Rise and Shine – Get up and go!

Here we are, a New Year with loads of new opportunities ahead of us, just inviting us to grab hold of them as they come into reach.

I know I’m not alone in having good intentions for a new rhythm that brings balance to work and home. I too long for a more healthy lifestyle that feeds our bodies and minds with good food and exhilarating exercise that brings joy with every moment.
As we look ahead through the winter sunshine, now is the perfect time to put some of our plans into action. Can we start producing some of our own food? Be that in our own space or supporting others in a community project. Are we doing our best to reduce the single use plastic that seems to come in and out of our homes each day? Are we thinking about food miles and the journey our meals have travelled to our plate?

Rather than getting weighed down with the responsibility of a never ending array of choices, let’s make small steps that leave us lighter and consequently nearer to our goals.

In many cases, I find that more than one aim can be achieved at the same time. For example, we are fortunate to live near Kew Gardens and choosing to walk there to spend a couple of hours with nature ticks the work/life, exercise and mindfulness boxes.

We find that our weekly Micro Bakery presents many opportunities too; building community, reducing food miles, plastic free packaging and exercise (for us as we knead the dough and for customers as they walk to collect their orders). Whilst it’s always a pleasure baking for others, we love it when a customers decides to try their hand at it for themselves and joins us on a Bread Course.

My husband can’t understand why we teach some of our most popular recipes, such as our famous Cinnamon Swirl, surely we will lose customers as they start baking their own? Well, if our course guests go on to bake all their own daily bread and weekend treats, then I see that as a job well done!

However, I do sense that for many of our customers, as well as the skills development, there is something special about doing it together, encouraging others and building relationships. So when a mum pops in with her kids on a Friday and tells me that she hasn’t bought a loaf of bread since our course, but the children asked for a bun as an after school treat – I’m delighted!

Don’t miss the marmalade moment …

Whilst we have a variety of Bread Courses throughout the year, including our new MicroBakery Course (are you aspiring to start your own business?), there’s only one opportunity to make Marmalade with us whilst the Seville oranges are in season. Tuesday 29th January is the day and along with two types of marmalade we’ll also be making a wonderful loaf of organic bread to make perfect toast for your morning spread. Full details are here.

Other news:

• With a quick tally up, we produced £1515.34 worth of food from the garden in 2018, contributing to 1699 meals, slightly down on last year due to the Beast from the East preventing plum blossom, the summer heat restricting the apple swell and cheeky squirrels nabbing all the peaches and pears…
• Our first Full Day Bee Keeping course is fully booked, never fear, we have other dates running through to September
• The girls have been faithfully laying throughout winter, so a freshly poached egg on organic toast is the go-to solution for a speedy snack around lunchtime. If you’d like to hug-a-hen, our first chicken course of the year is Family Feathers & Fun on Saturday 2nd February

Jobs for the week:

• Meet with the team at Cultivate London to plan a fantastic new local project that will be rolling out over the next few years
• Order loads of free range pork from Hammonds Butchers for our upcoming Simply Sausages courses
• Do my tax return – Yikes!

Have a great week,

Sara