2004 was a great year for us, and here’s for 2005.

I started BigBarn in 2000 to help meet the growing demand for safe food. Following so many food scares a large number of people were looking for local food perceived safe due to freshness and accountability. In 2004/5 this is still a good reason to buy local although two other factors have now been recognised. These are; the willingness to support ones local community and cutting food miles. The Green issue.

2005 will see BigBarn getting more local food to local people by catalysing the local food supply chain. Our local food section in supermarkets is a win, win, win for consumers, producers and communities and should gain a great deal of media interest, especially if seen as a ‘good fight’ against the corporate power of big business. I am telling supermarkets that they have lost the trust of the consumer, their customer, and to get it back they need to hand over space in their shops to local farmers.

If you agree, and have not already registered, please register here, and I hope you have a marvellous 2005.

Happy Christmas form us all at BigBarn. We will be tucking in to lots of local produce over the festive period and hope you have found some good tasty ingredients in your area.

We have had a great year and at last found a small supermarket in Norfolk wanting to trial our local food section. If you live near Wroxham you could be the first to enjoy a big range of local produce with the added convenience of usual supermarket goods.

I will keep you posted on events as they roll out in 2005 and hope that it will not be too long before your local supermarket realises that to regain your trust they need to let a bit of power go. Give space to the local community and let farmers and producers reconnect with local consumers.

A bold ambition, but together we can do it. We have the power. My latest favourite saying.

HAPPY CHRISTMAS and prosporous new year.

My Dad sent me an article from The Countryman Magazine this week which was about farmers markets and the changing way people are shopping now. It made very interesting reading and I thought I would share some of it with you.

The article was by John Carter who was retiring from pork production which he and his family sold through farmers markets (among other places) since they began attending only the second farmers market in the country. As they retire there are almost 500 farmers markets in the UK. This alone goes to show the growing popularity of this kind of shopping over the last few years.

The growing network of farmers markets was met with suspicion by local shops which feared their trade would fall, only to be delighted to find that on market days everyones trade increased due to the amount of new customers attracted by the market. Supermarkets have the opposite effect on local shops I think you will agree.

Some of the myths created by the supermarkets have been challenged by farmers markets and shown to be rubbish. People are coming to understand again that a twisted carrot merely grew round a clod or stone and isnt dying from a plague. We can only hope that the pressure will be put on supermarkets not to force farmers to produce unrealistic plastic looking fruit and vegetables.

The article makes a good case study for what is happening in a specific part of the country but hopefully this is being repeated everywhere. If you have any comments on the growth of farmers markets and the way shopping is changing, let us know in the forum .You can just login as guest and post a message. If you register with BigBarn you can get our monthly newsletter which is postcode specific and will have information about your local area.

When supermarkets first had their ‘deli’ counters you had to take a ticket and wait for an age to get called. It seems now you can just go straight up and get served. I think I have discovered why.

The convenience of just picking goods off the shelf as you go round is one thing, but have you ever looked at the produce. Yesterday, when searching for some tasty ham, I could not find any with a British label. Every bit had an EU tag on and ranged in price between 43p to £1.60 per 100g. The huge price range for such a similar looking product is saying ’something very dodgy here’. And when I asked the lady behind the counter I was told “the cheap stuff is full of water”. I am sure I am not the only one to experience this.

After wondering what else was added or mechanically recovered to make the ham so cheap I gave up my search realising I was in the wrong place. The biggest food shop for miles around but not one piece of decent British ham. Once again, how disappointing.

The trouble is a great deal of the cheap hams do taste like proper ham and in a toasted sandwich with cheese and tomato are difficult to detect. But what else is in there and is it bad for us in the long term. If we buy expensive British ham in the supermarket are we being conned. I have noticed quality products, like pheasant for instance, have a greater mark up. Supermarkets think we perceive them to be expensive therefor they make them so.

Usual story I suppose, we are slowly getting more and more let down by supermarkets and the answer is to buy direct from a good local supplier. Taste the difference, enjoy doing your bit for your local community as well as saving food miles for the planet.

Or, buy some local pork and cure you own ham and bacon. One of my 2005 resolutions as soon as my friend Chris Corbett has fattened his first batch of Gloucester Old Spot porkers. According to our new friend Hugh at River Cottage it is very easy, see page 412 of his fantastic Meat book. If you would like to know more we have signed copies for £29 including postage. If anyone needs a Christmas present phone us on 01234 871 005 or email bill@bigbarn.co.uk.