At last! We're selling local milk!

How many shops can say they get all their milk from one, named farm, less than two miles away? The Green Valley Grocer can.

The GVG now stocks Samuel Brigg and Sons milk. This great quality milk is produced and packaged on the Briggs family farm, Far Wortshill, in the Bradshaw/Scout Wood area, just up the hill from Slaithwaite.

We are pleased to say that we're still using the same milkman, Michael Sykes of Bolster Moor, who brings Briggs milk to us fresh every day. We are selling one pint plastic bottles of full cream, skimmed and semi-skimmed milk, and two and four pint bottles too.

Previously we stocked milk from Buckley Farm in Denby Dale, a local company which packaged milk from some local farmers but also farmers from outside the area. At times we stocked Countrylife milk. Neither were local by our definition (i.e. produced within 30 miles of the shop).

Briggs milk is what we call superlocal (from within 5 miles of the shop). We are delighted to be supporting this business along with the Vanilla Bean cafe, also on Carr Lane, which uses Briggs milk to make its fantastic ice cream.

The Green Valley Grocer aims to ensure half its stock is locally produced by 2015 and that 20 per cent is superlocal. Please help us meet this ambitious target by thinking about whether the food in your basket is local and seasonal and by buying Briggs milk.

Jane is cooking up a storm

As you know, we like our food to be local at the Green Valley Grocer, and you don't get much more local than the Homemade in Slaithwaite range. It is made by our staff member Jane at her home on Lewisham Road, about 20 metres from the shop!

Jane is well known by customers for her fantastic home baking. Her Bakewell tart is legendary and her scones, handmade with unsalted butter so that they rise again nicely if you pop them in the oven, are scrumptious. Try her cheese scones, made with vegetarian tasty Lancashire cheese (which incidentally is available at our cheese counter), hot with butter.

She has been adding new goodies to her range of baked goods over the past few months. She bakes classic sponges like Victoria, chocolate and espresso fresh for the weekends, and throughout the week there's a growing range of tea breads and cakes, including fruited Yorkshire tea bread, lemon drizzle cake and Madeira cake.

And she makes tiramisu. Nuff said.

She also makes flapjacks, butterfly buns and gluten free buns. And if you want anything special, just have a chat with her and she'll make it for you if she can. She bakes every day, and she loves it. You may see her smile or hear her giggle when she knows you've bought one of her cakes : )

And there's more! Jane is now making a range of spreads and preserves, both sweet and savoury, exclusively for the shop. We're already selling her classsic hummus and her hummus with roast red pepper, or sundried tomatoes. This weekend she's adding a new hummus to the range - with black olives.

We've also got her fantastic lemon cheese for sale, and later this month Jane will be making a range of pates for the shop, starting with a delicious chicken liver pate.

Buy some and hear her giggle!

The GVG - the place to be

The Green Valley Grocer has been out and about, and hosting events at the shop too.

During the last month we have held stalls at the Plant It Grow it Eat It launch at Oakwell Hall, Birstall, and the first Slaithwaite Country Show, at Slaithwaite CC cricket ground. Both were successful, with good sales and lots of postive feedback from customers and potential customers.

And here at the GVG we've had a busy Easter...

On Maundy Thursday we hosted our first members evening. About 30 shareholders came to the shop to enjoy free local beer and cider, mingle with staff and the board and meet each other. It was a chance to ask questions, discuss ideas and do some cheap shopping - we offered five per cent discount as a little thank you.

Of course there was good food too. Members enjoyed Pextenement cheeses, which are made in Todmorden from organic Todmorden milk, and Tim Bennett's chorizo, a new product made just behind the Handmade Bakery in Upper Mills, on Canal Side, Slaithwaite. Tim is currently selling his wonderful Slaithwaite Charcuteria chorizo, salami, saucisson and black pudding on Holmfirth market every Saturday. Excitingly, soon we will be stocking it at the GVG.

This Easter we had a temporary license so we could hold this event and also sell local beers and ciders. We sold bottled beer from the Empire Brewery, Slaithwaite, The Nook in Holmfirth and the Little Valley Brewery in Hebden Bridge. There was also fabulous local cider from Pure North, a new cider press and orchard in Deanhouse, near Holmfirth.

It all seemed to go down well with our customers but we'd like to hear your thoughts... Would you like us to do it again? Would you like us to expand our range of local brews and have a license more often, or even permanently? Please leave a comment here or get in touch and let us know.

Members' Event at the GVG

If you are a member of Slaithwaite Co-operative/Green Valley Grocer, you should have received an email invitation to our first Members' Evening at the shop on Thursday 5th April from 7.30pm. We will be showcasing some new local food products with tasters, and local beers from Empire Brewery and the Nook, as well as Pure North cider from Netherthong.

Please let us know whether you can attend. If you haven't received the email, or if you'd like to join our co-operative, please email us or call into the shop.

Local food strategy

Submitted by Marie-Claire Kidd on Thu, 08/03/2012 - 9:58am

Here's the GVG's local food strategy for you to download.

Highlights include:

- We have defined ‘local’ food as food grown or made within a 30 mile radius of Slaithwaite Centre. We also have another category ‘super-local’ to mean food grown or made within a 5 mile radius. 

- We aspire to purchase 50% of our produce from local growers or producers within the 30 mile radius and would like to try and achieve this by 2015.  We want the locally grown element in this to be 20% (as opposed to locally made).  These are very ambitious targets and may not be practical, but we want to strive towards them and measure our progress each year. We also want to have 20% of the total classified as ‘Super Local’, within 5 miles of Slaithwaite.

