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!

Jubilations...

   

Now the holiday is nearly over Im catching my breath after the nonstop fun I want to ask the big question...

What did you do to celebrate?

We had a bunting festooned dinner..

I made a lot, and I mean a lot of cupcakes for street parties...The red and white ones were already in the car when I took this!

Oh and I got a bit tipsy at our village talent show and sang 'how much is that doggy in the window' backwards - no photos of that one thank goodness...there are some talents that are clearly best kept hidden!

Malton food festival ...

So I came home on Friday night sneezing and by the time the kids were in bed I was coughing and wheezing up a storm. Whoever invented the phrase 'manflu' hasn't met me - by bedtime I was convinced I was dying!

I fully intended to wallow under the duvet for the weekend until we realised that Saturday was Malton Food Festival. There was nothing else for it - a double dose of medicine and a woolly jumper and we hit the road...



As did everyone else - it was packed! Not surprisingly though as the produce on offer was amazing...

We bought some delicious Provolone...



Cakes and brownies...






And caught up on some of the demonstrations by visiting food writers...



We caught a bit of Tom parker Bowles and Matthew Fort cooking mackerel and eating Pork scratchings...



It was standing room only, but to be honest it was a great atmosphere with no one pushing or shoving so nobody minded.

After all that hard shopping some refreshments were called for - and there were plenty to choose from...


I had strawberry cider which i could barely taste because of the cold, but i figured as it was the colour of medicine it must be doing me some good!


The minis loved it - especially the chocolate fountain...


We brought back our haul..


The pork scratchings are Pony girls - she loves 'em. The passionfruit curd is most definitely mine!all that was left to was to come home and start sneezing again - anyone got a tissue?


Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Showgirls and Giants...

This weekend the gardeners of Yorkahsire gathered en mass at the Harrogate Autumn Flower Show to celebrate the great and the gargantuan of garden produce. It was my first time visiting the show and after hearing tales of the the giant veg competitions I was looking forward to some treats, but nothing could have prepared me for the displays in the exhibitors tent...

Dahlias to die for..

Chrysanthemums the size of footballs...

And the Roses were just about as good as it gets...

the blooms were definitely the showgirls of the day, with every colour imaginable on display, puffed up, blousy and demanding attention. We loved it! and wandering from tent to tent in a Pimms induced state of bliss, we had no idea what the produce tent had in store for us as we quite literally went from the sublime to the ridiculous!

I quite literally have 'never seen anything like it in my life'! Row after row of trestle tables groaning under the weight of veg so gigantic you have to wonder how they got it there!

You've got to really like cabbage to grow these - lets face it you're going to be eating it for weeks!

I didnt know whether to gasp or giggle at these marrows - they were HUGE! We agreed they wouldn't look out of place with a dinosaur chomping on them!

And the onions! The onions were - staggering! This was the record breaker

Yep - thats right 17lb 15.5 oz That's definitely going to make someones eyes water!

All in all the show is a testament to peoples passion for growing things, everything from Delphiniums to Dragons Egg Cucumbers ( I bought some seeds so I'll be showing you them soon!). I loved seeing the individual growers by their stands, guarding their produce and glowing with pride, that feeling that we all have the first time we grow something that makes it to the table - its just that these guys have turned it into an art form! And striving for excellence is something we all share as gardeners whether we achieve it or not - I know I won't be alone in ending the growing season already planning for what i want to do differently and better next year. Im certainly planning a trip to the Spring next year to get me off to a head start...

Our Yorkshire Getaway...

Now I wouldn't want anyone to get the wrong impression and think we're always off gallivanting, but this week is a very busy one for me, my wedding anniversary (8 years1)and birthday (too many years!) fall within 6 days of each other - and if that's not an excuse for a bit of gallivanting, I don't know what is!

We took up the lovely FreerangeGrandparents offer of a sleepover for the Wee Ones and snuck off to Crab Manor over in North Yorkshire. I cant believe I didnt photograph if from the front as its quite a beautiful building, but you can check it out at www.crabandlobster.co.uk Its a Manor House hotel attached to a restaurant, but it's so much more! Every room is themed around a famous hotel around the world and styled accordingly. Even though we'd read the brochure we still didnt really know what to expect, but I can definitely say it was out of this world!

This was the view from our window - I wish my lawn looked that green!



These gardens surrounded the path to the restaurant...





I do love a claw foot bath - I could have stayed in there all weekend...



This was our room 'The Ritz' - well we had to go for a London hotel didnt we!



