Local Greens
14th February 2012.
Well thankfully the snow has begun to thaw for our farmers but at temperatures of minus 13 Celsius over the weekend it is still a real challenge and the green crops continue to suffer. This week some bags have curly kale and some spinach. Do refer to the website for an updated list of your veg bag contents www.localgreens.org.uk. We have also added a new recipe – roasted root veg with an Ottolenghi twist. For those who aren’t familiar with this chef take a look at www.ottolenghi.co.uk. We can highly recommend his book Plenty, which is a collection of recipes many of which appeared in his New Vegetarian column in the Guardian's Weekend magazine. Watercress makes an appearance again this week in the small bags after a customer request. Do keep the ideas andcomments coming in – we do listen info@localgreens.org.uk.
We also specifically want your feedback about purple sprouting broccoli. Whilst we do want to offer variation in the bags, sometimes this time of year can be a little over reliant on root crops and cabbage. So please click on the link and let us know http://www.localgreens.org.uk/content/how-much-do-you-purple-sprouting-broccoli
With our first Local Greens event confirmed in the calendar don’t forget to invite your friends along. ‘Grow your own veg’ is a free workshop by Local Greens and Garden Organic. Thursday 8th March, 7.30-9pm. Upstairs at the Crown and Greyhound pub, Dulwich Village.
Whether you have an allotment, small garden or just a windowsill, everyone can grow their own salad, herbs or veg. Growing your own food can be fun, it tastes great and you will have a ready supply of really fresh food. This hands on, informal workshop run by a Garden Organic Master Gardener will help you get started, plan your planting for the year and you can sow some seeds in a pot to take away. All welcome - just turn up on the evening.
The Master Gardener programme is a volunteer led schememanaged by Garden Organic, the UK's leading organic growing charity. www.mastergardeners.org.uk
Happy cooking and growing.
Therese, Jean, Maria, Natasha and Ruth
The Local Greens team
Employment Opportunity
Packing manager job description
Make the world a better place and get paid for it
10 hours per week – 9.15-4.15 every Thursday, plus a few hours throughout the week, including Tuesday and Wednesday early mornings. £8.70/hour.
Local Greens is looking to hire a packing manager to replace the lovely Ruth, who is leaving London. This person
- Oversees the packing on a Thursday, including doing some of the packing
- Manage volunteer packers
- Delivers the bags to our local collection points in our electric van
- Maintains quality control of the veg as it is packed
- Manages the van, including charging it up
- Takes delivery of the veg, including loading it into the van and checking quality and quantity
This person needs to
- Have good project management skills
- Have attention to detail
- Have troubleshooting skills
- Have good communication skills
- Have a working knowledge of Excel
- Be computer literate
- Have a current UK driving license
- Be committed to green issues
- Be reliable and punctual
Interested? Please email therese@localgreens.org.uk.
Local Greens is a not for profit weekly veg bag scheme set up by four enthusiastic people living in Herne Hill and East Dulwich. We provide the local area with great tasting, seasonal veg from small organic or spray-free farms, which are as near to SE London as we can find. In fact the closest farm is less than 11 miles away.
We have collection points in Herne Hill, East Dulwich, Dulwich and Camberwell and will be adding more.
- Great veg grown with minimum intervention from farms who we work in partnership with
- Minimum packaging and transportation so we can pay the farmers a good price for their produce
- Collected by you locally - often on the day it was picked
That simple and as sustainable as we can make it.
7th February 2012
The snow this week has certainly made it ‘interesting’ for our farmers. In fact we had to change our order as the snow affected some of the green crops and in Kent the salad was frozen solid in the polytunnels. However, some bags have spring greens from Sarah Green and all have crown prince squash from Ripple both in based in Kent. This week we have had to rely more on our wholesaler, Langridge Organic Products who are based at New Covent Garden in London. We have carrots and brussel sprouts in all the bags plus watercress in the standard no potatoes bag from Wilshire - an area renowned for its watercress beds. You can find more info about Langridges, who have their roots in growing organic veg in Devon, under the ‘about us’ section of our website. For a full list of what is in your veg bag this week, so you can plan your meals for the week, visit the homepage www.localgreens.org.uk
Have you discovered the delights of unusual shaped vegetables in your Local Greens bag? This is a carrot we found the other week (see below) and seemed very appropriate with Valentine's Day looming. Apparently pareidolia (a psychological phenomenon involving a vague and random image or sound being perceived as significant) is common in vegetables, with some people reporting religious imagery. It is just as well the ridiculous proposed EU uniform standardisation parameters were thrown out as pointless and wasteful. We at Local Greens think that the odd shapedtuber, solanum or legume should be celebrated. So if you get an odd shaped item of veg in your bag why not send us a photograph for the website. Do eat them afterwards, as they still taste wonderful.
We are pleased to confirm our first Local Greens event for 2012. We are holding a ‘Grow your own’ workshop on the evening of 8th March, upstairs at the Crown and Greyhound pub in Dulwich Village. So save the date so you can learn or refresh yourself about growing your own veg, salads and herbs and get your hands dirty as well. More information to come in the following weeks.
There is still time to sign up for the trial delivery scheme with Velocal for those who would prefer not to collect your bag. This non-profit social enterprise will deliver your veg bag using low carbon pedal power for £1 per week.
Local Greens are just offering this as an additional service to customers and payment and delivery will be handled directly by VeLocal. To sign up contact them via the website www.velocal.co.uk, phone 078988 03333 or email
velocal.info@gmail.com. Please note that Local Greens cannot deal with any queries in relation to the delivery service.
