Have you heard? Go Local Food is celebrating 10 years of growing a vibrant co-operative, a community owned enterprise and seasonal vegetables. We are very proud to have approximately 100 members from across the Tyne Valley and, with our expansion, we have room for plenty more.
New members are always impressed, not only by our range of seasonal veg, but also by the taste of field fresh vegetables – field to fork in 24 hours really makes a difference to the taste. It is easy to forget the real taste of vegetables when we eat lettuce, calabrese, tomatoes, cabbage, beans etc harvested days ago, wrapped in plastic and transported great distances. The pandemic, and in particular ‘lock down’, taught us all the value of local production and short supply chains. We value mud over plastic!
Many of our local restaurants, pubs, and cafes share our love of local produce and we have teamed up with some of them to help us celebrate our 10th year of growing. Our Food Friends include; The Wood Oven (Wylam), Winships (Ovington), The Feathers Inn (Hedley on the Hill), Corbridge Larder (Corbridge), Hextol (Hexham), The White Swan (Ovingham), Tiny Tasters (Ryton) and The Hearth (Horsley). Each Food Friend received a selection of seasonal veg and produced a special dish or added it to their existing menu. You may have caught sight of the results on facebook.
The Wood Oven did us proud with a special GO Local Food Pizza. Winships received lettuce, courgette and cucumber at the beginning of their season. The Feathers Inn took delivery of French beans, courgette and cucumber, combining these ingredients together with Dover Sole.
Corbridge Larder produced a beautiful tart: “Marie made a Mediterranean tart with your vegetables, adding in some feta and olives. It was delicious.”
Hextol Foundation and the Tans Cafe. “The Hextol Foundation offers supported work placements in a variety of social enterprises to people who have learning disabilities, mental health concerns, or both. One of our businesses is The Hextol Tans – Hexham’s only vegetarian and vegan café. Here, we not only help people learn the skills required to work in the kitchen and front of house – we also demonstrate the versatility and benefits of a fruit and veg based diet. Being a Go Local Food Friend is an exciting opportunity to show our beneficiaries the route from field to table, and our customers the delicious results.”
The White Swan received a bumper crop of beans, chard and mixed (golden and red) beetroot.
Whilst Tiny Tasters – a different food enterprise and keen to be involved, received rainbow chard, cabbage and potatoes. Tiny Tasters “provide fun, themed and educational cooking classes for little ones. Tiny Tasters began in the Tyne Valley 5 years ago and has now grown into a successful franchise with classes running throughout the North East. Cooking is a great way to combat fussy eating, promote healthy food choices and learn a range of important skills. Our focus is on healthy eating, exploring fresh and exciting ingredients and we love using seasonal produce in class. We want little ones to understand where their food comes from and what better way is there than to get involved with growing their own fresh fruit and vegetables!”
Last up for this year was The Hearth Café, with a tray of the lovely uchiki kuri squash.
You can support us by purchasing one of our 10th birthday jute bags, find our more about up and coming events and/ or placing an order for your Christmas Bundle.
