Fabulous Farmers Markets

During my Goodbye Magpie crusade, I have been aware that my personal (and necessary) spend-thriftiness has meant that I am not supporting as many local independent shops as I would like to. 

The area that I live in has lots of quirky boutique stores, independent coffee shops, restaurants and bars.  It makes for a really interesting and pretty high street, without all of the predictable samey blandness of the shops in the city centre.

I want to help keep the unique character of my area, but with no dosh to splash about, I have been wondering what I can do to support my local independent retailers.

Although I may not have to buy expensive birthday presents, I do have to eat!  And thankfully my local Farmers' Market at Stockbridge, provides the perfect answer.  I have been visiting every Sunday since the start of the year and myself and JW love it!  We zip around in about 15 minutes picking up all our regular veg, eggs, butter, sausages (for No.1 Son) and really far too delicious bread and croissants!  We also stock up on honey, rapeseed oil, porridge oats and a massive sack of tatties when needed.  Oh and let's not forget about Stichill Dairy's delicious cheesecake!  Heaven on a plate!

I have tried to support farmers' markets before, but I used to go along and not see anything much that I wanted.  I guess I had got so sucked into supermarket ready, pre-packed foods, that I was a bit lost as to what I could make when faced with only real food.  Plus, there just seemed to be too many venison burgers for my liking! 

I'm not sure if it is a shift in my cookery focus over the past 18 months, (helped by Hugh Fernley Whittingstall - his new cookbook 'Veg' is the best I have ever used), or the fact that Stockbridge Farmers' Market is compact yet bursting with all your everyday essentials; that means that I really enjoy going along, buy lots of ingredients that I actually use and then end up feeling really good about supporting my local farmers.

I haven't totally dispensed with the supermarket, but I am happier to put £30 quid into the pockets of local farmers and producers and £30 quid less into the pocket of a certain J. Sainsburys!

What about you?  What's your favourite local shop or independent producer?

A bustling Stockbridge Farmers' Market!