland? Sue

We have a travelling farmer's market which covers four towns, one each saturday in rotation including dorchester. It's quite small but you can buy wonderful organic bacon rolls (sorry veggie) hot off the stand, and that's worth going for on its own. Prices are high, though.

We buy all our meat direct from the farmers, which is quite possible down here in Dorset and we've struck up a friendship with the folks we buy free-range pork and beef from. And all cheaper than the standard meat from Mr T***o, whom I've really gone off! I had to throw away both my orange and my kiwi fruit today, and that's down to picking "pre-ripe". IMHO this is just tescospeak for "unripe". And why do they have to fly kiwi fruit from asia? You can grow it in Europe without a problem, and I have two plants on this autumn's "to get" list.

With you on the Kiwis,Hedgewizard,Im toying with the idea of a couple in a sheltered spot.Its the pears that get me mad,you buy them pre-ripe (bullet hard) and wait a week for them to soften,only to find that they are quietly going mouldy instead! Aggh! We had a Farmers Market a couple of years ago but it didnt last,it was pricey and the meat was sold vac-packed which didnt make it look its best to say the least! We also tried a box scheme,once,very poor produce and very expensive. There are some excellent Farm shops but as we are not primarily an agricultural area they are some distance away,luckily lamb isnt a problem!

I've got a lovely spot picked out for mine... we have about 10m of south-facing cob wall, so it's going to be peaches or nectarines and kiwis. Now all I have to do is find out what the growers mean by "sheltering to prevent peach leaf curl".

I thought leaf curl was caused by a virus!

Nev

Spray with Bordeaux Mix to prevent peach leaf curl. All my peach trees have it but it doesn't seem to cause any problems to the fruit. There are many other peach diseases which really are a problem so I wouldn't worry about leaf curl!

Don't know it it was coincidence or not but years ago I planted garlic below the peach tree and the leaf curl went

Make of it what you will!

Nev

Millymollymandy wrote: There are many other peach diseases which really are a problem so I wouldn't worry about leaf curl!

Ah, cheer me up!

Righto, Bordeaux mixture at the first sign of trouble, and I wonder if Toni would let me put ramsons underneath being as it's the edge of our patio? Probably not...