AnnO'Neemus
Is so vanilla
Ah. Swedes. Now I get the Abba photos. D'oh.
Thread to note supply shortages in the shops
- Thread starter danny la rouge
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AnnO'Neemus
Is so vanilla
'Urban food deserts' are an actual thing.
Not sure whether you're in more of a rural area or in the suburbs, or in part of a city that's an 'urban food deserts', but you can get pockets of cities where access to fresh fruit and veg is surprisingly not easily available on people's doorstep.
When politicians rant and rave about how poor people should just make good from scratch as that's cheaper and healthier, they don't take into account how relatively difficult/expensive it is for people living in deprived areas to do so.
Years ago, when areas of terraced housing often had quite a few corner shops and a local high street, or when housing estates were built, they often included a 'parade' of shops, and there would be a local greengrocer, butcher, baker, etc.
But now those shops have closed, many corner shops turned into houses.
And that parade of shops might have an offie, maybe a separate newsagent/post office, a takeaway, maybe a bookies.
So there are whole neighborhoods where the only food available might be chippy/kebab shop/Chinese takeaway, or mostly tinned stuff, crisps and sweets, cheap processed bread, and maybe if you're really lucky they might sell bare minimum basics like potatoes and onions, tomatoes, apples and bananas, milk, spread and cheese.
And if people don't have a car to go to the supermarket, because they're living in a deprived area where car ownership rates are low, and maybe they're disabled with mobility issues (again, higher incidence in deprived areas), or maybe they're a single mother with a few kids, and the logistics and expense of getting to the nearest supermarket on the bus is a nightmare for disabled people/mums on tight budgets, then they'll buy boxes of cereal and bottles of milk and loaves of bread and tins of baked beans from their corner shop, etc.
So as a result, many people who live in cities and who, theoretically, have access to cheap fresh produce in supermarkets, don't in practice, they have poor diets, because they live in an urban food desert, a known phenomenon identified by researchers, whereby their local shops don't sell a wide range of affordable fresh produce and they can't get to the shops that do sell them, because of mobility/logistics/expense.
AnnO'Neemus
Is so vanilla
I love the smell of tomato plants, they just smell so... green.
Apparently, there are a couple of women's perfumes with tomato plant notes, I keep meaning to check them out.
nogojones
spelling is overrated
Careful now. You spray that stuff on at the moment and it'll be like a Lynx advert
Chz
Stark Raving Sane
Smells just like it.
AnnO'Neemus
Is so vanilla
I think cooperatives are more common in Europe in terms of farming. Spanish coop Mondragón is one of the biggest. Also, things like French vineyards have had cooperative or cooperative-type production facilities for grape harvests.
AnnO'Neemus
Is so vanilla
My
AnnO'Neemus
Is so vanilla
Wel jel. You're winning at life.
nogojones
spelling is overrated
Well they have a comprehensive list of scents. From Lilac to pizza. I'm not so sure about the Funeral Home or Fuzzy Navel though
AnnO'Neemus
Is so vanilla
Get a packet of seeds from Wilko - or maybe B&M or a local garden centre. Your local garden centre might have some seedlings/small plants for sale (or if not, ask them when they will be selling them).I am distraught.
Last year I grew about 100 plants from one Waitrose First Choice tomato and they were distributed all over Bournemouth and London. And they were tasty.
People are relying on me, but there are no tomatoes at all in Waitrose, never mind First Choice ones.
AnnO'Neemus
Is so vanilla
I remember when I moved to Qatar and did my first big shop, just wandered round the supermarket throwing everything I needed in my trolley, and I've never been good at doing on the spot currency conversions at the best of times* so didn't bother trying to work it out or tot things up as I was going along.
But I sat down when I got home and worked things out and realised I'd spent a fiver on an iceberg lettuce!
Being a mostly desert country, fresh fruit and veg were imported and therefore expensive.Although on reflection, now I'm thinking about it, I'm wondering why their imports cost so much more than our imports?
* Years prior, I bought a bra and two pairs of knickers in a lingerie boutique in France and when I did the currency conversion later realised I'd spent about £200 on a set of underwear. I mean, it was nice lingerie, but not that nice.
Funky_monks
Neo-Rustic
Vegetable shortages in UK could be ‘tip of iceberg’, says farming union
Growers here have no confidence in not being fucked by the supermarkets so aren't planting, I've been in producer meetings where they've told the supermarkets just that.
Dutch suppliers seem not to be interested in sending their truckers to sit in massive queues post BREXIT. We are forced to look further afield (or, the supermarkets are).
on the other hand, its kind of mad that we've got used to cucumbers and peppers in February, although unlike Theresa Coffey, I don't reccomend turnips as a substitute.
Funky_monks
Neo-Rustic
That;s interesting, they will probably be f1 hybrids so what you grew probably are different to their parent plants.....
ash
Inittogether
Yes we have no tomatoes we have no tomatoes today
bimble
floofy
Its not any old tomato seeds, if you start with one really good tomato you're set.
Funky_monks
Neo-Rustic
If you want to save seeds and grow the same variety every year, go for non hybrids, they might be pricier, but you spend out once and save seeds every year after that.
Vegetable Seeds : Vine Tomato Seed, Large
Boudicca
Seaside Queen
Exactly. I started with a tomato that I knew was a really tasty one and it did indeed produce the best tasting tomatoes I have grown. I got messages months later thanking me for the free plants and saying how nice the tomatoes were.
bimble
floofy
yup. last year was my first attempt but i did the exact same thing as you, grew it all from two slices of a posh fragrant (number 1 or something) waitrose tomato, the tastiest tomato i could find, and they were very good tomatoes they made me proud.
Boudicca
Seaside Queen
First choice? Same as me I think.
I remember trying to dry some seeds on kitchen paper but I don't know if I kept them and I've moved house since. If I find them I will split them with you!
scifisam
feck! arse! girls! drink!
Before I had a garden I had a flat that had decent windowboxes and we grew tomato plants six foot high on the kitchen windowbox using tethers to help them stay up and a grabber to pull the top bits down so we could harvest them and nip the buds that weren't fruiting. One time they fell over, but were so tall they reached across the whole basement area and rested on the railings opposite, so were easy to just pull back up. In the summer that kitchen smelt like Eden and we produced immense amounts of cherry tomatoes.
They actually grew better than any tomatoes I've grown in my garden in the exact same pots. Sungold seedlings from the B&Q garden area - am going to go well out of my way to get them again this year.
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Puddy_Tat
naturally fluffy
i haven't really got a garden i could grow stuff in now
i did try growing tomatoes in an office once (it was a 1970s office with quite big windows) - they were coming along quite nicely but despite quite a good watering on the friday, they weren't really the same after the august bank holiday (at that time, some councils had the tuesday as a compulsory holiday as well, so it was a 4 day weekend and quite hot)
i did try growing tomatoes in an office once (it was a 1970s office with quite big windows) - they were coming along quite nicely but despite quite a good watering on the friday, they weren't really the same after the august bank holiday (at that time, some councils had the tuesday as a compulsory holiday as well, so it was a 4 day weekend and quite hot)
Funky_monks
Neo-Rustic
If there aren't any UK cabbages about at this time of the year, worlds fucked. I know warm autumn screwed brassicas over a bit, but there should be loads about.
bimble
floofy
TopCat
Putin fanboy
Still full this morning
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