Support your local economy with Lake District producers
Whether you are in the Lake District, Manchester or London, we’ve all learnt the importance of shopping locally, especially during the last 18 months.
Making changes to the way we shop and subsequently to the way we eat can have huge benefits.
- It can have a positive impact on your physically and mental health.
- Supports the local economy and helping to sustain our local communities
- The environment.
Many people firmly believe local grown and reared food tastes better and lasts longer. Then there’s also the added benefit of knowing exactly where their food comes from, how it was grown or reared and even the people responsible for creating that produce. For many others, it’s all about supporting their local community and building long lasting personal relationships. We view all our customers as special friends, who happened to love our sourdough, as we their support and community kindness.
There’s no doubt whatsoever that buying local food supports a diverse rural food economy. When you choose to buy locally grown food you help keep more money in the local economy, as well as supporting jobs in agriculture and in local food production, what’s known as field to fork.
If you love beautiful produce – Join Lovingly Artisan and our like minded farming community at the next Kendal Farmers Market on the 26th June 2021 or every Friday at Altrincham Market.
A recent study carried out by Visa, found that for every £10 spent with a local business, more than a third (£3.80) stays in the area. The research also found that currently we spend just over a fifth of their available income locally, however, they would be willing to spend up to half with local businesses.
You see where we choose to shop really matters. While for many of us, shopping locally is a convenient way to purchase goods and services, for local business owners it’s the lifeline they rely on and we do too, especially in these challenging times.
Local food is seasonal
Seasonal food is a great choice as it reduces our reliance on un-seasonal food, which when you look into it more requires considerably more energy to grow and transport to its final destination, your table. As well as the obvious bonuses locally produced food spends far less time in transit which means that the journey from field to fork is far shorter, there is less opportunity for cross contamination meaning your food is more bio-secure and on top of that the food is fresher and retains more nutrients and flavour.
Local food helps you and your family
We all know deep down that good quality wholesome home cooked food is a recipe for health and wellbeing. Buying and eating seasonal foods grown in the UK gives us the opportunity to enjoy a truly varied diet, one that is brim full of colour, taste and texture, and despite what many of us may think a diet packed with fresh fruit and vegetables.
If we source our food locally and in season we are maximising the nutritional value of our food, because as soon as a crop is harvested it starts to deteriorate and loose its nutritional value so the fresher the better. Not only that in many cases because we are eating it in season it is far cheaper, because the produce in question is widely available and transport cost are far less. Yes, it would be easy to be able to eat fresh fruit and vegetables all year round, but once you begin to examine the processes involved you are really doing yourself a favour in terms of your pocket and your health by eating local seasonal produce.
Local food supports a local economy
Farmers’ markets, farm shops such as Plumgarths and local bakeries are great places to explore food and drink grown in your community. These retailers are all concerned with the provenance of the food they sell and above all want to support our hardworking, food producing communities.
Our top 5 local food producers who all work within a collaborating food community in Cumbria
- Hawkshead Relish – Hawkshead family business
- Lake District Honey – The Lowther Estate
- St James Cheese – Martin Gott
- Winter Tarn Dairy – Penrith
And finally, my number 5.! ” Wild Card” Dine in the Lakes incorporating the best of the Lake District food scene all in a box, delivered straight to your door. Take a sneaking peek at all that’s great about sharing inspirational local foods with family and friends – https://dineinthelakes.co.uk/
Note – You can find all of the above food producers within the Dine in the Lakes Ultimate Brunch https://dineinthelakes.co.uk/product/the-ultimate-brunch/
The added bonus is that they also give farmers and producers a fair price for what they produce. This helps support them and the people they employ, and it also encourages them to be more diverse in what they grow and produce, which means that they can supply amazing fresh food for you and your family.
Our millers ~
Gilchesters Organics – https://gilchesters.com/
Matthews Cotswold Flour – https://www.fwpmatthews.co.uk/
Waste not want not
Food waste is something we’ve all become very aware of, it’s financially incomprehensible, I mean throwing away a produce that has taken, on average, around a year of hard work to create is just madness. Just think of the process, the farmer planting the grain and harvesting it, the miller grinding it to produce flour, to the baker producing the loaf of bread. Time, money, knowledge and resources have gone into creating that loaf and to throw it away is a shocking waste.
When you learn that over 24 million slices of bread are thrown away each day in the UK you wonder what on earth we are doing! On average we waste 110kg per person per year, that’s around £60 per family, per month, which really makes you sit up and think when you learn that around 5 million people live in food poverty in the UK and needn’t.
Waste nothing and reinvent everything! – Take a peek at a previous blog post https://lovinglyartisan.com/wasting-nothing-and-reinventing-everything-sourdough/
Fresh, seasonal food from farm to fork
Many of us don’t have the same awareness about our food as we did in previous generations. That said a wider array of people are looking to repair this gap in our knowledge to raise awareness of food production and actively learn more about local and regional food economies. Simple things like small weekly purchases from local our food producers make a real difference and help to strengthen the local food supply chain. Buying local and seasonal food is not only sustainable but is tastier and often more affordable.
Getting involved in the local food system helps us to gain back the separation we created between ourselves and the source of our food. In addition, supporting local food producers ensures more money stays in the local economy and goes to those who work hard to ensure that food goes from the field to our fork!
Variety is the spice of life
Not only is seasonal produce good for you, your pocket, your local community and the environment it actually promotes variety and diversity, you see farmers are keen to a diverse and interesting array of produce which they can sell it at farmers markets and to local restaurants, this creates demand, which in turn supports the growing and rearing of rarer more seasonally types of produce and livestock, which has to be a win, win for everyone…
Eating locally grown, seasonal produce does not have to be limiting in any way, indeed the benefits are far more impressive. Our ancestors ate seasonally for very good reason but thankfully we are getting back to our roots and truly beginning to understand why it’s best to eat this way – This will have an incredible impact on your Gut Health!
Have fun this summer exploring the Lake District!
Photography Artisans & Co on behalf of Dine in the Lakes with Lovingly Artisan
