The Parsonage Farm Spring Market - see what's out there!

One of the things I love about where we live is that there seems to be such a vibrant local food scene. Producers everywhere, support from a Community Interest Company, Hampshire Fare, which offers PR advice and networking opportunities for local food businesses (not to mention organising a huge food festival in July), famers markets, and, increasingly, smaller but no less important events bringing together food, drink and craft. It's a really great way of highlighting what's going on in the local area, and encourages people to think about whether they could get what they need from somewhere other than the supermarket or the internet. 

My friend, Peter Lane (he of the amazing pork pies) told me about the Parsonage Farm Spring Market when I met him a few months ago, and the date went straight into my diary. Parsonage Farm is, in their own words "a family-run business offering a warm and friendly service to all. We sell local, quality meat from animals raised on-site using natural, environmentally balanced and sensitive farming practices." Not only is the meat reared in a great environment, it is slaughtered at the Laverstoke Farm Abbatoir which is just down the road, and means that the animals hardly travel any distance when they finally get the chop. It's where Peter gets most of his meat from, and when you visit the farm and see the quality of the meat on offer, you can see why.

Not only do they sell their own meat, though, they have diversified in a number of ways, one of which are regular markets. Now, of course, it would have been rude not to check out their meat first (Peter having sold out of his pies by the time we actually managed to get to the market). We visited the butchers, where Mike the butcher was demonstrating his skills.

Mike demonstrating his butchery skills

Not only do they sell fresh meat, they have recently branched out in to charcuterie, and let me tell you, if you are into that sort of thing, it really is utterly delicious. We tried fennel & garlic, coriander, and red wine & garlic and couldn't decide between them so bought a bit of each one while we were there. Not that they will last long...

It wasn't just about the meat though. There were lots of fantastic foodie and crafty stalls and demonstrations going on. In particular, I was interested in The Hampshire Jam and Chutney Company . The stall was run by Sue Rockhill, and the jams and chutneys - well, sometimes I wonder why I bother sweating over my own jam pan...

I couldn't resist a pot of 'Dumpsie Dearie' jam made to an old Herefordshire recipe (with Hampshire ingredients), as it happens. Apparently if it had blackberries in it, it would be called High Dumpsie Deary jam. Fantastic name. Fantastic jam.

As you can imagine, I always have more than a passing interest in any cake stalls that are knocking around, and the Blackberry Cottage stall caught my eye. Not just cake, cake with hidden ingredients: beetroot, courgette, carrot, swede, spinach (yes, I am here to tell you that the spinach brownie I tasted was delicious). Alas, there was no swede cake left, but a beetroot chocolate loaf made a very excellent birthday cake for me to share with some friends

What's even more brilliant, there's a book coming out soon, so all those unloved veg box swede can be turned into more than mash or soup.

I will be looking out for that one.

While I was dribbling my way around the food stalls, the Husband and the kids were drawn magnetically to the woodturning skills of Chris Allen

While the children (and the Husband) were fascinated watching the man at work, I was talking traveller bouquets with his willing assistant. You can't really see them very well in the photo (on the shelving, in the pic above), but these are beautifully crafted wooden bouquets traditionally made by the traveller community from pieces of wood, peeling back thin strips in the same way as you might curl a ribbon when wrapping a present. There's a better pic on Oneday Woodcraft's facebook page. Simple and beautiful. I decided in the end to buy myself a spurtle, though. For porridge, and possibly rolling out pastry, although Pink thought it might have its place as a defensive weapon...

Finally, after all that nibbling and chatting, what better way to quench ones thirst than with a quirky cup of coffee. Actually the coffee wasn't at all quirky, but the cafe was. Allow me to present Colonel Grumpy's Coffee Bus:

Like everyone I spoke to at the fair, 'Colonel and Mrs Grumpy' have a story - and what a story! 

Colonel Grumpy (I forgot to ask his real name, so I shall assume the moniker he has assigned himself!) ended a distinguished career in the army spending 5 years as the Defence attache to Guatemala. Not wanting to return to a life of boredom, and wanting to do something to help the people of Central America, they bought an old bus from Indiana (yes, in the USA) on Ebay (yes really!), drove her to Guatemala, where she was renovated before they shipped her back to the UK where she now serves as a travelling coffee shop, selling Guatemalan coffee and crafts.


It was a fantastic afternoon - and so inspiring, talking to people so passionate about their products and what they do, be it a sports therapist now making and selling cakes after a chance conversation with a client whose daughter wouldn't eat veg, to a couple having a high old time selling coffee from a refurbished bus and raising awareness of Central American issues.

