I first met Jake Kingsbury during the summer at the Children’s Food Festival and was impressed by his enthusiasm for local produce. Although Jake grew up in Oxfordshire, he and his wife Lucy spent some years in Melbourne, Australia, and London before returning to Oxford where they first met.

They moved here because they wanted their two young children to grow up in the country and wake up each morning to open spaces rather than busy city streets.

On settling in to their rural north Oxfordshire home, they began seeking out farmers’ markets for their shopping, but most of it was still coming from supermarkets.

Jake said this was a wake-up call.

“We soon realised that apart from the odd market shop, we were still buying the same foods as we bought in London and were obviously missing out.

“It’s pointless moving out of the city to the country and still eating mass-produced foods that had travelled halfway round the country to get to our table. Unfortunately, because most farmers’ markets take place on a monthly basis, we kept getting the dates muddled up. We found it difficult to remember which was the first or last Tuesday in the month and so continued using the supermarkets for our main shop. It was frustrating.”

Jake has sorted this now, by taking over the franchise for the Oxfordshire branch of buy-LOCAL, which delivers local produce around the county on a weekly basis.

“The idea is simple. I am continually seeking out local producers who are able to supply me with fresh produce, which I can then deliver to our customers. The aim of buy-LOCAL is to give the producer a fair price and get a better deal than they do when dealing with the supermarkets, and to provide customers with a fresh product that has not travelled out of the county to get to them,” he explained.

Jake says that by working out a route that will minimise the amount of miles required to pick up the products on a weekly basis, he is helping the environment. By delivering them himself the very day he has acquired them, and while the products are at their peak, he is not only helping the environment, but saving his customers time and petrol too.

He says it’s a win-win situation as both the producer and the customer get a good deal. Added to which, nothing is wasted as he only picks up the quantity of goods needed to complete his weekly orders.

Most of his fresh fruits and vegetables are collected from individual farmers and Millets Farm, Frilford, which grows much of its produce in its own fields. At the moment, they are harvesting carrots, four types of cabbage, purple sprouting, parsnips, curly kale, cauliflower, sprout sticks and sprout tops, butternut and gem squash, leeks and potatoes. They harvest an interesting number of potato varieties too.

Meat, poultry and freshly-baked meat products come mostly from Eagles Fine Foods, Deddington, established as top-flight butchers since the 1940s. Organic poultry comes from Clare’s Organics, Westmill Farm. Nash’s Bakery supplies local specialities such as Banbury cake and freshly-baked breads.

Jake said that his list of local producers was continually expanding. He spends a great deal of time visiting farms, local markets and farm shops these days to meet producers who would like to supply buy-LOCAL customers. He is convinced that there are still farmers he hasn’t met yet who would like to become involved and would be delighted to hear from them.

“Everything is done by phone or online and payment is secure as it is done through PayPal,” he added.

Buy-LOCAL’s mission statement boasts that theirs is a community website offering people the opportunity to buy truly local produce. It goes on to state that buy-LOCAL delivers top quality, local and ethical goods in a modern and convenient format and that the company believes in the concept of a fair price for all, delivering a truly sustainable and traceable food chain.

Jake accepts that there will be some products that cannot be sourced locally (think bananas), or they may be out of season. “In these cases, we will always choose local independent businesses and wholesalers as our suppliers.”

He adds that if we know people who would make good suppliers, feel free to recommend them. With our help Jake is sure that by this time next year he will have linked buy-LOCAL with food heroes throughout the county. And if you can’t find what you are looking for, you can email Jake on oxford@buy-local.net and he will do his best to source it for you.

Contact buy-LOCAL on its website www.buy-LOCAL.net/oxford or use the freephone number 0800 917 2376 to find out more.