‘It is lovely to sit down at a meal and to know where everything has come from’

2:40pm Sunday 24th August 2008

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A LEOMINSTER woman is six months into a challenge to eat nothing but Herefordshire food for a year.

Trish Marsh took on the Herefoodshire Challenge in February and has been sourcing food from all around the county – as well as successfully growing a number of things in her own garden.

“We’ve grown virtually no veg for years but we have surprised ourselves,” she said.

“There is spinach, courgettes, beans and lots of salad in our garden, basil in the conservatory and we had our first ripe tomatoes yesterday.”

As part of the challenge, Trish and her husband are also walking the Herefordshire Trail one section at a time.

Walking from Richards Castle to Leominster, she says they passed “one food crop after another – three sorts of cereals ready for harvest, all sorts of animals and fruit ripening everywhere”.

“At times this challenge to eat just Herefordshire-grown and Fairtrade-marked food and drink has seemed contrived and at others just plain awkward. But there has also been an immense satisfaction to it,” she added.

“It is lovely to sit down at a meal and realise you know where everything has come from and sometimes the person who has actually grown it and the place it grew.

“It breeds a feeling of strong connection with the place. Being part of a web of productive activity where our eating is, admittedly in a small way, directly supporting both people and the landscape I value so much.”

l A guided walk around Hereford taking in food-related places old and new is taking place on September 6.

Exploring Herefood starts at 13 Harold Street at 11am and is free to join, although people are asked to bring Herefordshire food and/or drink to share for lunch.

Visit myherefordshire.com for more details and herefoodshire.blogspot.com to follow Trish’s progress.