Easy pickings and Local Veg at Abbey Leys

Whilst Lisa normally does all of the work blogging and promoting the food produced in around Lymm, she is not alone in her love of all things tasty and local. She has kindly let me loose on the blog, so I can tell you about my local food adventures too.

First things first though - Last time she posted, Lisa mentioned the FarmStart Manchester and Manchester Veg People, supplying Abbey Leys Farm. Janet has been on recently to let us know that there are locally grown onions, carrots and courgettes available now at the shop, along with all the normal veg and goodies they sell. I'm thinking rare breed pork sausages (also sold at Abbey Leys) with some of the onions, nicely caramelised. Maybe I'll even go for some buttery carrot mash. The weather we have been having over the last few days is already make me think of hearty winter food!

Very berry!

In the last couple of day I went for a walk with my four year old, a friend and her two young children. My friend (another Lisa!), has an annual tradition of going blackberry picking. Even though I have lived in a house backing on to the TPT for 7 years, I have never noticed the vast quantities of berries. Lisa opened my eyes!

After about half an hour of being waist and shoulder deep in prickly bushes, only a few metres from the Star pub, we had two large boxes of blackberrys between us. We would have had three, had the kids not been eating every other berry! I'm promised that with a few of the cooking apples out of our garden, the berries will make a very tasty crumble.....

There are still plenty of berries out there if you fancy getting some for yourself???

Andy Morris

A Quick Update

Good news guys...the Farmstart project that I wrote of in my last blog does have produce for sale locally.  They have some food leftover from supplying the Manchester food network, and it is for sale at the Abbey Leys farm shop (http://www.abbeyleys.co.uk/).  They currently have tomatoes and courgettes.

That is a good excuse for a recipe link, I think!  Of course, there is the popular summer stew - ratatouille to make with those two items.  However, what to create when there are no aubergines?  Have no fear because BBC Good Food has 92 recipes listed which include tomato and courgette! (http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/search/recipes?query=courgette+tomato&=Search)  I'd love to hear how you get on with some of those if I see you out and about in Lymm.  Alas, no photos again on this blog posting I'm afraid.  I'll rectify that next time because my next posting will be about the build up to the Lymm Produce Show on Sunday 7th September...so start planning what you will bring!

Lisa Reid

A complete circle

It was in somewhat different weather that I posted a blog a couple of Sundays ago to say I was heading off on the walk with the Kindling Trust.  I came home weary after an afternoon spent cycling and walking the rolling Cheshire countryside.  It was well worth it, though, to hear about their amazing work. 

Kindling Trust
They have a range of activities under the general 'Kindling' umbrella, and their overall vision is to have a farm near Manchester which sustainably supplies its community with its own produce (http://www.kindling.org.uk/home).  This is a simple vision, but in practice is difficult to implement.  That has not stopped the people involved giving their seemingly endless drive and enthusiasm to push it forward.  'What has all that got to do with the people of Lymm?'  I hear you cry!  Well as well as being a really interesting concept which we can keep an eye on as a role model for the future of all communities, they are training the next generation of growers on our doorstep as part of their Farmstart initiative.  (http://www.kindling.org.uk/farmstart)  You may aware of some of the barriers of entry to farming such as capital, and the fact that those entry barriers as well as other factors are creating a very high average age for farmers.  Farmstart is basically an incubator where would-be farmers can try it out in a supportive setting. 

Produce
I now share a small allotment with friends and it has been incredibly hard work to start up.  At some times of year growing food is very labour intensive, so Kindling again come to the rescue for the farmers:  they encourage anyone that wants to work outdoors to join their Land Army and help out the growers by giving a day of their time.  That hard work is reaping rewards.  Farmstart now successfully supply Manchester Veg People (http://www.kindling.org.uk/projects/manchester-veg-people) - another Kindling initiave which coordinates the supply and demand of some local food in Manchester. 

So basically, we visited a farming initiative on our doorstep which aims to coordinate and support the full circle of supply and demand for local food in the Manchester area.  It was quite humbling to talk to such enthusiastic people, and certainly made me more passionate about local food than ever.  We can support this work by looking out for their food at the Abbey Leys farm shop or their farmer's market.  The next market is on the first Sunday of the month as usual - Sunday 7th September.  The food you will see to buy will be any gluts they have left over from supplying Manchester Veg People.  Organic food grown just a couple of miles away...I will definitely be first in the queue for that stall!

Lisa Reid

A Silver Lining to the Clouds?

Bumper crops
I think it is fair to say that we have been having a beautiful summer this year.  I am so pleased that is has also meant lots of successful harvests so far, unless you are one of the unfortunate growers who have had their home-grown food eaten by a bumper year for slugs.  I'm afraid that I have been so overwhelmed with my small land share plot and helping a friend get her new allotment in shape, that I took my eye off some of my plants.  As a result, I have found aphids a problem.  I tried a spraying with soap solution, but they were too well established for it to make much difference.  I have had a visit from loads of caterpillars on my rocket.  I didn't mind at all since I had a rocket glut, and they have to live somewhere!  When giving away my rocket surplus it has been fun informing friends to watch out for the caterpillars hitching a ride. 