More importantly, though, coming to an event like this makes you appreciate what is on offer locally. As I get more and more insight into what's available around us, it has occurred to me that the supermarkets have achieved the greatest PR stunt ever - convincing us that we should buy from them rather than from our local suppliers. There is some fantastic produce out there (not just food, I hasten to add) and it is actually pretty easy to get your hands on it - local producers will deliver, or you can find their produce for sale in smaller retailers or from more regular markets. The vicious circle of the supermarket is that we never get the chance to see what is actually out there locally, so we carry on buying from them.  

I would be lying if I said that I have stopped buying from the supermarket. I don't always have access to a car, and a delivery of some products in some cases, where quality isn't necessarily an issue, does make economic and practical sense. However, with the help of organisations like Big Barn - with its handy postcode finder to show you where you can buy local produce, some investigations of my own and tip offs from friends, I am finding it much easier to buy my fresh food locally - and if the produce itself isn't local then using local shops to source it: fish for example, which I now buy through the butcher.

The thing is, that however much this Spring Market conjures up some kind of rural idyll, some kind of 'olde Englande', and however enjoyable it is to mooch around and taste a few things here and there, there's a serious point behind it. If there's something similar in your area, I'd really encourage you to make the effort to go - you might discover a whole world of amazing stuff being produced on your doorstep - be it meat, jam  - or spurtles

Buy Local? Big Barn can help

Have you come across Big Barn, yet?

They are a Community Interest Company, committed to local food, and to reversing the anti-social trend of the UK food industry which is currently contributing to :

Small farms going out of business
Small rural shops and post offices closing
Decreasing access to fresh food
Food being produced for shelf life and not flavour
Excess animal movement
Too many additives in food, hidden behind a label
'Staple food' costs actually rising as middle men & retailer margins increase
Increasing consumption of ready meals
Increased reliance on oil as specialist farms move away from mixed farming

The basic idea of Big Barn is that by making it easy for people to buy food locally, from local producers, it will help slow the inexorable march of the supermarkets towards the homogenisation of our food and the death of our high streets and small producers. Lots of long words, and rhetoric there, but I feel like we're heading for some kind of 'moment' in our food culture, and long words and rhetoric are called for.

It's all very well thinking that as individuals we can't really make a difference, but if we don't do anything, then we really won't make a difference. And if we all take little steps, well that will probably add up to some quite big steps. It's all very well saying, "Oh yes, but it's not convenient for me to buy local" or "well, it's just too expensive", and rely on someone else to shop locally but if we don't do something, we're going to end up with the supermarket as the only option, with very little accountability. We've all seen how easy it was for horsemeat to get into the food chain - horsemeat that was unfit for human consumption - and the fact that we have become so far removed from where our food comes from can only contribute to this. If we can get back to local - even a little bit - and support local producers, buying more directly, we can show the big players in the food industry that we DO care about where our food comes from and what's in it. You see, it's all very well getting hot and bothered about it, but if we don't actually DO anything about it, to impact where it matters - in the profits of the big boys - the big boys won't change. Simples.

I buy from the supermarket - I'd be lying if I said I didn't - but I also try to shop locally where I can. We have a  great butcher in the village and I trust him and his meat. Fantastic. I can get fish from him too. If I get the chance, I'll get veg from a Farmers Market (if the back garden isn't providing). It doesn't always work though. I don't always have access to a car, and there's no greengrocer in the village (although there are local veg box schemes). I know I should do more. In the words of Peter Lane (he of the fabulous pork pies), may be we could all take half an hour to find one local producer, and go and buy from them. It would be a good start.

This is where Big Barn comes in. I've copied this straight off their website, what their commitments are:

1. Provide a definitive database of producers who want to sell direct.
2. Promoting these producers by displaying them on post code specific maps.
3. Actively seeking other like-minded websites to have the BigBarn map, free, to open within their website to promote local producers.
4. Develop and promote an on-line market place to allow producer members of BigBarn e-commerce to sell local food on-line.
5. Continually looking for ways to help producers team up with local shops to offer consumer a complete range of food & drink cheaper, like for like, than the supermarket.
6. Accessing any grants to help achieve the BigBarn community's objectives.
7. Providing producer members with a database of case studies to help them improve their businesses and better meet the needs of local consumers.
8. Continually improve the BigBarn website and related technology to make it user friendly and world class

And how does it work? Well, see number 2 - basically by using your postcode to find local suppliers in your area it makes it easier to by local. They are also pioneering online shopping from local producers. How good would that be?

As you'll see, I've added a button to my blog where you should be able to do the post code thing and find local producers near to you. Apparently, I may get commission from this. Frankly, I'm not so fussed about that, but if it helps people access more locally produced food more easily, that's fine my me. Apparently the whole horsemeat thing has sent people scrambling for their local butcher - let's continue this trend and make shopping local more than a passing fad.

So what are you waiting for?

