Soul Patch Shows

Welcome to the summer! Well not quite yet, as i write this weather reports are telling me that 20 degrees is on the horizon tomorrow so the BBQ is getting a dusting off and scrubbed down and thoughts of home made burgers and sausages are flooding through my mind. 

Our first #SoulPatchShow was last Sunday at the Holy Trinity parish hall and many of our friends and the local community descended on our show, buying baskets, garden veg, slurping freshly pressed apple juice straight from our brand new press and eating their way through loads of lemon drizzle, victoria sponge and of course chocolate cake!

We had great coverage in the form of our local paper The Stratford Herald which got the word out to the masses in the town and of course helped boost sales on the phone. We have been truly humbled by the way people in our community have chosen to buy from us and support us in our first year, and doing these shows we have had a unique opportunity to connect with our customers as growers, advise them, talk about our grand plans and hopefully create a long lasting relationship with them :)

We had special guests Transition Stratford with their stall promoting The Plastic Challenge idea (see previous blog) and beautiful Pashley bicycles (and Ian even managed to flog one!) Judith from Shakespeare's sister soap also brought down her fantastic home made soaps which were a hit with the ladies of the day :)

We were so pleased with our new press and after a serious session of scratting the apples, we had the most delicious tasting juice we, and everyone else that tried it had ever tasted. We are going round the school fetes this year with Freeda the pick up truck decorated to the hilt selling fresh juice and our other produce which we are convinced the kids are going to love.

Pashley bike stand

Tiddington #SoulPatchShow was all together a different vibe as it was just us but we met so many different people yet again all having great ideas about new ways of living, earning money out of the rat race and generally having a better life. We have signed up to do a few more 'pop up' markets this season which seem to be going down a real storm with the general public.

Oh and i also decided that it would probably be best if people knew where we lived so i thought i might make it completely obvious and put up ''a few'' baskets!

And for no other reason than i think 'Salad head' will be the next big thing on the catwalks of Milan i thought i would let you in on Lydias secret.

Hope its as hot as i think its going to be tomorrow and it is where you are and hopefully we can start our Summer. I sure hope so because  i have more than a few camping trips planned this year!!

Much love

The Soul Patch

The Big Plastic Challenge

A most interesting challenge and one very close to our hearts here at The Patch, Transition Stratford's Big plastic challenge is set to commence on Monday the 12th May.

Their aim......Transition Stratford’s Plastic Challenge is simple. In Week One, starting Saturday12 May 2012, we will shop as normal – but collect together every bit of plastic packaging that comes home with the shopping. Keep a note of how much packaging comes into your life.

In Week Two, starting Saturday 19 May 2012, we will aim to avoid as much as possible of the throw-away plastic we brought home in Week 1. To do that, we’ll need to change the way we shop – in particular avoiding single-use plastic packaging. We won’t eliminate the plastic in our lives, but we will see where we can cut back on avoidable plastic and reduce the amount of plastic that just goes to waste.

Now we all recycle these days and from a personal view my recycling bin is brimming with things to be sent off for the council recycling plant and this is a good thing.

 For many years landfills and our oceans have been brimming with polythene and polyurethane that takes an awful long time to decompose and sits in the ground or is washed up on our beaches thousands of miles away from its original source, god knows what truly lies beneath all that water but i bet it ain't good!

 We think this is is a great idea to get the average joe bloggs to actually realise how much they could avoid even putting in the recycling bins all together, by reusing existing bags, boxes, cartons and the like and take positive steps to saving a bit of mother earth and even save a few quid whilst they are doing it :)

  The real problem lies with the plastic that cannot be recycled and it's a surprising amount, from looking on the back of packets of supermarket bought sausages, mushrooms and even trays of salad, it all bears a label of non recyclable....

   

So if your up for a bit of a lifestyle change, I'm not saying that you have to, or preaching to anyone that doesn't fancy it, but if it turns out that you like buying from the local butchers with zero packaging or from your overly enthusiastic veg chap down the friday market who offers veg, just veg and a paper bag, you might cut down on a little of the non essential plastic and your kitchen bin doesn't need to be emptied three times a day!

See what you think, all the info is on Transition Stratford's page

http://www.transitionstratford.com/wordpress/?p=226

 Or find them on the almighty Facebook and drop them a line http://www.facebook.com/pages/Transition-Stratford/184114821607551

  Either way we are fully behind them and if you already have lots of non recyclable trays in your bin, dig them out punch some holes in the bottom of them, add a little compost and grow some salad or herbs in them on your window sill or greenhouse. Easy as you like and tastes great :)

All the best The Soul Patch Soapbox xxx