Colchester Farmers’ Market 7th February 2014

 

Just a quick reminder to let you know that the next Colchester Farmers Market will be on Friday 7th February at Colchester Arts Centre, Church St, Colchester (CO1 1NF) from 9.30am to 12.30pm

Refreshments will be provided by Caroline Rhys-Lewis  

Stalls for this market will be:  

Caroline Rhys-Lewis -  Teas, Coffee, soft drinks & Cakes
Great Wigborough Traditional Meats - Beef, Pork, Lamb, mutton, chicken. bacon, gammon ham  & eggs
Daymans Hill Farm - Apples, Pears & Fruit Juices
Pears - Honey
Keepers Nursery - Seasonal Vegetables
The Gamekeeper's Daughter - Wild rabbit/game pies/pasties & pates
Tony's Fresh Fish - Fish (weather dependant catch)
Totham Bangers - Sausages and burgers
Wild Taste - Wild Food & Kitchenalia
Willies Chillies - Chilli based Products inc jams & sauces
Wonky Label Preserves - Jams, marmalades. marinades, goats cheese & olives

Guest Stalls (Craft)

Colne Valley Soap Makers - Soap (specialist handmade luxury soap for presents and every day use) 
NYR Organic -   Environmentally friendly Health and Beauty products
Loulous Handmade Craft
TESS - Tendring Enterprise Support School

We will also be collecting unwanted mobile phones and empty printer cartridges (not Epson or compatibles)  to raise funds for en-form

Unfortunately, we cannot avoid the fact that there are sometimes last minute, emergency cancellations.  

Find us also on our Colchester Farmers Market facebook page

Wivenhoe Farmers’ Market – 18th January 2014

 

The next Wivenhoe Farmers' Market is on Saturday 18th January

Please note the time has changed to 9.30am to 12.30pm. We also have a new cake stall in addition to a number of recently new stalls and the welcome return of Tony's Fresh Fish.

This months market will at the Congregational Hall in the High Street, CO7 9AB from 9.30am to 12.30pm. 

Refreshments will be available from the Transition Cafe and Barbeque run by Transition Town Wivenhoe with cakes and savoury items available from individual stallholders.

Our stallholders for this market will be:

Food Stalls -

Dayman's Hill Farm -  apples, pears, fruit juice (Recently New stall)
Joanna Neep - cakes (New stall)
Keepers Nursery - Fresh Vegetables and eggs
Primrose Pork - All meats frozen Pork, Beef, Lamb, Chickens - sausages, meat pies, pork pies, bacon, cheese, ham, eggs
The Shotgun Chef- tarts,quail eggs,game pies (Recently New stall)
Tony's Fresh Fish - Fish (weather dependent catch) (Returns this month)
Wild Taste - Wild Food & Kitchenalia (Recently New stall)
Willies Chillies - Chillies
Willow Farm - Biodynamic pork, beef & eggs and Organic chicken
Wonky Label Preserves - Jams, marmalade, marinades, goats cheese and olives

Craft & Local Trader Stalls

Christine Mckissop- hand made crafts
Colne Soap Makers - Soaps
Kippers Keys - key cutting, tool sharpening
Sylvia's Plants- garden plants
TESS - Tendring Enterprise Support School
Dr Bike will be available to check your bikes

As a customer service, we will be selling Local Honey from Knights Farm in Tendring.

Unfortunately, we cannot avoid the fact that there are sometimes last minute, emergency cancellations. 

We will also be collecting any unwanted printer cartridges (not Epson), mobile phones, CD's and DVD's to raise cash for en-form.

Colchester Farmers Market

 

We have been advised that Thumbs up productions will be filming at the Colchester Farmers Market this Friday 1st November 2013 for a new TV series on Channel 4. We have been asked to advise our customers of this fact and that they may be filmed. Please read the notice from Thumbs Up Productions.

Any customers that want to come to the market but do not wish to be filmed please let us know before entering and we will try and sneak you in with a blanket over your head or something.

We are sure they will be discreet when filming but we apologise in advance for any inconvenience caused.

-----------------------------------------

Thumbs Up Productions are currently filming in this area.

Please note there is a possibility you will be in the background of filming.

By entering this area you agree to your image to be used in all media, worldwide in perpetuity.

Thanks

Thumbs Up Productions

0207 902 9880

New Food Recycling Service Launches in Colchester

 

For all residents of Colchester, the Councils new Food Recycling service is about to start.

