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Plant swap at the farmers’ market

On Saturday 14 May 2022 we see the very welcome return of Transition Tynedale’s popular plant swap. We’ve always been advocates of people knowing where their food comes from. Being able to talk to or ask questions of the person who made, grew or reared the food you are buying is one of our core criteria. We’re also advocates of people growing some of their own food, even if it is just a pot of herbs on a window sill. Both are important parts of a more towards greater resilience and food sovereignty, where we take responsibility for the food that we eat.

So we’re delighted to have the plant swap back. Most gardeners will grow more seedlings than they know what to do with; after all, you never know quite how many seeds are going to germinate, or how many might get eaten by sneaky slugs. We’re hoping that some of those surplus plants will make it to the market on Saturday for others to be helped out by them. More often than not we have more plants than we know what to do with, and if you haven’t got anything to add to the stall, don’t worry, you’d be welcome to take a few home and grow them on at home anyway.

In addition to the plant swap stall we have 22 fabulous local producers of great food and drink, all from within 50 miles of Hexham. The market runs between 9am and 1.30pm.

Two years on

This week is the second anniversary of the start of the Covid pandemic and the time we closed down, be it for a very short time. On the last market in 2020 the 10 Avenue Band had been booked to play music at the market and iut is only right that they’ll be coming back this Saturday, 26 March 2022. The 10th Aevnue Band is a colourful and very lively street band and we look really forward to having them with us this Saturday.

!0th Avenue Band in Morecambe ( (c) 10th Avenue Band))

We’ll also have Cycling Minds with us which will be providing free bicycle health checks.

Maggi Dearmer- TOC Aromatherapy

Some of you will remember Maggi and Malcolm Dearmer of TOC Aromatherapy who attended the market for many, many years and retired from the market at the end of 2018. Malcolm rang us last night to give us the sad news that Maggi died at home, just before Christmas. Maggi had struggled with her health for a number of years.

In addition to producing beautiful soaps and creams, Maggi was a director of Hexham Farmers’ Market Ltd for many years. Our thoughts are with Malcolm and their family at this difficult time.

Heading towards the end of the year

Those of you who visit the market regularly will have noticed that we have slowly grown over the past year or so and finding space for new producers is becoming a bit of a challenge at time. As we head towards the end of 2021 and the Christmas period we will also need to accommodate the Hexham Christmas tree and in early December we’ll have the Christmas Market and Abbey Christmas Fair.

The Christmas tree will go on the Beaumont Street side of the Abbey which means there will be fewer stalls on that side of the Abbey. We’ll need to use more of the space on the north side of the Abbey and are likely to squeeze the stalls a bit closer together to be able to accommodate everyone.

It is obviously great that more local prodcuers want to come to Hexham Farmers’ Market and we try to accommodate as many as possible, especially if they offer something the market doesn’t have. Obviously you’d also expect us to continue to maintain our standards and the core ethos of the market: prodcuers from within 50 miles of Hexham, use of home-grown and reared or locally produced ingredients where possible. The person on the stall shopuld be involved in the production process and every producer will have appropriate insurance, training and be registered with and inspected by their Local Authority.

market images

Apple Day at Hexham Farmers’ Market

We’re delighted to tell you that Saturday 9 October will be our apple day.  We missed last year (what with the pandemic and all) but thisa year we’ll be back with a great market.  In addition to our firneds from Transition Tynedale doing their ever popular apple pressing we’ve managed to persuadeRoz Nichol from Weardale to come back and provde you with an apple ID service. If you want to find out what the variety of that apple at the bottom of your garden is, or even in the garden of your enighbours, bring a few typical examples to the market and let Roz try and determine what it is.  Theer are said to be 2000 varieties of apple in the UK most of which you’ll rarely see in a shop, so if you want to see the difference between  Mrs Lakeman;’;s Seedling and a Ribston Pippin, this is your chance.  Roz will also have a reference collection of a wide variety of apples grown in the North of England for you to have a look at.

And Saturday’s market isn’t just apples; we’re expecting it to be the biggest of the year yet with 25 prodcuers, all from within 50 miles of Hexham bringing you the very best of their products.  We’re delighted to have Lee from Stonehouse Smokery back after a few months of doing weddings and we welcome Warwick Bridge Flour Mill for their first appearance as a guest.  Of course you’ll also find all the regulars!

Music will be coming from Tanners Yard, a Hexham-based Bluegrass band.

Heading into Autumn

This coming Saturday, 25 September 2021, is our first market after the Autumn Equinox and it is a fabulous time to visit the farmers’ market: the gardens providing lots of food so we have lots of choice from the veg stalls and the choice of jams and chuneys is brilliant.  As we are getting to some kind of new normal  after the Covid pandemic festivals and events have also started up again, so we do have a few producers who are going off to the Festival of Thrift in Redcar,  but we still have a brilliant array of regulars and new producers.

We’re celebrating the last few days of #SourdoughSeptember with Andrew from Bread and Roses providing you with a delicious choice of sourdough breads. Sourdough is a name for a mixture (dough or batter) of water and cereal flour containing a culture of naturally occurring yeasts and lactic acid bacteria. It is often also used to name breads and pancakes made using such a culture.

Yeasts and bacteria are present all around us – for example in the air, soil and water. Those well suited to bread production are found in relatively high populations on the surface of cereal grains, such as wheat. By grinding the grains into flour and providing a suitable environment for these microorganisms to thrive (basically by adding water, maintaining an appropriate temperature, and providing food in the form of more flour) these populations can be increased in size and concentration, where they co-exist in a symbiotic relationship.  Like yoghurt and kimchi sourdough bread is a fermented prodcut which your gut microbione will thank you for.

It’s also Organic September which celebrates all organic farming and food prodcution. Organic farming is one of the ways in which farming and nature can live in harmony and we’re delight to have a good spread of organic prodcuers at the market: Bluebell Organics with their vegetables and fruit, Askerton Castle Esate and Middlemay Lamb, both selling organic meat and Slackhouse Farm with organic cheese, milk and yoghurt.

On top of all that we’ll have music from Samantha and Emma from Birness in Upper Redesdale playing fiddle and clog dancing.

 

You’ll be very welcome between about 9am and 1.30pm on Saturday 25 September 2021!

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