change is good

It has been a long and wet autumn and winter and it is not over yet, although today is glorious. The animals are quite fed up with it all, Not to mention Patrick who is struggling to maintain his usual jolly personality in the face of  another day trudging around in the mud. For a child who grew up in the tropics running around barefoot, putting layer upon layer of clothing on every day can sometimes be torturous. 

We have installed quite a number of solar panels on our house and barns over the last few years to cover the cost of our own electricity consumption but wow bad weather certainly demonstrates the shortfall of renewable energies. If anyone likes numbers we.....
produced 199kwh and used 1.2Mwh in the month of January 2024.
produced 923kwh  and used 590kwh used in the month of May 2023
.........And that is just the house side not even the butchery solar panels which were......
produced 560kwh  and used 2.1Mwh  in December 2023
produced 2.7Mwh and used 2.1Mwh  in July 2023.....
Fridges and cold rooms are very expensive to run and the Butchery stats are eye watering....
 
I understand that at the moment the cost of living is expensive for everyone so in an effort to try and cut our own costs, and by default yours, we will be phasing out the card reader machine which is a luxury item for the business costing us the value of one market per year. I am not a great advocat of pouring money down the drain or feeding the bank even more money than they already take, so cash and cheques are free, thus the way forward. Be prepared for this change to start at the beginning of March 2024. If you have a major problem with this system then please get in touch with me and I can see what we can sort out.
​During the summer months when there is a significant amount of tourists I may bring back a different kind of machine to cope with that period.
We will start phasing out of some of the vacuum packing to reduce cost, time and rubbish. So items (like chops) which often pierce the packaging anyway, will be purchased as individual items. Obviously there will still be packaging involved in the form of paper and probably biodegradeable bags as I cannot expect you to carry meat home in your hand, but if you wish to come with your own containers then we can accommodate that too. It is likely that orders, large joints and things like minced meat or burgers will be vacuumed for hygiene and practical reasons. Sausages and bacon will also be sold loose. 
As you can imagine things will take a little longer at the stand so can I ask for everyone to be  patient as we all become accustomed to the new systems.
I will also take this opportunity to remind everyone that if you are coming to the market please bring your own bag. I will have reusable cloth bags that you can purchase at the stand for 4 euros if there is a crisis.
See you all soon Helen

Guanciale snacks