Our local producers

The process of certification to organic standards can be very costly and time-consuming and is therefore often inappropriate for small producers. But we make sure all our local suppliers use organic methods or ingredients and we pay them a fair price.

Growers

We welcome local growers who can supply our shop with organically grown produce. If you are interested in joining this team, please contact us.

Here are some growers who supply us at present:

Swan Bank, Cragg Vale

Verity and Dale have been living the 'good life' for 5 years and have all sorts of hilarious tales to tell: sheep and pig escapes, bails of hay rolling down the hill and bouncing over walls!

Verity thinks the sandy soil at Cragg Vale makes life hard for the slugs and snails. The free range chickens do their bit too.

Steiner folk come twice a week to tend their own growing plots. Not only are they busy taking care of vegetables, woodland, horses, pigs (11 piglets were born at Swan Bank on 3rd Sept), chickens and sheep but give Dale any piece of junk and he'll make it work! He offers services such as machinery repair and chain saw sharpening.

Verity and Dale are looking for volunteers to come to their Tuesday volunteer days from 11- 4pm. There is a variety tasks to suit all ages including woodland work, drystone walling and animal care. And you get a slap-up lunch as your reward!

Sagar Lane Market Garden

Ash and Sarah are have two sites high in the Pennine hills, in Shore, Todmorden and Erringdon, Hebden Bridge (1100 and 800ft above sea level). Since 2012 they've been growing veg and fruit in innovative ways in these challenging locations. They are organic-but-not-certified and invite customers to visit to see their methods for themselves.

"Our main aim is to grow good quality local food that is affordable to everyone, not just the privileged few," says Sarah.

"Environmental sustainability is really important to us," adds Ash. "We build soil health and biodiversity in all our work, regenerating our two patches of neglected, boggy farmland into thriving, fertile gardens full of both food and wildlife. We use permaculture principles and are always experimenting to find methods to suit the unique conditions we have to work with. We are extremely 'low-carbon' as we use no machinery except a small van for deliveries.

"We specialise in Salads and greens. We both love to cook and try out new recipes and ideas for our veg. If we ever get time maybe we'll write a book… 101 things to do with Kale"

To find out more, visit their website or find them on Facebook

Local makers

We are proud of the products we stock made by local small businesses. 

Chilled foods

Julie (who is also one of our Members) makes lovely nutroasts and hummus using mainly UK ingredients.

Cheese

Carl Warburton of the Pextenement Cheese Company produces handmade cheeses from organic milk at Pextenement Farm near Todmorden.

Milk

Our milk comes from John and Frank Hitchen's 500-acre dairy farm in
Luddendenfoot. The cows feed on the farm's own meadow grass in the summer. In winter they go indoors and munch mostly on home-produced silage.

Hitchens bottle their own full-cream (silver top) and semi-skimmed (red top) milk. The milk comes in returnable glass bottles.

Bread

We have regular deliveries of freshly baked artisan bread from The Bakehouse, a workers' co-op in Mytholmroyd.

We also stock bread from Paul's Bakery in Melton Mowbray

Charcoal

The National Trust at Hardcastle Craggs provides locally made, environmetally sound charcoal for summer barbecues.