The Online Veg Box Shop is Open!
The Online Veg Box Shop is open for deliveries next week.
This week we have a few new additions to the online shop, with Nutcessity’s Date & Walnut Treenut Butter being the one that I’m most excited about. Normally I treat myself to a homemade loaf of date and walnut bread, but with this spread I can simply enjoy it on a slice of toasted sourdough which is far easier to clean up than a proper baking expedition! Perfect for a lazy Sunday morning breakfast in bed.
Also new to the online shop this week is a range of pastas from Granoro, an Italian company that started in the 1960’s by Attilio Mastromauro a descendant of pasta-making industrialists in the region of Puglia. Their website includes a fascinating and informative section about their products from the raw materials they choose to the processes they use to create the perfect texture and end product.
The onset of spring also brings good news for our foraging partners! This week we’ll have an abundance of wild garlic as well as a limited amount of beautiful scarlet elf cup mushrooms and sea buckthorn juice.
The deadline to get your orders in is 11pm Monday.
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Covid-19
You can read about changes made to our service due to the pandemic here.
Send me your recipes!
If you’ve got a recipe you can’t stop cooking, something that makes the most of the season’s plenty, please send it to me at saoirse@glasgowlocavore.org. It might be featured in the newsletter, and you’ll get a bit of credit on your veg box account to say thanks if it is!
Please return your veg box!
Just a reminder of what we collect from your door each week:
Veg Boxes– we reuse these
Mossgiel Milk bottles – we return these to the dairy for reuse
Ed’s Bees jars – we return these to Ed (and his bees) for reuse
Plastic bottle lids – we recycle these
Plant pots from Locavore potted herbs- our farm reuses these
Locavore hummus Vegware pots – we return these to vegware to be biodegraded
Ella’s Kitchen baby food pouches – we recycle these
We aren’t able to accept glass bottles, egg boxes, or any other items for recycling, I’m afraid. Please dispose of these as you choose.
If you collect your orders from the shop, you can return them there.
We’re running low on veg boxes at the moment, so please do remember to leave them out- reusing them as many times as possible helps keep our veg box scheme as carbon-efficient as possible!
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 Hunger Gap is approaching
If you’ve been with us for a while, you’ll know about the hunger gap and the challenges that we face with local produce between growing seasons. While the last of the stored winter roots are being enjoyed, the first crops of lighter spring produce are still growing and not quite ready to be harvested. We’re at the mercy of many factors, the biggest being the weather which is unpredictable to say the least! Last year we were entering the hunger gap around this time, and 2021 is on track to be on roughly the same timeline at the moment. Our growers in Neilston as well as our partnered farms Chapel and Caldwell are always trying to find ways to mitigate the challenges between these seasons however there’s really no way around mother nature.
So, what does this mean for you? Expect to see a bit of non-UK veg in your boxes over the next few weeks while we (not so patiently) wait for asparagus, beans, cucumber and rhubarb to grace our plates. Last year was the first time that we had to bring overseas produce into the main veg boxes and we are reluctantly having to do so again this year. You can read what we wrote about last year’s hunger gap here for more information.
The Nice Bit
| The weather is decidedly warmer, and I’m beginning to allow myself to believe that spring is in fact on its way. I have visions of picnic lunches in the park nearby (within lockdown rules, of course) full of leafy salads, cold Mediterranean inspired pasta salads, sandwiches bursting with the flavour of fresh herbs, or rice paper summer rolls which despite their name I enjoy from spring through autumn. It’s been a bit windy in Glasgow to be outside without moving around to keep the blood flowing, but I must say the sunshine and above-zero temperatures have been an incredibly welcome change from the snowy days of a short few weeks ago. In preparation for these future picnics that I daydream about regularly, I’m inspired to preserve that which I can, especially with the hunger gap approaching. A new batch of sauerkraut one day, pickled beetroot, carrots and parsnips the next. In my world, a mezze or charcuterie platter isn’t complete without a pickle or two, and what’s a picnic without a platter? Actually, it’s a rare occurrence that pickles aren’t part of most meals in my home, too – pickled beetroot in leafy green salads or blended into hummus, pickled carrots and sauerkraut on sandwiches, kimchi on… everything. One of the things I enjoy most about getting a veg box (aside the delicious veg itself) is being more in tune with the cycles of the season, and getting back into the habit of preserving what I’ve got a glut of. Mountains of carrots and cabbages can be intimidating to contend with at the height of the season, but I’m grateful for my pickles and sauerkraut later in the year when these items are out of season. |
The Good Food Fund
During 2021 our customers funded the provision of around £30,000 worth of fresh fruit and veg to organisations working with some of the most vulnerable members of our communities, including food banks, and community cafes. Being able to provide this support, week in and week out, brings these services some level of stability of supply, and access to produce that often isn’t as easily available through other routes.
One of our partners is Glasgow Nightshelter, who in 2020 moved to new premises meaning they have been able to expand from providing emergency overnight accommodation to a 24 hour service, and the support provided by the GFF supports the provision of freshly cooked and nutritious meals three times a day.
We’re currently working on a short report to give more details about the money raised through customer donations and to show the difference your donations make, but you may be interested to read more in our 2020 Impact Report, published at the end of last year, which covers the GFF, but also how just by shopping with us you are supporting change in the food system.