Articles | Local Food - a book for all seasons

Written by Elisabeth Winkler | Posted on 11/09/2009 | Category: Real Food

Published on September 17, the handbook is full of inspiring case studies of people doing it for themselves. From home to school gardens, everyone can play a part. Co-author, Tamzin Pinkerton, says: "Food is such a positive and practical way to do something now. The first place to start? Look the food on your plate: how was it made and how did it get there?"
     
This analysis may lead you to conclude our dominant food system is vulnerable to oil shortages yet reckless with our resources. While supermarket distribution has eroded local food chains, the book’s message is it is up to us to revive them.
 
The key ingredient is community. By getting together, we can learn to grow food in schools and allotments, as well as supporting our local farms. The knock-on effect? Our social networks also strengthen.
 
Local food also boosts the local economy. According to research, money spent on local organic food, rather than in national supermarkets, doubles its value when spent in the community.

When the oil runs out, supermarket shelves will quickly empty. Surely it is better to invest in local organic abundance and reap its solar-powered benefits now? Local food is not a lifestyle choice - it is our best bet for a sustainable future.

     
Local Food has many shining examples of projects in the South West. Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall writes about Garden Shares, a Totnes project, matchmaking garden owners with would-be growers. Lou Brown: 01803 867358.    

Team can effort save land from rack-and-ruin. Local people near Bath saved an orchard from being grubbed-up by sponsoring trees in return for a share of the apples. The not-for-profit group, Broadlands Community Orchard, also harvests the apples and sells them at Bath Farmers’ Market in the autumn.
Broadlands Community Orchard: 07532 472256
Shelter-design and building course: Sunday 6 September.
Earth-oven cooking course: Saturday 3 October.

Healthy food is not a middle-class obsession – it’s a human need. In the 1990s, a group came together in Hartcliffe to tackle food poverty. Set in one of Bristol’s most deprived areas, HEAEG now runs cookery classes, a community allotment and a food coop, supplying affordable local organic and whole food via bulk buying.
Hartcliffe Food Co-op; 0117 946 5285; wendy.harris@hheag.org.uk

Stroud CSA began with four people and a good idea in 2001, and now employs two administrators and two farmers. CSA stands for Community-Shared Agriculture, an arrangement between farm and local community. Stroud members support the farm’s viability by committing money - or time - in exchange for a weekly box of the farm’s fresh organic produce.
Stroud CSA: 0845 4580814; info@StroudCommunityAgriculture.org

 
    
Reader offer
Buy Local Food : how to make it happen in your community (Green Books £12.95) at the special price of £10.95 with free p&p for UK only. After publication on 17 September, phone 0845 4589910 quoting The Source reader offer.

What can you do?

Make sure your school is part of the Soil Association’s Food for Life partnership by sourcing organic and seasonal food from local farmers at www.foodforlife.org.uk

Get together with neighbours or colleagues to bulk-buy and keep down costs of local, organic and whole foods. Contact a local wholesaler or community bulk-buying scheme such as www.essential-trading.co.uk or find more about schemes near you on www.sustainweb.org/foodcoops

Support your local farmers and producers through farm shops, markets and veg box schemes. Locate and learn at www.makinglocalfoodwork.co.uk; www.FoodLoversBritain.com; and www.veg-box-recipes.co.uk.

Grow more fruit, veg, salad and herbs of your own in pots, gardens, allotments or through community schemes such as Community Supported Agriculture. Check out more on CSAs at www.soilassociation.org/csa and see examples in Exeter and St Kew Highway for how this can really work: www.exetercommunityagriculture.co.uk and www.camel-csa.org.uk. Get great growing tips on www.gardenorganic.org.uk.

Take a walk on the wild side. Our hedgerows, woods and seashores are packed with food for free at anytime of year. Find out what to look for before you set off with advice from www.wildmanwildfood.com; www.fathen.org or www.countrylovers.co.uk/wfs.

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