Joining the local food revolution

BigBarn has been trading for 9 years with a mission to get people out of the supermarket and shopping locally. To encourage more people to embrace our mission we are becoming a Community Interest Company (CIC). This means any profits and assets have to be 'locked in' for the good of our Communities of, producers on our map, and consumers using BigBarn.

BigBarn was launched in the dot com boom with a long term social ambition to change the food industry rather than make a short term profit. The Food Industry was, and still is, failing farmers by only giving them, on average, 9p in every £1 spent on food in the supermarket. And failing consumers by using marketing to increase the perception that price and convenience is more important than animal welfare, sustainable farming and food quality.

Unfortunately changing such a massive industry with its huge marketing power is difficult, especially when most consumers have almost become addicted to the one stop shop and 'rewards points'. It is very exciting however to see that local food is now cheaper and, in many cases, more convenient!

Cheaper because by selling direct farmers can undercut supermarket prices, and more convenient as many local shops are closer. We do have to add to this convenience statement that consumers need to change their shopping list to; local and seasonal food every week (no more Australian Brussel Sprouts in July) leaving tins, cleaning products, etc, to once a month.

So, we now need to change our shopping habits and advise our friends to do the same. Tell them they can save money and encourage farmers to grow a wider range of crops. And with BigBarn's new crop for the shop project everyone can join the food industry!

Going back to BigBarn becoming a CIC please read our CIC Statement by clicking here and leave any comments below on whether you like this idea. If you would like to support BigBarn and read about our Local Food Bond please email us here.

Mushroom Blog

It has been a strange season. Very much elongated, but with a gap in the middle. The late summer/early autumn mushrooms were very present in September and the beginning of October (Chanterelles, chicken of the woods, beefsteak fungus and honey fungus). But then through most of October there was not much activity In my picking are of Berkshire).

Yet come the beginning of November there has been a flurry of activity on the fungal front and we are getting the season we thought we never would. There is still a possibility for more because we still have not seen any horn of plenty or winter Chanterelles. I have never run courses this late and my course on Sunday 29th November will be my latest ever but probably the one on which I will be most confident of finding something.

For more on my courses and mushrooms visit: http://www.bigbarn.co.uk/marketplace/vendors/matthewskitchen.

Roast chicken with extremely few food miles

Last weekend, after many weeks of building myself up to it, I slaughtered one of our chickens.

It has always been my intention that our chickens would be for the table as well as for eggs but it has taken me some time to "pluck" up the courage to actually kill one.

Last Sunday was the day and after a stiff pint of homebrew, I went and picked the biggest of the hens and took her to a quiet corner of the garden out of sight of the rest of the chickens. After a little chat and a bit of a stroke to calm her down, I took her feet in one hand and her head in the other, and pulled firmly whilst twisting the neck. This broke the vertebrae in the neck and killed the hen. There was no squawking, no flapping, and none from the hen, either - it all seemed to be quite calm, so I am very confident that the deed was done as quickly and cleanly as possible.

The next step was to bleed the bird. I cut the neck along it's length and hung the bird over a bucket to collect the blood. After half and hour or so I took the bird down and began to pluck it. This took much longer than I'd imagined - you'd be staggered how many feathers there are - but after about an hour I'd got pretty much all of them off. I then cut off the head and the feet (the French generally leave them on, and roast them with the bird), and then made a cut around the bird's bottom which allowed me to scoop all the innards out. It is recommended that you keep the liver which can be used in other dishes or quickly fried up as a treat, but I was a bit forceful and it came out in a few bits. After a quick run under the tap I was left with a much darker coloured and slightly smaller version of what you find in every supermarket up and down the country.

If you are a non-meat eater, then I imagine the previous few paragraphs have appalled you. And that's fine - I see where you're coming from and I won't argue with you about it. However, if you do eat meat and what you've just read troubles you, then I ask you, "Where did you think chicken came from?"

The simple fact of the matter is that most meat eaten around the world doesn't have as pleasant a life, or as quick and efficient death as my little hen, and I'm sure that doesn't surprise you. Let's face it, by now we all know the facts. And death is an unavoidable and inevitable part of meat production and the quality of life of the beast and the way in which it is dispatched varies wildly from producer to producer, country to country.

