LONG TIME NO BLOG!

Firstly let me apologise for dissapearing off the face of the planet since february on the blog, my excuse?......................Well the good news is we have just been so so so busy! As you may know from previous posts we were just about to start our second season of growing flowers at the end of february 2013 on the Burnt Norton estate out near mickleton. The estate is 400 acres and covers lots of small villages in its grounds, in one word BEAUTIFUL!
                                   

MICKLETON

   We also decided to finally bite the bullet and move house out here right at the beginning of our growing season which also added a cetain extra amount of excitement/madness to our second year but was without a doubt the best decision of our lives.
   The baskets got off to a rather chilly start as in march as it snowed a lot but everything was tucked up snug and warm with the new propane heater we invested in to keep the greenhouses a toasty 19 degrees when it was only 3 degrees outside.
    Come May everything warmed up nicely and we planted up the dirty ducks summer display again and started on the mighty task of delivering all of our baskets to customers houses, quite an epic task!

CUSTOMERS BASKETS 2013

CUSTOMERS BASKETS 2013

DIRTY DUCK DISPLAY 2013

 We started scratching our heads thinking about what next to do with ourselves, Lydias brother is a chef at the church street townhouse in stratford and asked us if we would be able to grow specialist micro leaves/herbs to use on his dishes as the produce he was getting delivered was having to travel over a 100 miles, sit in warehouses for a few days and arrive nearly dead by the time he got to put it on the plate. So we do what we always do, get a bottle of wine and both sit at the computer and research research research and then a bit more research. What an interesting and cool little world the micro leaf growing business is. We definietly decided we could get involved with this and found our seed supplier and started down the path of deleloping our own salad mixes and micro leaf garnishes. We are now growing all sorts of awesome things such as micro red cabbage, broccoli,amaranth,celery,pizzo mustard,radish, leek, red chard and peashoots.
         

                                                      OUR MICRO SALAD OF RED CABBAGE,BROCCOLI,MUSTARD,AMARANTH AND RADISH ON THE MENU AT NO.9

EXTREMELY POPULAR 'PEASHOOTS'

   A good thing about the world of food is that word spreads fast and we are now currently supplying No.9 church street, The Townhouse, Loxleys, The Kings Arms and as of last week The Fuzzy Duck in Armscote which we are extrememly excited about!!!!!
                                     

 Whilst all of this has been going on, we both also work full time doing jobs which are paying the bills so we can float this business in and hopefully go full time in the near future. As if we didnt have enough happening there is of course Raspberry Corner, the 3.5 acre site where our farm shop is going to be just outside mickleton. A miraculous transformation of the fields has taken place after hand weeding the ragwort that covered the area, it has now had its final ploughing and is ready for all our wonderfull veg and soft fruits to go in which includes 2000 raspberry canes, 30 gooseberry bushes, rhubarb, asparagus, beetroot,rainbow chard,elephant garlic and a few polytunnels for our expanding micro salad business.

                                   THE JOHN DEERE TRACTOR GETTING INVOLVED!

BEFORE AND AFTER AT RASPBERRY CORNER

  Back last month, it was also time to harvest our elephant garlic that has been in the ground since last october and we could not be more happy with it. a fairly steep learning curve had to be overcome but a few good early on decisions has made for a bumper crop this year and it is selling extremely well and has been well recieved by the general public and restaurants alike. We still have some left for sale at £3.50 a bulb and can deliver to you if you are in our area.

OUR ELEPHANT GARLIC COMPARED TO A REGULAR SIZED BULB

 So as the summer draws to a close it really as been a great year for us and i cannot believe we have just started growing another 1500 winter pansies for the display down the dirty duck again and a new customer to us The Pen and Parchment also in stratford as well as our customers baskets. I must admit im looking forward to it being a bit cooler so we can get on with the heavy work of digging over the walled garden again and planting even more yummy and delicious things to enjoy through the winter!

