I am delighted to announce that Spice ‘n’ Easy has been nominated in this year’s Hampshire Life Food & Drink Awards and I am hoping to make it on to the short list of finalists.  To help in this endeavour I would be most grateful if you would add your voice to the nominations received so far.  This takes a little time but if you enjoy Spice ‘n’ Easy produce and can find a moment it would be much appreciated;

1. Go to …

Hi all

Can you help us?

The Food Challenge have booked a stall at the New Forest Spring Fair on Sunday 5th May.

We will running a very activity led stall, with lots of seed planting, poem writing and pot making.

We have the stall booked from 9 am - 5pm and would like to split that into 3 shifts of 3 hours.

• 9am -12 noon
• 11.45 - 2.45pm
• 2.30 - 5.30 pm (including a bit of clearing up)

If you would like to join us on the…

The bumblebee Conservation Trust has set up this on line tool, to see how bee friendly the flowers in your garden are?

Go to…

We are struggling here at Minstead with a cook off on long term sick leave.

We are looking for someone to cook for us…starting in January 2013.

21 hours per week helping in a busy study centre; cooking breakfasts, preparing sandwiches for lunch and baking the odd tasty cake for 30 hungry children!

No previous formal catering experience…

I popped into Lymington yesterday, and dropped by the Greengrocer in Angel Court. Natasha has only had the business since August this year, and has a good range of fruit and veg - all clearly marked where it has been grown.

I spoke to Natasha for a while and she is keen to promote local food:

• She is already stocking locally grown chillies, and Setley Ridge jams and chutneys - ideal christmas gifts!
• She would like to hear from anyone who grows their own food, and…

Based on the A337 Milford turning, down the hidden road with the Water Gardens on, is the Granary Kitchen.

The Granary Kitchen run a cookery school, but also offer private dining. They are members of the New Forest Marque (so use at least three locally sourced products)

The next course is:

Monday 3rd December - Christmas Ideas - Main, deserts and sides 9.30 - 4.30pm  £100

For more details see their website,…

Hiya,

Just been googling to find out about some edible hedgerow plants, and came across these linking websites.

Worth a browse, and quite fancy a edible mushroom course too.

Sarah

x

http://www.eatweeds.co.uk

http://www.foragingcourses.com

Dear All members of the New Forest Food Challenge

Love Local – Hampshire,  an eco-community venture              



I have a stall at the Winchester Friday Market and I am looking for local products to sell on behalf of producers/growers. It is experimental and will continue until Christmas to gain experience and learn lessons. This initiative is born out of my experience of engaging the public selling jam for WinACC , and building awareness of WinACC at…

Hi all

I am not sure how everyone else's apple harvest has gone this year? but one of our local producers - Claire Lee - who makes lots of her chutneys from local fruit and veg, has struggled with her apple tree this year.

If you have any spare apples, and live in or around the Milford (nr Lymington) area, please contact claire direct on her email :

info@spiceneasy.co.uk

Charlie Herring wines are produced in Italy, South Africa and Pennington!!

They are produced as natural way as possible, often in small but perfect quantities.

Although this year has not been a good year for wines, the Charlie Herring brand still showed some of its wines at RAW - the Natural Wine Fair and received fantastic feedback.

http://www.rawfair.com/artisans/charlie-herring

You can taste…

Have you visited Rosie Lea Tea Shop in Brockenhurst this summer? I went once with my children for a cake and hot chocolate, and once with my husband for lunch. Their cakes are absolutely delicious! Difficult to choose just one!

Also, if you have been down to Keyhaven and Milford recently, you may have spotted some black sheep in the fields. Either up Lymore Lane, or down by the 'crabbing bridge.' These are the sheep of Simeon Morgan Farming.

So, what do Rosie Lea Tea Shop and…

Hi all

Just discovered a mooli (had to look it up on the internet - a long white root vegetable) in my vegibox.

I found this Mooli Curry vegetarian receipe which I was going to have a go at tomorrow, but wondering if anyone had another receipe idea?

http://www.givemesomespice.com/2011/05/mooli-daikon-curry-moora-nu-khariyu.html…

Spice n Easy chutneys

Naked Jam

Goodalls Strawberries and

Hill Farm Apple Juice

are all attending the Lymington Spring Fair at Priestlands School on Saturday. Come along and join in the fun... Loads of other local stalls too including recycled jewellery, children's clothing, cosmetics, kids storytelling and face painting.

Also, come and see the famous Priestlands pigs in the beautiful walled garden. Come and meet the bees and chickens too!

There's…

Can you help me please???...

My rhubarb has bolted! It looks like its got some kind of flower (broccoli shaped) coming out of it..!!

This happened last year too, and I thought it was because my rhubarb didn't have enough water ... however its happened again, and I am sure its had plenty of water this year!!

What is it and what can I do about it?

Thanks

Sarah

 …

Have you heard about Future Farms?

Its a project based in the village of Martin, in the North of the Forest.  I have just cut this from their website -

"Futurefarms is a co-operative, set up in early 2004, whose purpose is to grow food within the parish of Martin in Hampshire, for sale to the people who live there. We are a non-profitmaking enterprise - all proceeds from the sale of our food are used to cover…

Tatchbury Farm is situated on Tatchbury Lane between Netley Marsh and Winsor, SO40 2HA.

They farm their own pigs, have some geese and hens and Sarah, 'the farmer's wife' makes some of her own marmalades and chutneys too.

They have a weekend farm shop open Saturday 10am - 4pm and Sunday 10am - 1pm where you…

We are now taking orders for turkeys and geese for Christmas. These birds are raised in Martin at Chalk Hill Farm. They are reared in small numbers and grow to maturity over several months. They graze on grass and feed on locally grown mixed cereal while turkeys benefit from additional vegetable protein. There are no growth promoters or additives.

The birds are free to roam, forage and socialise in the fresh air of the great outdoors. At maturity, all the birds are prepared on site to…

After a week of publicity, Lymington now have seven (yes! 7!!) new gardens for sharing, one in Hordle, and more in Lymington.

So, if you live in the SO41  postcode and looking for more growing space please contact Emily or Rachel on the numbers below.

However, they will…

We now have a new supplier of fresh bread and cakes for our Saturday market. We were getting bread from the Winterborne Bakery, which was proving very popular but unfortunately they are no longer able to supply us so we have found a new supplier called "Indulge" in Shaftesbury. This is a small artisan bakery which bakes a range of delicious handmade bread (including sourdough loaves) and cakes.

We will also have…

If you watch Countryfile, you may have seen a feature on Futurefarms that was shown on the programme last night. If you missed it, you can still see it on iPLayer: …