If you are in the "I don't care about all of that, I just want cheap meat" camp then I question your morals and you're not invited to dinner. But if you do care - as I do - then please, please take an interest in the provenance of your meat. If you buy from a butcher or a game dealer, please ask about the meat and make your purchases based on what he tells you. If you must buy your meat at a supermarket, look for the labels especially Freedom Food (though this represents the bare minimum in terms of animal welfare).

And for the record, my hen tasted delicious, and despite being small I still made it stretch to a roast dinner, two chicken pies and a good few litres of the best chicken stock I've ever tasted.

Ant's Wild Food Holiday

With great ambitions to send a daily blog from the campsite about gathering wild food via iPhone, due to lack of signal and lapsing in to 'relax' holiday mode, here it is now with photos.

We did have a great week's holiday despite only getting 2 out of 7 days without rain. Our wild food intake was not as hoped although we did eat four types of sea weed, mussels, limpets and cockles collected from the beach, local fish (from the fish shop after trying for hours with our fishing rod), blackberries, local free range eggs, wild sorrel and camp flat bread (made with mature dough and cheese and onion). We will try harder next year and hope for better weather. Below are some photos to give you a feel of the camp.

The camp site with parachute rain cover and full team of campers and our brilliant landlords, John and Sally (far right). Others, l-r: Billy 'Firestarter', Rory 'Highrise', Alfie 'Surfdude', Ant 'Flatbread' and Andy 'Woodsman'.

High rise bed for a seasoned camper

Our freshwater stream through the camp acting as our fridge, bath and dishwasher.

Campers round the fire, note Andy the woodsman's adjustable kettle holder.

No Mackerel here, but what a great spot to carve a wooden spoon.

Alfie and I tucking in to cheese and onion flat bread.

Our big thanks again to John and Sally for their exceptional hospitality and allowing us the camp in their fantastic wood.

Economy Gastronomy

A few nights ago I watched the BBC's latest food programme 'Economy Gastronomy' in which the celebrity chef presenters show a family how to cut their food bills and improve their meals at the same time. The featured family on this episode were spending £330 per week on food. Whilst the exact contents of these obscenely expensive shopping baskets were not shown in any great detail, a significant portion seemed to consist of ready made puddings and desserts. The challenge set by the chefs was to get that weekly spend down to £200.

My wife and I joked that even the "economy" budget of £200 was closer to what our family of four spends on food in a month! And before you say it, no, we're not living on bread and water, not by any means. I believe a big part of why our food spend is relatively low is because we make almost everything from scratch using fresh ingredients. And recently, I've even been making things like bread and pasta myself, and believe me, once you get the knack of it home made is undoubtedly better.

Something else we do a lot of is growing our own. We are fortunate that we have a large garden and have been able to section off a nice vegetable patch at the back, away from the dangers of stick-chasing labradors and poorly aimed rugby balls. I also managed to pick up a cheap and cheerful "polytunnel" from ebay for £70 as we didn't already have a greenhouse. After a lot of hard graft we're now enjoying the fruits (and vegetables) of our labour. We've had an abundance of potatoes, peas, french beans, and in the polytunnel we're just waiting for the tomatoes, peppers, chilis and aubergines to ripen. Even if you don't have much room, one of those rectangular plant pots on a sunny window sill can keep you in salad leaves or fresh herbs for months on end - every little helps, apparently.

We also keep chickens, and I urge anyone who has the space to do the same. They are practically zero maintenance, extremely cheap to feed and a pair of hens will pretty much give you a dozen eggs a week most of the year. Even my wife, who is a bit of a bird-o-phobe (I believe the phrase "scaly-legged devil birds" has passed her lips on occasion) raves about the quality of the eggs. And of course, if you want to take things a step further, there's free range, back garden roast chicken to consider.

Lastly, meat and fish are not the cornerstone of each and every meal in our house. We're not vegetarians by any stretch of the imagination, but I believe that if you are a meat eater, meat should still be a treat. Buy quality fresh meat or fish, cook it well, and enjoy it, but don't just eat it for the sake of eating it. As the Slow Food organisation says, "Eat less, but eat better".

I think the thing that binds all of these ideas together is the fact that my wife and I care about the food we eat and put on the table for our kids. I care about how the meat that I eat was raised, I care about where our fruit and vegetables come from, I care about how much salt, sugar and general crap is in the tin or jar or packet, and I care about how the food is cooked. All of these factors combined ensure that the next episode of "Economy Gastronomy" will not be featuring the MacLeod household!