seasonal & sustainable food articles

I know it's not quite seasonal food but today I just had to write about milk! This morning was something of a celebration in my house (for me at least) as we had the first proper bottle of milk delivered by a milk man that I've seen in about 20 years... and it was organic too!

I've wanted to get our milk delivered for a while. Our veg and some staples such as pasta come with our weekly Riverford veg box and meat comes from the farmers market, or one of 3 amazing family butchers in our area which all offer organic, but milk was something that was missing. I know that I could get it in a box scheme or supermarket delivery but it's just not the same.

For years I have been yearning after that familiar clink of the glass bottles and popping off those foil lids before pouring milk that has arrived that morning onto my cereal, something that until now I've not had since I left home to go to uni, too long ago to mention! So imagine my delight when strolling through Greenwich a week or so ago I bumped into a proper old fashioned milk man.

But as it turned out he wasn't old fashioned at all. When I asked for a card he directed me a to a website instead and it was so simple I placed my order right away. I created an account at www.milkandmore.co.uk, it used my postcode to tell me who my milkman would be and the days he delivers to my street (3 times per week). I chose what I wanted, just 1 bottle of organic semi skimmed 3 times per week, so no great committment, and set up a direct debit. The whole thing was simple and took me less than 10 minutes.

My first bottle was delivered at 8:30am today by a lovely milkman with a friendly smile and I was like a kid with a new toy as I happily poured it straight onto my branflakes. (I know it's a little late for breakfast on a work day, but I am officially on maternity leave!) My next bottle is due the day after tomorrow but I can already see that my order will increase rapidly as they also do bread, yogurts, juice and lots of other everyday essentials. Payment will be taken monthly by direct debit, so the whole thing should be totally hassle free.

All in all I've been really impressed with the whole service, from the ease of ordering to the timeliness of the delivery, but it is only day one. Will they keep it up? I'll keep you posted.

Article written by Sam Burlton, founder of So Organic. June 2010.