Check when your Food waste Recycling Kit will arrive Click here to see when deliveries will take place

We would obviously encourage you to reduce your food waste in the first instance and then compost in your own garden, see www.lovefoodhatewaste.com

For anything left over please support this council scheme.

Details from the Council:

Thanks to the Council’s rollout of its weekly food waste collection service Colchester residents will soon be able to recycle all food waste. 

The borough’s more than 62,000 homes already receiving a kerbside recycling and rubbish collection will have a new food waste recycling kit delivered from 14 October.  Urban streets will have deliveries first, followed by rural areas up to 22 November. 

Click here to see when deliveries will take place in each area and for more information about the new collection. 

Residents are encouraged to look out for the kit, delivered to the doorstep, and start recycling straight away, ready for their first collection the following week.  By Friday 29 November, weekly collections from all these homes will have begun. 

Dairy products, meat, fish, bones, fruit and vegetables, eggs shells, bread, tea bags and coffee can all be placed in the lockable bins, helping residents reduce their black bag rubbish and associated smells.

The kit will make recycling all cooked and uncooked food quick and easy.  Each will contain a roll of approved compostable kitchen bin liners and recycling information.  All residents not already part of the successful food waste collection trial will also receive a small kitchen and larger external bin.

Collections will take place in Blue and Green recycling weeks on each resident’s existing recycling and rubbish day.  Adding food waste collections alongside paper, card, glass, cans, aerosols, foil, clothes and shoes, mixed plastics and garden waste, will make it easy for residents to recycle more.

Residents choosing to keep using liners to contain food waste in their kitchen caddy will be able to get affordable rolls of the approved, compostable liners from local stockists across the borough.  A network of retailers and other outlets has been set up in a partnership led by the Council to support both residents and local businesses. 

Everything collected will be turned into green energy for heat and electricity.  By recycling residents are making a valuable contribution to creating a greener borough. 

Residents in flats using communal bins will be able to start recycling both food waste and mixed plastics when these new collections are rolled out further in early 2014.

Green Links

Energy

Energy Management
Good Energy 
Energy Saving Trust
The Green Deal Guide
National Energy Foundation

Renewable Energy Production
Green Energy Team

Food

Grow your own
Landshare 
Online matching service that allows you to find or offer land to growers. If you have a big garden you can offer it on this website for instance.
Grow Your Own (Magazine)
Colchester Allotment Association

Community Projects
Big Garden Project
Colchester Carrot

Local Produce
GFB

Vegetarian
Vegetarian Society
Vegan Society

Wholesale Foods
Suma Foods

New Economics

New Economics Foundation

Sharing Skills
Exchanging skills with other members of your community has taken many forms over the years, from LETS schemes and Timebanks to web based services. In Colchester we have both a timebank and, internationally the web based service Just For The Love of It. Like all community sharing services however, they rely on having lots of members and the members using them both to offer their skills and to request skills. The Colchester LETS scheme folded in 2002. Details of schemes are given below:

Just for the Love of It
This is a web based Community service that lets you share skills, tools, land and buildings.
LETS UK
Time Bank Colchester
Timebanking UK

Finance
Colchester Credit Union
ZOPA UK
KIVA Loans

Sustainability

en-form – The Colchester Environment Centre
Essex University Green Task Force
Transition Town Colchester
Transition Town Wivenhoe

Transport

Colchester Travel Plan

Climate Care
Off-set your emissions by planting trees

Car
The Environmental Transport Association
UK's only breakdown organisation that campaigns for a greener transport policy
Vehicle Certification Agency
Vehicle fuel consumption guide and database
Wombat Car Club
The Colchester based Car club
Essex Liftshare
Free local online car share matching service

 

Cycling
CTC
UK cyclist's membership organisation, including cycling insurance
Colchester Cycle Champions
Cycle Colchester
Colchester Cycling Campaign
Sustrans
Information on the National Cycle Network

Public Transport
Colchester Bus Users Support Group
Transport 2000
Campaigns for Sustainable transport in the UK

Walking
Walk Colchester

Waste – Reduce, Reuse and Recycling

Reduce
Love Food Hate Waste
Stop unwanted Junk Mail

Reuse
Ebay
The famous online auction site that lets you sell everything legal.
Freegle
Freecycle
Give or Take Essex
Like ebay but free. Lets you post unwanted items you want to give away or request items you want.
ReUse Essex
Online directory with search facility listing organisations throughout Essex that collect and redistribute unwanted items, primarily by Charity and Community Groups but also includes some commercial organisations.
Bookcrossing

