Richard Loader's FoodTalk blog (46)

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What am I up to in the garden?

Weekend 5/6th March

 

I've been looking round the garden and getting quite depressed by the Vole population that has developed over the Winter. I had hopes that the cold would have reduced the numbers but I can see Vole holes in every bit of lawn and rough grass, probably 2 or 3 per metre square....that's a lot of Voles over about an acre. That all means we have to grow even more to feed ourselves and the Voles, I think there's a vicious circle going on here. There's no sign…

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Added by Richard Loader on March 5, 2011 at 9:30 — No Comments

Stripper action

I find this little gadget very effective in stripping corn from the cob, and less messy than doing it with a knife. It also avoids getting those woody bits mixed in with the kernels.


The device is made by OXO, I bought it online, can't remember where from but it was well worth the few ££ that it cost.


The blade is sharp so you need to take care, blood mixed in with the kernels doesn't look…
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Added by Richard Loader on September 26, 2010 at 17:50 — 6 Comments

Harvest VegEvent report

The sun shone and it was a perfect early Autumn day, maybe that's why the attendance was disappointing. What was lacking in numbers was made up for in quality, my lasting impression will be the lovely folks who were there, and that applies to the public, speakers, stallholders and the Transition Fordingbridge group, what a great bunch of characters to spend a pleasurable day with.


Our speakers were excellent, all three made such an effort to give us their…
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Added by Richard Loader on September 19, 2010 at 10:00 — No Comments

Harvest VegEvent - The Poster with all the info

Added by Richard Loader on September 17, 2010 at 11:34 — No Comments

Locally manufactured garden gear, really?

Well yes, not all garden equipment is made in China. I was surprised to find that a Ringwood company supplies Wormeries made in Hampshire from re-cycled plastic.....and palatial worm accommodation they are too. Wormcity have a great track record for developing wormeries that work.



and, in the New Forest PoshCloche make lovingly finished…
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Added by Richard Loader on September 16, 2010 at 21:08 — No Comments

Make a day of the Harvest VegEvent

After Lucie Cowles Foraging talk, then Natasha Moore's preserves demo you'll be feeling more than a little peckish. There will be plenty of time before Charles Dowding to enjoy the legendary VegEvent Stew.


At the Spring VegEvent the Stew was a great success, folks wanted the recipe and were keen to know the secret ingredients.....well, if you are very lucky all will be revealed on the day. Fresh local veggies grown by members is the bulk of what goes in, and for the…
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Added by Richard Loader on September 14, 2010 at 22:30 — No Comments

Perfect Preserves will be demonstrated at Harvest VegEvent

Natasha Moore from Perfect Preserves will be demonstrating some of her favourite recipes at the Harvest VegEvent. Natasha will be doing the morning demo at 11am. Expect to see how to make 'Bread and Butter pickles ' (not at all dull but extremely yummy) an Autumn jam and Chutney - it's your chance to learn from a real expert.

Added by Richard Loader on August 26, 2010 at 10:16 — No Comments

Calendula Organics - locally made herbal skin care

Calendula Organics - coming to the Harvest VegEvent…

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Added by Richard Loader on August 21, 2010 at 21:29 — No Comments

Harvest VegEvent - Get your Kilner jars ready for action

Before freezers the Kilner Jar was the favoured method of preserving fruit and some vegetables. Bottling (canning in the US) remains a very efficient method of preserving produce for consumption later, when home grown fresh food gets scarce.


Fruit bottling is having a revival…
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Added by Richard Loader on July 12, 2010 at 21:44 — 1 Comment

Harvest VegEvent - Charles Dowding to return with the sequel to his Spring talk

Great news, we have succeeded in booking Charles Dowding to come along to our Harvest VegEvent as the guest speaker. Charles will talk about ways to extend the cropping season at both ends to ensure fresh veg all year-round. He will also give guidance on storage of veggies that can't be left in the ground.


As well as Charles we are hoping to have a talk about foraging and demonstrations of preserving, drying, juicing and freezing



September 18th at…
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Added by Richard Loader on July 3, 2010 at 21:00 — 1 Comment

SIze isn't everything when it comes to cucumbers

We always find cold nights cause Cucumbers to fail if planted in cold glass even as late as early May. So this year I decided to do some early ones in the conservatory where they get benefit of heat from the house.


