My new project...Field and Forage!

At last I can reveal my secret project - Field and Forage. theres been lots of planning and developing and meetings going on but finally I can share it!

About three years ago I met Charlotte, who like me is mad about delicious food, local and seasonal produce, be it from the harvest or the hedgerow. Unlike me, Charlotte has a beef herd that she and her lovely husband and children have been working hard to ensure is the best that it can be. Manor Farm Beef was born and they run a very successful beef business, not surprisingly as the beef they rear is delicious (apologies to my veggie and vegan friends!)

Char and her family produce biltong and for a quite a while now have been selling mouthwateringly amazing hot pulled beef sandwiches - that's where I come in...

together we are developing the catering business, catering events, private parties etc. I've been bursting to blog about the business in development but it didn't feel right to till now.

So many exciting things have been happening over the past few weeks - we've met with a brand and logo designer, we've launched on twitter, registered a web domain and facebook page - all getting ready to launch. We've met with an events company and...

we have our first event in the diary!

Driffield Christmas lights switch on (4-8pm) 4th December, will see Field and Forage on their first official outing. We have some promo materials to hand out on the night but our official logo and materials won't be unveiled till just before Christmas.

You can follow our progress on twitter as Field and Forage and I can write about our adventures here now too - my secret love's no secret any more!

To Beef or not to Beef...

We did resolve to buy local and fresh when we moved here, and then life kept getting in the way and there we were in the supermarket. We also resolved to buy in bulk so we could cut out the weekly shop and spend more time doing fun stuff, but we had to rebuild a house and that left little space for storage. But at last, we're getting there... in the space of a week we've bought half a pig and a big box of beef to see us through the spring, oh and a chest freezer to put them in for the pricely sum of £20! (the freezer not the meat!) The tip for buying such a value freezer is to wait until your absolutely desperate for one and them pray that your neighbour moves house and needs to offload one fast!

Our beef came very local, so local that BH picked it up as he dropped our little one off at Toddler group. Manor Farm Beef are Chris and Charlotte Shipley who run a mixed farm quite close to us and have been nominated for a Yorkshire Taste Award. Charlotte ran a tasting session recently at which their steak was devoured. My littlefreerangers wasted no time in tucking in...

I cant tell you the struggles we've had to get this one to touch her dinner, never mind finish it and ask for more! The joint I cooked was a Crop of Beef  and I slow roasted it for most of the day - it was as they say on 'Diners, Drive Ins and Dives'.....Capital T Tender! I would have taken a picture only it was set about too quickly by the hungry herd!

Needless to say I am going to be cooking more beef recipes and going back to Manor Farm. They are having their first go at Driffield Farmers Market on Saturday, so who knows - might see you there. I'll be the blogger taking pictures and loaded down with joints of meat!