LITTLE EYE CELEBRATES 10 YEARS AS CO-FOUNDER AND -ORGANISER OF WEST KIRBY FARMERS MARKET

I wrote an article about the market for local magazine The Lake:

10th birthday of West Kirby Farmers Market – a tale of DIY There really is something for everyone at our market – whether it’s the ever-popular Funky Flapjack cakes, or the newer Fermentation Station kimchi and kombuchka About eleven years ago, a few local growers, local food enthusiasts, a food writer and producers formed a food group. We were keen to explore ideas for improving production of fresh, local foods and enabling and encouraging people to shop locally. We’d heard about the Incredible Edible projects, allotment schemes and Wirral Farmers Market in Birkenhead – and in the end we decided the best way forward was a DIY West Kirby Farmers’ Market. With organizational support from Transition Town West Kirby to get us going, we set up our voluntary community organization, with an Organisers group, and a supporting Volunteers group, and started the endless search for local producers within 30 miles, or occasionally a little further, growing or making good quality food. We discovered a whole new world of hard-working, co-operatively-minded independents – chutney and jam makers in their kitchen, fruit-growers and juicers, to small-scale farmers such as Dolwen selling meats and others making cheeses and yoghurt. Markets aren’t just about buying food, but an exchange of ideas and good practice for growing, cooking and the enjoyment of eating and drinking We set up the first Hoylake Food Fair in 2011, and then West Kirby Farmers’ Market in 2012. We launched ourselves on BBC Radio Merseyside with a Market Special Sandwich, made with Little Eye sourdough bread, Dean’s ham (from Roberts the butchers) and fresh salad from John Jones stall. These days, you can have Pen-Y-Lan bacon in your hot buttie at the market, or take-away veggie samosas. Over the years, producers have come and gone: currently over 20 producers bring their fresh and local foods to market. Many of them do markets each weekend, travelling as far as Macclesfield or Mold. Customers come specially from Liverpool, across the Wirral and even North Wales to buy speciality sourdough breads, charcuterie and freshly roasted coffee beans – and you can get a fresh cuppa whilst you shop. Good local food for a sustainable future – it might be jargon but it tastes great and we need all the traditional techniques and varieties we can keep alive! Farmers’ Markets are part of a great tradition of local, small-scale production, and keep alive cooking skills – two of our newest stalls are award winners Fermentation Station and North by Sud-Ouest charcuterie, both making newly popular foods, but also reviving and developing very traditional artisan skills. Alongside John Jones fruit and veg stall, you can find Mrs Bourne’s popular Cheshire cheeses, and Larkton Hall’s alpine-style cheeses: and producers do many more things to keep local food culture alive – from bread-making and chocolate-making classes, to hog-roasts, to start-up businesses making bottle-conditioned beer in Hoylake. Come and join us – there is something for everyone Covid set us back a bit. Now we are picking up speed again, though some people are feeling the pinch – but there is no better value for money, or for health, than buying and eating traditional, small-scale local foods – and having a good chat with producers, and maybe friends in the caff. I haven’t been able to mention all our traders in this article – but have a quick look at our producer list online ( www.westkirbyfarmersmarket.co.uk/producers.html ) , and you’ll see the great choice – and you can make up your own version of Farmers’ Market Sandwich or, these days, a fantastic Platter. Next markets are from 9-12 on November 26 and December 17, at St Andrews’ Church on Meols Drive Malcolm Williams, Little Eye Sourdough

Places still available on our sourdough baking workshop on Saturday October 8th - November 5th is now FULL - send us an email to register your interest and we'll send you booking info. Make four sourdough loaves to take home. £100 for a 10-4 day.

New Start It Up sourdough course dates are 10am-4pm on October 8th 10am-4pm on November 5th Both in West Kirby at the St Bridgets Centre Cost £100 pp making 4 loaves to take home Email us for booking info.

Two of our best-loved loaves have won a Great Taste Award 2022.

We are delighted when our tiny microbakery is recognised for its great methods and flavours. Our Wholewheat with Oatmeal, and Fruit and Fennel sourdoughs are the winning loaves.

And I entered loaves that are my own recipes, developed over years and baked hundreds of times by hand in the kitchen. Let us know if you'd like to try one, or come on a course and learn for yourself.

 March 5th is our next Start It Up bread workshop.

 I am working on a new fruit loaf recipe, to sit alongside the light fruit and fennel I make at the moment. Something moister and a little heavier. but soft and maybe a little squidgy! First thoughts are for some rye flour mixed into wheat, and large plump raisins  - any nuts? Probably not - maybe some apricot......

Should be ready for lunch on the 6th.

Come and try it!

 In April 2020, a week after Lockdown began, we decided to set up an ‘order and collect’ front garden bread shop for neighbours, friends, and NHS staff, in the days when people were literally keeping to their homes and not going to the shops if possible. The group was run on WhatsApp, and a weekly percentage of takings donated to the local Food Bank, with many people donating extra.

The bakery proved a great boon for us all, giving us a weekly diary date in a period of endless repetitive days, a chance for a random chat, and some fresh local food. I've made pushing 3000 loaves for the group in the 18 months so far. 

In April 2020 I did a workshop for a new WhatsApp group (Little Eye Live Bake) on Zoom, where I gave out sourdough starter and flour to people taking part, and we made an overnight sourdough. In June I did a second run, but this time with people making their own starter and then using it to make and bake sourdoughs. This was a great success, with ongoing questions, answers, tips and photos on the Live Bake group. Some of the people in the photo below (about half the group) have made their own bread ever since.

 10 Years of Little Eye Sourdough Bakery

The Stats

In 10 Years of baking at home, for shops, markets and neighbourhood customers, I have made over 22,000 loaves, and we have taught over 450 people to make 4 types of sourdough bread.

We are currently making about loaves for about 40 local people to collect.

The Bread

We are still making around 14 different breads regularly.

Our regular light sourdough

Our regular wholewheat

 and some

chelsea buns

Our classes are starting up again in April, and if you are interested in early summer dates let us know on info@littleeye.org.uk - more info on the Bread Classes page of this site.