We reviewed the Farmers' Market a year ago (issue 18). Hannah assesses progress.

Bunches of carrots and onions, still with the earth on, and rounds of homemade cheese straight from the hands of the farmers who produced them... this is something we'd not seen in Stoke Newington for a long time. Then last May a local not-for-profit organisation set up a weekly farmers' market on our doorstep. Growing Communities' market was no ordinary one - it was to sell only food that was both local and organic.

One year on, the market has become a regular part of Saturday mornings for people in Stokey - 800 of them at the last head count. Tucked away in a bustling courtyard, you'll find everything from dinner party ingredients - exotic salads, local wine, even goat's meat (which they say is one of the healthiest, leanest meats around) - right down to the weekly basics of bread and potatoes.

It's not just the food that draws people to it. There's something in the atmosphere that lifts you out of London. 'I come from Jamaica - it reminds me of markets there, lots of
fresh herbs and vegetables... it took me two buses to get here but I'll come back every
week', said one convert. Being able to park the pram and enjoy a coffee and cake (fair
trade of course) at the café certainly beats dragging the kids round a supermarket. It's
likely you'll meet someone you know, too.

And probably someone you don't. Like the farmers themselves. Usually out of sight at the other end of a ridiculously long food chain, here they're actually selling what they've grown, reared, preserved themselves - and can tell you exactly where it comes from. I learnt last week that it's not by chance the Learmonth brothers sell organic apples on their stall alongside chicken and lamb. It's down to pure symbiosis - a perfect remedy for pesticide free farming. The fruit doesn't get hit by 'scab', thanks to the sheep who hoover up the bugs (as well as the windfalls!). They themselves stay healthy as the hens gobble up any parasites, and drop fresh fertiliser under the trees. 

The family has found the weekly stall to be a lifeline for its Essex farming business. 'This market has kept us going', says Ian. Growing Communities' vision is as much about improving life in Hackney as it is about supporting environmentally friendly farming on the outskirts of London. 'Small farmers in counties like Essex and Sussex could sell their land fifteen times over for development, but organic farming employs many more people and helps the environment', explains Kerry Rankine, who organises the market. The team has set themselves the target of sourcing all the produce from within a radius of seventy miles - so as not to push up those 'food miles' - although the fish comes just that little bit further, from the Sussex coast.

But has it all been all plain sailing? Apart from the occasional rain putting off fair weather shoppers, the winter luckily hasn't taken its toll on the market. With greenhouses and careful crop planning, suppliers have brought a cornucopia of food into the city throughout the year. To some shoppers' surprise, that doesn't mean the seasons don't affect the selection of produce at all, though. 'We've had people asking where the apples are, and we have to explain that they're not harvested in Britain until August', says Kerry. She's putting together a guide on how to get the best out of the market by following seasonality. Right now, she tells me, look for tender broad beans, salads, cherry tomatoes, aubergines...

So if you wake up on a Saturday, unable to face the supermarket and fancy good food and a chat, you know where to go.

Stoke Newington Farmers' Market is open on Saturdays from 10am-2.30pm at the Old Fire Station, Leswin Road (just off Stoke Newington High Street, past the Post Office). www.growingcommunities.org , 020 7502 7588.