Eating Local Produce

Having been brought up in the Country by members of the farming community both my Husband and I were fed lots of local produce, it was a way of life passed down by the generations. My Father and Grandfather were excellent gardeners and kept us supplied with large quantities of homegrown fruit and veg which not only fed us in season but were prepared for the freezer to eat during the Winter months. One of my favourite garden related jobs was picking and shelling peas from the pod, I loved them popping out! Also runner beans were put in the industrial handle shredder, I loved to turn the handle while all the slices fell into the bowl. It was clamped onto the side of the table so it never fell off, (unlike the modern plastic one I purchased a few years ago with a suction base that 'let go' when you tried to do any serious work with it!). My Father also brought home bulk buys of local meat that was butchered in our own village with meat from local farmers, we never needed to buy meat from supermarkets.
My Father is now a Grandad to my children and still grows food, our favourite is his homegrown strawberries! My Father has grown what seems like a field full of strawberries for many years now but as always there is a story behind it! It all started with my visit to our local agricultural show, the Devon County Show. I was a school girl with a little bit of pocket money looking for a gift to take home. There were strawberries for sale everywhere, strawberries and cream prepared to eat (very expensive for one small meal), punnets of strawberries which I was tempted to buy one to take home for my family then I noticed the third option of purchasing a strawberry plant which I decided was the best option as this would produce more every year! I took this plant carefully home to my parents and gave it to my Father, he laughed, "one plant, that won't go very far!". He went out and bought some more and they produced so well that the next year he planted a whole patch and now it is a firmly established family tradition thanks to moi.
Here are some of this years produce grown, picked and delivered to the door by Grandad.