Friday fresh produce market coming to St Peter Port’s Market Square

March 16th, 2012 by Fresh Friday

(click on image to download PDF Fresh Friday flyer)

The Fresh Friday market comes to Market Square in St Peter Port beginning on 13 April 2012.

Local producers and traders will sell fresh Guernsey food every Friday in the Market Square from 8.30 am to 2.30 pm.

For details on establishing a stall at the Fresh Friday Market please download the accompanying PDF files by clicking on the images. Continue reading

Mondomundi celebrates Fairtrade

March 13th, 2012 by Mondomundi

Barbara Crowther, Phil Soulsby and Heidi Soulsby enjoying a Fairtrade chocolate teapot party (click image to expand - image ©Chris George)

Mondomundi held an event to raise awareness of the importance of buying Fairtrade chocolate and other products at its Traidcraft Big Brew evening on Monday 5 March 2012.

Traidcraft’s Big Brew campaign is a nationwide initiative that helps individuals, businesses and the community host events that highlight how Fairtrade brings hope to many thousands of poor producers across the globe.

Barbara Crowther, Fairtrade Foundation’s director of communications and policy, attended the event while visiting Mondomundi as part of Fairtrade Fortnight. Continue reading

The Channel Islands Co-operative Society’s support for Fairtrade

March 7th, 2012 by The Channel Islands Co-operative Society Limited

The Channel Islands Co-operative Society has furthered its commitment to Fairtrade products and has pledged to stock only Fairtrade certified bananas in its Jersey and Guernsey stores from this month.

“The Society is well known for its strong commitment to retailing Fairtrade products,” said Jim Plumley, Chief Commercial Officer for The Channel Islands Co-operative Society. “As the retailer which introduced Fairtrade bananas to consumers in the Channel Islands, we are delighted to commit to ensuring that all of our bananas come from registered Fairtrade organisations from this month onwards.” Continue reading

Greenhouse gas emissions caused by what we eat

February 15th, 2012 by Lancaster University

The UK could considerably reduce its carbon footprint if more of us switched to a vegetarian diet, according to new research by Lancaster University.

The report ‘Relative greenhouse gas impacts of realistic dietary choices’ published in the journal Energy Policy says that if everyone in the UK swapped their current eating habits for a vegetarian or vegan diet, our greenhouse gas emissions savings would be the equivalent of a 50% reduction in exhaust pipe emissions from the entire UK passenger car fleet or 40 million tonnes.

Eating locally produced vegetables such as these from Guernsey Organics minimises food-produced greenhouse gas emissions (click image to expand - ©RLLord)

From biscuits and bananas to beer and wine, everything in our shopping basket comes at a cost to the environment and each stage of food production – from farming and transport to storage and packaging -results in greenhouse gas emissions.

By working out the typical greenhouse gas emissions associated with the production of 61 different categories of food, using supermarket data supplied by Booths, the authors of the report, Professor Nick Hewitt of Lancaster University and Mike Berners-Lee of Small World Consulting, were able to work out the typical emissions associated with a number of different diets.

They worked out that the combined greenhouse gas emissions from the foods we eat in the UK are the equivalent of 167 million tons of carbon dioxide equivalent, and switching to vegetarian or vegan diets could cut this by between 22 and 26 per cent.

Fresh meat had the highest emissions of all, but meat and cheese had generally high green house gas costs. These emissions were largely caused by methane from rumination, slurry and farm yard manure and nitrous oxide from fertilizer.

Meat has a carbon footprint at the checkout of 17kg of carbon dioxide equivalent per kilogram. Cheese has 15kg.

Cooked meats are also high at 11kg per kilogram, with bacon at 9kg.

Exotic vegetables and mushrooms are high (9kg), largely because of freight and glasshouse heating costs.

In contrast, fruit and vegetables grown without artificial heating and/ or were shipped to the UK by sea, have low emissions. Wine has a carbon footprint of 2kg per kilogram, and potatoes, apples, milk, bread and cereals are under 2kg.

Professor Nick Hewitt said “greenhouse gases resulting from man’s activities are changing the composition of the atmosphere, ultimately, with effects on global climate. It is clear that in order to meet the ambitious emissions reductions targets agreed in the UK and elsewhere, emissions from every possible source category have to be addressed and driven down. Food production, particularly by industrialised agricultural practices, causes significant green house gas emissions. Realistic choices about diet can make substantial differences to embodied GHG emissions.”