Hope you have enjoyed catching up with us and if you want any veg or salad just give us a holl, whether you are a restaurant or just want some for you din dins :)

Johnnie and Lydia x

                                             Traditional values vs Modern day living



       Hello all and thank for having a look, i'm not too sure how to start this one so i shall start it here.     
     This is an issue that has been worrying me for quite a long time since i started using the Internet and computers (only 5 years ago) i agree, rather pathetic for a young man of 30, but to be extremely honest i could never be bothered, as i shunned home computer games, I.T lessons at school and the first wave of the Facebook phenomena that seemed to envelope everyone and everything i knew.
   Having a business we must embrace the opportunities that the Internet offers and we would be fools not be on Facebook and Twitter as we gain a lot of business through these sites and meet so many amazing and interesting people. Twitter has proved instrumental in establishing ourselves in our community as a business, but i hate the idea of everything i write, think and talk about being observed by the ever growing 'Big Brother' that seems to be creeping into to everything and nothing that i do.
   I have probably the oldest phone you can get and am always laughed at by the 'in set' staff in the vodafone shop as they cannot understand why i don't want an Iphone or any other life changing device.    
 The truth is that i don't want everyone knowing where i have been, who I'm with, how far i walked, and what i have read, and was told that i was far too old fashioned and get withthe goings on of the modern day, and get on board like everybody else.
 Lydia currently works as a waitress part time at our local pub and constantly comes home amazed that the couple that she served, sat down to dinner, both got their phones out immediately, did not look at her whilst ordering, did not look at each other or talk to each other whilst eating their food, updated their Facebook status as to where they were, a picture of what they have eaten, what they thought about it and rated it on Tripadvisor and then gone home, all without a word to anyone. How much disrespect for someone let alone your partner must you have if your 'internet' world is more interesting to you than your real life? When i was a kid i was informed reading a paper or wearing a hat at the dinner table was considered bad manners, what a world away we are now in
  Just recently we have started talking about having children and i wonder what the world holds for them, but i think with them growing up with this sort of technology it will not be the 'fad' that it is now to so many people and it will be just a general way of living and a general balance will find itself.   
    Please don't get me wrong, i love technology and am constantly amazed by what is invented to make life a more enhanced experience, its just that if the government decided that we had to put all our details of our life onto a database and everything we discussed and did, there would be a national uproar about our civil liberties being breached etc but here we are doing it for free and people are making a profit from it.
 My only point i suppose, and i realise i am being ironic by writing it on my Blog and it being on the Internet (please note i am not ignoring Lydia whilst writing this) is that real life is out there, so many rich experiences await you to be lived through your own two eyes and waiting for a little red notification to say yes, well done, someone has agreed with you and 'liked' what you are saying/thinking means nothing if the person you are sat opposite is feeling neglected, and things may get very dangerous if common sense and balance does not restore the equilibrium of everyday real life living. *End Rant* 

On a brighter side of things we have just got all our flower orders for this summer and a much brighter happier blog is on its way with nice piccies of our new home for the SP and all the hard work we have been putting in is finally starting to pay off! :) sorry to be an old sod but i just had to get that off my chest, hope it was not too heavy for a read x

                                          

 

                                          Stuffed Marrow

                   With Chorizo, Bolognese and bubbling cheese top

                                                Serves 2

This is a great way of using up your glut of marrows, and this year and it seems to have been a good year for them here at Soul Patch HQ. This is definitely for a main meal and will serve 2 people very genourously indeed, only downside is you may have leftovers and lets face it leftovers is never a bad thing especially in our house!