The variety I chose was Iznik, .......OK it's an F1 hybrid so we can't save seed from them but worth a try. As it turned out they are just as good as in the blurb, perhaps better. They began with a few very early fruits that I should have picked off but the only…
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Added by Richard Loader on June 29, 2010 at 22:30 — No Comments

Yes!.........this what all the effort is about.

Just home from work and been round the garden gathering some veg for tonight.


Spring Onions,
Spinach for Salad,
Overwintered bulb onions,
Pentland Javelin new spuds
A massive white radish
A huge Cos lettuce
French beans
Early Nantes carrots
Iznik mini Cucumbers
Sanguina beetroots
Rocket
Curled Parsley
Coriander
Latah…
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Added by Richard Loader on June 25, 2010 at 19:18 — 2 Comments

A cordial invitation.....

Our Elder trees are just coming into full flower, if anyone would like to come and pick some flowers for making cordial or champagne this looks like the weekend to do it.....there are far more flowers than we will use.

All of the Elders are well away from the road so free of road dust and engine particulates.

If interested just ring 01425 653361

Cheers

Richard

Added by Richard Loader on June 11, 2010 at 12:43 — No Comments

Vienna - a Radish well worth growing

Usually, I grow French Breakfast radishes (do the French really eat Radishes for breakfast?) but, back in March I sowed some of T&M's 'Vienna' as something different to try.
I'm really impressed, they are claimed to get as large as golf balls yet remain solid and not pithy and it's all true, they are sweet and crunchy even when a bit bigger than golf balls. Sadly they are F1 hybrids so we won't be able to save seed but T&M's veggie seeds are half price at present so I'm going to…
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Added by Richard Loader on May 3, 2010 at 18:00 — 2 Comments

Sustainable/re-use - nice garden examples

First two from Wisley. On Tues 20th April a team of gardeners was working hard to create the twisted birch supports for the massive double perennial borders. The whole thing is a work of art.








The next two are from the Learning garden, Fairweathers,…

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Added by Richard Loader on April 21, 2010 at 23:30 — No Comments

Transition training day

What a great weekend for the folks on the Transition training course. A perfect location (Minstead study Centre), blue skies all the way, a lovely mix of people and two buzzards just at the right time!


For those who attended and anyone who might be interested here's the group shot:




It's 800 pixels on the longest axis, just about big…

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Added by Richard Loader on March 15, 2010 at 9:20 — 3 Comments

Looking forward to the Apple harvest

Sue and myself and keen to make juice from the abundant apple crop that might happen this Autumn. The proper gear for crushing the apples and pressing the juice is rather pricey and we can't help thinking the old way of having a community press is probably the way to go.........is there anything already happening in the New Forest?


or,


If there is a need for shared equipment for apple juicing is there a nucleus of interested folks who could get…
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Added by Richard Loader on March 7, 2010 at 11:07 — 2 Comments

Cunning blighters

The pro GM campaign is scarily well organised, the news about the proposed trials this year is very well engineered with all the right keywords and phraseology and the selection of Potatoes as the publicised test crop has been well chosen ( the spectre of Potato famine still has a powerful aura).


It was bound to happen, the corporate machines behind GM have…
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Added by Richard Loader on February 22, 2010 at 8:57 — No Comments

VegEvent

It's today - weather should be OK. Hope to see you all there.........!!
Charles Dowing talk starts at 11am and including a questions session will finish at 1pm - don;t miss it!
Cheers
Richard

Added by Richard Loader on February 20, 2010 at 7:21 — 1 Comment

Seed swapping

Sue and I made it over to Southampton yesterday to to see the Seed Swap under way. Ziggy who runs that side of things was kind enough to explain the way she organises the operation, all very relaxed and flexible.


We took along some home saved Sarpo seed potatoes, some Runner bean seeds and also some Strawberry plants from new virus free stock. We came back with some Squash seeds and some interesting Tomato varieties that are new to us.


The Swap…
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Added by Richard Loader on February 15, 2010 at 9:30 — 1 Comment

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VOTE for the best in Hampshire

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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…

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Can you help on the stall?

Posted by SarahF on April 19, 2013 at 18:16 0 Comments

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…

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