Did you know that we have more varieties of cheese than the French? Traditionally cheese was made by mixed farmers unable to get their fresh milk to the populous. This is why there are no famous cheese ‘names’ from the home counties. It is a shame to see so much imported cheeses when we have so many fantastic cheeses. Especially cream cheeses made in Germany from English powdered milk.

So support your local cheese and watch out for entrepreneurial dairy farmers developing a cheese for your county. In Bedfordshire we are helping a new enterprise develop a cheese in consultation with residents and Bedfordshire’s heritage. As we are famous for Brussel Sprouts, a Brussel sprout blue cheese, perhaps?

To find you local cheese on the BigBarn map click here, or buy on line in our MarketPlace, and to suggest a cheese for Bedfordshire comment here.

The Big Lunch is an event being run by the Eden Project and it’s happening this Sunday. Actually, it’s not just one event, it’s thousands of events. The idea is simply to encourage neighbours to sit down and share a meal together in the hope that new friendships and stronger communities will follow.

There are no formal events planned. The idea is that people around the country will organize their own lunches whether it’s a formal sit down dinner, or just a street party and picnic. If you are interested in getting involved the Big Lunch website will show you lunches that have been organized in your area, and will also show you if any of your neighbours are interested in arranging a lunch.

For more information on arranging your event, please visit www.thebiglunch.com and don’t forget to buy the food for your lunch from your local producers.

Since my first chickens arrived a year ago I have thoroughly enjoyed eating the eggs and caring for the birds. Mind you, ‘first’ indicates that I have had more than one since I started and caring has been an ambition rather than a qualification. I have actually bought 10 chucks in the last year and only have one left. Mr Fox has taken the rest, one by one.

To start with the hens all had names and strutted around the garden, across the road and in to my neighbour’s gardens as though they owned the place. True free range, I told my neighbour and gave them eggs in return for the uprooting of the prize winning shrubs in their carefully groomed flower beds (chickens love scratching for bugs). At night they all came back to their hutch and were happy to have their door closed, each giving a ‘cluck’ as I said ‘goodnight’.

Eventually crafty Mr Fox discovered these easy meals and helped himself to a chicken every month. As the kids were at school no memorial service was required, the lost chickens were replaced but not given names of their own. My one remaining friend called ‘Chicken’, seems to have avoided Mr Fox’s attention or is too quick and alert to be caught, fingers crossed.

‘Chicken’ seems very healthy, if a little lonely which is why I let her in to the office occasionally, to sit on the chair behind me and monitor my work. A little embarrassing when she starts clucking when I am on the phone though, ‘my new filing assistant I explain’.

So some questions for you experts out there: How can I keep the fox away? If I had kept all my chickens in a fenced ‘run’ and the fox had got in, would I have lost them all, in one go? Should I get ‘Chicken’ a friend or allow her to do more office work? And can I house train her?

Ant is on Radio 4’s Food Programme this Sunday, for the third time. And BigBarn has been nominated for this years BBC Radio 4 Food & Farming Awards in the ‘Best Retail Initiative’ for the BigBarn MarketPlace.

Now that over £3b is spent on food online we think we should help local producers take some of this spend. Especially when supermarket online customers are only one click away.

MarketPlace is designed to help any local producer on BigBarn quickly set up an online shop and meet the needs of those of us wanting speciality food or too busy to visit our local supplier. So far 390 of our members have added 7,500 products, from artisan foods like regional cheeses, Isle of Bute Seaweed and Langoustine, to great local beef and bacon. Local because our MarketPlace shows local first, giving the distance from each producer to the user’s postcode.

In time we want to help farmers and retailers team up throughout the country to offer a complete range of fresh local foods in one delivery. And judging by our Cheaper than initiative, hopefully cheaper than the supermarket. Please help us get there by trying out the MarketPlace and voting for it here http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/features/ffa/2009/nominate/. As well as voting in the other categories.

We are very lucky to have so many great food producers in this country. To encourage them, and more farmers to diversify, we simply need to buy and enjoy their produce, so please tell your friends.

To listen again to Ant’s last Radio 4 appearance, click here.

What a great and versatile meat. And a prime example of the difference between buying a quality local product and a mediocre supermarket commodity.

The trouble is, beef is complicated. Breed, time and type of hanging/maturing, age, different cuts, butchery method, type of feed, are all factors influencing taste and tenderness. And why so many people opt for what little they know and often pay far too much.

A great example is my cousin who bought the finest ‘fillet’ of beef from a supermarket only to throw most of it away because it was so tough. A piece of well-hung ‘topside’ would probably have been half the price and twice as good. Likewise the ‘chopped shin’ of a well-hung rare breed animal could be better and cheaper for stewing, than the more expensive ‘best stewing steak’ from the supermarket.

The great news is you don’t have to go to college or even buy a book, simply ask. Go and see your local butcher or better still, local beef farmer and ask what they recommend as well as how to cook it. It is in their interest to look after you, as they want to see you buying again.

So all you have to do is use our map to find your local beef, or for a delivery check our MarketPlace for beef and don’t be afraid to phone first and get a recommendation. And for inspiration try our recipes.