An interview in the spring garden, with three local market gardeners who are trying to change the fresh food offering in the Scottish Borders.

Almost all fresh produce in the Borders is bought in supermarkets. Although they are unable to compete on price, Kevin Banks, Jamie Smith and Cameron Dickie talk with me about the value and potential in growing our own for local sale.

The Plot Thickens, Earlston

Kevin Banks runs The Plot Thickens near Earlston, with his wife and volunteers. He is predominantly a plant nursery, but is expanding his produce offering.

Kevin sells at Leith, Moffat, Galashiels and Berwick markets. Find out where Kevin is going to be, on Facebook

The garden is open some Sundays at Carolside Stables Cottage , Earlston, and is well worth the visit if you would like to learn about ecological growing practices suited for our climate.

He will also be selling at Melrose Primary School on 2nd of May from 12:15pm, for their annual plant sale

Bucklands Garden, Hawick

Jamie Smith and Maria Young use no-dig and ecological methods to produce fruit, veg, honey and flowers at Bucklands Garden in Hawick.

You can buy their produce on Saturdays between 9-12pm from the end of May to the beginning of October, at the Common Haugh in Hawick.

Find them on Instagram @bucklands_garden

Bridgelands Farm, Selkirk

Cameron Dickie and his wife took on Bridgelands farm as first generation farmers. His career had been in the army, but after transitioning into a project management role he began looking for something more satisfying and took land management courses before taking on Bridgelands farm. They currently produce eggs, but have livestock and are looking to produce veg, alongside engaging ex-army personel to repurpose their skills and training towards food growing.

www.Bridgelands.farm

You can find them at Bridgelands Rd, Selkirk TD7 4PT, where they are soon to have a farm shop/honesty box.

Find them on Facebook and Instagram: @bridgelands_farm

Thank you to Kevin, Jamie and Cameron!

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The FoodScape Podcast explores how food shapes the lives and land of the Scottish Borders. It also asks the question; what more could food do for us?

From boosting local economy and creating jobs, supporting biodiversity and improving soil, to establishing a place as a destination; what would it look like for our place to thrive, and can food help us get there?

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Produced & Presented by Charlotte Maberly

Music by Iain Fraser from his album Koterana

Apart from at Easter, we don’t pay a huge amount of attention to eggs. They’re a food product largely taken for granted in the UK, alongside milk and bread. But if egg production stopped making financial sense for producers, we’d quickly notice their absence.

We consume over 36 million eggs in the UK every day, and they’re a vital product in many of our favourite confections and baked goods. The egg market contributes around £4.5 billion to the UK economy, but even the highest welfare eggs sold in Waitrose only make the producer £0.23p per egg, meaning you’d have to produce a lot to make a living.

I spoke with Guy, Philly and Hugo Lee at Sandystones farm near St Boswells, to learn about their organic egg production. But I ended up learning so much more; about the economics of food production, the dynamics of running a family farm, the importance of adaptability, and why a thriving local food market in the Borders is highly unlikely…

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In this episode:

Sandystones Farm, St Boswells.

Agrimart Magazine - www.agrimart.co.uk

Hugo Lee on X - @farmerhughie

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The FoodScape Podcast explores how food shapes the lives and land of the Scottish Borders. It also asks the question; what more could food do for us?

From boosting local economy and creating jobs, supporting biodiversity and improving soil, to establishing a place as a destination; what would it look like for our place to thrive, and can food help us get there?

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Produced & Presented by Charlotte Maberly

Music by Iain Fraser from his album Koterana

It’s a step of the food chain many of us would rather not think about, but it’s about much more than life and death.

As I learn in this episode, abattoirs are a vital link in the food chain, requiring skilled workers and deft navigation of huge amounts legislation to ensure our meat meets with standards. And although we may not like it, we need to pay them more attention because they are disappearing across the UK, with remaining services becoming bigger and more centralised. These larger abattoirs are much less accessible for small to medium producers, making production for direct, local sale a much more challenging prospect.

The closure of all abattoirs in the Borders - the last one closed in 2011 - as elsewhere, is seriously impacting local economies, the future of small and medium producers, the possibility for local food provision, as well as animal welfare.

I speak with Alison and Robin Tuke of Hardiesmill about what they undertook to open the UK’s first on-farm abattoir since BSE. I also chat with Jonny Williams, the Managing Director of Farmstock, about how the closure of our abattoirs has impacted the Scottish Borders most prized food sector, and the challenges and opportunities he sees moving forward. Also included are a few farming voices from a recent conference addressing the challenges and potential of local food in the Borders.

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In this episode:

Hardiesmill - www.hardiesmill.co.uk

Jonny Williams of Farmstock - farmstock.org.uk

Denise Walton of Peelham Farm - PeelhamFarm.co.uk

Lucy Wilson of Wilson’s Farm and Kitchen - wilsonsfarmandkitchen.com

“Growing the Local Food & Drink Economy” was a conference hosted by Propogate, Abundant Borders, SOSE and SSDA.

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The FoodScape Podcast explores how food shapes the lives and land of the Scottish Borders. It also asks the question; what more could food do for us?

From boosting local economy and creating jobs, supporting biodiversity and improving soil, to establishing a place as a destination; what would it look like for our place to thrive, and can food help us get there?

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Produced & Presented by Charlotte Maberly

Music by Iain Fraser from his album Koterana