Meet the producers #11

 
Meet the Producers #11
𝗡𝗮𝗺𝗲: Myfanwy Edwards
𝗕𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗡𝗮𝗺𝗲: Artisan Cakes
𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗱𝗼 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘀𝗲𝗹𝗹 𝗮𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗺𝗮𝗿𝗸𝗲𝘁? Cakes and scones. My range of cakes changes every week, but will always include boiled fruit cake, sponge cakes in a variety of flavours, carrot cake and plain & fruit scones. There will always be several that are gluten or dairy free as well. I currently also have Free range eggs on my stall which I sell for Tynycaia Farm, Llandow.
𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝗹𝗼𝗻𝗴 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗯𝗲𝗲𝗻 𝗮 𝗺𝗲𝗺𝗯𝗲𝗿 𝗼𝗳 𝗖𝗼𝘄𝗯𝗿𝗶𝗱𝗴𝗲 𝗙𝗮𝗿𝗺𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗠𝗮𝗿𝗸𝗲𝘁? I attended the second market back in 2001 helping my husband Richard on his beef stall, but have had my own stall selling cakes intermittently over the years! I have been secretary of the market since about 2005, which means It’s me who sends out all the emails, and does all the general organising for the market.
In September 2018 I set up the Cowbridge Food Collective, which is a weekly online Farmers Market, selling many of the same produce that is available on the market. The difference is you pre order on line and then the orders are boxed and customers come and collect in a drive through on Thursday evening. It has proved an invaluable way for people to access great local produce safely during the Covid pandemic. It is great to see the Farmers Market and the Food Collective working so well together with producers being part of both and many customers crossing back and for between the two.
𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗶𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗯𝗮𝗰𝗸𝗴𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗯𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀? 𝗛𝗼𝘄/𝗪𝗵𝘆 𝗱𝗶𝗱 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘀𝗲𝘁 𝘂𝗽 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗯𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀. I started making birthday cakes for my children when they were young, and although I had my fair share of disasters, people started asking me to make celebration cakes for them. I attended Neath & Port Talbot College one day a week for several years doing various forms of sugar craft before finally giving up my office managers job in a local print company to make cakes full time. The business moved slightly to making cakes for several local tea rooms and also selling cakes on the farmers’ market & the food collective. I am getting a little too old and impatient to do the very elaborate celebration cakes now, and have becoming very good at saying no!
𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗶𝘀 𝗮 𝘁𝘆𝗽𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝗱𝗮𝘆 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘆𝗼𝘂? Early start, walk the dogs, baking, cooking, emails, organising, early to bed!
𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗶𝘀 𝗮 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗺𝗼𝗻 𝗾𝘂𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗰𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗮𝘀𝗸 𝘆𝗼𝘂? Do you make them yourself and which is the nicest! – yes I do and saying which is the nicest is like choosing a favourite child!
𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗱𝗼 𝗲𝗻𝗷𝗼𝘆 𝗺𝗼𝘀𝘁 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗷𝗼𝗯? Feeding people! I love cooking and I love being part of the Farmers Market, we are a real community with the other producers and also our lovely loyal customers. Without the weekly Farmers Market I think this last year in lock down would have been much more difficult.
𝗧𝗲𝗹𝗹 𝘂𝘀 𝗮 𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘁𝗹𝗲 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗯𝗮𝗰𝗸𝗴𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱/𝗳𝗮𝗺𝗶𝗹𝘆: I am a beef and sheep farmers daughter from the Vale and moved 8 miles to another beef and sheep farm when I got married! We have 3 children our eldest son James is a wheat breeder and lives in Adelaide, Australia. Christopher (Did) lives and works on the farm with his family and our daughter Josie is a solicitor specialising in agricultural matters living in Cardiff with her husband and two daughters. I am passionate about local food, supporting small artisan producers and showing people what great produce is available in the local area.
𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝗱𝗼 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗿𝗲𝗹𝗮𝘅? Walking, either with my dogs or with friends, and reading a good book. My idea of a great day out is visiting other farmers market anywhere in the UK or the world, seeing and tasting the produce and picking up tips as to how everyone else does it. We have visited some amazing markets in both Australia and New Zealand when visiting our son.
𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁’𝘀 𝗮 𝗳𝘂𝗻 𝗳𝗮𝗰𝘁 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗽𝗲𝗼𝗽𝗹𝗲 𝗺𝗮𝘆 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗸𝗻𝗼𝘄? I used to work on the sales desk at an abrasive company selling specialist grinding wheels and cutting discs - A bit different to food!
𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗶𝘀 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗯𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝘀𝗲𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗱𝘂𝗰𝘁 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘄𝗵𝗶𝗰𝗵 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗱𝘂𝗰𝘁 𝗱𝗼 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗸 𝗶𝘀 𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿 𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗱? Best seller: Would be a toss-up between my carrot cake and my cherry bakewell. Most under rated – Sticky Ginger
𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗹𝗼𝗼𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗳𝗼𝗿𝘄𝗮𝗿𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝗱𝗼𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮𝗳𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗹𝗼𝗰𝗸 𝗱𝗼𝘄𝗻? Being able to visit our eldest son in Australia.