The Trough

Several months ago I got given bees. They had a very quiet winter and in the past month grew far to big for their poly nuc and needed a new home.

As I am bee keeping on a budget, Olly and I built one. Luckily there is lots of scrap wood to hand here so it was easy to source materials. We converted a National brood box to hold Commercial frames, so the bees have loads of room, and added a crown board and mesh floor. I couldn’t find a plan to convert the box, so we just made that bit up.  Next to be made are the supers and finishing off the roof.
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Quality comes with security

Anti food theft.

Dalston Ginger and the river

I’ve finally set up the Kefir Farm of productive bacteria and yeasts. It is up and multiplying at the FARMshop in Dalston. They are being tested to create the finest Ginger beer in London.
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Preserving Apples in Jars

I made this a couple of months ago to give out at the Union Street Orchard. I thought it might be helpful for anyone interested.

At the end of summer I designed a dinner for the East London Sukkah, looking at food rules in society – either though religions or personal choice. How does the food we eat relate to our compassion in others? There were various ‘amuse bouche’ accompanied by a selection of questions to explore ways we might choose to eat in the not so distant future.

The meal was prepared with the wonderful cook Jarred Henderson of London Harvest.

Andrew and the homemade fig tool

On my way to the studio this morning I noticed a man holding a stick to the crown of a tree, gently twisting it. Andrew was harvesting gorgeous, bloated and ripe green figs.

His stick was a home made and well used length of timber with a securely tied fig sized plastic cup at one end. You place the cup under the fig and twist until it comes loose.

fig tool in action

I wasn’t convinced that these would be unlike the milky and unripe nuggets I usually come across, but I persevered in asking for a taste. The Cypriot way is to snap off the top and break it in half before inhaling it. They were sweet and heavenly and completely distracted me from Andrews detailed description of their annual harvesting ritual. He could see that the fig had transformed my day. He knew that I understood his passion for the edible jewel he’d given me and gave me another for the journey.

Babysitting a jar of jelly brain like structures called Kefir is more interesting than you might imagine.

drained kefir

They bubble away in a corner, after a couple of days they produce a liquid that can be used to ferment ginger juice into ginger beer. Or lemon juice into lemonade. Hurrah! well – the first lot went pink and tasted a little sour – the second lot was so spicy it made me sneeze… Hopefully this time I will get it right. The bacteria and yeast combo are quite addictive – I check them every morning and evening and remain mesmerized by their monotonous reproduction.

As they are apparently quite hard to kill  – we’ll see about that:)
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Here are a few things I’ve found myself collecting about Tesco. Thought it was time they all went into one place.

1. That there are similarities between the architecture of churches and Tesco. Here are two photos by Robert Edwards that give a hint of it.

Tescos by Robert Edwards

Church By Robert Edwards

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Buzzing bees

My first and most entertaining encounter with bees took place last week. We were kitted out in our space suits ready to check on Deborah’s hives at The Quadrangle in Kent. The suits were made of white cotton twill – hardly the thickest of fabrics but the white was supposed to keep the bees calmer (more…)

I’ve been looking at places to live. Most new builds I’ve visited are being designed without defined eating spaces. Lounge and dinning room homogenized into a space for the sofa and the one way conversation of the television. The Table is the western tool used to catalyse communal eating, providing personal space, distance and a plinth for the daily feast. Of course no table is complete without chairs.

The kitchen table

It was hardly surprising that the humble table was mentioned in the introduction to a day of talks about food. I had got up at 6am to travel to Oxford, the title of the talks was instantly captivating, ‘Thought for Food: the Ethics of Eating’.
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