Soul Patch Summer Blog

First of all apologies for being off the radar on the old blog, it only dawned on me the other day how long it was since i checked in and that was at the beginning of our first season!

Well if we could have started a new business in any year and with us being us it would have had to be the year we saw the driest winter, the coldest and wettest summer in a hundred years, and all of the usual steps to growing we were so keen to use that we had spent all winter learning did not apply as no one had ever seen a season like it. We were featured in the Stratford Herald which helped out a lot with new customers and a lot of people came down to the Soul Patch shows after reading about our venture.

                                      Our picture in the Herald

We did it though, and although it was far from perfect we were able to do everything we set out to do and sell almost everything we grew which certainly was not bad for a new business in its first year and on a steep learning curve.
As an unexpected twist we managed to develop a great relationship with our favorite local restaurant No.9 on Church Street supplying them with our Elephant garlic, which Wayne designed a lamb dish around for the national chef awards and it went on to stay on the menu :)

                                               Elephant Garlic 2012

                                              Our sage flowers this year

It would seem everytime i write on here about  finally securing somewhere for our business to grow it has gone terribly wrong and it has not worked out. One thing that we really didnt count on when we first started was that land to let is rarer than del boy paying the taxman! After 5 dissapointments we were forced to go a bit further than stratford and have landed on Mickleton as our home on a piece of land known locally for the last 30 odd years as Raspberry corner. It is just under an acre and has been either allotments since the 14th century and later being used to grow an abundance of raspberries with a farm shop on site. It is just between Mickleton and Weston Sub-Edge on the Broadway road and is a busy old road for passing traffic!

We also had the great honour of being asked to do the flowers for the the Dirty Duck pub in Stratford this year and as they are one of the most well known pubs in our town we recieved so many compliments and other new business from new customers who had seen our display and were all keen to get the same look!

                                 Jubilee Flower display Dirty Duck 2012

                              Just one of our beautiful baskets sold this year!

So with our new piece of land being 10 miles away from where we are living at the moment and now knowing how much our plants need looking after we have decided it would be for the best to make a move that way and towards the sensational cotswolds. Us being us we thought it would be a great idea to go for a camping weekend and have a look around the villages and do some 'research' on the best villages with the best pubs! We also found our way to the Cotswold wildlife park and had a look around some beautiful gardens and sown meadows and very much look forward to moving out that way when a few more things are sorted out :)

                                  Lydia's new tent that was her birthday present

                                 Beautiful meadow at cotswold wildlife park

                                     The green man of the forest

                               Johnnie and Hendrix checking out the rhinos!

                                 Beautiful baskets outside the reptile house

 Soul Patch Shows

Welcome to the summer! Well not quite yet, as i write this weather reports are telling me that 20 degrees is on the horizon tomorrow so the BBQ is getting a dusting off and scrubbed down and thoughts of home made burgers and sausages are flooding through my mind. 

Our first #SoulPatchShow was last Sunday at the Holy Trinity parish hall and many of our friends and the local community descended on our show, buying baskets, garden veg, slurping freshly pressed apple juice straight from our brand new press and eating their way through loads of lemon drizzle, victoria sponge and of course chocolate cake!

We had great coverage in the form of our local paper The Stratford Herald which got the word out to the masses in the town and of course helped boost sales on the phone. We have been truly humbled by the way people in our community have chosen to buy from us and support us in our first year, and doing these shows we have had a unique opportunity to connect with our customers as growers, advise them, talk about our grand plans and hopefully create a long lasting relationship with them :)

We had special guests Transition Stratford with their stall promoting The Plastic Challenge idea (see previous blog) and beautiful Pashley bicycles (and Ian even managed to flog one!) Judith from Shakespeare's sister soap also brought down her fantastic home made soaps which were a hit with the ladies of the day :)

We were so pleased with our new press and after a serious session of scratting the apples, we had the most delicious tasting juice we, and everyone else that tried it had ever tasted. We are going round the school fetes this year with Freeda the pick up truck decorated to the hilt selling fresh juice and our other produce which we are convinced the kids are going to love.

Pashley bike stand

Tiddington #SoulPatchShow was all together a different vibe as it was just us but we met so many different people yet again all having great ideas about new ways of living, earning money out of the rat race and generally having a better life. We have signed up to do a few more 'pop up' markets this season which seem to be going down a real storm with the general public.

Oh and i also decided that it would probably be best if people knew where we lived so i thought i might make it completely obvious and put up ''a few'' baskets!

And for no other reason than i think 'Salad head' will be the next big thing on the catwalks of Milan i thought i would let you in on Lydias secret.

Hope its as hot as i think its going to be tomorrow and it is where you are and hopefully we can start our Summer. I sure hope so because  i have more than a few camping trips planned this year!!

Much love

The Soul Patch

The Big Plastic Challenge

A most interesting challenge and one very close to our hearts here at The Patch, Transition Stratford's Big plastic challenge is set to commence on Monday the 12th May.

