Leek fine food fair 18 april 2009

Glorious sunshine and the first hint of bbq weather set the tone for the outdoor leek fine food fair on 18 april 2009.

peakdistrictfarming.co.uk visited the 'queen of the moorlands' (leek) and met up with a couple of our region's food heroes whilst they were busy on their stands.

Peter storer, who has farm-accommodation as well as a rare breed farm near ashbourne was our first port of call.  He's a great advocate for promoting regional produce and sells his meat from his own stall at farmers markets throughout the region as well as having a fully functioning order system on his website.  We're proud that he's a peakdistrictfarming.co.uk food hero.

For anyone thinking of taking the plunge into keeping livestock, peter is willing to sell rare breed stock and provide on-going support if you need it.  And if you want to grow your own meat he'll make arrangements with his closest abattoir to receive stock and he'll take over the carcase from there - he has a suitable meat processing facility where he can turn the meat into sausages and other meat products.  If you'd prefer, he could take your livestock if you couldn't face the abattoir trip.  That'd be an invaluable service to anyone seeking guidance and support from weaning to processing.

If you'd to contact peter about meat products or livestock: the traditional & rare breed meat company, riddings park farm, knivetonwood, ashbourne, derbyshire DE6 1JF. 
Phone 01335 300059 or email enquiries@tradraremeat.co.uk

Have you seen the herds of water buffalo in the peaks? 

peakdistrictfarming was thrilled to meet their owner ruth deritt who was selling a range of water buffalo meat products on her stall, including bakewell show's award winning water buffalo & garlic sausage. 
Ruth said that the water buffalo are farmed like a beef suckler herd and kept for meat only.  The herd stands at 370 head; grazing about 750 acres on a permanent basis.  Although the herd is not kept for milk or mozzarella production, ruth is happy to provide contacts for suppliers.

photo: ruth deritt, farmhouse pantry (butchery and delicatessen) based in dronfield woodhouse.