Where your produce comes from.

Organic Delivery Company Growers

Here are some of the farms around the UK where we source our organic fruit and vegetables:

• Langridge Organics in Devon: Brussel sprouts, beetroot, potatoes, all kinds of cabbage, carrots, cauliflower, leeks, marrow, kale, swede, spring greens and runner beans.
• Gold Hill farm in Dorset: Spinach, lettuce and celery.
• Pam in Strawberry Fields Norfolk: Celery and lovely varieties of lettuce.
• Sky Sprouts in Devon: A great selection of sprouted seeds, capel mushrooms in Essex. Damian and Patrick Hearne‘s all year round mushrooms.
• John Hurd Watercress in Dorchester: Watercress.
• Matt Godfrey in Wells in Somerset: Tomatoes.
• Lyburn Organic Farm near the New Forest:, sweetcorn, rhubarb, green beans, pumpkins, Cox, Orange Pippin, Falstaff, Bramley, Ida Red and Jonagold apples from J D Pardoe in Herefordshire.
• Mole End farm Maidstone Kent: All types of English apples and pears.
• Andy Ward of Ivy House farm near Canterbury in Kent: Marrow, squashes and pumpkins.

The Hungry Gap

When most of the British organic vegetables and fruit are out of season (the winter stock has finished and the summer produce is still growing) farmers call this the ‘Hungry Gap’. This period varies depending on the produce, but normally happens between April and June. We still like to bring you the variety you all enjoy, and so we will source from other organic suppliers in France, Italy and the Netherlands. All this produce comes to us by road. The more exotic fruits such as bananas and mangoes will come by ship and are never air freighted.

Supporting small independent organic suppliers

The Organic Delivery Company is certified organic and checked yearly by the Soil Association, which is an independent nationally recognised organisation whose chief function is to verify that all organic food sold in the UK is truly organic at all stages from grower to consumer.

When we are looking for new suppliers for our groceries to compliment your fresh fruit & vegetable boxes we like to use independent small suppliers who produce small amounts of high quality food and who are either in London or very close by.

Here are some of the latest suppliers to join us.

All these companies are certified organic and checked regularly by the Soil Association:

Pollen Organics in Hampshire: Small batches of homemade sauces, dressings, relishes, mayonnaise and pestos.
Clean bean in Shoreditch: Handmade tofu.
Woodlands Park Sheeps Milk farm in Dorset : Sheep's yoghurt.
Manor farm Dorset: Fresh milk.
Lye Cross Cheese maker in Gloucestershire: All kinds of tasty cheeses.
The Dairy House at Weobly in Herefordshire: Damson, raspberry, peach and blackcurrant yoghurts.
Hartley lands Farm in Cranbrook Kent: Mole End apple, pear and blackberry juices.

Why we like to buy Soil Association Free Range Eggs.

When you know what a battery farm looks, sounds and smells like, the choice between free range organic and battery farm produced eggs is simple.

Soil association approved eggs are guaranteed to come from happier hens, resulting in richer taste, and of course the chickens are fed on a strictly organic diet. The hens are free to roam inside and outside in flocks no more than five to eight hundred. No wonder their eggs cost more. But we’re paying for peace of mind, knowing that these small farmers can continue to farm in a way that is healthier, more humane, ethical and sustainable.

Mass produced eggs come from flocks of thousands of birds with no daylight, no room to move, clipped beaks and feet, fed on non-organic diets and given regular hormone treatment to allow them to live at such densities.

* Gerry Tuffs’ Freedom Farm Eggs in the Usk Valley Wales : a cooperative of small poultry farmers.