Thursday 31 July 2014

A Silver Lining to the Clouds?

Bumper crops
I think it is fair to say that we have been having a beautiful summer this year.  I am so pleased that is has also meant lots of successful harvests so far, unless you are one of the unfortunate growers who have had their home-grown food eaten by a bumper year for slugs.  I'm afraid that I have been so overwhelmed with my small land share plot and helping a friend get her new allotment in shape, that I took my eye off some of my plants.  As a result, I have found aphids a problem.  I tried a spraying with soap solution, but they were too well established for it to make much difference.  I have had a visit from loads of caterpillars on my rocket.  I didn't mind at all since I had a rocket glut, and they have to live somewhere!  When giving away my rocket surplus it has been fun informing friends to watch out for the caterpillars hitching a ride. 


Silver lining
I took this picture a few days ago.  The other adults in the house had gone to work and the kids were still asleep, so I sneaked outside to breakfast in peace.  Bliss!  I was hoping to blog about my intentions to repeat this over the summer whenever my working hours allow, but the weather has other plans.  It will rain, rain, rain until next week at least.  Those who grow food on a larger scale will be glad of the rain but I am happy with an Indian summer because I can water my small plots by hand.  So if I don't need rain for my garden, what will the silver lining be to poor weather?  Well, I guess the aphids will have a hard time clinging on to my sweet peas in downpours[cue evil laugh]!

Lisa Reid

Friday 25 July 2014

Walking this afternoon in the Cheshire sun

I've been offline for a few weeks because we have had a virus in our house, which has left us all out of sorts.  One of the symptoms was a heavy cold - no fun in this heat!  Luckily the allotment I have taken on with two friends is under control and things are looking beautiful at my land share as my annual flowers flourish....but more about those things on another blog post.



I'm off to see the lovely Janet and Tim at Abbey Leys farm on this side of High Legh today.  I visit their farm a lot either for the well-stocked farm shop or the monthly farmer's market.  I visit for a different purpose today. 

Farmstart
Janet and Tim have been working with Farmstart, (www.kindling.org.uk/farmstart).  This involves some volunteers and new growers using land to learn farming with support.  I can't imagine how difficult it would be if I decided I wanted to be a farmer - it is one thing to visit a farm.  However, deciding properly if it was the right thing for me would be really hard.  This project gives budding (excuse the pun!) growers the chance to make a start.  They also use The Greater Manchester Land Army volunteers.  I'm being sketchy on detail here, but that is for a good reason: I don't know any more.  That is going to be rectified today.

Walk on the Wild Side
Farmstart are hosting a walk this afternoon from 1pm.  Meet at Abbey Leys farm (http://www.abbeyleys.co.uk/).  We will have a farm tour, eat some cake and walk about 4 miles through the surrounding countryside to see the Farmstart initiative.  They will ask for a contribution towards the cost of refreshments and the work of the Prince's Countryside Trust Fund.  As well as finding out about the work on the farm, the new initiative and eating some of Janet's tasty cakes, we will be celebrating all that is great about the countryside.  That won't be hard on such a stunning day. 

So, if you fancy getting away from it all and don't want to do battle on a motorway to get to a beach -  I'll see you there.

Lisa Reid

Tuesday 1 July 2014

A Big Welcome to July

What an absolute whirlwind June has been...I was glancing back through my photos this week and it helped bring home what I have crammed in to one short month.  As per usual with my photos, I have more of food & drink than I do of my kids (I can imagine them having therapy when they are older as a consequence!).  This month is slightly unusual in that Lymm Festival has made a big appearance too.  What did you manage to book from the huge choice of activities? 

Foodfest
Low Carbon Lymm were part of the festival from the start at Foodfest 2014.  It was no chore to share some great local food and drink with you all on a sunny evening.  I was a little hesitant about how the samples would be received, but you were complete stars...even guessing the identity of the rogue supermarket Cheshire cheese.  We moved our local food roadshow to Statham the week after for their annual summer fair.  There we spoke to more great people about local produce.  The overwhelming message was positive.  People want to eat more local food, and in many cases just didn't know where to buy it.  If that applies to you, check out our interactive map:  http://bit.ly/1re6lal

Local Summer Food
I think eating seasonal local food it a breeze in summer in any culture because of the prevalence of tasty fruit and vegetables, and Cheshire is no different.  I have had some melt-in-the-mouth new potatoes from the farm on the junction of Weaste Lane and Halfacre Lane over the last few weeks.  The farmer grows his own, so you know they have only a couple of food miles to arrive on your plate.  We currently eat them by the pan full - hot or cold.  My favourite idea is using rocket or broad bean pesto on them (put some rocket or blanched young broad beans with walnuts, strong flavoured cheese, rapeseed oil, seasoning and lemon juice in a blender).  This is a brilliant way to use up a glut of vegetables in a mostly UK pesto (it is possible to buy Yorkshire rapeseed oil in Tesco now at a reasonable price) and yet another excuse to eat Cheshire spuds. Yum.

Lisa Reid