Their aim......Transition Stratford’s Plastic Challenge is simple. In Week One, starting Saturday12 May 2012, we will shop as normal – but collect together every bit of plastic packaging that comes home with the shopping. Keep a note of how much packaging comes into your life.

In Week Two, starting Saturday 19 May 2012, we will aim to avoid as much as possible of the throw-away plastic we brought home in Week 1. To do that, we’ll need to change the way we shop – in particular avoiding single-use plastic packaging. We won’t eliminate the plastic in our lives, but we will see where we can cut back on avoidable plastic and reduce the amount of plastic that just goes to waste.

Now we all recycle these days and from a personal view my recycling bin is brimming with things to be sent off for the council recycling plant and this is a good thing.

 For many years landfills and our oceans have been brimming with polythene and polyurethane that takes an awful long time to decompose and sits in the ground or is washed up on our beaches thousands of miles away from its original source, god knows what truly lies beneath all that water but i bet it ain't good!

 We think this is is a great idea to get the average joe bloggs to actually realise how much they could avoid even putting in the recycling bins all together, by reusing existing bags, boxes, cartons and the like and take positive steps to saving a bit of mother earth and even save a few quid whilst they are doing it :)

  The real problem lies with the plastic that cannot be recycled and it's a surprising amount, from looking on the back of packets of supermarket bought sausages, mushrooms and even trays of salad, it all bears a label of non recyclable....

   

So if your up for a bit of a lifestyle change, I'm not saying that you have to, or preaching to anyone that doesn't fancy it, but if it turns out that you like buying from the local butchers with zero packaging or from your overly enthusiastic veg chap down the friday market who offers veg, just veg and a paper bag, you might cut down on a little of the non essential plastic and your kitchen bin doesn't need to be emptied three times a day!

See what you think, all the info is on Transition Stratford's page

http://www.transitionstratford.com/wordpress/?p=226

 Or find them on the almighty Facebook and drop them a line http://www.facebook.com/pages/Transition-Stratford/184114821607551

  Either way we are fully behind them and if you already have lots of non recyclable trays in your bin, dig them out punch some holes in the bottom of them, add a little compost and grow some salad or herbs in them on your window sill or greenhouse. Easy as you like and tastes great :)

All the best The Soul Patch Soapbox xxx

                                     Stuffed & rolled Manx lamb breast

We were very kindly given some lovely free meat from one of my friends father who farms and shoots out at Ragley estate near Alcester. We got some beautiful fallon steaks and a breast of Manx lamb. The fallon we just did very simply and cooked it with a butter sauce and was delicious, but the breast of lamb somewhat puzzled me as i had not cooked it or heard of the cut of meat before.
 Traditionally a very cheap but delicious cut of the lamb i decided that stuffing it and then a slow roast would be for the best and got to work knocking up a recipe for the stuffing.
I didn't want to overpower it with too strong a flavour so decided to keep it quite light so here it goes.

Luckily for us the lamb breast had had the small ribs removed from it already by tony but I'm sure you could ask your butcher if he would oblige and with the meat laid out flat like a blanket, i moved next to the flavour station :)

In a pan on a low heat i added

Half a finely diced white onion
Half a leek
A good handful of rosemary,lemon thyme, mint from the garden chopped fine
Tsp of wholegrain mustard
Tsp mint jelly
salt, pepper
drizzle of honey
Half a lemon squeezed at the end

All these cooked down for about 10 minutes,
and then was spread onto the lamb breast.

On top of that i also put a layer of
spinach and a final bit of seasoning again.

I then rolled the breast up and tied it with butchers string and popped it under some foil in the oven at 150 degrees c for 2 1/2 hours checking on it and occasionally basting it with some extra honey towards the end.

It is served with fresh griddled asparagus and some simple mash potato, also a nice minty gravy would go top drawer with this if you have some time for a great sunday dinner.

Hope you enjoy it, a little time consuming but coupled with a nice glass of something cold during the prep time I'm sure it won't seem like too much of a chore :)

Its all here

After managing to catch our breath after our long awaited delivery arrived last Friday evening in the dark (grrrrr) a big truck arrived outside our little victorian terrace house and managed to completely block our street. Ordering 3500 flowers and veg plants in the depths of winter 2011 i must admit i thought the whole lorries contents would be ours and not the one trolley they wheeled off. Some mistake must surely have been made i explained to the driver, nope, everything was there i was assured and the contents of his lorry actually contained 30,000 flower plugs and the very virginal and nervous me was ushered back into the house with my delivery.

 Next morning both Lydia and i were out the house by 8 o clock (an unusual event for a saturday in our house) and up to the patch to see our goodies. Of course they were all there and once we started pricking them out in their own pots i quickly realised what an epic task lay ahead of us.
 We had Surfinia,Begonia and lobelia flowers to plant up in the greenhouses 1 and 2 and Tomato and chili plants in the polytunnel. Unbelievably we managed to not snap one single plant whilst potting up and as we have extremely limited space this year to work in that is no mean feat i tell you!!

