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Welcome to Caldwell’s

We are delighted to be partnering with Caldwell’s Vegetables, to assist their conversion to organic farming and to support them through the pandemic. This also means we’ll have lots more local produce for the veg boxes, so get excited to see Caldwell courgettes and carrots appearing in your boxes soon. While they’re in the conversion process, we won’t be able to market our veg boxes as organic, but all other produce in the boxes will remain accredited. You can read lots more about this exciting partnership here. 

Covid-19 Updates

You can read our company-wide pandemic statement here, and our biggest Veg Boxes update here. Please keep an eye on the newsletter for any further changes.

Vote for us!

Ethical Consumer, your guide to making the best possible choices when buying anything from beans to books, has shortlisted some companies to research- and we’ve made the list! We’d love to be included on their site, so please pop over here to vote for us. It only takes a second and will make a big difference. 

Summer Living: Cool Boxes

We don’t often have to prepare for hot weather here, but if you get your box delivered and aren’t always in to take the box indoors right away, it might be worth thinking about leaving a cool box out for your driver. Milk, tofu, hummus, and other chilled items can be placed inside, along with any leafy veg that’s prone to wilt in the warmth. A simple polystyrene box, or a larger insulated bag with one or two frozen bottles of water inside will do nicely. Just be sure to either drop us an email to let us know to leave things in there, or pop a note on the box for the driver.

Chilled Collections 

If you collect your veg box from the shop, you’ve probably noticed that we’ve been storing some of the delicate leafy green veg in a chiller instead of in your veg box. This is just to keep it in tip-top condition even on the warmest days. Please make sure to consult the posters up in-store and add any chilled items to your box as needed. 

Seasonal Changes 

It’s worth noting that as the seasons change, we’ll see more leafy greens in the boxes. These are pricier than root veg but might not go as far. If you dropped a veg box size back in root-veg-heavy autumn, now might be a good time to consider whether you might benefit from moving back up. The larger boxes always have more variety, too, so if you’d like to make sure you get the exciting harder-to-source veg, your best bet is the bigger veg boxes. To change veg box size, send us an email!

In the veg boxes this week

Subject to last minute changes

Check out storage guidance for helpful tips and tricks on how to prolong the life of your fresh produce. If you’re wondering where your veg comes from, have a look at these maps. You can also join your fellow subscribers over in the Facebook group for lots of tips, tricks, and recipe ideas!

To contact us, ring 0141 378 1672 or email us at subscribers@glasgowlocavore.org

Click here for Veg Box Contents

The Nice Bit

According to convention, I should be trying to supply you with summery recipes at this time of year. Light lunches to bring out on the balcony, salads for lunchboxes, treats to fill the picnic basket. But I look at the weather forecast, or out the window, and find that that’s not quite what I feel like eating. It’s raining, it’s chilly- not cold, but not exactly picnic weather. Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate this damp and verdant time, and wouldn’t trade it for any stretch of sunny days. The trees are thick with green, baby bluetits hop about on the bird feeder, the greens on the farm are growing. It’s a summer, and there will be sunny days again; in the meantime, however, I just don’t fancy subsisting on gazpacho, tabboleh, and sorbet (as much as I love gazpacho, tabboleh, and sorbet). I want something summery but more substantial, a meal for a chilly rainy June day. Not the 12-tog winter duvet stews we’ve left well behind us, but maybe a 4.5 tog and an open window. 

There’s beetroot in the boxes this week, which is a perfect ingredient for this sort of dish, since its earthy warth lends it a substance so pleasingly paired with brighter, fresher flavours. Try a roasted beetroot salad or a beetroot pachadi with chilli and coconut. This Sichuan recipe will bring out the very best of your green beans. 

This is also a great time for pasta, and the tomatoes in the boxes are a natural partner. Roasted tomatoes and toasted breadcrumbs tossed with spaghetti, or thoughtfully made fresh tomato sauce stirred through penne. 

This week kohlrabi, that classic veg box oddity, returns to the boxes. If you’re new to veg boxes this vegetable may be new to you. It works well shredded in a slaw or a salad, or roasts up well- maybe in a gratin. 

Flowers

Our astonishing Glasgow-grown bouquets are back in action after a bit of a lull. They’re now in bloom and will be with us until the winter, so look out for the flowers on the Online Veg Box Shop, or email us to subscribe for a weekly dose of cheer. These are made by our genius florist Kim, who you can follow on Instagram @Locavoreflowers for updates on just how the garden is growing.

Survey

Way back in those heady days before *the thing*, you might remember we launched the main survey of the Impact Research project we’re running in partnership with the Real Farming Trust and Coventry University’s Centre for Agroecology, Water and Resilience. The survey is aimed at existing Locavore customers, and explores a little about your reasons for choosing to shop with Locavore, as well as what you feel the benefits are. By taking part, you’re not only helping us better understand the needs of our customers, but you’re helping to shape the discussion about future food systems – maybe even more relevant now than ever before.

Enter before the survey closes on 30th June and be entered into a prize draw for £20 of Locavore vouchers- which can be used in the shop or applied against your veg box bill. 

Click through to the survey here!