Meet 15 Mile Foods…If you shop with us regularly, you might unknowingly be familiar with 15 Mile Foods. Their owner, Ed, works hard in all weathers to provide us with fresh, delicious and seasonal salad and veg. Ed gave us an insight into the world of 15 Mile Foods… “We started 15 Mile Foods in March 2019, so we are now in our fourth year. We are based in Fetcham, between Leatherhead and Bookham. We grow in polytunnels that we rent from our landlord, who used to use the site as a shrub nursery. We sell to farm shops, grocers, caterers and cafes in and around Ashtead, Dorking, Leatherhead and Bookham. Kingfisher are one of our favourite customers! They are really easy to work with; supportive, enthusiastic, keen to try new products and very understanding when, as it inevitably happens, we have a surplus or a shortage of product. I was desk-bound, working as an economist for 30 years before I decided that I needed a change and put an end to the daily commute into central London. Growing was a total departure for me and something of a leap in the dark. I use three factors when deciding what to grow. Do I think it will sell easily? Do I think it will give me a high enough yield to be worth my while? Do I find it an interesting crop to grow? Obviously as a newish grower, what I think and what transpires are not always the same thing. For example, I started off growing raspberries, but they didn’t have a high enough yield to cover their rent and I didn’t find them that rewarding to grow. On the other hand, I initially decided not to grow chilies as I didn’t think I would find it easy to sell them, but I now grow to order for a local chilli sauce producer. In many ways, the pandemic had little impact on us. As a food producer, I was able to carry on working as usual, so I didn’t have the disruption to my daily and weekly routines that many people experienced. Most of our sales are to farm shops and grocers, so the fact that caterers and cafes were shut for much of the period, was not too difficult for us and we made up any shortfall in demand from those sources, by supplying extra product for the veg boxes that one of the farm shops was producing. In terms of sustainable growing, I think the biggest thing that most people can do, is reduce their use of water. As a hydroponic grower I use nutrient-rich water to feed my plants and, as the plants only absorb some of the available nutrients each time they are fed, I recirculate that water as many times as I can. Obviously, not everyone can, or wants to set up a hydroponic system. But setting up a drip system with a timer, widely available in good garden centres, will hugely reduce most peoples’ water consumption. Unlike a hose or a watering can which waters the whole bed, a dripper feeds water directly to the plants roots, making it a much more efficient system when it comes to conserving water.” Thank you Ed for talking with us…we hope lots of have been inspired to shop local!
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