Steph Wetherell coordinates Bristol Food Producers, an organisation that is working to increase local food production across the city by supporting local farmers and producers access new markets and skills. She is also co-executive director of the Real Economy, a food cooperative that is committed to sourcing food directly from local producers and providing access to good food across the city. With a background in farming, she is passionate about inspiring people to eat more local food and aims to connect people to where their food come from by telling the stories of local producers through her website, The Locavore. She also writes for several print and online platforms such as the Ernest Journal and Walnut Magazine on issues around food, farming and alternative living.
Stream Farm – A New Model for New Entrants
By Steph Wetherell, Sustainable Food Trust
With the average age of a UK farmer at 59, we have never been more in need of a new generation of farmers. How can we help support more new entrants? I met with James Odgers to find out about the exciting concept that Stream Farm is developing through their innovative ‘share farming’ model.
Sustainable School Dinners: What we Should Know
By Steph Wetherell, Sustainable Food Trust
In the home, you have control over what your children eat and where it comes from. But when they go off to school, how much say do you have over their lunch? As a minimum, are their meals being made from scratch using fresh ingredients? And if they are, are the vegetables they are eating seasonal? Is the meat raised to high welfare standards?
Eating your Values: Five Questions to Ask your Butcher
By Steph Wetherell, Sustainable Food Trust
Many of us would like to shop ethically and in line with our values when it comes to buying meat. But while this might sound like a simple thing to do, in practice it can be a complicated web of labels, terminology and increasing confusion.
Mushroom Foraging with Go Foraging
By Steph Wetherell, The Locavore
After initially helping teach walks for other foragers and loving the experience, Martin started his own company. “I set up Go Foraging in spring 2014,” he tells me. As well as the mushroom walks, he teaches plant and coastal walks. “With foraging you move with the seasons to where there is the most abundance. Autumn is about the woodlands, then I do plant walks late winter into early spring and move to the coast in the summer.”
Eating Local in Bristol: Working Together
By Steph Wetherell, Sustainable Food Trust
One of the most encouraging things about the local food movement in Bristol is the strong networks that have been created across the city. From city-wide groups working to bring about policy-level change, to small collectives of growers working together, these are the people and projects working to produce good food in and around the city.
Eating Local Food in Bristol: From Farm to Table
By Steph Wetherell, Sustainable Food Trust
Getting your produce onto the plate of the end consumer is one of the key challenges for local food producers, who often face obstacles in the form of unpredictable orders and time consuming packaging and deliveries. One of the strengths of the food scene in Bristol is the variety of different routes available to producers; from innovative direct to customer models to businesses with a firm commitment to sourcing locally, Bristol is a city that is working hard to get its local food to the customer.
Eating Local in Bristol: What is Produced and Where?
By Steph Wetherell, Sustainable Food Trust
Living in a city, it can be hard to relate to where your food comes from, with a majority of produce in supermarkets having limited provenance information. With research suggesting that within a decade the UK will need to import half of its food, the idea of eating locally can seem challenging.
Bristol Dry Gin
By Steph Wetherell, The Locavore
An old housemate introduced me to the concept of gin o'clock, and it's stayed firmly on the schedule ever since. The rise of the micro distillery has been a wonderful thing to watch over the past few years, and Bristol a pretty splendid place to watch it from. My interest was particularly piqued when I discovered that a new distillery had popped up, mere metres from where I worked. Yes, under the Rummer hotel, there lies a still producing some really rather splendid spirits.