The recent potato days at Stroud Farmers’ Market were hugely successful and great fun – perhaps you were there?  We’ve been attending for 15 years through our sister company, Down to Earth and it’s a fantastic opportunity to show people there’s more to the humble potato that you might think, the sheer variety of species and swap ideas about the best ways to enjoy them.  It’s that household staple that’s on everyone’s shopping list, but did you know that potatoes are one of the most energy efficient foods you can grow, in terms of nutrients and water they need and the energy, in return, that we get from eating them?   Stroud’s Potato Day events mark the start of the ‘chitting’ season and celebrate the start of the growing year;  ‘chitting’  is the traditional method of preparing the potatoes to ensure they’re in the optimum condition before they are planted from mid-March onwards.   Here’s a tip: to ‘chit’ your own potatoes, just spread some semi-sprouted varieties out in a room from January/February onwards, without too much sunlight and keep them cool. Remember to check the variety, as different species harvest at different times, so it depends if you want an early ‘new’ potato, or a later, more versatile main crop.

This event and Stroud Farmers’ Market in general showed us yet again, the many benefits and importance of buying direct from small, local farmers and producers.  As producers ourselves, meeting shoppers and fellow food lovers helps us to know what we’re doing right or what we could improve and to exchange ideas.   

More than this, buying direct is important for all of us.  With family farms under threat from proposed Government policies, buying directly from small farmers and producers could help them strengthen their business and send a message to policy makers.  It’s also about connecting communities, reducing road miles, food resilience – if a seed is saved locally, it develops characteristics to cope with the local environment.  So support your local farmers and food producers, whether at the Farmers’ Market or however you can – when they’re no longer there, it will be too late.