- The target of 50% local food includes locally sourced vegetables and fruit and produce made from locally sourced fruit and vegetables. It will also include local dairy produce (including eggs) and artisan produce made locally which includes ingredients that are not locally sourced – for example flour for bread and other baked goods bought outside the 30 mile radius or similarly sugar for preserves.

- What we have achieved 2009-2010: Estimated 35% local food sourcing July, Aug Sept 2010, but with 23% of this accounted for by our artisan produced bread from the HandMade Bakery.  Even in this peak harvesting period, our locally grown produce purchases are around 8%.

- Our challenge is to increase not only the locally grown produce in this peak harvesting period, but also that across the leaner months.  Additionally, we want to encourage our customers to think even more seasonally in their purchases and develop their cooking habits around locally available seasonal produce.  Changing buying habits will make increasing reliance of locally available foods more practical.

You can download the strategy here, just click on the attachment... 

Product of the month - Jerusalem Artichokes

Jerusalem artichokes

Jerusalem artichokes (also known as sunroot, sunchoke, earth apple or topinambur) have a refined taste, best described as a cross between an artichoke and a potato. They're a bit of a forgotten vegetable, but not at the GVG.

Not to be confused with globe artichokes, Jerusalem artichokes are the tuberous roots of a type of sunflower, Helianthus tuberosus, which was originally native to eastern North America.

They grow easily and well in the clay-rich soils of the Colne Valley, although due to their height (they grow to between five and ten feet) they don't like excessive wind. Right now at the Green Valley Grocer we have a plentiful supply from superlocal growers in Scapegoat Hill and Wellhouse, retailing at just £1.50/kg - a bargain!

The tubers are sometimes used as a substitute for potatoes. They have a similar consistency and in their raw form have a similar texture, but a sweeter, nuttier flavor. Raw and sliced thinly, they are fit for a salad.

The tubers have a tendency to become soft and mushy if boiled, but they retain their texture better when steamed.

They are lovley in a soup - try adding, celery, mushrooms and cream - and are great roasted with oil, rosemary, salt and pepper.

Jamie Oliver sautees them with bay leaves and garlic. Here's his recipe:

To serve 4, you will need 600g/1lb 6oz of Jerusalem artichokes. Peel them, then cut them into chunks. Place them in an oiled frying pan and fry on a medium heat until golden on both sides, then add a few bay leaves, 2 cloves of garlic, finely sliced, a splash of white wine vinegar, some salt and pepper, and place a lid on top. After about 20 to 25 minutes they will have softened up nicely and you can remove the lid and the bay leaves. Continue cooking for a couple of minutes to crisp the artichoke slices up one last time, then serve straight away.

Lovely Jerusalem artichokes - don't forget them!!

If you grow within a 30-mile radius of Slaithwaite and have Jerusalem Artichokes or other produce you'd like to sell to us, get in touch on 01484 598050.

Great little video about the benefits of a cooperative

Submitted by Graham Mitchell on Mon, 21/11/2011 - 10:25am

As some of you may be aware, 2012 has been designated the International Year of Cooperatives by the United Nations, and as a result there is a huge amount of work going on in the cooperative movement to celebrate this and promote the benefits of the cooperative model. The global economic crisis shows no signs of abating, so there has never been a better time for an economic model that places people and community to the fore to gain some attention.

Of course the Green Valley Grocer is a cooperative, democratically owned and controlled by its members, and we'll be doing our bit over the coming year to raise awareness of cooperatives. As a start to that here's a great little video clip you might want to watch that was made by the Canadian Cooperative Association. It's a tad overlong to my mind, at 2 minutes, but nonetheless does a great job at communicating osme highly relevant messages.

 

 

Allotment plot available

 We have been approached at the GVG by a lady who has a section of garden which could be used as an allotment. It is on Manchester Road near Linthwaite. If you are interested, please contact us via email, Facebook or call into the shop.

ORGANIC PRODUCE - yes or no ??

 The great organic food debate rumbles on - whether it's better for you, whether it's worth paying a little more for it, should it be inside or outside the shop, and, from a business point of view, whether there is enough of a demand for it.

Chatting to customers yesterday, I found them to be divided about all of these issues, but eager to have the discussion.

So, spread the word, we want to know what you, your family, and friends, think.

If you are pro-organics, are you prepared to buy organic ?

Do you want a larger range of organic fruit and veg in the shop, and are you bothered by the various accreditations that are available (at some cost) to growers, or happy to buy local stuff that hasn't been treated.

You can tell us in the shop or you can email us at shop@slaithwaite.coop

And remember - its your shop  - we want it to reflect your ideas and stock what you want to buy.

Garlic Challenge Update

 Hopefully the garlic we all planted last year is growing well - don't be tempted to harvest it yet - unless that is, you want to use it as 'green' garlic, which can be chopped and cooked as a vegetable.

Garlic is generally ready for harvesting when most of the foliage has turned yellowy-brown and fallen over.  For me  this is usually around the end of August, but given the many micro-climates in the Colne Valley, your's may be at a slightly different time.

When harvesting garlic bulbs, gently ease them out of the ground with the assistance of a trowel, taking care not to bruise them.

Leave out to dry in the sun (hopefully) or in a dry place, where they can be stored for quite a while. In my experience, garlic harvested in Slaithwaite in early September has lasted my family until the following spring when stored correctly.

And don't forget, we are having a GRAND GARLIC CHALLENGE WEIGH IN during the Colne Valley Food Festival in mid September - details will follow and be advertised in the shop.

Syndicate content