Veg News May 22nd 2013
All change from Europe this week, as the stone fruit season starts in earnest… Peaches (flat and round), nectarines, cherries and apricots are all available from what is still an unseasonably wet Spain! The early apricots and cherries have been particularly impressive, and expect the price to tumble in the coming weeks as they become more abundant. The first Galia and Charentais melons arrive over the weekend too, while blueberries are still plentiful.
From the UK, and from Europe, greens remain a challenge. The lovely supply of Lincolnshire spring greens from Strawberry Fields has finished, but fortunately we have a supply from Libby Flintoff of Preston come the weekend. This time last year we had an abundance of UK asparagus, but 2013 is proving somewhat trickier! Our regular supplier (Lucy Watts of Lincolnshire) thinks her plants have been damaged by the terrible weather of last year. She has not given up hope, but in the meantime we will have a more sporadic UK supply than usual – plus a sprinkling of European.
Oh, and this week the unthinkable might finally happen… we could run out of UK potatoes! We have talked endlessly about the difficulties last season, so it should not come as a surprise that stores are dwindling. Treat it as an opportunity to try new Sicilian potatoes from our favourite European cooperative!
Last Modified - 22nd May 2013
Real Nappy Week
 Why Use Cloth Nappies?
Cloth nappies have evolved a lot over the years. There are many new choices in materials and modern fabrics which are encouraging parents to think about whether disposable nappies are cheaper, they are healthier because they are free from chemicals and they are better for the environment (it is estimated to take about 250-500 years for one disposable nappy to decompose!)
Real Nappy Week aims to celebrate real nappies in all their forms and provides parents different ways to give them a try. See the website for more info.
Real Nappy Week
Last Modified - 20th March 2013 Co-operatives outperform UK economy
Annual figures released this week by Co-operatives UK, the trade body for co-operative businesses, showed that the UK's co-operative economy has outperformed the UK economy for the fourth consecutive year, with a growth of 1.5% in 2011 compared with 0.7% in the UK economy, twice the rate of the UK economy.
Read more here Last Modified - 4th July 2012 New Unicorn Film
Here is a lovely short film made by former Unicorn co-op member Gabi Gwiazdowski. Filming took place as we celebrated our 15th birthday in September 2011. Hopefully it gives a little flavour of the shop, what we are about and what Unicorn means to its members and customers
Film Last Modified - 16th March 2012 Grow a Grocery
We think there’s room for a Unicorn-type store in every city, and perhaps more besides. We have no plans to expand outside the one shop, so we’ve put together a guide intended to help facilitate the emergence of new stores run on similar lines.
Starting a new business is a daunting process. The guide is based on the model Unicorn has tried & tested since 1996, and walks potential grocers through all areas of the business, in the hope that it will make starting a new shop an easier process and help existing shops improve and/or expand.
Read the guide here Last Modified - 19th January 2012 | 
