Food Blog

As Brexit negotiations begin, England is being urged to develop a progressive food policy in advance of leaving the EU.

• A coalition of grassroots food and farming organisations has launched ‘A People’s Food Policy’ – a comprehensive proposal for a more just and sustainable food system in England.
• Scotland is already in the process of adopting national food policies and is currently developing a ‘Good Food Nation Bill’, while England has yet to make any progress.

'A People’s Food Policy' is a ground-breaking manifesto outlining a people’s vision of food and farming in England that is supported by over 80 food and farming organisations. The report draws on 18 months of extensive, nation-wide consultations with grassroots organisations, NGOs, trade unions, community projects (including the TM Permaculture Group), small businesses and individuals. It has resulted in a set of policy proposals and a vision for change that is rooted in the lived experiences and needs of people most affected by the failures in the current food system.

It’s widely acknowledged that agriculture is one of the sectors that will be faced with the most uncertainty as a result of the UK leaving the EU. Rising food prices is an issue that has already been repeatedly reported on in the context of Brexit, while migration restrictions are set to have an enormous impact on the availability of workers in the agricultural sector.

In the face of this uncertainty, the report argues that policy, legislative framework and a food act is needed that, “integrates the compartmentalised policy realms of food production, health, labour rights, land use and planning, trade, the environment, democratic participation and community wellbeing.”

You can read the full manifesto here...

A Food Assembly allows local people to get together to buy the best food available, directly from local farmers and foodmakers.

How does it work?

1. ORDER ONLINE: Choose from a wide range of local products: fruit, vegetables, bread, cheese, meat, beer and much more... it is up to you how much you buy and how often!

2. COLLECT YOUR ORDER: Every week your Assembly takes place in a local venue. Collect your order from here and meet both the people that produce your food and your neighbours.

3. EAT BETTER: Every season taste the freshest food available in your region.

Find out more here: The Food Assembly

The Food Assembly is coming to Marlborough soon!

We are currently looking for a venue in or near Marlborough. This will be used as a meeting point for local food & drink producers to give their customers their pre-paid orders. We would need it for about 3 hours once a week around 5 -7.30pm, for the foreseeable future. The venue needs to have free parking and ground floor access. The space should be large enough to put up about 10 tables and move around. This could be a village hall, pub, cafe, meeting room, we're open to suggestions! The Food Assembly is a community focussed scheme which aims to increase the market and the income for local businesses, while putting customers directly in touch with their food sources. For this reason we are looking for a venue which would be free, or very low cost, perhaps with spin-offs for the owner such as a cafe or pub so that people can meet, sit and have a drink if they want.

Please contact Sarah Benson if you can help: rooibost@yahoo.co.uk

Herbal Workshop

This will be a day of practical, hands-on, herbal medicine, learning how to use herbs.

We shall learn to make infused oils, ointments, tinctures and teas.  There will also be an herb walk/forage to see what plants we can find growing in the locality.  We may use some of these in our practical work.  This will show you how our hedgerows can be our medicine chests. 

By the end of the day you will hopefully have the confidence and enthusiasm to use plants for minor ailments at home on yourself and family.

Run by Helen Ellis, Medical Herbalist for over 15 years.

Further details at:  food at transitionmarlborough.org.uk

UPDATE:  Cost: £15

Date:  Saturday 14 May 2016 from 10am to around 3:30; please bring some food and drink to share for lunch

Please contact as above for venue, and to book.

According to the July 2014 issue of 'healthy' magazine:

The FIVE most common GM foods around the world are:

1. Maize - 85% of corn grown in the USA is modified

2. Soya - the most genetically modified food in the world

3. Courgettes - found in the USA

4. Milk - in the USA cows are often given a GM growth hormone

5. Papayas - these are banned in the EU

While no commercial GM crops are grown in Britain, 140,000 tonnes of GM soya and 300,000 tonnes of GM maize is imported annually for animal feed. So a large amount of our meat and dairy products come from animals fed on GM crops - this is not on food labels.

Genetically modified (GM) food is produced from plants which have had their DNA tweaked in the lab to give it a new, desirable trait - e.g. to make it more resistant to disease or pests to boost yield.

