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It's the first Thursday in June and the sun is shining, so officially it's 'Slawit Summertime'. This means at the Green Valley Grocer we've shifted onto our summer opening times and on Thursdays we're staying open til 7pm. So, if you're putting in the extra hours at work and either driving by or coming in on the bus or train, there's time to get your fresh produce en route home.

Good at the moment are strawberries, raspberries, blueberries and blackberries; peaches, apricots and nectarines; cherries and melons; the last couple of weeks of English asparagus (even the occasional batch from Wellhouse) - get it whilst you can; peas in their shells and broad beans; and on the unusual 'organic' front we have golden kiwis and kohl rabi.   

We like our rhubarb at the Green Valley Grocer.

We also like the Rhubarb Crumble and Custard garden - http://www.bbc.co.uk/chelsea/small-gardens/rhubarb-custard.shtml - exhibited at Chelsea Flower Show this week. This garden was awarded an RHS Silver Floral medal. It's a Yorkshire-themed garden celebrating the recently-granted protected name status of forced rhubarb from the Yorkshire Rhubarb Triangle (see our earlier blogs in February). Perhaps the publicity from this will activate the 'Delia effect' and the larger suppliers and retailers may struggle to meet demand for rhubarb - not here in the Colne Valley, thanks to our plentiful supply coming in now from gardeners and allotment holders within just a few miles, or hundred yards, of the shop.

We think the Leeds City Council Canal Garden  - http://www.leedsatchelsea.com/about - is pretty impressive too, despite no edible content! The 'Leeds Win at Chelsea' strapline that has been attached to reports is perhaps less convincing?

Today at the shop... it's been a struggle.

Jim's down with the flu and we're missing his news from the market run, especially with the new season English produce coming in now - asparagus, tomatoes, spring onions, cauliflowers, lettuces and pak choi. The UK asparagus season is only 6 weeks long and we're into the second week already - get it whilst you can! Word on the grapevine is that the Jersey Royals supply is interrupted due to drought (www.guardian.co.uk/science/2010/may/07/jersey-royal-potatoes-drought-crop), but there are some nice Cornish first early new potatoes available today.

Dan and Johanna are also suffering badly with the flu and there has been a stream of sad faces coming in, looking at the racks hopefully, but realising there's no 'proper' bread today - what to do? I suspect that bread-making machines are being dusted off in the kitchens of Slawit tonight, but it's just not the same. Matt and Paul should be coming to the rescue and resuming supply tomorrow - but get there quick, there'll no doubt be a queue.

Helen is bravely fighting off the lurgy with the resolve of an ex-teacher - voice or no voice, the veg will be sold and local produce will be sourced. We still have tomato plants for sale for anyone who fancies growing their own this summer. And local green rhubarb... well, we have an endless supply now from within a mile or so of the shop and it's cold enough to still crave crumble and custard, isn't it?

We're into this week without Jo, who has moved on to take up a new, full-time job in her field of IT.  We'll miss her fishmongering skills, regular tea-making and suggestions of bizarre new products from the SUMA catalogue. Lawrie has also moved on to pastures new and Freddie has taken on the Saturday morning shift. Jo and Lawrie were there at the start of the Green Valley Grocer and we appreciate their contributions to its success. We wish them both well and hope to see them in the shop regularly.

My Manchester friend thinks we're living in an episode of Camberwick Green here in the Colne Valley, this week with 'Dr Mopp' visiting a few 'Mickey Murphy's on his rounds. There are surely several contenders in our community for both Windy Miller and Jonathan Bell? Just as long as 'real life' isn't creeping in... and everyone gets better soon.

 The most amazing thing for me about the effect of planes being grounded is the growing list of food items that people actually buy - except I am not sure that they can just now  .....

Imported fresh pineapple chunks being one of them - pineapple 'chunked' in another country and air freighted to us here strikes me as the end of the line in sustainable food production!

Thankfully, although you will on occasion see a pineapple in The Green Valley Grocer, it will still have all of its nobbles and will not have been sent by air.

Here at the shop we are always trying to learn more about how the food we sell is produced and transported, and when we find out something interesting (or worrying), that's when we change our purchasing plans !  We also pass on our thoughts to our suppliers - who we hope, will take what we say on board.

Our customers are vital in this process - letting us know what they have read, seen, discussed about food and the ethics of production and transportation - long may they continue to do so !

And of course, our local produce is beginning to come in now - minimal food miles and produced without pesticides by lovely people !  Come and try kale, cabbage and purple sprouting broccoli ALL LOCALLY GROWN !

We promised to bring you a calendar of 'Seasonal and Regional Produce' and, as we're now well into April, it should be noted that Purple Sprouting Broccoli is here.

It's purple when raw and green when cooked, but more tender than the big heads of regular green broccoli (calabrese). It's a bit of an investment for any gardener: you might be sowing seeds mid-spring, protecting from slugs and snails through our wet summers, knocking snow off in December and chasing away the pigeons when there's little else for them to eat, finally it's ready (now-ish), standing at three feet tall and taking up space in the plot that you want for new sowings! But it's worth it... no really it is.

My 'Big Broccoli book' (by Georgina Downard) boasts 86 pages of delicious things you can do with either green or purple broccoli, like 'broccoli and crab souffle' and 'broccoli pilaf with chickpeas and tomatoes' - it shall be on loan to the GVG for the next month!

Coming soon.... We have had our first glimpses of (Spanish) asparagus... next month should bring a regular supply of UK-grown spears, hopefully some from within just a few miles of us.

Purple Sprouting Broccoli at Wellhouse   

         Asparagus... it's coming!