Snaps from Sean’s Scottish Soil Association Sojourn in St Monans.

Try saying that three times fast! From a great panel talk to catching up with pals – longstanding and new – it sounds like it was an all round brilliant gathering this year.

Good afternoon you lovely lot,

At this point, this newsletter is turning into a bit of a Sean on Tour diary – but as it’s all in the name of organic fruit & veg, and creating a better food landscape for all, we can’t complain too much.

As we mentioned last week, Sean head on up to St Monans in Fife for the Scottish Soil Association’s inaugural organic gathering. He sat on the panel Bringing Organic to the Table: Scaling Up in Catering and Foodservice, and from what we’ve heard, the talk went down a treat. He even got himself a clap at the end, with loadsa folk coming up afterwards with very supportive comments. There was even some talk of a ripple… which is always a good sign.

While up there, he caught up with one of our longstanding customers, Peter from Oxenfoord, who’s been doing the weekly Stockbridge Market in Edinburgh for 25 years straight (that’s some good going!) and they treated themselves to a lovely chippy dinner in Anstruther. Sean also grabbed dinner with our mate Mik Gibside from the Landworkers’ Alliance and Tash from The Garlic Farm, Isle of Wight, chatting about her Nuffield scholarship over a some pints.

After a few days pit stop back in Manchester, Sean’s ventured back down to London yesterday. You might remember we mentioned a couple of weeks ago that we’d be heading to Westminster for the launch of the UK Fruit and Vegetable Coalition – and today’s the day!

Also launching today is Sustain’s Bridging the Gap report. We shared an email template recently for you to contact your local MPs, so fingers crossed it’s helped spark some interest and we can introduce them to all the brilliant work coming out of the Bridging the Gap pilots.

Now onto a few updates before we let you know what’s new on the price list this week.

• First up, Coato are running a promotion on their 1/2 litre, 1 litre, 3 litre and 5 litre Extra Virgin Olive Oils from now until 15th December – these guys use an interesting mix of olives in their oil, including some ancient varieties so if you’ve always thought of trying it now’s your time to take the plunge.

• Next, a bit of a sad one: there’ll be no Kindling salad for a little while. As you’ve probably noticed, it’s absolutely freezing out there, and the cold has put a temporary pause on their salad supply.

• For the same chilly reason, the watercress from Hurd will be Spanish watercress for the time being.

• But back onto some good and far more delicious news: Wyreside Lions Mane mushrooms will be back on the list from next week so keep your eye out for those.

Fruit and veg updates:

• Starting in the UK, from Royal Oak this week we’ve got some 5kg leeks and spaghetti squash. Bagpthorpe have added some dirty parsnips and Roddys some savoy cabbages and sprouts.

• Elsewhere, Strawberry Fields adds some spring greens and Terry Simpson some bagged coriander.

• On the UK fruit front, Oakwood have added some Claygate Pearmain to their offering and Mole End have got a few different varieties this week including bramley, gala, cox and robin, however, we’ve been getting lots of people saying how lovely the aria apples at the moment, so may we recommend those.

• We’ve loadsa new bagged herbs on from JW European this week, their salads have been a big hit since being on the list so we thought we’d give their herbs a go too.

• From Spain, Bioalgarrobo has added some kumquats, Bioandalusi some red onions and some red, yellow and green peppers while Camposeven adds some fennel and Ecosur some round tomatoes.

• Elsewhere in Spain, we see a return of Cal Valls onions this week, they’ve got some pink ampostas and yellows for us to go at as well as some of their garlic.

• From Portugal, Vasco have added some tangerines, basil and bay leaves as well as some rhubarb for us to go at.

• From Holland, Fairtrasa are back with their full listing so make sure to have a good peruse through that. And Zann has added gold kiwis, cauliflowers, sweet potatoes, and kaki fruits.

• From Dynamis our top picks this week are the Kaki Fuyu (a less astringent variety that can be eaten while firm unlike traditional kaki fruits), dulcimer kiwi, bleu de hongrie pumpkins, wazabina, limequats and almonds in shell.

• On the dairy front, we’ve some chapelhouse (a Gruyère style cheese) and Monterey jack from Pextenement. Some Sussex marble with Cranberry and little Sussex from High Weald and some unsalted butter from Netherend.

• And lastly to line your pantry’s, we have a large listing from Pastificio available again as well as some pasta sauces, soups and ragus from Mr Organic. We also some more spreads coming in from Carley’s including their Smokey chilli peanut butter and some more Pipsticks, smoothies and juices from Pip.

Speak to you all again soon,

Ella, Cathryn, Mads, Alphin and the ON team x

Organic Christmas Tipples 🎄🥂

With the 1st of December just around the corner (when did that happen?! 😬), we’ve got a selection of festive tipples – plus a few timeless classics – from Atlantic Distillery to see you through till Christmas.

Rhubarb & Vanilla Gin – Naturally tart rhubarb softened by vanilla.

Pudding Gin – Christmas pudding in a glass, full of festive spices.

Creme di Panettone – Sweet sultanas and candied citrus, perfect over ice.

Gooseberry & Elderflower Gin – Floral, tart and fresh. Perfect with tonic.

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