This September, East Lothian retailers and producers are asking everyone to make a Small Change in their everyday lives, in order to make a Big Difference to our food and farming.
The Soil Association Scotland, the organisers of Organic September, is the UK’s leading membership charity campaigning for healthy, humane and sustainable food, farming and land use.
It is an ethos that Mike Callendar of East Coast Organics, firmly believes and is organising a farm visit on Sunday 14th September (1-4) to the Eco Farm near Morham (not the Boggs Holdings base).
“This is our yearly event for our members, customers, friends and anyone that is interested in sustainable food production. The whole event is a celebration for everyone that has believed in, and supported us over the past 18 years.
As always, it will be a fun day out for all the family with organic hot food and drinks and an organic market. There will be tours of the farm, polytunnels, crops and orchard, a kids corner with goats, kunekune pigs, rare breed sheep, geese and ducks as well as a chance to play on a JCB digger.”
Always thinking of the environment, Mike is keen to encourage visitors to be eco-friendly “Please try and car share or cycle. From Haddington head south to Gifford for 2 miles then take a left to Morham. The Eco Farm is 300m on the left EH41 4PD”.
Cocoa beans may not grow in Scotland but the demand for organic chocolate is certainly growing. Ali & Friederike Gower, of The Chocolate Tree, who specialise in crafting artisan chocolate from their small factory in Haddington, have recently re-launched their range of premium organic chocolate, with amazing flavours like sea salt & caramel and brambles with cardamon.
To create their chocolate bars, they work with an organic certified couverture (a very high quality chocolate). The blend of cacao beans used to produce the chocolate is sustainably & ethically sourced from Dominican Republic and Costa Rica. Organic farming ensures the preservation of biodiversity in these very special parts of the world.
Although most often associated with the food industry, the organic label covers fashion and beauty too as Rosemary Renton from the Small World, suppliers of Fairtrade certified organic cotton bags & homewares, in Prestonpans, is keen to point out: “Most people think of cotton as ‘natural’ but only organic certified cotton is kind to the planet, the producer and the purchaser. Conventionally produced cotton is an intensive process which accounts from almost one quarter of all the world’s insecticides. This results in terrible conditions for the cotton growers and thousands of chemicals are used to turn raw material into the textiles that we put next to our skin every day.”
By choosing organic we can all support a kinder, greener and more ethical way of living – from more bees and hedgerows, better animal welfare, and shorter more trustworthy supply chains.
For more information about Organic September, visit www.soilassociation.org