Last night, after feeding the woodburner old greenhouse wood, cleared to make way for our new Eco-campsite pitches, I sat down to watch the BBC Countryfile programme to find my hedgerow basket under the arm of James Wong. The feature was on Hedge Veg stalls and trading surplus produce with fellow people in your community and my basket was the vessel which was being taken around and filled with asparagus, lemons and local produce. Friends of ours Marcus and Blaze Barnes traded their mayan lemons (the same species that we have in our greenhouse that we traded off Marcus 4 years ago) and eggs for lobster and crab with his brothers. He did say that he got the better end of the deal! The idea of sharing surplus with others and hedge veg stalls are two things I get quite excited about. We give a map to people staying at our eco-campsite so that they can forage the hedge stalls for themselves. Also as part of ‘friends of WildGuernsey’ we have set up a trading of surplus produce scheme. It has always been the way of people in Guernsey and a close community and something we’d like to be part of WildGuernsey.
From Countryfile: Guernsey’s Hedge Veg
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00xy80l
With its warm waters and sunny climate the island of Guernsey in the English Channel has always been a good place to grow food and collect seafood. James Wong discovers how islanders grow their own fruit, vegetables and flowers and then sell them from small wooden stalls outside their homes. Buyers leave money in home made ‘honesty boxes’ – a tradition that goes back many years. James gathers the fruit and vegetables he needs for a beautiful meal and is then shown the secrets of how to collect shellfish from the ocean floor.
See this link for a project that young people are doing in Guernsey for their business idea ‘Young Enterprise help to keep a tradition alive’ http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/guernsey/hi/people_and_places/nature/newsid_9198000/9198777.stm
WildGuernsey 