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Mike Berners-Lee is the author of “How Bad Are Bananas? The Carbon Footprint of Everything”

WildGuernsey Wild food foraging workshops in winter & spring 2012

January 30th, 2012 by Events

WildGuernsey guests sharing wild food at Pouquelaie Vinery (click image to expand - image courtesy of WildGuernsey)

12 February 2012

WildGuernsey at Pouquelaie Vinery, Rocquaine Road, St Pierre du Bois, Guernsey offers an ‘Introduction to WildFood Foraging‘ on Sunday 12 February 2012 from 1 pm to 4 pm.  The £30 course includes tapas.

11 March 2012 Continue reading

Gorgeous Guernsey food and cook book by Tony Leck

December 13th, 2011 by Richard Lord

Tony Leck has a produced a delicious book, Pavilion on a Plate – Fresh Flavours of Guernsey, lavishly illustrated with food and farm photography by Ally Clark.

The book encapsulates Guernsey’s food culture with gorgeous recipes and lovely vignettes of island life.

(click book cover to go to Tony Leck's Pavillion on a plate website)

Continue reading

Four Guernsey primary schools compete in the Big Soup Kitchen Challenge to support two charities

December 8th, 2011 by Richard Lord

Four primary schools took part in the Big Soup Kitchen challenge in aid of Bridge2SriLanka and the GSPCA.

The event was held in the Town Church in St Peter Port, Guernsey on 6 December 2011.

Vauvert Primary school, Melrose Junior School, Notre Dame du Rosaire Primary School, and Amherst Primary school prepared four delicious soups.

Primary school soup creators from Vauvert, Melrose and Notre Dame du Rosaire with Lieutenant Governor of Guernsey Air Marshal Peter Walker and his wife Lynda and Sarah Griffith of Bridge2SriLanka between them in a hat, with school teachers Ms Whitehead (left) and Ms. Lampert (right) (click image to expand - ©RLLord)

Vauvert Primary school children assisted by Year 3 teacher Ms. Jerry Whitehead created a beautiful velvety vegetable soup. Continue reading

UN reports global shift towards a low-carbon resource-efficient and socially inclusive green future

November 20th, 2011 by United Nations Environment Programme

(click on report cover to go to United Nations Environment Programme report download page)

A UN report, Towards a Green Economy: Pathways for Sustainable Development and Poverty Eradication, demonstrates that governments and businesses alike are taking steps to accelerate a global shift towards a low-carbon, resource-efficient and socially inclusive green future.

From China to Barbados, Brazil to South Africa, countries are developing Green Economy strategies and activities to spur greater economic growth and jobs, environmental protection and equality. Continue reading

We need wholesome, seasonal food, raised organically, procured locally, prepared lovingly, and eaten with a reverence for the circle of life

November 4th, 2011 by Center Street

Virginia farmer Joel Salatin is a man with a message for all of us in his book, ‘Folks, this ain’t normal: A Farmer’s Advice for Happier Hens, Healthier People, and a Better World’ published by Center Street and available from Amazon UK.

(click on book cover to go to book website)

Imagine, four generations of a family living on a farm surrounded by verdant fields and blooming gardens; feasting on compost-grown, pasture-raised food freshly picked or straight from the over-flowing basement larder then minimally prepared in the home kitchen; working together in the barn and fields during the day and gathering around the table at night. Continue reading

Guernsey smallholders offer free class on keeping poultry on 1 November 2011

November 1st, 2011 by Guernsey Smallholders

The Guernsey Smallholders are providing a free class on poultry keeping beginning at 7 for 7.30 pm on Tuesday 1 November 2011 at the British Showjumping Ground meeting hall, Chemin Le Roi, off Forest Road, St Martin (in the back lane behind St Margaret’s Lodge Hotel).

A chicken and chicks by Sausmarez Road on 28 July 2011 (click image to expand - ©RLLord)

The evening is completely free and a great way to learn about different aspects of keeping all kinds of poultry.

Please contact Sarah Brown on 07781 108930 or Claire Febrache on 07781 154992 for any queries about this event.