with “Food”
You won’t find any little bowls of carefully weighed ingredients here, or any elaborate preparations or instructions. Goodness me no. The badly behaved approach is about creating good food with absolutely minimum faffing about. Yes, there’s some healthy eating but there’s also some guilt-free, calorie laden delights. Why eat mung beans if you can’t also have your cake and eat it?
Life is for living and food is for enjoying and on these pages I’ll show you how a little pinch of common sense, mixed with a dash of confidence and lashings of experimentation go an awfully long way.
Natural by design In a part extract from her Climate Change Garden book, Kim Stoddart explains why mixed planting offers a far more resilient alternative to block planted veg patch produce… What a year it’s been so far. As well as a pandemic lockdown to contend with, we’ve experienced a multifarious succession of weather extremes as the impact of climate …
Kim Stoddart explains how to take an edible walk on the wild side … Most of us are familiar with the saying that weeds are just plants in the wrong place. When you consider that some of these wild interlopers also happen to be edible, then it’s worth considering whether all need to be meticulously removed from your outside space …
Kim Stoddart examines the grow your own phenomenon that has emerged as a result of fears around food security since the pandemic lockdown. In the days leading up to the restrictions (and ever since), there has been a sheer frenzy of interest in fruit and vegetable growing as people seek to turn over their back gardens, patios, windowsills (and indeed any available …
In this article which first appeared in the August issue of Grow Your Own magazine, Kim Stoddart explains how to reduce waste at this hugely productive time of year With this month and next, the veg patch will be in full glut fest swing. On the one hand, this fantastic bountiful time of year offers so much home-grown culinary …
This is a version of an article that appeared in my gardening column for Country Smallholding magazine in April. In certain permaculture circles it might be said that if something is damaging your plants, it’s less of a pest problem than a predator deficit. The idea being that in a balanced eco-system the likes of slugs, snails, aphids and weevils …
Kim Stoddart offers 2018 growing ideas to help beat the January blues Traditionally a time of year for looking ahead and detoxing after the excesses of the festive season, why not consider giving your veg patch a health makeover this year as well? Of course, home grown fruit and vegetables are good for you in themselves but there are some …
If you want to feel better in this increasingly worrying world in which we reside then go and stick your hands in some good honest soil. Forget about gloves, and everything else you have going on in your life, and get stuck in. Pick some up, run it through your fingers and get connected because the healthier the soil, the …
In her latest blog on seasonal food, Alicia Miller explains how they bring a taste of summer to their plates in late January… As we packed our Christmas vegetable boxes a few weeks back, it was apparent that the rootiest time of year was upon us – potatoes, carrots, parsnips, beets, swedes and celeriac are the staples of holiday meals. …
In this second blog for us, inspirational lady-farmer, Sam explains how much she enjoys working with local restaurants. There is no greater privilege for a smallholder like me than tasting your home-reared, much loved, rare breed produce on the menu of a well reputed restaurant. I recently enjoyed a spectacular 10 course taster menu exquisitely prepared by Director Chef Chris …
First – a bit about Sam Sam Gray works a five acre plot in the heart of Shropshire where she keeps British Lop pigs, rare breed chickens, Soay sheep and grows a lot of her own fruit and veg. A published writer and author of ‘Doing it in Wellies’ about her first years on the farm, she is becoming well …