So here starts  a new year in a new house with lots of exciting things going on! A week after we moved in, the boxes were barely unpacked and it was time to start work on the allotment: We were given a  grassy patch of land at the bottom of the field, previously unused it meant we'd be starting from scratch. We pegged it all out with sticks and string and set to work taking off the top inch or so of soil. The area is a bit of an odd shape that somehow lent itself to being formed to read '211': In total it gives us somewhere near to 20 square meters of growing space plus we've been given another big bed which we will start work on soon as well as space in the poly tunnel! A very good start! The layout may look bizarre but much thought went into the design... well at least 5 minutes of thought. The fence to the adjoining field runs diagonally along the left side meaning we had this oddly shaped piece of land to work with and so couldn't do standard straight lines of beds. We made the two long strips narrow enough so ...

Just a quick post to say I've not given up, I'll be back on the case again soon. Can't believe it's been two months since I last wrote anything. Tut! Naughty me. There has been a reason for this period of silence though, or rather several reasons. The first of these is that most of my time spent at the computer these last couple of months has been devoted to the creation of the website for The Loop Project, which is an exciting new venture of Andy and myself into the unknown and the start of our transition to a low carbon future. Read the launch here. Basically what we'll be doing is a bit of what we used to do - web and graphic design (strictly for TLP approved customers) to keep ourselves afloat while we learn and pass on skills which will be important in a world which can no longer rely on cheap energy. Expect to see a mix of exciting design for like minded groups like this and reports of our adventures in learning and teaching like this, as well as a few of our own "Public Information Campaigns" like this, How to Bake bread, the first of a ...

Guess what everyone's getting for Christmas this year, and probably for every year from now on... Homemade jam! Hurrah! After years of wanting to join in the fun but being too afraid of the huge pans of molten fruit involved, which I imagined would throw great blobs of sugary lava all over my face causing permanent jam splatter scars, I have, under the expert guidance of a friend, finally gone for it and cooked up an enormous pan of lovely plum and apple jam. [caption id="attachment_1581" align="aligncenter" width="450" caption="Big bubbling pan of jam"][/caption] As an added bonus all of the fruit collected was free, collected from various sites around Chorlton Ees. Anyone who's familiar with the Ees will no doubt have noticed the area around Hardy Farm has dozens of apple trees all laden with hundreds of apples which are  ripe for the picking right now. So long as you're not expecting to find supermarket style perfectly symmetrical shiny unblemished apples there's probably more than enough for anyone who fancies to go fill as many carrier bags as they can carry. The plums were from another less well known site on the Ees, the Community Orchard. The Orchard is perhaps an acre of land ...

Not that I'd usually want to spoil the ending of a story, but I couldn't wait to show this - Rachel's first loaf of bread, fresh out of the oven at the end of our first venture into bread making workshops. Perfect, light and crusty. Wow! [caption id="attachment_1542" align="aligncenter" width="450" caption="Perfect!"][/caption] It was a pretty amazing day really. In the space of an afternoon we managed to make a plain white loaf, a dozen rolls, bread sticks, a focaccia, tortilla wraps and some nachos! All turned out great. Rachel certainly was a natural - she has great baking hands. Watching Rachel and Andy's synchronised dough kneading it was difficult to tell who was teaching who. [caption id="attachment_1521" align="aligncenter" width="450" caption="Synchronised bread making"][/caption] Even the kids got stuck in. Beth helped cut dough into strips to make bread sticks, which Ellie then did a marvellous job of shaping and adding grated cheese to make them extra tasty. [caption id="attachment_1534" align="aligncenter" width="450" caption="Beth makes bread sticks sticks"][/caption] [caption id="attachment_1536" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Beth and Ellie make the breadstick shapes and sprinkle cheese"][/caption] Even little Lily helped, she made the important decision that lemons were indeed too yakky to be added to the mix. [caption id="attachment_1520" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Lily discovers lemons are ...

And so it began... Just over a month ago now, on the Summer Solstice of 2009, a group enthusiastic picnicers gathered on Hoxton Square, London, under the red and white flag that was the symbol of the first event, "A Taste of Things to Come". An anarchy symbol morphed into a picnic bench to spell out the intention - no longer were we fools to the robbery of overpriced bars and restaurants serving up expensive drinks and salads of limp lettuce and unripe tomatoes. No longer will we be slaves to the supermarkets. We won't eat your pre-packed out of season processed food and snacks. We will reclaim the power of good, simple, local, seasonal food and show it off in fantastical picnic extravaganza! At least that was the idea. As the man at the local offi pointed out after questioning the significance of our lovely little red badges, our choice of lubrication for the event was arguably off theme, "Ah a picnic to promote local food! Excellent idea... I see you have chosen 8 cans of Jamaican Red Stripe to compliment your food". Hmm.. seems we still have some way to go. "But it goes with the colour scheme" is not ...