Who are your food heroes? Meet Peter Lane - more than just pork pies

What is a ‘food hero’? There are of course the Hughs, the Jamies of this world, not only cooking great food but using their status to highlight issues such as school dinners, hospital food, the catastrophe that is the fishing industry. I think this is fantastic work, and these high profile individuals are worthy of the title ‘food hero’.  However, for me, there is another category of ‘food hero’ - those who get on with the business of producing and promoting great, honest food. 

I was introduced to Peter Lane through his pork pies:

 Pies to dream about: meaty, well-seasoned, amazing pastry:
 

They form part of the Hampshire Tapas that I wrote about a few months ago.

 

 Peter falls fairly and squarely into my ‘food hero’ box: he’s all about fantastic food, honestly made, whether he’s filling a freezer for a busy family or preparing curry for 80. His business is ‘I Cook - You Eat’ - I think the name sums up what he does impeccably. 





In cooking so his clients can indeed eat, he is fuelled by the desire to cook fantastic food using locally sourced ingredients. 

“I believe in good hearty, wholesome food.  Food that is not simply there to feed you, but engages, nourishes and brings family and friends together around a table.  Food that encourages and then satisfies your hunger.”

Chicken & Tarragon Pie - I can smell it from here...

He grew up eating his mother’s good but traditional food. What really sparked his interest was his father returning from travelling to places like Italy and China, bringing back new and interesting flavours and dishes. Despite “playing hard and eating hard” (his words!) while he was growing up, and cooking from an early age, Peter’s journey to making a living from food has been an interesting and unusual one via music college, the organ at St Giles Cripplegate in London, Oddbins and the Civil Service. Already running I Cook You Eat on a part time basis, he took voluntary redundancy from the Civil Service in 2011 to concentrate on food full time. The influences of the food his father introduced to the family is much evident in the food he offers. As comfortable with the exotic as he is with the traditional: from freezer filling for busy families, to preparing canapés or dinner parties, he draws on global food inspiration, revisiting dishes to recreate them with top quality ingredients sourced as locally as possible to his north west Hampshire home: veg from the garden, local meat. He’s planning chickens and pigs of his own, but until then, most of his meat comes from a local farm:

“I get to drive a few miles to a beautiful farm in a stunning area where I can see the pigs, chickens and beef steers that will all go into my cooking. Everything is properly hung…I use very simple ingredients to make really fantastic food”  

Not that it’s easy running a food business from home: “I have to be really organised, and sometimes I just have to get out of the kitchen. It can be madness preparing 5 dishes, or cooking dinner for the children at the same time as some baba ganoush”, but he clearly practises what he preaches at home as well as in his business.

“At my son’s first birthday party, we had 24 people sat at a big long table in the garden. We ate broad beans and chorizo, home shot pigeon breast salad, courgette souffles and our own home made pizzas. All the ingredients came from the garden or nearby. … The children love hearty tasty food – Mediterranean based or traditional English food. Of course they have fish fingers, but often we’ll cook them something like smoked mackerel kedgeree, pasta they love, cottage pie, spag bol. Recently they surprised me by eating a sardine and leek gratin. We’ll have a fry up on a Sunday – but the children don’t consider it to be a proper fry up unless there’s black pudding involved.”

Clients of ‘I Cook You Eat’ can expect fantastically tasty home cooked food which Peter can provide fresh or frozen. He marks his meals with a ‘made on’ date and takes a pragmatic approach, in conjunction with the environmental health officer, to food safety. Take his pies 

“The whole point is to preserve the meat, and a properly made pie should last 10-14 days. There’s not much advice on the internet, but a big pie is simply too large to cool down in a fridge. I explained to the EHO that I left the big pies to cool out in the kitchen, and she agreed with the common sense approach I was taking.” 

It seems that his clients agree with this approach. “I often get very effusive feedback, but occasionally I won’t hear from a client, and I will worry if that happens, but then very often, a few weeks or months later, they will get back in touch to arrange a repeat order. There have been no complaints yet.” 

In these days of food confusion, where we are reeling from what feels like daily revelations about the gruesome nature of our food industry, it is reassuring to meet people like Peter who are prepared to quite literally put their money where their mouth is, using local, traceable produce from producers he trusts. In terms of a food manifesto (if it could be called that) Peter suggests that if we all took a little more time – may be half an hour a week to look for a local producer, to go to one place and buy one thing, we could all feel better about the food we eat. Personally, I know I don't always get the chance - or make the time - to do this, but I definitely agree with him, and it's my aim to be better at doing this. And who knows where that could lead to?

Peter’s website, I Cook You Eat has more details about the food he cooks and the service he can provide. He provides private catering, but can also be found at the food markets in the North West Hampshire area. You can find him in the twittersphere at @petesporkpies and on Facebook .

Important blog disclaimer thing: Just so we're clear, although Peter agreed to talk to me about his business, and let me use his photos, I wasn't paid to write this post; you'll understand that when a girl gets to eat a pork pie that good, she has to shout about it - that's all!