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Local food comes from the farm. It's a fact.
Farm shops sell local foods grown, picked, reared or produced usually on the farm where the farm shop
is located. You can't find food much fresher than that... unless you pick it yourself at Pick Your
Own farms, of course! Farm shops and PYO offer the freshest food experience you can get, and there
are more than likely a few farm shops or pick your own's just on your doorstep! Take a trip out,
get back in touch with your food, eat fresher, healthier, and organic local foods fresh from the
farm... find your nearest farm shop with the map below, or click here to
find PYO farms in the UK!
Last updated: 14/10/09
For farmers'
markets in the UK, click here
For Pick Your Own
farms in the UK, click here
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UP THE (BRITISH) APPLES AND PEARS
It’s a good apple harvest this year, say growers, slightly down on early expectations in some parts of the country, mainly due to lack of rainfall. Cox’s Orange Pippin – which some reckon is the finest apple on the planet - have a lovely red blush thanks to the sunshine in September. Taste is fantastic! They’re at farmers’ markets and farm shops now.
Other varieties in season now include Crispin (Oct-Feb), Egremont Russet (Sept-Nov), Gala (Oct-Jan), Golden Delicious (yes, they do grow in the UK. Why buy French when you can buy English? Season: Oct-Feb), Idared (Oct-March), Jonagold (Oct-March), Jonathan (Oct-Jan), Jupiter (Oct-Jan), Kidd’s Orange (Oct-Jan), Lord Lambourne (Sept-Nov), Spartan (Oct-Feb).
Pears are just beginning to ripen; Beurre du Comice is first to arrive, lovely, honeyed, juicy – a luscious, curvy pear, followed by Conference - elongated, sweet, juicy but more restrained than Comice. Concorde is a cross between the two – firmer than Comice and with more flavour than Conference – and it’s around from now until after Christmas. If you like Williams, you’ve just missed the English season but they’ll be back next September.
Click here to read more...
PUMPKIN PATCH
As the weather gets cooler and the days shorter, great golden pumpkins are an autumn bonus. It’s hard to believe that a seed planted around May, as the soil starts to warm up, can produce such enormous fruits in just a few months. They grow low to the ground under large leaves at first and, as they grow on their vine they overtake the leafy bit of the plant completely. They are actually picked in September and allowed to sit on the field for a few days where – hopefully – the sun will shine on them and they’ll get to glow a beautiful orange. Some years they need the help of being taken into polytunnels because it’s too wet. But this year, in most parts of the country, it was warm, dry and sunny at just the right time so the pumpkins, and other members of the squash family also ready now, are a wonderful sight.
Pumpkins store reasonably well in cool, dry conditions so you can buy your Halloween pumpkin anytime now and it should be fine for the big night.
When carving pumpkins, take care as the skin is hard and quite thick. Children and sharp knives is never a good combination so, to keep your Halloween fun:
Adults – cut the top off the pumpkin with a good knife on a hard surface. You can saw round it or place it on its side to slice. It will take some effort.
Once you have the top off, adults and children can delve into the inside which will be full of seeds and ‘strings’ of fibre, which all have to be scooped out. It’s messy and slippery. If you want, you can rinse the seeds in a colander, place them on a baking sheet and into a hot oven for about 15 minutes to crisp up. They are very nutritious and it’s a shame to waste good food.
Once the seeds and string are out, you’re left with the flesh and this too is good food. You’ll need a robust spoon or two (nothing too precious because the handle could get bent) to take out the flesh which, if you keep it in a bowl can be the basis of a lovely smooth soup – there’s a recipe below – or put into savoury dishes of all kinds as an extra vegetable. It cooks down to a soft mushy texture, like most root vegetables.
Once the flesh is out and you’re left with a shell, it’s a good idea to plan your lantern design, drawing it on the pumpkin with a felt pen. Go to town with your own ideas or there are some templates that you can download here and print out. Tape the template to the surface of the pumpkin and use a thin skewer to mark out the design in little pin-pricks, going through the paper.
Children will need supervision now as you’ll need a small sharp knife, or one of the cutting tools that you can buy specially for the job in some farm shops, to cut the shapes. The skin is still quite tough but once you get used to the amount of pressure needed, the creative fun takes over from hard work.
The resulting lantern will look great with a tealight inside – take care not to leave it unsupervised or where children or pets will knock it over. If it’s not stable when you put it down trim the bottom.
Your pumpkin lantern will last a few days if you keep it cool and dry – but it will perish quickly now. It’s destined for the compost heap and in a few month’s time it can nourish the next season’s pumpkin crop.
Farm Retailer of the Year 2009 announced!
Chatsworth Farm Shop in Pilsley, Derbyshire has won the coveted FARMA Farm Retailer
of the Year award 2009.... click here to
read more
For more awards, see our Awards 2009 home page
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