Bringing in the harvest down at Jimmy's

Jimmy Doherty is an absolute hero of mine. We went to Jimmy's Farm a few years back when Matt had bought me a tour of the farm and lunch with Jimmy himself and he is such an inspirational chap. So, imagine our delight when we discovered that he was hosting a food and music festival.

In case you don't know who Jimmy is, this is he (holding his month old baby in a carrier...aaaah):



We booked tickets months and months ago before we knew the line up so I was soooo excited to discover that my favourite band (The Futureheads) were playing. The music was brilliant, of course, and the atmosphere fantastic:




The food was also brilliant. On the first night I had dinner from Wahaca, the Mexican "street food" restaurant set up by Tomasina Myers who won masterchef a few years back. I've been to the restaurant in London a few times and it never disapoints - it's just my kind of food! On Sunday we had some Greek-style salad from the "farmers market" area, and a pasty from Jimmy's shop. Being such a small festival it was a great place to just see people. We watched The Hairy Bikers do a cooking demo and they were jolly funny and just as entertaining as on TV:


(a speeding biker)


(bikers in action)

Last, and by no means least, my gardening guru, Alys Fowler was there! Matt said I was all red every time I saw her and I saw her lots - she clearly wanted to be my friend because she queued next to me for breakfast and sat behind us at Wahaca:



She talked about wild food and some unusual ideas for preserving and pickling, which was fascinating, and we even won a prize from her of some walnuts that she had collected on her drive down from Birmingham. Brilliant!

I was a bit of a loser and asked for her autograph (I never do that, but I just couldn't not!) and talked to her about flea beetles, a very important subject I'm sure you'll agree.




Finally, a visit to Jimmy's Farm wouldn't be complete without a mention of the pigs. We had a lovely talk from a pig expert about the different breeds and they all came out to show themselves off:

Gloucester Old Spot

Large Black

Tamworth

Wessex/Saddleback

I thought this chap was an Essex but he's clearly not so he's nameless

Middle White


It was just running around pigs that kept us amused either, there was plenty of piggy to fill our tummies (Katy, don't scroll down)...














Pass me the apple sauce!

Farm Sunday and Wild Food adventures

What a lovely day we've had today. Today was Farm Sunday, a fantastic initiative to encourage people to learn about farms and farming where loads of farms open their doors for the day. We managed to visit three farms.

Two were further afield, near Uckfield in East Sussex. Both of which were brilliant - we got to see chickens and bantams (which I now want!), pygmy goats (adorable), pigs, sheep being sheared. We also had some delicious burgers and sausages and bought some locally produced Halloumi cheese which we've just had for dinner.

The first farm though was just up the road. It was set up just 5 years ago and was such an inspiration - they went from a blank canvas and now have ducks, goats, cows and pigs living in the woods. They are pretty small scale but it was lovely to see what they've achieved and definately made us more than ever want to pursue our smallholding dream! One day maybe...

When we got home we went out for a walk to pick some elderflowers. Someone from work brought in some homemade elderflower cordial last week and it was delicious! This inspired me so we went and picked 40 flowerheads which should make a fair amount to fill the bottles that I bought in Ikea yesterday. Fingers crossed the recipe works, we're using this one from Sophie Grigson.

Until we get the lemons and citric acid the elderflowers are sitting in wait: