Hello Folks,

Last week, the weather turned from more or less summery to definitely autumnal. One day every year, you wake up and there’s that crisp bite to the air, and you think: it’s soup season.

With soup, as with so much, it’s fine out of a tin, but homemade is something special. Yet, it’s so easy, and whizzing it up in the blender is always so satisfying. From veg in the box straight to smooth, creamy comfort. We’ve got brilliant soup ingredients in all the veg boxes this week. Why not make a cream of mushroom, a golden beetroot borscht, or a velvety, dense celeriac soup?

Yes, you read that right: celeriac is back. It’s always regarded as a slightly mysterious vegetable, with its turnipy looks and fresh, celery-ish flavour. And yet it’s as versatile and as full of potential as any of our lovely organic veg, and one you should experiment with as confidently as carrots. We’ll be posting a recipe later this week to help you make the most of it. Or there’s always soup.

It’ll be a double-recipe week (what a week!) as we’ll also be posting one for another slightly maligned ingredient, this time in the fruit bags. Damsons are plum-like fruit, which, though they are sour and potent, cook up delightfully into a sauce or jam to serve on toast or with a gamey meat or strong cheese.

As always, please keep us up to date on what you’re cooking! You can email us, post in our Facebook group, or tag us on Instagram.

Veg Box News

We’re sad to say that we won’t be opening the Open Food Network shop again this week. We need just a little more time to sort it all out, but it will be open again for next week.

Sorry about the inconvenience of this, and thank you everyone for your continued understanding.

I know there was a problem last week with some hummus orders. The hummus will be back in deliveries this week, and, drumroll please: we can now take hummus packaging away with your old boxes (like honey jars or milk bottles)! The hummus pots are Vegware, a compostable plastic made from plants, but they can’t be composted domestically, and it’s been unclear whether local councils accept them in food waste. We know this was a concern for a lot of you, so we’re pleased to say that we’re now part of the Vegware closed loop. Vegware packaging can be brought to Locavore for composting, and we can take hummus pots.

Speaking of returns please don’t forget to leave your milk bottles out for collection. Our friends at Mossgiel Farm are short around 30 000 bottles.

What’s happening at Rouken Glen?

“Since the frosts last week there are changes happening at the flower growing sites. Outside at the Croft, I am clearing the beds of non-productive crops to making space for seedlings of Foxgloves and Sweet William for next Spring.

Any beds that wont be used will be covered over the winter to keep the nutrients in the soil and stop weeds germinating, reducing the bed preparation work in the Spring. There are still a few beds going strong; Rudbeckia and Amaranth, until the weather shifts again.

In the glasshouse at Rouken Glen beds are being cleared to make space for tulip and narcissus bulbs, which will happily overwinter under cover and shoot up in the Spring. There are a few more weeks to add bouquets as an add-on to your veg box, and enjoy the warm autumn tones that are blooming in this dreich weather!”

Good Food Fund Update

Thank you to our customers who donate to the Good Food Fund. Your donations are used to send fruit and veg to charities that work with people living in food poverty.

In September we sent £2516.96 worth of produce to 10 partner organisations that run small independent foodbanks and community meals. You can find out more about the Good Food Fund here: https://glasgowlocavore.org/initiatives/good-food-fund/

In the veg boxes this week:

Subject to last minute changes

Small veg box	Farm	Organic Certifier
Potatoes	Chapel Farm	SA
Carrots	Mcleods Organics	SA
Chesnut Mushrooms	Orchard Organics	SA
Kale	Locavore Leftfield	SA

Standard veg box	Farm	Organic Certifier
Potatoes	Chapel Farm	SA
Onions	Chapel Farm	SA
Carrots	Mcleods Organics	SA
Beetroot – Golden	Chapel Farm	SA
Rainbow Chard	Locavore, Left Field	SA
Leeks	Chapel Farm	SA
Cucumber or lettuce	Locavore, Left Field	SA

Large veg box	Farm	Organic Certifier
Potatoes	Chapel Farm	SA
Onions	Chapel Farm	SA
Carrots	Mcleods Organics	SA
Beetroot – Golden	Chapel Farm	SA
Celeriac	Newfields, Yorkshire	SA
Chesnut Mushrooms	Orchard Organics	SA
Kale	Left Field, Locavore	SA
Acorn Squash	Strawberry Fields, Lincolnshire	SA

Extra Large veg box	Farm	Organic Certifier
Potatoes	Chapel Farm	SA
Onions	Chapel Farm	SA
Carrots	Macleods Organics	SA
Beetroot – Golden	Chapel Farm	SA
Celeriac	Newfields, Yorkshire	SA
Celery – mini	Leftfield, Locavore	SA
Chesnut Mushrooms	Orchard Organics	SA
Kale	Leftfield, Locavore	SA
Lettuce head	Leftfield, Locavore	SA
Parsely	Leftfield, Locavore	SA

Small fruit bag	Farm / Origin	Organic Certifier
Apples – Cox	Oakwood, East Essex	SA
Grapes – Red Globe	Spain	Caae

Medium fruit bag	Farm / Origin	Organic Certifier
Apples – Cox	Oakwood, East Essex	SA
Mango	Bioalgarrobo (Malaga)	Caae
Bananas	Dominican Republic	Ifoam

Large fruit bag	Farm / Origin	Organic Certifier
Plum – Damson	Pardoe, Hereford	SA
Grapes – Red Globe	Spain	Caae
Mango – osteen	Bioalgarrobo (Malaga)	Caae
Bananas	Dominican Republic	Ifoam
Apples – Cox	Oakwood, East Essex	SA

Extra large fruit bag	Farm / Origin	Organic Certifier
Apples – Cox	Oakwood, East Essex	SA
Bananas	Dominican Republic	Ifoam
Plum – Damson	Pardoe, Hereford	SA
Grapes – Red Globe	Spain	Caae
Mango – osteen	Bioalgarrobo (Malaga)	Caae

Small supplementary veg	Origin	Organic Certifier
Acorn Squash	Strawberry Fields, Lincolnshire	SA
Sweet Potatoes	Tradesana (Malaga)	Caae

Standard supplementary veg	Origin	Organic Certifier
Sweet Potatoes	Tradesana (Malaga)	Caae
Peppers – yellow	Haciendas, Spain	Caae
Squash- Acorn	Strawberry Fields, Lincolnshire	SA
Spinach	Rouken Glen, Locavore	SA

Enjoy!

The Locavore Team