                                                 x500 Surfinia

                                  Lydia showing off the merchandise!

          x600 Scarlett Begonia complete with wonky yet stable end table


9 solid Hours it took to plant up all these lovely gorgeous plants each loved and cared for, lyds nearly insisting on kissing each one as she tucked it up in its soil pot but soon got sore lips on plant 43. We now have until mid April until these get planted up into baskets and then are finally ready to reach the destination of houses, restaurants and shops all over Stratford upon avon from the second week of May :)

     A very tired Jon watering in the tomatoes after a 9 hour day planting up

                                   Apache chili's sunning themselves

We even had time to much down on some pak choi for dinner that we planted back in January

Thank goodness nothing seemed to go too wrong on our first ever delivery and 10 weeks lay ahead of us now, caring and tending to our little beauties so they arrive to you in their finest form. I just wish the risk of frost would bugger off,  it soon will I'm sure but we are being extra cautious to avoid any damage. I want to get on with this delicious sunshine I've been waiting for all winter!

We have been busy planting Wild garlic up at the new site for The Soul Patch                                                                                         

                                                                       
We also have some great news that we shall be doing the front and rear flower displays for The Dirty Duck pub ( a kind of cult symbol of Stratford upon avon) and are extremely excited and honoured that sam the landlord has given us this opportunity. We also have No 9 restaurant on our books as well as Grants who are two of the best places to eat in town so things are looking very very good indeed!

Now we have actually got a bit more going on and everything is starting to grow at such a rapid rate we will of course be updating you with everything we have going on and of course details of our shows we are hosting in Stratford upon avon and details about our special local business guests we have on stall there.
See you for now and look forward to getting your summer clothes out, i personally am sick of big winter jackets, bring on the shorts!
much love TSP x

Soul Patch Slow braised short rib of beef

This slowly braised beef short ribs recipe is one of those delicious dishes that will warm you up on these cold nights. 

Cook Time: 4 hours

Ingredients:

• 4 slices bacon, cut in 1/2-inch pieces
• salt and fresh ground black pepper as needed
• 4 pounds beef short ribs
• 1 onion, diced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 tbsp flour
• 1 cup dry sherry wine
• half a pint of beef broth
• 6 springs of thyme

How to make it :)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

In a biggish pan, over medium heat, cook the bacon until the fat has come out and the bacon is cooked. Remove the cooked bacon with a slotted spoon, leaving the fat in the pan. Reserve bacon. Season the beef short ribs generously with salt and fresh ground black pepper. Turn the heat up to medium-high, and brown the short ribs well on all sides. Remove the short ribs, and add the onions. Reduce the heat to medium and fry about 5 minutes, until the onions soften.

Add the garlic and flour, and fry 2 minutes more. Whisk in the sherry wine, turn the heat to high, and bring to a boil, scraping off any browned bits on the bottom of the Dutch oven. Add the beef stock, thyme, beef short ribs, and 1/2 tsp of salt.

When the liquid returns to a simmer, cover tightly, and place in the oven. Braise for 4 hours. Carefully remove the lid and test for doneness - the meat should be fork tender. If done, remove from the oven. Let rest covered for 15 minutes. Then, skim any excess fat from the top. serve with mash potato and snuggle up next to the fire!

Time to see what your made of

The time has come upon us on our little journey to start our first years growing of plants. We cannot believe it has arrived so quickly yet so much has gone on already, but as this goes to press our little plug plants are sat in a grow room getting nice and strong ready for us to take care of them in 21 days time. We have settled on scarlett trailing begonias and a mix of trailing Surfinia for this years baskets. The garlic is coming on a treat since going in in November, we were a little worried as not much seemed to be happening in the way of germination but seeing that little bud of green emerge out of the ground has laid all fears to rest thank goodness, really looking forward to lifting that in the summer and seeing whats been going on under the ground for the past few months and selling it to you guys!
 Some possible good news on some land for us as well as we are currently 'between places' at the moment but are very grateful to be there. We have to have a final visit from the polytunnel company that are building our tunnel to give the land the go ahead but its looking really good.  If thats a go'er then we will be putting the tunnel up in august of this year but growing a whole wonderful summer season of veg on half an acre which will be fantastic. We are also looking forward to our opening show at holy trinity hall with all our local businesses who just happen to be friends, a great injection into the faded arm of our community.
 On the food side of things i have perfected my spearmint and chili natural tea mix and that will also be available from us this year and got bought a cider press by my lovely family so can look forward to making use of the orchard of apples we have at our disposal this year :) I did try some of my september batch of cider a few nights ago.........it was good....very good. Looking forward to 'perfecting' that as well.
 A bit of a brief insight today but come march 5th you will all be inundated with pictures and videos of everything that we have FINALLY got going on.
Looking forward to it
BIG SOUL PATCH LOVE