Farming delivers

We've been on our usual Sunday jaunt to Highfield House Farm Shop this morning, which has become a real favourite since we quit the supermarkets nearly three months ago. It's a murky, misty, damp and freezing day here in Derbyshire, and there are still lines of snow criss-crossing the hills alongside the dry stone walls.

The shop was quieter than usual, perhaps due to the weather, and we found farmer David Prince alone behind the counter. Despite the fact that he's been getting up at 3am for the last two months for lambing duties he still managed to give us a warm welcome, and told us that he's only got 18 more nights of lambing (he's clearly counting down!) left to go.

I picked up some of my favourite Ann Forshaw's yogurt (I'm actually addicted to this stuff now), some Longley Farm cream for a soup we're planning to make this week, and some cheese which David tells me is from Derbyshire's Hartington Creamery. I'm not going to say any more about that right now because there's a brilliant story behind the creamery and it deserves its own blog post, so I'm planning to visit and do it properly when the weather gets a bit better.

Then while Neil chose some burgers from the freezer (he went for Cajun pork and steak) I spotted a new notice taped to the front of David's counter.

It read: "My New Year's resolution is to make it British, make it local, and make it happen."

Sounds rather familiar - in fact it sounds a hell of a lot like my own resolution to go supermarket-free this year.

It appears to have been produced by an initiative called Farming Delivers for Britain and there's a website address - www.farmingdelivers.co.uk.

So of course I got my laptop out as soon as I got home and went online to check it out.

It turns out that Farming Delivers for Britain is a campaign launched last May by the NFU (National Farmers' Union) to highlight the contributions made by agriculture and horticulture to the UK. Its key themes are food, animal welfare, the economy, the environment, careers and cleaner energy.

And of course it is also intended to show consumers how they can play their part by shopping local and buying seasonal British produce.

It's a really brilliant website and I just can't do justice to it here - if you have time please go and have a look. It includes simple explanations on why supporting British farmers is so important, resources and leaflets to download, a newsletter you can sign up to, information on what's in season and what you can do with it, details of where you can see the NFU Lets Talk About Farming roadshow, and loads more.

In the wake of the horsemeat scandal the NFU commissioned a poll which found that shoppers are 86% more likely to buy food that has come from British farms.

I've said it once (or maybe a million times!) so far on this blog and I'll say it again - if you want to know where your food comes from then support your local farm shops, greengrocers and butchers. It couldn't be easier.

And just in case you think I'm leaning back towards the meat debate again, I'll be posting some fab veggie recipes this week... so stay tuned.....!