New arrival

The first veg box is here.  D trekked across half the county (from where he was working in the Isle of Sheppey to deepest, darkest Crundale) and this is the end result.

I find this very exciting, though also a little daunting. I need to rediscover the veg box recipes page on facebook, or create my own unique way of blending spinach, cabbage, swede and butternut squash.  All suggestions for the use of seasonal veg gratefully received.

Progress and hiccups

This is the point where I usually give up. Because it's all too much effort.  This is why supermarkets are so popular, in the middle of everything (buying children's clothes, planning birthday celebrations, taking the cat to the vets) you can walk in, chuck everything you need (and usually about £20 of stuff you don't) into a trolley and get out again.  I am also beginning to wonder how it's going to work when term starts and I have to go back to work.  Currently we're getting on ok because I have the time to head off to a range of places in search of missing goods.   This will all change next Tuesday.

Doing it this new way takes a lot more thought.    This means that I am now starting to run out of stuff, not helped by forgetting a couple of essentials (e.g. pasta) when I did make it to a small supermarket. (Aside: I was going to try and give up all kinds of supermarket, but that may be the challenge for another year, this is difficult enough). I don't think I have ever really thought about food, other than maybe to make a shopping list. This has also made me think about what we actually need.  And that the world will not end if we do run out of coffee (though it might if we run out of teabags).

Yet, in spite of all this, we are succeeeding!  Apart from my one stop to aforementioned small shop to stock up on tins and some snack foods for a birthday party (as we have not yet mastered hand-crafting our own tortilla chips) I have kept out of the bigger stores.

I made it to the butchers (I actually  made it there twice, but the first time it was shut, curse you holiday opening times).  This was good not only as it provided the chance to get provisions but also we found out that they will deliver and we can phone our order in.  And I managed to get some oxtail as I have found a stew recipe I want to try.  As an added bonus (and from a seperate source) we were gifted with a brace of pheasant which are even now resting in the shed awaiting dressing for the pot. 

I have also been making bread.  I did use the breadmaker, and it was working brilliantly until there was a loud bang and the trip switch went.  I have not had the courage to reconnect it yet to test it again, nor the bravery to attempt a fuse change.  However the recipe is fantastic for hand baking too and makes a large, light, creamy loaf which all of us (children included) enjoy.  A minor challenge is that it is hugely delicious and I find its doughy charm hard to resist, the extra slices (with generous amounts of butter and jam) are not helping my post-Christmas festive waistline...

Symbolic Gesture

Not much time for putting plans into action what with seasonal festivities and watching too much TV.  The breadmaker is out of the loft, but not yet undone or operated.

However, I have, in reckless abandon, taken scissors to my supermarket loyalty cards and destroyed them (sounds a bit dramatic for the restrained snips it actually took to quarter them, but the intention was there).  Perhaps this seems a bit futile but the temptation to do the odd sneaky bit of online shopping at 6 am, before everyone else is up and I need to make packed lunches, with the consoloation that I will be earning "rewards" has now been removed.  Whether I can manage without the convenience of being able to do online shopping at 6 am remains to be seen. 

First steps

True to my word (and I should hope so to, at this early stage) I found out about veg boxes. I have sent off an order to Ripple Farm Organics in Crundale (www.ripplefarmorganics.co.uk) for a medium box on a weekly basis. This will cost £9, which seems highly reasonable, and will include 8 - 9 seasonal veg including spuds, carrots and onions (which are the staple of my veg shop anyway). There are a number of national schemes (Riverford being one) but I am doubly pleased (in a smug kind of way, I admit) that this is local (it's also a lot less money, a consideration in the "current economic climate").

We will need to go and collect the veg once a week from the farm (unless lots of people in Chartham decide to have them, and then they might do a local drop off...) but I guess this is not much different than a weekly trip to Morrison's anyway.

I did also look at the possibility of a meat box for example from www.wellhungmeat.com but got all worried about delivery and what happens when we're not here and then there'll be a box of festering sausages in some carrier depot awaiting collection...

But there are two good butchers I know of within about a 5 mile radius one in Wincheap, Canterbury and the other in Wye and I reckon a trip twice a month to one (or both) should be enough. I will then be able to compare prices and work out which is most cost effective (plus shopping for myself means I can add a bit of variety). But that's for after Christmas.

Today's action is liberate the breadmaker.

Resolution

In the spirit of great new year adventures here's a question. Is it possible to give up the "big 4" supermarkets? Can we live without them? Specifically can we give them up over the next 12 months?

These questions came out of watching Panorama (What price cheap food?) last night. It was about how these supermarkets, in particular, are kind of taking over the country and the impact this is having on local communities and on food production. Now I know that a lot of this is to do with the need for businesses to make a profit and keep the wheels of capitalism well greased (and the shareholders happy), but I also think a lot of it is to do with us as consumers. We like to have everything under one roof, it's easier, saves us time and it's also cheaper.

And then I wondered if we could give them up. I don't think we will necessarily be able to banish this way of shopping entirely from day one, it may be more of a work in progress, a weaning, my biggest question being, where do you get tinned goods without a supermarket?

So initial ideas of how to do this so far are as follows:

• investigate suppliers and order a weekly veg box,
• visit local butcher,
• continue with growing our own (mainly salad stuff and soft fruits, and carrots because they're easy),
• release friend's breadmaker from the loft and find out how to use it.

And I'm going to do the first of these now.

Spending spree

I have been reckless. I decided we needed a new table and chairs. We currently have folding chairs which have been badly eaten by the dog. And are somewhat unstable, particularly if you're not used to them. And we have my Nanna's gate leg table, which is fine, but a little large. I began looking in catalogues and online, but they were all too expensive or too trendy or too big.
We have a hospice furniture shop near by and I went to look there. I found a great table, its dark wood, possibly from around the 50s, and it extends and comes with 4 spindle backed chairs, and was more reasonable than any of the catalogues (even Argos). And then I was even a bit more reckless and found this gorgeous cupboard with two small glass hidey holes for displaying things, and twisted poles and original cobwebs, and I bought that too.
I am very excited and also somewhat amazed at the lack of dithering in my decisions and even more pleased because they are pre-loved. Roll on delivery day.

Postcard

Hello

Had a great weekend in Ilkley, stayed dry and - for the most part - fine. Began Saturday with a walk over the moor and then tea and flapjack at White Wells, which has a spring where people used to bathe and "take the waters."

Sunday saw us heading off to the Embsay and Bolton Railway for a pleasant ride down the line and then a walk to the abbey where we picnicked (stromboli, meat loaf and millionaire's shortbread, yum), threw stones in the water (or at ducks, mentioning no names) and some of us braved the stepping stones. Imagine this scene on a spring day with accompanying daffodils and a fresh breeze...

Hope to catch up soon, take care, us xxx