Showing posts with label Wild Croft Rare Breeds. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Wild Croft Rare Breeds. Show all posts

What's been getting in the way of blogging this week?

It's been a strange couple of weeks, far too short to get everything done, including in the garden. And to top it all, this little fellow has been stalking me! 

It's Easter at The Gallery
Three months of the year gone already. Does it seem as though time goes faster the older we get? The Easter weekend just flew by with food, family and friends. I've updated my Restaurant reviews and locally sourced food page so you can read all about it. 


Waiting to go out
The Boxers are tired and happy. The Husband has been running and had loads of chocolate. We joined the Greensand Way 2012 fundraising run on Sunday - that was great fun too. What a glorious route around Hambledon - must take the Boxers for a walk there soon. 


I visited the fantastic farm project at Wild Croft Rare Breeds and learnt a little about pig and chicken keeping, and how special this meat is. We must get the chicken palace sorted now, so we can establish a small flock for eggs.


The plans for the house renovations are ongoing. The bathroom details have been finalised, just waiting for the total cost - hope I don't faint!


Rosie cat
I mentioned our lovely old rescue cat Rosie in a previous blog. I found this gorgeous photo of her - we had forgotten how pretty she was. We do miss her.


And just because I can, here are a couple of new photos of the 'boys' enjoying the fine weather.






My stickie!
I want that stickie!


And last, but by no means least, the delightful Jill at Christmas Pie Crafts has nominated this blog for a Versatile Blogger Award - so exciting! Thanks Jill. More on this (and my nominations) here.


Foodie post #1

I have been wanting to do this for some time, but in between all the other things I do, searching out foodie stuff has been put on a back burner for a while. But all of a sudden the feelers I have been putting out, have come back with some info, enough for a short post. I hope interested others will help me build on this.

Magazines such as Surrey Life and Country Living, both of which I read regularly, have long been extolling the virtues of locally-sourced food, but it's not that easy to find. And there isn't, as far as I can see, a central point for accessing this information. I have been using Twitter and internet searches to dig out little known names, primarily to set out a local group of food producers. I should mention here Local Food Surrey who do a good job, but the search facility is a bit mis-leading (and disappointing) in that companies who have a registered head office locally are listed as locally produced. I'm sure that it will improve as more businesses are added and more people search for local food. Wouldn't it be nice if more local restaurants chose to source their ingredients from local sources and highlighted these on their menus? 

So here is my first list of (local to me) food producers.

Hampshire Chutney, Basingstoke

Secretts Farm, Milford

Lydling Farm, Shackleford

And for a bit of foodie fun, what about the Hampshire Ladies Who Lunch and the Secretts Farm Shop, although BOO! to the latter for ceasing to stock Wakelings the Butchers meat, including the delicious Lydling Farm beef and Roger's special sausages.

I look forward to adding to my list, and more importanly, to enjoying much more locally produced food. Perhaps my next post on this topic will be on local restaurants and pubs who use locally-sourced ingredients and are proud of it.