According to the Pesticide Action Network UK, www.pan-uk.org, the top 10 culprits for residues within the food are:

1.   Flour

2.   Potatoes

3.   Bread

4.   Apples

5.   Pears

6.   Grapes

7.   Strawberries

8.   Green Beans

9.   Tomatoes

10. Cucumber

Pesticides are made from oil, which is getting more expensive.  Do you want to eat oil?  Buy organic (pesticide free) food from Purton Organics, or grow your own. 

www.purtonhouseorganics.co.uk

Rev Gill Mackichan is collating a list of people who would be willing to assist during Food Bank collections in Marlborough.   Each volunteer is asked to give an hour of their time to assist in handing     out leaflets and collecting donations from the Saturday shoppers.  (More time can be donated, if anyone wishes to volunteer for a longer stint!) 

If you feel you can help please contact Gill on:

              01672 861629                               or email g.mackichan@btinternet.com

If you have any queries, please contact Gill.

It's that time again.... Marlborough Communities' Market will once again be in the High Street this Sunday supporting small, local, artisan businesses who produce food, prepare street food, sell unique gifts and make craft items of exceptional quality..... and this month we are being joined by the wonderful Richard Paget who is this year supporting Apple Day! 

So you know what to do... if you just pass this message on to a couple of your friends - and ask them to do the same, by Sunday everyone and their dog should know that one of the best artisan markets in Wiltshire is in Marlborough High Street, from 10-3 & that we will have an apple press. 

So bring along the last of the windfalls that will have blown down in the storm and you could end up having apple juice for the Winter from your own finds.

Community Market Champions to get £100

We are having a number of additional signs made up to let even more people know that Marlborough Communities Market is on and are looking for MCM Champions to donate good locations for the signs to go onto.

So if you think you know a great location be it a gate, fence, front wall, garden, field or verge - please do encourage the landowners to get in touch.   All those who participate in the scheme will be entitled to a £100 of Marlborough Communities Market Voucher's per annum, to be spent on the stall or stalls  of their choice and we are looking for 4 sites in total*. For T&C's please see below 

A final thought......

Now we have all heard that every pound spent at an independent businesses is worth £8 compared to money spent in a supermarket... but if we relate that to the Communities Market Champions deal .... it makes it worth a whopping £3,200.  

Going a bit further on the above stats around local money.... if 10% of the population of Marlborough spent £5 at one of the four markets that we are putting on between now and Christmas - that would mean £36,000 to the local economy. Crazy isn't it!

Use it or lose it folks... and hope to see you Sunday.

Written by Ellie Gill - follow us on twitter: @marlcommunities

A new group has been formed, bringing together members of Transition Marlborough's Food Group and  Marlborough Churches Together, to look at the issue of a Food Bank for Marlborough.  Anyone with an interest in this topic is welcome to join. 

At the moment, all the collections made by the Marlborough communities goes to Devizes; anyone in need, can get a box from the Devizes Food Bank.  They are distributed by the Citizens Advice Bureau, doctors surgeries and the children's centre, where you can get a voucher.

Please come to a meeting at Friends House, 7:30pm on Monday 12 August 2013 to find out more...

Cost of food too high?  Do you fancy growing your own food?  Need space to grow food?  Want exercise in the fresh air?

Wiltshire Wildlife Trust's Food Champions Project can offer a site at Rogers Meadow, and even organise to put in raised beds.  If one or more people are interested and want to grow their own vegetables, herbs, fruit, -

contact either Gary Lamont or Sara Cundy here - http://www.wiltshirewildlife.org/green-living/food-champions/community-growing-sites

A while back, we received an email from Anni Kelsey, who lives in Shropshire.  She contacted us to let TM initiatives "know about my ongoing project with perennial vegetables."  She states that she is "passionate about making my little corner of the earth as productive as possible - for as little input of time and effort as possible; and I have found that using perennial vegetables and polycultures / forest gardening techniques is working very well to achieve this."

She invites us:"If you would like to do any or all of the following then please get in touch:

• make the most of shady parts of the garden to grow veggies that can tolerate shade
• garden using less physical effort and time than needed for conventional vegetables and flowers (annuals)
• create a healthy, fertile environment, rich in biodiversity
• put all these together and create a small scale forest garden using fruiting trees and/or bushes "

She says she "may be able to help with planning, sharing seeds/plants, where to find suppliers, etc"

Her blog is at:  http://annisveggies.wordpress.com

and her email is annisveggies at hotmail.co.uk

She wishes us "all the best with your own transition related endeavours!"