What you will need

x1 marrow (slice it in half and scoop the seeds out with a spoon)
1lb Steak mince
200g of Chorizo
x1 tin of plum tomatoes
x2 beef stock cubes
x2 tsps of ketchup
A dash of lea and perrins
x1 tsp of demarara sugar
A handful of ripped basil
A generous mill of pepper
x1 tsp of salt
x1 clove of garlic
x6 chopped mushrooms
A sprinkle of Pimenton (smoked paprika) 

For the fresh cheese sauce
20g of salted butter
X1 table spoon of flour
1/4 pint of milk
100g of mature cheddar cheese

I have included a video link below just incase you do not know how to make a cheese sauce, of course alternatively you can buy a ready made one in a jar or packet but i like to make my own

1.First off pop your two halves of marrow on a baking tray and drizzle a little olvie oil over each half inside the cavity and roast in the oven for 25 minutes at 200 degrees celcius until the flesh is soft.

2.Whilst the marrow is cooking put a frying pan on and add the mince and chorizo to the pan and fry gently in a little olive oil.

3.When this has browned add the garlic,mushrooms,salt,pepper, worcestershire sauce and the beef stock cubes.

           At this point remove the marrows from the oven after they have had
                      25 minutes and leave them to cool on the side

4.After the mushrooms have cooked through now add your plum tomatoes,ketchup, sugar and basil and cook for a further 50 minutes on a low heat stirring the sauce occasionally to make sure it has not caught on the bottom of the pan.

5. As your sauce is cooking start your cheese sauce in another non stick pan and follow the directions above in the video.

6.When everything is ready and cooked nows the time to assemble your dish.


7.Add the mince first into the cavity of the marrow and top with the cheese sauce. Add another twist of pepper and sprinkle over the pimenton on top

8.Bake in the oven for an further 20 minutes at 180 degrees celcius until the top of the cheese sauce has browned off

  9.Eat :)

©TheSoulPatch
  

Lydia's Roasted Pumpkin and Parsnip Soup with Crispy bacon frazzles

This recipe serves 6 people

What you will need...

For the Soup                                                                                                                                                                 

x1 small pumpkin with the flesh hollowed out (finally something to do with Halloween pumpkins!

x4 Parsnips washed and peeled

x1 Leek washed and diced

A pint and a half of good quality chicken stock

Small bunch of Rosemary and Thyme chopped finely

x1 Tsp of Curry powder

x1 Tsp of Pimento (smoked Paprika)

100ml of single cream

Salt and pepper to taste

*Optional

x1 Clove of garlic, i would use Elephant Garlic as it has a milder taste and does not over power it

For the Crispy bacon frazzles

x8 Rashers of streaky bacon

x1 Tsp of Demerara sugar

How to make it

1.Start by Sweating the diced leeks in a pan with the butter and a little olive oil to stop the butter burning on a low heat until soft

2.Cut the Pumpkin flesh and Parsnip into cubes and place on a baking tray and cover with a little olive oil and salt and roast for about half an hour at 180 degrees until soft.

3.Add the pumpkin and parsnip to the leeks and cook for a further 2 minutes stirring in a pan.

4.Add the thyme, rosemary,the curry powder, pimento, if you would like to add the garlic at this point dependent on choice this is the time to do it.

5.Add chicken stock to cover the veg then bring to the boil

6.Blend with a hand blender and add the cream plus adjust salt and pepper to taste, if you need to add a little more water to make it to the consistency you like your soup to be at, add more at this point.

7.Meanwhile in a pan fry up the cut up streaky bacon with a little demerara sugar until golden and crispy and then drain off the remaining oil from the pan.

8.Serve the soup up in a bowl topping with the bacon frazzles and a little swirl of cream, oh and of course a big piece of warm crusty bread slathered in butter!

©TheSoulPatch

    

Alluims and Stallions

October has bounded around again and this means only one thing....Time to plant out your Elephant Garlic seed! This year was our first year growing this type of garlic and we were very pleased with the results considering we were late planting it due to being uprooted ourselves. This season we have made sure everything (ourselves included) were in the right place at the right time. Our new soil at the new patch is also absolutley amazing and have never seen so many worms in the soil, literally like spaghetti!

Our Elephant Garlic seed delivered

                                                         His and Hers digging stances!

