Another one bites the dust

Last year, my local butcher closed his shop.  Fortunately, he's been followed in by a new one, so our supply of good quality local meat has continued.  Sadly, Angie, our local greengrocer has now closed down. 

Angie is a good woman who worked hard to try to turn her business into a success but sadly to no avail.  People from the village seem reluctant to shop locally and she was being undercut heavily by the supermarkets.  On the day she closed, the nearby Morrisons was selling bags of winter vegetables cheaper than she could buy them in.  I wonder how long the supermarkets will be selling vegetables as a loss-leader now that the last independent greengrocer in the area has been forced out?

This means I now suffer a lack of choice.  The supermarkets don't stock local fruit and vegetables, they don't stock wild mushrooms, they won't do me a deal on a case of bruised tomatoes and they won't sell me a pear that I can eat for at least a week - I'll have to ripen the fruit myself.

I've signed-up for an organic box and we'll see how that goes.  I was generally pleased when we had an Abel & Cole box when we lived in London - this time we'll be using Riverford Organics because they deliver on a more convenient day.  I'll keep you posted as to how it goes - first delivery is tomorrow...

We'll also be growing more of our own this year.  Among the seeds I've ordered from the Real Seed company, we've got:

• Green beans
• Courgettes & patty-pan courgettes
• Various salad leaves
• Two types of pea
• Winter squash
• Florence fennel
• Two types of tomato
• Beetroot

 Now, if the snow was just to clear, I could get digging...

tags: supermarket  

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