The restaurant has to be seen to be believed. No photo could really do it justice and I didnt have a flash on me, but it is packed to the rafters with truly eclectic paraphernalia, everything from an antique wicker bathchair to racing paddock passes hang from the ceiling and your eyes are drawn to new wonders wherever you look. We are thinking about going back and sneaking our own memento onto the shelves to see if anyone notices!



There were surprises to be found all over the Manor - a 12 foot stuffed Yeti (described as the 'night porter'!)and gorgeous vintage furniture - but BHs favourite was this little note that awaited him in our room...



Needless to say it was a very successful treasure hunt!

All that Jazz...

When we left London our friends were all very supportive and oohed and ahhed in all the right places when we showed them pictures of where we were heading, but the one thing they couldnt really get their heads round was 'what would we do here'. Once we'd fed chickens and dug potatoes and walked dogs and built sandcastles - what would we do? How could we leave the theatres and concerts and comedy clubs and galleries all behind us? Fortunately we knew that there is life beyond the M25 and what people so often didn't realise was that although all that was on offer in London, when you've got two small children and are paying a London sized mortgage, you dont go out anyway!


I am very glad to say that is all remedied now. We've just enjoyed a fantastic weekend of culture and all just up the road from us at Burton Agnes Hall.



I love the Hall, its a real hidden gem as so many just dont know what's on offer there. It has the most amazing art collection which has really shocked some of our city friends when they've visited, but also amazing grounds including a walled garden.



I often find my way there - sometimes just to retreat after a hectic week at work. This time I sent my teenage goddaughter into it to explore on her own and find her own treasures. She came back wowed after her own 'secret garden' exploration!









Obviously a garden this size takes some looking after - they take all the help they can get!




This weekend was the fourth annual Jazz Festival. We got tickets as a joint birthday treat between myself and my old girly friend H, she'd had her birthday, mines coming up and we spent Saturday camped out on the lawns. It was a real treat for the Mums - very chilled out, enjoying great music, a great picnic and even greater dancing from our big brood of Jazz Babies!



We had a great view of everything from Big Band Swing to Dennis Rollins - Jazz trombonist (He blew us away - excusing the pun! He may even have converted BH to jazz!)



But a birthday picnic is nothing without a cake, so my own Jazz Girl was very busy the day before making sure we had extra special picnic treats!





So in answer to to my City Friends - its okay - we're finding plenty to do!

Its Showtime...

I do love a Country Show, I love everything about them , the live stock, the Fur and Feather, the craft stalls, the things you buy that you never knew you needed and above all the chance to imagine i'm a farmer for the day! After our busy schedule over the past few weeks my Better Half said 'enough was enough' and packed us all off to the Thornton le Dale Show in North Yorkshire. We have a great show just up the road from us, the Driffield show, but its often in term time so I can never go. We also have the Great Yorkshire Show which I hear is fantastic, but again its in term time so I only get to read the reviews. But God Bless the organisers of the Thornton Le Dale spectacular - they know that teachers love a good show too!


My mum - FreeRangeNan! and me spent ages eyeing up these Rams as likely winners in their beauty contest




Who could resist this cheeky fella!



They all had star appeal (I think those sideburns should have got a rosette myself!)


But eventually the winner was one from a completely different pen so we never got to see him!

I think we weren't the only ones disappointed...




We soon found consolation however in the form of the tastiest cupcakes I've ever tried ( and i've tried a few as my losing battle to get into my skinny jeans has shown!) I thought I was totally over cupcakes. You know once there in Greggs then maybe the best has already been and gone and I was fed up by being disappointed by sickly sweet creations that were all style over substance; see I said I'd tried a few in my time. But when I found the mama doreens stand I decided to have one last fling with the buttercream!



This cupcake business ( www.mamadoreenscupcakes.co.uk ) is based in Harrogate in Yorkshire and all their cakes are made using locally sourced ingredients wherever possible. I found from their website that they deliver so guess what my relatives are getting for their birthdays! This is Jessica who selected four gorgeous concoctions for me and was doing a great job dealing with the crowds they were attracting.



We had a 'grand day out', the horses, the sheep, the fancy bantams, the tractors, the cupcakes - whats not to love! Ive only ever helped with oragnising school fetes and knowing what a minefield they can be, I certainly appreciate the work that must go on putting on an event like this - its certainly worth it! I felt proud to be a countrygal, proud of my Yorkshire roots and even at times a little bit like a farmer ( im working on my sideburns as we speak!)

We got home shattered, but not too tired for these...



I think I may have found my perfect cupcake - who needs skinny jeans anyway...