We also supplied our favorite local restaurant No.9 with it and wayne created a fabulous lamb dish with a elephant garlic puree which relly show cased it.

No.9 Church Street Stratford Upon Avon which we are supplying.

www.no9churchst.com

During our little break we had the opportunity to have a little walk around our town and had a look at the competitons baskets towards the end of the season, as a new business in Stratford this year we had the epic task of being the new guys on the block. We visited a lot of local businesses in the town and they were obviously a bit dubious due to it being new and a little bit different but we were delighted that so many were so receptive to our ideas and new business. We have had so many lovely pictures, phone calls and emails sent to us all praising our baskets and flower displays and for our first season i dont think you can say fairer than that!

As you may have read our new patch is actually just outside Mickleton and we have been looking for an excuse to move out to somewhere in the country for ages so we think it would be good to take the plunge in 2013 and make the move. We were very lucky to go and stay out there for the whole week living amongst sheep,pheasants and everything else furry. Not quite the relaxing week i was expecting (visions of walks through the estate ect) as we looked after x2 ex show jumping horses, x25 odd chickens, x12 chicks, x2 Guinea fowl chicks and x2 Bavarian bloodhounds. By the time everybody had had their breakfast there was not a lot of time for mine but i must say i really miss it being back at home now. Neither myself or Lydia have had any experience with livestock and were totally thrown in at the deep end, but the good thing with that is that you learn to swim very quickly, that or you drown! So still breathing and not getting too wet i must say im rather proud of ourselves for doing all that and feel really confident about a lot more things than i did the week previous, plus i loved feeling like Sylvester Stallone in the film Rocky where he chases the chickens for his training, jesus those things are hard to catch!

 This is the rather splendid 20ftx25ft greenhouse we have this year to play in :)

Some of our chickens for the week, (apparantly they love to just fly straight at your face and then leg it!) *Again.... not told about this

Baby chicks about 4 days old at this point

Guinea Fowl chicks about 4 minutes old in the incubator!

And the chickens even started laying whilst we were there so added bonus of fresh eggs :)

This is Eva one of the Bavarian Bloodhounds, what a gorgeous pooch but god is he strong!

Hendrix catching up on a bit of me time in front of the fire

Little and Large (i think Hendrix may have had an inferiority complex the whole week, best buds though

 Going for the lead role for the new remake of Dumbo is Eva

Just some of the views of the beautiful Burnt Norton Estate which we were lucky enough to call home for the week

Signing off for another few weeks as we have many many projects coming up at raspberry corner including, ploughing up the raspberry field, renovating the farm shop and planting out lots and lots of beautiful vegetables! i shall leave you with one last thought, enjoy x

http://youtu.be/SIaFtAKnqBU

      

Chutney Day!

Lydia's lovely brother and my wonderful brother in law who is a chef at one of our local restaurants 'The Church Street Townhouse' let us in on his tips for making three different types of chutney out of what we had left over from our season this year. A great oppourtunity to make up batches of what you have left or a glut of and best of all keeps for ages!

Here is Jamie and the Head chef at the Townhouse Nick Rowberry cooking at the 

Stratford-Upon-Avon food festival last weekend ;)

        Our Heirloom tomatoes were not all that great this season, i dont think many people have had large crops this year from what i have seen and it all seemed very late but we did have a few so we have kept all the seeds and are going for a bumper crop next year (isnt it always about next year!)

                                                                   Diced and sliced

 Jamie and his lovely girlfriend Natalie helping out with the onions that made us all cry!

 Saving the seeds

We decided in the end to make two chutneys and a jam, we ended up with a red onion and balsamic chutney, an apple and spice and all things nice and a heirloom tomato and apache chili jam that is pretty spicy but so so tasty! We are hoping that by doing little trials like these we can eventually start selling from our farm shop once our recipes have become perfected, in the meantime i will be chomping at the bit waiting before christmas to come so we can crack out the cheese and biscuits!