Meet your growers

Alice and Ashlea from our Dagenham Farm grow a lot of produce for the veg scheme: salad and leafy greens, tomatoes, beans, cucumbers, rhubarb and herbs.

Fruit and veg scheme farmer

Syd Aston's range of organic bread includes sourdoughs, walnut levain, spelt sourdoughs, sourdough rye, multi-grain cobs, cholla, as well as traditional soda breads and croissants. He makes excellent Eccles cakes, mince pies, lardy cakes and crodos (a tasty merging of a croissant with a doughnut) too.

Farmers' market: weekly

These Soil Association certified organic vegetable gardens form part of an organic farm with large gardens, a historic house and conference and education centre. The vegetable gardens are also key to the centre's work with young people, providing work experience for those in the Grow to Grow programme, providing supported placements for vulnerable and disadvantaged young people who are in transition, excluded or recovering from mental health problems, and young people in and leaving care. You can also camp at the site and check in on how your vegetables are growing.

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Farmers' market: weekly during peak harvest season (summer/autumn)

Global Fusion is a small family business run by Colga Parker. She makes a wide range of traditional creole soda breads flavoured with fruit and spices and vegan fritters with her famous hot sauce. All her products are vegan and she uses organic flour and biodynamic wholemeal flour sourced from Perrycourt Farm. Colga will also bake birthday and celebration cakes to order. Check their website for details.

Farmers' market: weekly

Home Farm Nacton produces organic vegetables and conventional crops in Suffolk under teh management of Andrew Williams. They previously supplied the veg scheme through the wholesaler Langridge, but we're now buying from them direct.

The farm is a patchwork of woodland, heath, grass and arable land and comprises 1,170 hectares on the historic Orwell Park Estate on the north bank of the Orwell estuary near Ipswich.

The company is a significant contributor to the regional economy and Home Farm Nacton plays an active role in the local community.

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Eric Beaumont is a Hackney-based bee-keeper who sells honey and beeswax from hives in Walthamstow, Tottenham Marshes, Epping and Dagenham at our market on a seasonal basis. He also often has comb honey and baker's honey (slightly too "wet" and often starting to ferment - perfect for cooking). He is always at the market in late autumn and in the weeks leading up to Christmas, and often has a stall at other times of year too. The Dagenham honey is made in hives set up by Eric on our Dagenham Farm.

Farmers' market: weekly until the honey runs out  

Langridge is an organic wholesaler selling UK-grown and imported fruit and veg through Covent Garden market. It also has its own farms, including Langridge Farm in Devon, which is run by David Govier. The farm consists of 270 acres of traditional mixed organic land, split between vegetable production, livestock and mixed managed woodland. David’s main crops are spinach, chards and kales. He also grows some wonderful purple and white sprouting broccoli along with hearty cabbage.

Better Food Shed supplier​ farmer and wholesaler

Paul Ward and Sara Rowan started growing fruit organically in 1994, after discovering that 90% of the UK organic fruit market was supplied by imports, sending the environmental benefits of these production systems abroad. They now grow fruit on five sites in Kent which include conservation areas to provide bio-diversity and a home for natural predators who feed upon the crop’s insect pests as well as offering a wealth of habitat for native wildlife. They grow apples for the box scheme.

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Rosemary & Howard Wass were early pioneers of organic farming. They started organic vegetable horticulture in 1986 and by 1990 their entire farm was certified organic.

The farm lies high on the southern edge of the North York Moors. Howard confounded the view of a Ministry of Agriculture adviser at the time, who said “he must be off his trolley” to be contemplating growing vegetables on this marginal land. At an altitude of 650ft above sea level, it must be one of the highest organic farms in the country. Approximately half of the farm lies on sandy loam soils over yellow sand and limestone, the remainder is on black peaty soils over sandstone. 60 acres of the land is dedicated to wheat, oats and spring barley, about 12 acres for livestock feeding, 25 acres for potatoes and 25 acres for our vegetables.

