‘Tis the season of awards, (monetary and merit) and of wrapping up (the
site!)
After a long wait, all Jayne and Naomi’s perseverance has paid off. We
have now received two grants, from Tesco and Affinity Water totalling £3,700 and
the official go-ahead for the second St Albans Incredible Edible
Community garden (the lease is signed!).
The first working party for the latter, in Russell Avenue will be at 10am on 19 January and all are welcome - members, Friends, locals. This site is
larger than the Civic Centre garden and accessible for the less-mobile. This
garden will include more familiar vegetables, a wildlife area and a flower
border for pollinators. Much of it is shaded by trees, giving us the
opportunity to create an edible forest garden which will include wild and
shade-tolerant veggies and many perennials. Please come and help us build our
brand new recycled plastic raised beds and do try and encourage interest from
the local community.
The following weekend, members will be at Hammonds End doing what we do
best, building a polytunnel! This time we are replacing and extending one of
the original structures; later in the year we intend reskinning ‘poly tunnel 3’
- the shady one that is part workshop but still produces crops for us. As far
as possible, we will be incorporating water collection too!
Groundwork UK recently held their Community Awards at the House of
Commons with a special tour and dinner for 180+ guests including 30 finalists.
They received 600 applications for 10 different categories. Against some pretty
stiff competition and inspiring projects within the category the CDA won the
Community Cohesion award for the Community Garden in Hixberry Lane to which
FoodSmiles is a major contributor.
Indeed, we now have some more land to cultivate at Hixberry. For once,
it has already been dug over. With this and the access we have to the poly
tunnel (in which we have now built some staging), our growing space there has
grown some 20%.
‘The Farmer’, Howard Roberts, has now retired as a partner at Hammonds
End Farm albeit, he will be carrying out a range of predominantly
administrative duties for the business over the coming months. Stuart continues
not only with the Farm but also as Vice President of the National Farmers
Union. Howard is moving to Aylesbury to grow his own vegetables, attend an
archaeological course and brush up on his French ready to visit the Pouilly
Fume wine area.
At our November coffee morning, restaurateur Andrei Lussmann gave a
very interesting, open honest talk on “Running an ethical brand whilst being
financially sustainable”. His restaurants have been awarded the 2018 Sunday
Times 100 best places to eat and were also 2018 Winner – Source fish
responsibly, Food Made Good Awards. Having worked in hospitality for large
companies for 20 years, Andrei set up a small coffee shop near Ladbroke Grove
with his sister. This was a mixed area and they got held up 3 times, were
treated poorly by the rich locals to whom they delivered food on bikes and made
no money! In 2005, Andrei heard about an available restaurant in
Hertford, visited it and still has it in his portfolio today! Progress
towards running an ethical business had to be gradual as it was important to
get the fundamental business aspects right such as consistency, nice food and
staff, availability of set menus and with the exception of Mother’s Day, no
special (expensive) menus. Now there are 5 Lussmanns restaurants and 110 staff
to support with Andrei’s main jobs being to deal with broken staff, customers
and equipment!
Sustainability is an extra layer of administration and as far as Andrei
is concerned covers 200 disciplines from chemical use, fish sources, long life
free range chicken, air freight, to LED lights and recycling (which they have
just got to 100% but at a cost!). One of his challenges is how to communicate
it to customers and maintain their interest! However, after 16 years of
gradually becoming more ethical, Andrei believes he is nearly there and confirmed
that it is possible to run his business ethically despite the additional costs
and tighter margins and make a profit. He is now concentrating on
becoming the best employer in town!
At our recent committee meeting, we recognised that although we have 36
paid members, we only have 27 active members. So many of our members
lives are changing due to family illnesses and time pressures! As a result, we
will need to advertise hard for more members in the spring and explain to all
that if they need more flexible arrangements to continue as an Active Member we
will be happy to accommodate them or they can be an Active Friend and come to
work informally at the farm whenever they need some hearty exercise and company
(and probably cake too)! Our next Open Days at Hammonds End are on
the afternoons of 20 and 23 March.
Our AGM on 12 February will be at 7.30 at the Farr Brew’s Reading Rooms
in Wheathampstead. The formalities are expected to take half an hour and will
be followed by cheese and biscuits and cake; these will be provided but we ask
attendees to please purchase coffee or a drink.
Finally, a seasonal recipe from our friendly chef, Alex (now working at
the Lower Red Lion):
Veg Samosas with A Mint Chutney
Ingredients
For the Samosas:
150g plain flour
35ml veg oil
3g salt
Enough water to bind
200g boiled mashed potatoes
150g leeks
100g cauliflower
100g spinach leaves
100g chard
½ red pepper
1 green chilli
2 tsp fresh ginger
2 cloves garlic
1 tbsp fresh coriander
1 tsp garam masala
½ tsp turmeric
½ tsp dry mango powder (or a splash of white wine vinegar)
Pinch of salt
For the Chutney:
1 bunch mint leaves
1 bunch coriander leaves
1 green chilli
1 lime, zest and juice
1 garlic clove
1 knob of fresh ginger
1 tbsp caster sugar
Pinch of salt
Method:
To make the pastry heat the oil in a pan until smoking hot, pour over
the flour and salt and mix in with a spoon. Add enough water to make a workable
dough. Once combined, leave to rest under a damp cloth for 15 mins.
Break the cauliflower down to small pieces, none bigger than a
centimetre. Boil for two minutes until soft. Drain and leave to cool. Chop the
other veg and sweat off in a pan with a little oil, starting with the chard and
leeks then adding the pepper, then the spinach. Finally add in the garlic,
ginger and spices and heat through. Put the mix in a mixing bowl with the
mashed potato, cauliflower and coriander. Stir together.
Roll out the pastry into dining plate size circles. Cut the discs into
quarters. Fold the pastry quarters into samosa pockets using a paste of flour
and water to stick the sides down (check out a YouTube video for ‘How to Make
Samosas’ if you are unsure of how to do this). Fill the samosas with the
filling and seal down the lid with more flour paste. Deep fry the samosas in
veg oil until golden on the outside. Drain on kitchen paper.
For the chutney put all the ingredients in a blender with a little
water and whizz up. Serve.