Headlines

Delivery Days are Changing

You probably know by now that we’re introducing new delivery run management software to reduce our carbon footprint- if this is news to you, check out last week’s newsletter here. You should now have had an email letting you know your delivery day, whether or not it’s changed. If you haven’t, send us an email and we can let you know when to expect your deliveries from now on. 

Collections folk, no worries- your collection day won’t change. 

English Bank Holiday- expect Wednesday deliveries a little later

We may not celebrate the bank holiday on Monday, but it does impact our veg deliveries from down south. It shouldn’t change things much, but your Wednesday deliveries might arrive a bit later than usual. 

Going on Holiday?

As lockdown begins to ease, we know you might be planning some time away. If that’s the case be sure to send us an email to let us know which weeks you’d like to pause your veg box for. The deadline to do this is 9am on Monday the week of the holiday- we can’t guarantee pauses requested after that time. If you can let us know earlier, that’s even better, as the extra time lets us plan our harvests and veg buying better. So why not shoot us an email as soon as you’ve booked the train tickets? 

If you miss the deadline, we’re generally able to donate the contents of your box to our charity partners instead of delivering it; you’ll still be charged, however. 

Chilled Items for Collections

If you collect your veg box from our Victoria Road shop, please be sure to grab the chilled items from our fridge. There will be posters up in the shop to let you know what to look for, and you can always ask the staff in the shop to help if you’re having trouble finding something.

Covid-19 Updates

You can read about changes made to our service due to the pandemic here. 

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

Did you know that when you order a bouquet from Locavore, the flowers have been grown, picked, and arranged by our resident florist, Kim? It’s true, and Kim is what makes our bouquets so brilliant. I asked her to answer a few questions for us, and I’ll present what she wrote unedited. I think you’ll agree that her perspective and method are representative of what’s so brilliant about Locavore. Flowers in supermarkets are generally air-freighted from across the world, and frequently involve underpaid labour either internationally or at home. Locavore and Kim prove that we can have beautiful bouquets ethically, locally, and with everyone involved paid a living wage. 

Kim’s flowers are usually avaliable on the OFN, but of course that’s closed this week- so why not consider subscribing to her flowers on a weekly, fortnightly, or monthly basis? Subscriptions help provide a predictable, reliable income for the flower dept, which makes planning and expanding possible. If you’d like to subscribe to a small bouquet (£7), a medium (£14) or a large (£23) just send us an email. 

Saoirse: How did you get started with floristry?

Kim: I attended an open day at Norfolks agricultural college to see what practical employment I could train in. I had graduated from art school with a Textiles degree and needed some more skills to build a career. The florist course caught my eye and after a year’s training I began working in my favourite florist shop in Norwich. I enjoyed that natural garden style and curating colours and textures together. Though I found it strange that the flowers always arrived from Holland out of water and were unnaturally straight. To learn more about growing flowers I volunteered on a biodynamic flower farm in East Sussex with a Dutch grower who lectured in biodynamic agriculture and ran flower growing courses. I was struck by the amount of habitat the flower farm created for all sorts of wildlife almost as a by product.

When back in Norwich I started volunteering at a CSA organic veg farm and was becoming more aware of growing methods and the effect it has on the environment. I discovered there was a small movement of flower growers growing their own beautifully twisty stems and making arrangements that celebrated imperfections and followed the seasons. After an internship growing flowers in Easy Lothian with Pyrus I decided to move to Scotland and look to start something up myself. After working with Locavore for a few years I joined their Grow the Growers programme and had a small plot in The Urban Croft, Queen’s Park where I started growing simple flowers and selling them in the small shop in Nithsdale Road. This has developed into my full time job and I now work 3 days a week growing, harvesting and bunching flowers for Locavore.

Saoirse: What makes your flowers different?

Kim: At the heart of Locavore is organic agriculture, a regenerative farming method that puts goodness back into the soil, preserving it’s vitality for future generations. It is just as important to grow flowers organically as it is to grow food organically as it effects the environment in the same way.  I have a fascination and respect for the insects that quietly do such important work. When I choose seeds I make sure the varieties I grow are beneficial to pollinators. In the summer I am rewarded with a glasshouse humming with bumblebees, hoverflies, butterflies and beautiful moths. I think there is also a resident fox who likes to sleep in the polytunnel on cold nights.

Saoirse: What’s your favourite thing about growing flowers?

Kim: I like doing things from scratch. I bake my own Sourdough bread, brew my own kombucha and naturally dye yarn to knit my own jumpers! I like being able to see and do the whole process myself. It is really satisfying making up a bouquet when the colours go together well, I think back to choosing the varieties from the seed catalogue and the months of nurturing that ensured a healthy crop to harvest. I am constantly learning what the plants and finding which varieties grow well in my growing sites and look great in bouquets! It is an ever evolving process which keeps every day interesting.

Good Food Fund

Thank you for your donations to the Good Food Fund, which partners with charities to support those vulnerable to food insecurity. You can donate via subscription, or on the Online Veg Box Shop. You can also choose to donate your veg box to the Good Food Fund when pausing it for a week or longer.