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Tuesday 28 October 2014

Local Produce


Once a fortnight we have a vegetable box delivery from a local farm.  All of the produce is locally grown and seasonal.  It has never made sense to me to be buying food out of season that has been flown sometimes thousands of miles, to hit our tables with its inferior quality.  High cost to our pocket and high cost to the environment.  I am not preaching.  We all do what we can.  There is a fair amount of 'junk' consumed in this house but we try to balance it out to make sure we eat a wide variety of natural foods.  I also think it is important to support smaller local businesses that are being pushed out and stifled by the 'Global Giants'.

Win win, we get great food and 'vegetable box delivery day' causes much excitement.  To get children excited about growing and eating vegetables is quite an achievement.  The youngest has loved the 'Rainbow Chard', I am not sure if the bright colour is the attraction.  It steams super quick, is lovely and tender and a vitamin powerhouse.

This weeks box contained:

Leeks
Potatoes
Mushrooms
An enormous cauliflower
An enormous Savoy cabbage
Very muddy carrots
Very muddy parsnips
Swiss Chard
Two very cute Butternut Squash
Onions
Cavolo Nero
Broccoli

I made a quick soup with the Butternut Squash and some carrots so it was ready for an after school snack.  The whole pot of soup was gone within half an hour.  The weather has turned, it has been a bit of a shock it has been cold, wet and windy, perfect soup weather.


Butternut and Carrot Soup
Some Butternut (I used two little cute ones, I would have happily used a big one)
Some Muddy Carrots (I used two, washed and peeled)
some onion (I used one small one)
A stick of celery (I used it because I had it)
One vegetable stock cube
salt/pepper
herbs if you fancy
Some water ( I think the amount of water depends on what you fancy)

I might fry all of the vegetables slowly first, or I might just chuck it all in the slow pot, when it is cooked I whizz it with the hand blender.

This is an interesting Blog Post here; 5 Reasons I choose to spend more on my groceries.

8 comments:

  1. Hello Lucy
    Totally agree with you!! Sr P does the shopping for me. He has always done the market shopping and he is a dab hand at getting bargains. We also go for fruit and veg that are in season, no others. Our only exception is at Christmas when some specials are permitted. It will soon be soup time here and a hearty veg soup is a very popular option in this household.

    keep well

    Amanda x

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  2. wait til they see the purple cauliflower! I agree entirely. We are extremely lucky to get organic veg from a farm at the foot of the Tor, food miles 1.3m.
    How lovely that you are enjoying yours so much. I never liked cooking much til I started getting the organic veg.

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  3. Just picked up our last allotment for the year from the farm next door. We call it a CSA - Community Sponsored Agriculture here. Butternut Squash/ Potatoes/ Apples/ Kale/ Onions/ Pumpkin/ Bell Peppers/ Jar of homemade stuffed hot peppers and a gallon jug of Apple Cider.
    Yes, my husband is planning to make Pumpkin/Squash soup with Apples. Gotta love fresh veggies. We love that we receive vegetable that we would not normally buy but now forced to make something delicious.

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  4. Always love a good pumpkin soup and we buy most of our vegies from the farmers market which is held each month here.
    When my kids were small I had a great vegie patch, hens and made bread and they loved to help ☺
    Now it is just us 2 oldies, no vegie patch (don't think my back can do it now lol)
    The weather is crazy here, stinking hot one day then freezing and blowing a gale the next.......

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  5. Somehow, Veg boxes or growing your own always feels so special! Like you have been gifted with something rather than bought or spent the time growing...it is late though and I may be having one of my mad rambles?! ^_- Is the "stuff with orange stems" the swiss chard? I feel rubbish that I don't know, but also quite like that it may actually be called " stuff with orange stems" !It looks fabulous anyway. That soup looks yummable. XOX

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  6. Yum yum.. must make a soup when we get home from the beach! We're cozy in our caravan with the rain pouring down outside, the sound of the waves roaring.. cozy inside. ((hugs)), Teresa :-)

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  7. I've introduced my husband to the joys of homegrown veggies (he's very much a city boy) and homemade baked goodies. He seems impressed with all the canning, haha. I wish such an option was available to us; I'd love to have a box of veggeis I don't normally grow delivered. How awesome.

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  8. Hi Lucy, I used to grow a lot of our veg sadly the combination of creaky knees, bad back and darned rabbits have put paid to that. We do have a good market though.
    Thank you for kind comments re Yarndale posts. Such a wonderful event.
    Carol xx

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