Recycle
A-Z Guide to Dispose of Waste 
Directory of how to reduce, reuse or recycle specific items in Essex.
Recycle More (VALPAK)
Recycle Now (WRAP)
Information on what can be recycled together with a postcode search of what you can recycle in your area through kerbside collection and recycling bank facilities.
Colchester Borough Council
Details of the recycling facilities available in Colchester.
Use It Again
Waste Busters (Essex County Council)

Water

Water Companies
Anglian Water
Essex and Suffolk Water
Affinity Water (formerly Veolia Water East)

Water Use
Blueprint for Water
7 groups who have set out a blueprint for the UK's Water Supply
Centre for Alternative Technology
has an extensive guide to water harvesting
Environment Agency
Water efficiency advice and to report cases of pollution
Rainwater Harvesting Association
Links to member companies
Waterwise
Campaigns for sustainable water use. Has a useful list of water saving devices

Local Farmers’ Markets

 

Bury St Edmunds  - every Wednesday and Saturday Contact Tracey (TW Markets) 07870 437254 or e-mail bury@indoormarkets.co.uk

Brightlingsea – 4th Saturday of the month  9am-1pm at the Brightlingsea Community Centre CO7 0LG Contact Helen Bishop 01206 302055 secretary@bseacc.co.uk         www.bseacc.co.uk

Burnham on Crouch - 3rd Sunday of month 9am - 12.30pm Contact Jo Broughton 07932 627574

Colchester – 1st Friday of the month 9.30am – 12.30pm at the Colchester Arts Centre, CO1 1NF. Contact Rowly Castiglione 01206 367776 localfood@btinternet.com

Felixstowe - 1st Sat of Month 9am-1pm Contact Eric Moss 01728 688166

Frinton - 4th Friday of the month 9.00am - 12.00 noon  McGrigor Hall,  Fourth Avenue, Frinton-on-sea, CO13 9EB. Contact Ivan Clarke phone 01206 230524

Lavenham - 4th Sunday Contact Justine 01787 249168

Long Melford - 1st Sat of Month  10am-1pm Contact Ann Deasy 01787 269502

Maldon - 1st Tuesday Month 9am-1pm Contact Paul Irvine 07768 574407

Needham Market - 3rd Sat Month 9am-1pm Contact Joan Hardingham 01449 720820

Rowhedge - 1st Saturday Rowhedge Village Hall CO5 7HX Contact Yvonne 07780923688 e-mail rowhedgevillagehall@me.com

South Woodham Ferrers - 2nd Friday month 9.30am-1pm Contact Jo Broughton 07932 627574

Stowmarket - 1st Friday 9.30am-1.30pm Contact Emma Roberts 01449 612060 e-mail emma.roberts@stowmarket.org . This is a bit off the beaten track customers have to go through a shop to get to it.

Sudbury - last Friday of month 9.30am-1pm Contact Ian Clark 01787 372331

Jimmy's Farm Wherstead - 1st Sat of Month Contact Tanya Sadler 0870 950 0210

Witham - 2nd & 4th Tuesday of Month 9.30am-2pm Contact Wendy Harlow 01376 519440

Wivenhoe – 3rd Saturday of the month 9am – 12 noon at the Congregational Hall, High Street, Wivenhoe, CO7 9AB Contact Rowly Castiglione 01206 367776 e-mail localfood@btinternet.com  

Woodbridge - 2nd & 4th Sat of month 0.30am-1pm Contact Ian Whitehead 01379 384593

Allotments

 

It might be thought that vegetables are hardly worth growing but there are many advantages. Take the question of freshness - there can be no doubt that home-grown produce, freshly picked, has a quite different flavour to shop bought produce and with a family there can be quite a saving on greengrocery bills. It can also be very enjoyable to plan for and produce a regular supply of vegetables. A well cared for vegetable plot has its own visual appeal.

The 5 Main Benefits of keeping an allotment:

1. Eat well - When you grow your own you can enjoy the taste of delicious fresh vegetables grown without the use of pesticides or addition of chemicals.
2. Save money - It will greatly reduce greengrocery bills.
3. Keep fit- The exercise involved in tending an allotment is a good way to keep fit and healthy, but don't do too much too quickly.
4. Make friends - Most allotment holders are happy to offer advice to newcomers and to share their surplus plants.
5. Relax- Many people find that an hour or two spent working on an allotment can be very therapeutic.

