Getting to Know Your Local Farm Shop

Our very own Anna in conversation with the Soil Association

Our very own Founder and Farmer’s Daughter Anna has recently been in conversation with the Soil Association (the guys who certify us as organic!) to discuss getting to know your local farm shop. Anna, who has lived and worked on our organic farm in Devon since 2002, also discusses the importance of agroecology on the farm (including work in our Market Garden) and the sense of community we see thanks to our organic Farm Shops. Read the full article, Why you should get to know your local organic farm shop, on the Soil Association Blog here.

Getting to Know Your Local Organic Farm Shop

Getting to know your local organic Farm Shop has so many benefits, with one of the key advantages being the knowledge of exactly where your food has come from and how it’s been produced. Frequently visiting your neighbourhood Farm Shop helps to build a trusting relationship with the farmer. Provenance of food is increasingly becoming a priority for a lot of eco-conscious shoppers, and supporting organic Farm Shops like ours helps to produce food in a sustainable way, in tandem with nature.

Knowing where your food is coming from and building that relationship with the producer also helps to avoid greenwashing. Greenwashing is when a seller or producer misleads customers purposely to make them think a product is more sustainable than it actually is. Visiting the Farm Shops in person and having conversations with the farmers and producers can help to clarify provenance, and you may hear some interesting stories too!

If nothing else, paying a visit to your local organic Farm Shop may help you to discover new, interesting and tasty produce. At our Eversfield Organic Farm Shops in Tavistock, Totnes and Marlborough, we’re always offering samples of organic food and drinks for customers to try.

How Can You Feel More Connected to Your Food?

Aside from visiting your local Farm Shop, chatting to the staff and benefiting from the sense of community, the direct route to market helps to connect customers to their food. Avoiding supermarkets can not only help the producers make a fair profit for their work, but also keeps produce as fresh as possible.

Getting directly involved in your local Farm Shop, or even the farm itself, is also a great way to stay connected to your food. Many local farms offer volunteering opportunities, wonderful for learning just how organic food is produced, and you may even receive some free samples too!

The Eversfield Organic Farm Shops

One of the best things about our organic Farm Shops is that there is always something new to explore. As an organic Farm, we like to follow nature when supplying our Farm Shops with organic food, meaning you’ll always find unique, seasonal produce in both the Shop and the Cafes. With this in mind, it’s no wonder that our shops have changed a little since our last update…

In our newest Farm Shop, Marlborough, we’ve opened a brand-new Food to Go Counter, which offers the finest organic food and drink for those sustainable snackers who live a busy lifestyle. The counter offers organic savoury and sweet treats alongside hot and cold drinks to grab and go. The newest organic snack to grace our counter is our organic Breakfast Rolls, perfect for an organic breakfast on the go, coming in three yummy varieties.

In both the Marlborough and Totnes organic cafes, our new, seasonal menu has been launched. The new menu sees a series of new dishes complement the classic brunch choices, utilising seasonal produce to create both tasty and environmentally conscious choices. Going forward, our menus will be tweaked slightly with the changing of the food seasons, so keep an eye out for new dishes soon!

If the idea of keeping connected with your food is something the piques your interest, we’ve got a range exciting opportunities for you. Our Farm Shops & Cafes in Marlborough, Totnes and Tavistock are all looking for various job roles, available to browse and apply here.

Check out Anna’s full article with the Soil Association here.