Our Produce, supplying Staffordshire with great value local food

It’s true! This coming week is the 100th week of trading for Our Produce. Despite choosing possibly the worst time to establish a new business, I’m glad to say we are going from strength to strength and it’s all down to the fantastic support of customers.

That’s not to say we don’t need new ones and with a 100 week track record behind us, now’s the time to spread the word and convince any sceptics to give us a go. At just £5 for a whole year’s subscription, it’s a great value service offering fantastic quality and most importantly supports small, local producers. So have a think who you know who might be up for a change in their shopping habits and get them to check out www.ourproduce.co.uk .

The cold weather has so far had a minimal impact on getting hold of stocks and we’ll continue to do our best to provide a full service.

Take care on those icey roads.

All the best

Jenny x

Well, what a fantastic event this turned out to be! Well worth a visit if you’ve nothing on tomorrow (Sunday 4th October). Loads of fantastic stalls selling simply gorgeous food and some delicious wines and beers – live music in the beer tent and a great, relaxed friendly atmosphere everywhere. Top that with spot on cookery demonstrations and you’ve got good value for your £5 entrance fee. The effort of the local organisers has to be recognised, and these kinds event only survive if people support them – so hope you can make it – if not this year then some time in the future.

When I was a little girl, horseradish grew in abundance in my Uncle George’s orchard and I can remember the agony of peeling it and grating it with my nana to make fresh horseradish sauce…

I was intrigued therefore this week, when I received an email from a customer to see if I could find some. Well a trip down to Suffolk was unfortunately out of the question and said orchard has long since been taken out and put to other use, so I had to find another source. Having drawn a blank with Diana of Jam Today (her greengrocer gets it in from Germany!!), I turned to Richard (of F Jackson & Son) in Melbourne who has all sorts of things growing in his 30 acres and hey presto he had a few roots growing by his garage. The little darling dug it up and passed it on FOC..now that’s service and my customer certainly thought so!

If you’ve got anything growing that’s unusual or surplus in your garden, then do let me know as it’s great to be able to match up produce with grateful users! At bookclub last night, a friend (and customer!) handed round some spare apricots she’d grown in her greenhouse – boy, were they delicious and I just love it when things like that happen…

A birthday in our house tends to mean an excuse for a trip to the local curry house but not this time! It’s my luvverly hubby’s b’day (I’m not allowed to say how old!) this weekend and instead of going out we cooked curry in. Some chilled bottles of Cobra for us adults and J2Os for the kids helped with the authenticity (!) but it was the Timatar Masala with chicken, Prawn curry and fragrant pilau rice that really stole the show. We all had a hand in the cooking (following the curry kit instructions to the letter) and definitely all tucked in the eating – not a scrap was left. Great!

With a little help from my friends and a slightly harassed fish delivery man, we managed to get all our orders out in full last week despite the snow. Yes we were a little late in places, and yes I did get stuck down a lane making a home delivery (thanks Tina and partner for the push!), but we made it. Unlike Tesco’s apparently who cancelled their Rangemore delivery on Thursday because of the weather…..

Well Our Produce got through its first Christmas without many hitches at all and plenty of really kind comments from many customers which I will pass on to suppliers. 2008 was a fantastic first year and I can’t wait to get stuck into 2009. I know times are tough and small businesses such as mine and those of the lovely people I buy from, count on your support. As you think even more carefully about the pennies you spend this year, remember how much impact your shopping habits have to our local economy and environment. You make all the difference!