Farmers Market STARTING 10th September!

Ned

Dear all,
thank you so much to those who helped with ideas & suggestions in the last discussion about this! It's really come together over the last month and FINALLY sorted out the location etc which I'm afraid had held things back a little. Here are a few main features & details:

1) It's going to be called Stroud Green Market
2) It'll be in the grounds of Stroud Green Primary, Woodstock road N43EX (actually though the main action will be on the Perth road side, opposite the Faultering Fullback)
3) It'll happen every Sunday, 10-2:30, starting 10th September (the weekend after the schools go back)
4) There will be all the farmers market staples, TOP quality & plenty of choice: veg, meat, fish, bread, flowers, local honey, amazing cheese, raw milk, eggs etc. Plenty of organic stuff but I've tried to arrange options for all sorts at different price levels.
5) On top of this there will be the fine foods/health food/deli items, whether this is locally made cake or fresh pasta, ferments, foreign/regional specialities etc
6) Good Coffee, HOT FOOD and drinks of all sorts including alcoholic
7) Finally, we really want there to be a good time for everyone with music, entertainment for families & children, benches & tables to hang out at, hopefully someone to fix your bike....

....and home delivery so you can buy as much as you like!

There's a lot more to say & I hope you'll all have comments and questions - please write them & I'll try to reply to everyone.

I've also got favours to ask of all community-minded people, and particular advice I need on certain things, which I'll put in a separate post.

I REALLY hope that the name, location, and timing of the market is suitable to most people. I thought a lot about these things earlier in the year, when so many of you gave your opinions, and I reckon that although I couldn't please everyone, what I've gone for is what most people seemed to want. I Hope!

Anyway that's enough for now, can't wait for September!
Ed

Arkady

This sounds brilliant. I'm sure it must have taken tonnes of work to get it off the ground. Bravo.

I'll get it out on the stroudgreen.org Twitter..

r8chelcb

Really exciting. Great to see so much effort going into this. Stroud Green Market is the right name I think and like the idea of bike fixing too. Maybe as things develop, might be nice to have one or two second hand or vintage clothing stalls but I guess we'll see how things develop...

miss annie

Will there be tea?

alcargill

@Ned this is amazing, so excited to check it out in september.

lazyatom

Fantastic news! Really looking forward to supporting it.

CityOfSin

So pleased about this. See you in September!

helen

Excellent news! Well done @Ned

trainspotter

Great stuff!

Luirette

Really looking forward to this! I never made it to the one in Alexandra Palace as it seemed too much of a faff, so great to have one on the doorstep.

vetski

Looking forward to it already!!

minim

Excellent news! Looking forward to it.

Soon

I think it will be a great addition for The Stroud Green community!

Ned

Thank you everyone! I can't tell you how wonderful it is to have encouragement in a project like this.

Miss annie: yes of course! there'll be everyday tea, but on top of this I believe that urban native are coming with all their herbal teas & infusions.

Any other questions, queries & concerns, let me know.

miss annie

Excellent. I am not one bit bothered about coffee, tea is everything.

grenners

Yorkshire tea!

Sutent

It has to be Yorkshire tea hard water

grenners

I should do the Pepsi challenge on that because I'm cynical on ether there is a difference.

Ned

is yorkshire gold actually nicer than regular? Anyway I'll bring along a bit of everything...

miss annie

There is a slight difference when you try it with hard or soft water.

I would love to see a farmers market be brave about bringing a tea bar with lots of different teas. There are about 400 different kinds of tea, the most I've ever seen on offer in a dining establishment is twenty four. It would be great to see more than just builder's, green and some fruit nonsense on a tea cart. But Yorkshire is a great start, thank you.

Arkady

I agree with Miss Annie. A nice selection of loose leaf. Also, a cauldron of hot, milky spiced chai.

Scruffy

Although I've had a PG Tips habit since childhood, I agree with Miss Annie and Arkady. It would be nice to be able to sample different teas and develop a better appreciation of them. However, tea has been losing ground to coffee (unintentional pun) for many years in this country, yet seems to be more expensive in real terms than ever. Not that surprising it's losing popularity, considering a pot of tea in almost any restaurant is one miserably small teabag in enough water to wash your feet in. Might as well be boiled water only. It's a shame that the "fruit nonsense" infusion brigade have hijacked the noun "tea" to mean anything vaguely botanical rather than the leaf of the tea bush. But I rant. Yes, please, tea at the farmers' market.

Ali

This is the place to go for tea. http://www.theteahouseltd.com

Scruffy

Thanks, Ali, but even their chea... er... least expensive black tea, while it might be a cut or two above PG, is four times the price! Makes more sense to me to spend the difference on beer.

Ali

Sensible

Ned

Don't worry Scruffy there'll be beer too at the market...though it may be a bit more expensive than fosters. Maybe you should spend the difference on tea!?

miss annie

No @Ali, Fortnums is the place to go for teas. I share Scruffy's love of PG but always keen to try new teas. I'm a fan of a nice Oolong too.

Ali

I guess it is handy just down the road

Scruffy

Well, tea, beer, and other such nice trimmings notwithstanding (congratulations on getting the licensing to sell alcohol!), I hope this will be a farmers’ market in the original sense of the term, i.e., there will be produce being sold by the producers, thereby (aside from the organisers or administrators of the market—ideally it would be a coöperative) cutting out the "entrepreneurs".

Then again, even if it isn’t a farmers’ market in that strict sense, I think many Stroud Greeners will be glad of the diversion from the usual shops, the less motor traffic, and the additional attractions.

Ned

Yes I hope so! My first hope was to make a "purist" farmers market with only the primary producers selling directly, and it's only been more recently that I've seen the benefit to everyone of a wider array of stalls. If anything is retailed I'll do my best to make sure that (1) the seller has a direct link with the producer and (2) the stall offers something that either virtue of quality or variety provides something you can't otherwise find around here. The exception to this is a few local shops (notably Deli at 80 and urban native) who I feel deserve a presence, and who are both working on doing something unique to the market.

There will be meat, dairy, eggs, fruit & veg sold by the farmers, fish sold by the fisherfolk, bread sold by local bakeries, etc

Alfie.

Perhaps in time a flower stall could also feature? And maybe it could have a more Christmas focus in December (Christmas trees, stocking fillers, mulled wine etc.)