10 Top tips for new allotment holders.

1. If you have no tools only buy the essentials at first- spade, fork, hoe, rake and trowel.
2. If your plot is weedy or full of grass it is best to remove as much vegetation as possible before you start to dig.
3. Don't rush digging - it can be hard work on the back! It is best to start in the autumn.
4. As you dig make sure you remove the roots of plants such as docks, dandelions, thistles and couch grass.
5. Draw up a plan. consider what you want to grow and where. Make sure you don't grow the same crop in the same place in consecutive years. This is called crop rotation.
6. Don't sow seeds too early. Wait until the ground warms up in April/May.
7. When watering do it thoroughly. If done sparingly it will cause the roots to come to the surface.
8. Make sure you support the plants that need it, such as peas, tomatoes and runner beans.
9. Visit your allotment every few days to keep the weeds at bay by hoeing.
10. Start a compost heap to take all vegetable waste matter. This will produce excellent compost to be dug in next year.

You can rent an allotment through Colchester Borough Council and sites are listed below. To enquire about availability write to Leisure Services, P0 Box 331, Town HaIl, phone 01206- 282909 or call in to Angel Court. In the villages allotment sites are usually administered by the parish councils.

Colchester Borough Council Allotment Sites

1. Stanway near New Farm Road

2. Lexden near Back Lane off Lexden Road

3. Hazell Avenue near Gosbecks Road and Layer Road

4. Irvine Road near Drury Road

5. Drury Road

6. Highfield Drive off Lexden Road

7. Sheepen Road near Colchester Institute

8. Bergholt Road near North Station

9. Severalls

10. Mercers Farm near the Superbowl

11. Notleys off Harwich Road

12. New Fairfield bottom of East Street

13. East Bay bottom of East hill

14. Brook Street

15. Grants Meadow Hythe Area near Parsons Lane

16. Littlebury Gardens near Barn Hall Avenue

17. The Willows near Thomas Lord Audley School

18. Blackheath behind Finchingfield Way

Organic Farming

 

Organic agriculture is a safe, sustainable farming system, producing healthy crops and livestock without damage to the environment. It avoids the use of artificial chemical fertilisers and pesticides on the land and the use of genetically modified organisms is prohibited. It relies instead on developing a healthy fertile soil and growing a mixture of crops. In this way the farm remains biologically balanced, with a wide variety of beneficial insects and other wildlife to act as natural predators for crop pests and a soil full of micro-organisms and earthworms to maintain its vitality. Animals are reared without the routine use of the array of drugs, antibiotics and wormers, which form the foundation of most conventional livestock farming.

Organic farming, now defined under European Union law, bans chemical fertilisers and pesticides, and uses rotations, mixed cropping and builds up soil fertility using pea crops rather than artificial fertilisers. Animals raised organically, without systematic use of antibiotics, have a strong immune system resistant to diseases and rarely need medicine. Organic yields are usually between 25% and 30% lower than in conventional farming, but the risk of disease is much lower.

Organic farming practices are better for the environment than practices used on conventional farms. A recent study of organic and conventional farms concluded that the organic farms held higher densities of birds than conventional farms, especially in winter. Breeding densities of skylarks were also strikingly higher on organic farms. Organic farming has clearly defined standards for the environment and conservation set down by the Soil Association and others.

Organic farms cover over 1.5% of the UK farmed area. In Sweden they cover 10% and in Italy 5%. The UK imports 70% of the organic food consumed and the demand is growing by 40% a year. In 1998 the Government spent £3,000 million on subsidies to farmers but only 3% of this was for agri-environmental schemes. Just 8% of the latter was allocated to help organic farmers (£6.2 million). More Government money was provided in 1999 through the Organic Farming Scheme, but this scheme was closed in August 1999 after the entire funding for 1999 and 2000 was used up in 4 months. In October a further £10 million was allocated but this was not expected to last for longer than 6 months.

The Soil Association commissioned a MORI survey in June 1999. One third of the public buy organic food perceiving it as:

• Healthy/better for you 53%
• Tasting better 43%
• GM free 30%
• Better for the Environment 28%
• Higher animal welfare 24%

The clear advantage of organic farming in nearly all agricultural policy areas, the current level of demand and the current policy opportunities mean organic production should now be taken up as a mainstream policy option for UK agriculture.

Further information:

  Soil Association