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Frequently Asked Questions |
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There seem to be quite a few organic vegbox schemes serving the North East these days. Why should I choose NEOG? Since we started in 1995, interest in organic food has increased dramatically, which is great, and there are many more companies doing basically what we do, some locally and some supplying organic vegboxes on a national or regional basis. We like to emphasise the local, which is why we only deliver to our specific North East area. Many organisations selling organic veg do not grow their own but simply buy it in, pack it and send it out again. We, however, aim to grow as much as we can on our land in Northumberland before we turn to our wholesaling partners to make up the extra needed on a particular week (and then we buy as locally as possible). TOP
People buy organic food for a number of
different reasons. These include taste
(organic food can taste better than chemically grown food), health
(organic food has no man made chemical residues and higher concentrations of nutrients/vitamins/minerals), support
for locally grown food (while
not all organic food is local, much is, and it's easier to find out
where it has come from), and environmental
reasons (ranging from reducing
carbon outputs to increased wildlife). Here are five
reasons from the Soil
Association as well...
Organic food costs more to produce than non-organic due to increased costs of labour and less area yields. For example, as chemicals are not used to clear weeds from vegetable fields much more hand weeding is needed which takes much more time. Farmers cannot use so much land as non-organic as they must leave a certain proportion of their fields fallow each year. It must also be borne in mind that the costs of non-organic farming are paid for by society all the time – the cost of cleaning up agricultural pollution, loss of wildlife habitat and higher emmisions of greenhouse gases. The cost here is not included in the price of the food but we do pay extra later.TOP
It's a pretty simple system... Customers
place a regular order for the type of bag(s) they want. The veg is
harvested and bags put together at our premises near Bedlington. On
Wednesdays and Thursdays the bags are delivered to drop-off points
('links') throughout the region and then collected by you.
Contact the office by phone or email and
arrange to have your deliveries temporarily stopped.
We ask that customers cancel any bags by
midnight on the Thursday before the date in question. This is so that we
don’t harvest or buy in any produce that is not actually
needed and then goes to waste. If late cancellations are made there is
a small charge to cover the costs incurred.
If you are interested in being a link person
get in touch with the office to discuss possibilities.
The bags contain a selection of seasonal
organic vegetables, usually containing potatoes, carrots and onions
(though we may remove the carrots and onions in the summer when our
fields and tunnels are bursting with other things). There are more
salad items in the summer, more roots and brassicas in the winter. The
amounts will vary during the course of the year but the value is fixed.
Numbers of people it will feed will depend upon how much veg you get
through in a week! We find that no two customers are the same - but you
can get an idea here
of
roughly how much is in an average bag. We always try to maintain a high quality, but sometimes you may find poor produce in your bag. Please contact the office for a
full refund (or an equavlent replacement) of the affected items. Sometimes things may deteriorate in
the bag (remember our veg are never treated with preservatives).
Sometimes the defect may be impossible to see from the outside. We
always want to know if you get anything you are not happy with. It
keeps our standards up and helps us to refund you promptly, and
hopefully keep you satisfied with our service.
The ‘Hungry Gap’ is that
period of the farming year when all of the last year's harvest has been
taken in, but nothing of the new year’s is ready to harvest.
Things will be being planted and prepared for planting, but there will
be very little fresh UK produce around. Many items, such as root crops
(potatoes, beetroot etc) will have been in storage prior to use and so
may not be at their best. Traditionally people would have eaten a lot
of dried and pickled foods at this time. The whole of the
We
try to put information in the bags if we are giving you any vegetable
that we think some of you might not be familiar with, but if you do
have a question then please call or email the office.
Generally
we aren't doing wholesale, as our top priority is to supply our
box-scheme customers. In the summer months we sometimes have a glut of
a particular item (e.g. courgettes) which we may want to sell on in
bulk. Contact us if you are interested in this, and we will get in
touch if and when there is anything available. We can give you details
of wholesale suppliers of organic veg if you wish. |
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