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!

Opt-Out Lists

We are delighted to announce that opt-out lists will be returning from Monday 5th April! We suspended these back in March 2020 when it became apparent that we needed to make changes to the way the packing shed worked in order to keep everyone safe. While most of these changes are still in practise, we’ve been able to reorganise and are now able to reintroduce the much-missed opt-out lists. However, we’re doing it in a somewhat simplified form. Here’s what you need to know: 

• To add items to your opt-out list for 5th April, please fill out the form here by 9am on Monday 29th March.
• After this time, you can email us in requests, but there will be at least a week’s delay before they come into place, as we need the info in time for our veg ordering. Your opt-outs must be items on this list. We are unable to honour custom requests.
• All opt-out lists currently on our system will be erased, so if you had anything on there that you’d still like to opt-out of, you’ll need to resubmit it. 
• You are allowed up to three veg items and up to three fruit items on your list. These will be omitted and replaced with something of equal value. Please note that this may mean more of something already included in the box where necessary, so some variety may be lost. We aren’t able to take requests for what the replacement will be.
• At this time, we’re asking you to only request necessary opt-outs. By that we mean anything you’re unable to use for whatever reason, so that it would go to waste in your kitchen. We hope to be able to offer opt-outs on a wider basis within a year. 

Please Return Your Veg Boxes!
 Just a reminder of what we collect from your door each week: 

Veg Boxes– we reuse these
Online Veg Box Shop 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 Nice Bit

I don’t like mushrooms. 

That isn’t quite right. I love mushrooms- but the idea of them. I love coming across some growing on a dead tree deep in the woods. I love seeing them popping up in mossy grass after a rainy day. I love reading about them; I even sort of loved it when, in a flat I lived in years ago, mushrooms sprouted from the skirting board. I love the fact that they’re not technically plants, but, closer in some ways to animals, are a kingdom of their own. I love the little mushroom-headed fellas in mario kart.  I love mushrooms as metaphors, and telling myself I will eventually get around to reading this book (and maybe one day I will love reading it). I love thinking about mushroom anatomy, the gentle frills, the soft delicate gills, the smooth rounded cap, the spores. 

But goodness gracious- to eat them? I’d rather not. 

I am aware that this aversion is an unbecoming trait in a veg box newsletter writer, which is why until now I’ve simply pretended fungi didn’t exist. But they’re in every veg box next week. I understand that this is wonderful news for most of you, so I didn’t want to ignore it. 

As such, I’ve turned to my colleagues for advice on what to recommend you do with your mushrooms. And perhaps, if I cook my way down the list, I can overcome my unfortunate distaste for what I am told are delicious, earthy, and of course organic little delights. 

• “A really nice way to use them is to slice thinly, salt them lightly and add chopped herbs/garlic and let sit. The water comes out because of the salt and they go all soft and delicious. Great as a standalone side dish, or for putting on pizzas, in sandwiches, salads, etc”
• “Chopped roughly and cooked down they make a great substitute for meat in bolognese”
• “Caramelised with balsamic vinegar and mixed into a cream sauce with greens is a delicious pasta sauce”
• Lentil & Mushroom veggie burgers (mushrooms, oats, lentils) are pretty popular
• “Mushrooms! I like em, but I don’t do anything fancy with them really. nicest thing I do is fry em up with some lemon juice and garlic, seasoned etc and stick them on some slightly toasted buttered sourdough
• “mmmm mushrooms and eggs would be great for breakfast, only I haven’t got any mushrooms”
  “Ooooh mushroom omelette with fresh mozzarella”
• “Re. mushrooms – I like to make a nice creamy stroganoff. But honestly IMHO there are very few meals that aren’t made better with the addition of mushrooms” (upon further questioning, this is a cashew-based cream sauce based on this recipe.

From this, I surmise that mushrooms are, like all the best veg box components, versatile; that I really ought to try them in a cream sauce; and that you can always ask your friends what you should cook. 

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 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.