Sir, – I like Conor Pope. He’s informative, funny and educational. This time he’s wrong, though. And grumpy.
Conor says ("Artisan, detox, superfood: an A-Z of food nonsense") that farmers at farmers' markets are "as rare as hens' teeth".
Well, he hasn’t visited the ones where we sell our produce. At both Carrick-on-Shannon and Sligo farmers’ markets there are vegetable farmers; poultry farmers; sheep farmers; herb farmers; fruit farmers and ourselves – flower farmers – all selling our own produce, to a very happy and loyal customer base.
And Conor’s wrong also about local produce. We grow our (chemical-free) flowers less than 15 minutes from Carrick-on-Shannon. The flowers are cut the day before we sell them so that the customer gets them fresh as a daisy, as it were.
And finally, not to rub it in, Conor’s wrong too about prices at farmers’ markets.
We pride ourselves on providing a fresh, local and lovely product at great value. If Conor wants to put the smile back on his face then let him visit one of our stalls and I’ll give him a lovely bunch of flowers for a fiver. – Yours, etc, KEALIN BEATTIE Leitrim Flowers, Kilnagross, Co Leitrim.