Don’t forget if you have any recipes or ideas to share get in touch info@localgreens.org.uk
Happy eating.
Therese, Jean, Maria, Natasha and Ruth
The Local Greens team
31st January 2012
The current cold snap has certainly had an effect on our local veg. Martin from Ripple in Kent has said that his green crops are suffering and he is often only able to harvest in the afternoons when things have defrosted. However, we do have potatoes and onions from him this week. We also have salad from our closest farm in Sutton and celeriac from Perry Court in Kent. This week we have had to source organic veg from slighter further afield in the UK, as our farms at this time of year have limited supplies. So your bag has some rainbow carrots from Lancashire and purple sprouting broccoli from Landridges in Devon. Many veg box schemes this time of year often source their veg from Italy or Spain. In fact one well-known company has half its contents of their medium box sourced from abroad. We at Local Greens are committed to buying from the UK and of course from our local farms when we are able. Full details of each bag are on our website along with times for your chosen collection point www.localgreens.org.uk.
Being part of the local community is what we are all about at Local Greens so In the coming weeks we will be announcing a few events including a ‘Grow your own Veg’ workshop and matching vegetarian food with wine evening. If you have any ideas for local events then do let us know info@localgtreens.org.uk and we are also interested any volunteers who might like to organise or help out at events.
On the theme of local we are introducing a trial delivery scheme with a new Brixton based company calledVeLocal www.velocal.co.uk. This non-profit social enterprise will deliver your veg bag using low carbon pedal power for £1 per week.
Local Greens are just offering this as an additional service to customers and payment and delivery will be handled directly by VeLocal.
Here are some answers to a few questions so you can decide if you want to take part in the 4-week trial starting next week.
What areas do you deliver to?
We're operating within 2 miles radius of Brixton market and the postcodes we currently serve are: SW9, SW2, SE5, SW4, SW8, SW11, SW12, SE24, SE15, SE21, SE27 and SE22.
What time do you deliver and what if I am out?
Deliveries will be made from mid-day on Thursday each week. If you are happy we can just deliver to your doorstep, other safe location or leave it with a neighbor. Every delivery will get a delivery note which includes a tick box of where the package was left. You can specify your preference when you sign up.
How do I pay?
All bookings are paid in advance.
We accept payment via paypal or online transfer to our account.
Who do I get in touch with if the bag isn't there?
The delivery note has VeLocal'scontact information on and we can be contacted by phone or email
Tel: 078988 03333
Please note that Local Greens cannot deal with any queries in relation to the delivery service.
How do I sign up for the four-week trial?
Contact VeLocal using the details above. The trial will start from 9th February.
Our big new this week is that we officially now have over 100 customers receiving a Local Greens veg bag. So welcome to all our new customers and thank you for those who have been with us since the launch inSeptember last year. This is great news for our farmers who are stepping uptheir growing for 2012 as we are guaranteeing them a market for their produce.
This week's veg bags have the perfect local ingredients for a stir-fry including mushrooms, a stir fry bag of greens from Sutton and/or pak choi from Perry Court plus baby carrots from the same farm. They would be great cooked with some sesame seed oil and cashew nuts. Full details of what is in your particular bag can be found on the website homepage www.localgreens.org.uk. If you come up with any interesting recipes using this weeks bag then do let us know as we are always looking to add to our recipes online info@localgreens.org.uk
Your bag will be ready for collection from your nominated place from Thursday afternoon but please do check times. As the Green and Blue collection point is so popular and we have the East Dulwich Deli and the Plough as permanent pick up places, can we ask those of you who live the other end of Lordship Lane or who can pick up before 7pm to change your collection point. This can be easily done by logging onto your account online and making the change.
A big thank you to Belinda for all her hard work packing those lovely sprouts last week. They were so sweet and hope you enjoyed them.
We at Local Greens are currently sorting out the branding for our little electric van. So in coming weeks look out for Ruth driving (slowly) around Dulwich and Herne Hill on a Thursday.
17th January 2012
The salad in the polytunnels at Sutton has been growing away in the warm weather, so we are very pleased to say we have salad bags from Sutton this week. Nine different leaves including mizuna, mibuna, land cress, and wild rocket, grown less than ten miles away!
We are working towards growing salad in the immediate area this coming year – here’s the announcement from Natasha, please get in touch if you’re interested:
Before you order your seeds and create your planting plans for the year, give a thought to the possibility of earning some cash from growing your lovely herbs and salads.
Growing for Local Greens means that: If you are part of a community group you could prove to a grant funder that you have a planned income stream. Your community can benefit from learning business skills as well as growing skills You could fund future purchases of seeds and compost. If you have the growing space, you can earn around the London living wage from growing and selling to us over the season.
For further details, contact Natasha Soares, Local Greens Neighbourhood Farm Co-ordinator natasha@localgreens.org.uk
Brussels sprouts from Sarah Green in the bags as well. My favourite way to have sprouts is to slice them (each into 2 or 3 slices) and sauté them with olive oil, pancetta, and garlic (and maybe some chili) . And you can toss that with pasta for a quick meal. I think slicing them improves the texture, and means that they cook more evenly. And sauteeing rather than boiling means they keep more of their nutrients. For all bag contents, please have a look on our homepage http://www.localgreens.org.uk.
Happy Local Eating Therese, Jean, & Maria
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