For the Wass family, organic growing has always been an application of faith and their belief in social and environmental justice.

After Howard's death in 2007 Newfields Organics was run by Rosemary. She has now retired and handed farm management to John and Rachel. They supply the veg scheme with outstanding quality field vegetables – potatoes, carrots, beetroots, cabbages and other brassicas.

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Oakwood Farm supplies our veg scheme with delicious apples. It’s one of only a few small licensed organic orchards in the Sussex High Weald. Owned by Matthew and Carol Wilson, the farm achieved full organic status in September 1999 and has been producing fabulous apples and a fabulous range of varieties ever since.

Matthew and Carol are passionate about the environmental benefits of organic farming. "Organic production means sustaining a natural, diverse and healthy balance between the crop the farmer introduces, and the surrounding ecosystem of good soil and beneficial wildlife - such as plants, insects, mammals and birds - that control fruit pests."

Apple varieties grown on the farm are: Cox, Egremont Russet, Fiesta, Ida Red, Jonagold, Spartan, Falstaff and Adams Pearmain with new varieties being introduced all the time.

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A collaborative network selling award-winning organic cow's and sheep's milk cheeses direct from several makers across the UK: Feltham's Farm in Somerset (including Gert Lush, Rebel Nun, Lucky Marcel), High Weald Dairy in Sussex (including Brighton Blue, Sussex Slipcote), Caws Teifi in south Wales (amazing organic halloumi) and Connage Highland Dairy near Inverness (specialising in gouda). 

Feltham’s Farm’s Penny Nagle is passionate about organic dairy and loves enabling Hackney residents to experience what makes organic cheeses delicious and sustainable.

“For great cheese the quality of the milk is essential. Organic certification, if you’re an organic dairy farmer, is just that extra layer of environmental auditing, animal welfare and security you can pass onto the customer,” she says.

Farmers' market: weekly

Pear Necessities sells organic pears at the market from September through to Christmas from their small organic pear orchard near Goudhourst in Kent.  The 10 acre orchard grows four varieties of pear: Conference, Comice, Packham and Concorde. Pear Necessities is a partnership established in 2008 to convert an existing conventionally farmed orchard to organic methods. Pear Necessities aim to grow fruit using carbon-conserving methods of feeding and disease control.  The farm received full organic status in August 2010 and is now planting a new fruit and nut orchard in a 7 acre pasture beside the existing pear orchard. In years to come they will be harvesting (and selling!) apples, plums, cherries, figs, apricots and more.

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Farmers' market: seasonal (usually from September to December)

Spanning 950 hectares of organic crops, 300 hectares of organic dairy, and 600 hectares of conventional arable land in South Yorkshire, Pollybell is vast compared with the small-scale farms supplying our vegetable box scheme. Our Dagenham Farm covers less than a hectare! James uses strip companion planting, robotic weeders and solar arrays mounted over his reservoir to enhance his organically certified growing.

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Ripple Farm is a small organic, horticultural farm of 14 acres situated in the Stour Valley at Crundale, Kent. Martin Mackey and his team grow a wide range of vegetables, salad crops, herbs and some soft fruit. Martin's particular passion is potatoes: he grows more than 15 different organic varieties. His favourite potato? Arran Victory.

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Farmers' market: weekly

Soleshare offer fresh catch from day-boat fishers Paul and Lucy in Hastings. Lucy is one of the few female fishers who has her fishing skipper's licence. Soleshare also provide catch from Sole of Discretion fish coop in Plymouth, as well as smoked fish direct from Pinneys of Orford in Suffolk. 

In addition to fresh fish, Soleshare director and Cordon Bleu trained chef Delphine creates delicious and original offerings at her fortnightly stall, such as fish sausages, pâtés and marinated oven-ready dishes. 

What sets Soleshare apart is that they only buy their catch from small-scale fishers, who operate day-boats of no more than 10 meters. This keeps traditional fishing methods alive and ensures sustainable and seasonal catch. 

Farmers' market: fortnightly