Silver lining
I took this picture a few days ago.  The other adults in the house had gone to work and the kids were still asleep, so I sneaked outside to breakfast in peace.  Bliss!  I was hoping to blog about my intentions to repeat this over the summer whenever my working hours allow, but the weather has other plans.  It will rain, rain, rain until next week at least.  Those who grow food on a larger scale will be glad of the rain but I am happy with an Indian summer because I can water my small plots by hand.  So if I don't need rain for my garden, what will the silver lining be to poor weather?  Well, I guess the aphids will have a hard time clinging on to my sweet peas in downpours[cue evil laugh]!

Lisa Reid

Walking this afternoon in the Cheshire sun

I've been offline for a few weeks because we have had a virus in our house, which has left us all out of sorts.  One of the symptoms was a heavy cold - no fun in this heat!  Luckily the allotment I have taken on with two friends is under control and things are looking beautiful at my land share as my annual flowers flourish....but more about those things on another blog post.

I'm off to see the lovely Janet and Tim at Abbey Leys farm on this side of High Legh today.  I visit their farm a lot either for the well-stocked farm shop or the monthly farmer's market.  I visit for a different purpose today. 

Farmstart
Janet and Tim have been working with Farmstart, (www.kindling.org.uk/farmstart).  This involves some volunteers and new growers using land to learn farming with support.  I can't imagine how difficult it would be if I decided I wanted to be a farmer - it is one thing to visit a farm.  However, deciding properly if it was the right thing for me would be really hard.  This project gives budding (excuse the pun!) growers the chance to make a start.  They also use The Greater Manchester Land Army volunteers.  I'm being sketchy on detail here, but that is for a good reason: I don't know any more.  That is going to be rectified today.

Walk on the Wild Side
Farmstart are hosting a walk this afternoon from 1pm.  Meet at Abbey Leys farm (http://www.abbeyleys.co.uk/).  We will have a farm tour, eat some cake and walk about 4 miles through the surrounding countryside to see the Farmstart initiative.  They will ask for a contribution towards the cost of refreshments and the work of the Prince's Countryside Trust Fund.  As well as finding out about the work on the farm, the new initiative and eating some of Janet's tasty cakes, we will be celebrating all that is great about the countryside.  That won't be hard on such a stunning day. 

So, if you fancy getting away from it all and don't want to do battle on a motorway to get to a beach -  I'll see you there.

Lisa Reid

A Big Welcome to July

What an absolute whirlwind June has been...I was glancing back through my photos this week and it helped bring home what I have crammed in to one short month.  As per usual with my photos, I have more of food & drink than I do of my kids (I can imagine them having therapy when they are older as a consequence!).  This month is slightly unusual in that Lymm Festival has made a big appearance too.  What did you manage to book from the huge choice of activities? 

Foodfest
Low Carbon Lymm were part of the festival from the start at Foodfest 2014.  It was no chore to share some great local food and drink with you all on a sunny evening.  I was a little hesitant about how the samples would be received, but you were complete stars...even guessing the identity of the rogue supermarket Cheshire cheese.  We moved our local food roadshow to Statham the week after for their annual summer fair.  There we spoke to more great people about local produce.  The overwhelming message was positive.  People want to eat more local food, and in many cases just didn't know where to buy it.  If that applies to you, check out our interactive map:  http://bit.ly/1re6lal

Local Summer Food
I think eating seasonal local food it a breeze in summer in any culture because of the prevalence of tasty fruit and vegetables, and Cheshire is no different.  I have had some melt-in-the-mouth new potatoes from the farm on the junction of Weaste Lane and Halfacre Lane over the last few weeks.  The farmer grows his own, so you know they have only a couple of food miles to arrive on your plate.  We currently eat them by the pan full - hot or cold.  My favourite idea is using rocket or broad bean pesto on them (put some rocket or blanched young broad beans with walnuts, strong flavoured cheese, rapeseed oil, seasoning and lemon juice in a blender).  This is a brilliant way to use up a glut of vegetables in a mostly UK pesto (it is possible to buy Yorkshire rapeseed oil in Tesco now at a reasonable price) and yet another excuse to eat Cheshire spuds. Yum.

Lisa Reid

It's all happening on Thursday...

 Lymm Artisan Market

Before we talk about this week, let's recap on Sunday...Zoe popped down to the market to stock up on local produce from the market.  She wasn't disappointed.  As you can see from the pictures, Kenyon Hall Farm were there again with their usual range of stunning local food.

Foodfest

Well, it is here at last: Lymm Festival starts on Thursday (www.lymmfestival.org.uk).  It is always a struggle to work out which of the diverse range of events we can fit onto the calendar in our house while the festival runs for 10 days.  The event which starts it all off is Foodfest at 6pm.  The centre of the village is closed to traffic, and food sellers come out to tempt passers by with their wares.  Low Carbon Lymm have a stall again this year, and we have a tasty menu of food and drink to give away (yes, you read that correctly GIVE AWAY!), plus some seedlings.  Pop over to see us next to Sextons bakery and sample some local produce. We would love to know what you think about any local food issues while you eat and drink too.


Hope to see you there!

Lisa Reid