It’s a sunny Thursday when I arrive at the farm, early enough in the summer that the warm weather is still a novelty. The space smells of a heady fusion of hay from the bales I’m sat on, wildflowers from the table and smoke from the cooking pit, from which Peter is soon brandishing a platter of farm sausages, the perfect accompaniment to the giant pot of tea that Henri soon appears with.
I’ve been to a lot of vegetable farms over the past five years, most of them ranging from 0.5 - 5 acres in size. But when I heard about Plowright Organic and that they were growing on 30 acres of land, my ears pricked up and I figured it was time for a visit.
Over the past couple of years, I’ve spent a lot of time on farms; I’ve got used to the way things work, the way they operate. But occasionally, I stumble across somewhere different, somewhere a bit special. Model Farm falls firmly into that category. They tick a lot of the boxes with their organic and pasture reared certifications, but I was itching to visit and see the farm for myself.
Step two in my locavore Christmas adventure was to source the vegetables to go with my duck. I get a weekly vegetable half share from my local CSA, the wonderful Sims Hill. But I realised this wasn’t going to be enough to feed myself and my parents, and leave me with vegetables for the rest of the holiday period, and so decided to supplement this with a seasonal box from another local producer, the Community Farm.
One of the best things about the photography exhibition that I put together for Bristol Food Connections is that it’s brought me into contact with new producers. This was the case when Poco suggested I photograph the makers of The Collector Vermouth for the exhibition there. Vermouth isn’t a tipple I can remember really drinking, but when I found out it’s made by the team behind The Ethicurean restaurant, I knew I was in for a treat. So off to Wrington I went, ready to learn all about Vermouth.
The photos for my Hand That Feeds exhibition for Bristol Food Connections are going to stay up for a while in both Poco and Source, but in case you can't get there, here are the photos and a bit about each producer!
28 years ago, Roger started making bacon "the old fashioned way" in response to the closing of the last bacon factories in Wiltshire. Raising all his own pigs, he makes bacon in the on-farm facility using the traditional Wiltshire Cure method, along with gammon, sausages and hams.
Laura started Hart's Bakery back in 2012, and the bakery now runs from an open plan space beside Temple Meads that allows customers to see the bakers at work. They make sourdough bread and a range of delicious sweet and savory pastries.
David Faulkner is head roaster and co-founder of Extract Coffee, started in 2007 with the simple mission of making coffee better. David also restored and maintains each of their vintage roasters, from their 5kg Ozturk ‘James’, through to their 120kg Probat ‘Bertha’.
Will is the head brewer at Wiper and True, a brewery that started as a homebrew operation in 2012 and is now based in St Werburghs. They brew by style, with their beers varying with the seasons, and aiming to be constantly changing but consistently good.
Ben is head cheesemaker at Trethowan’s Dairy, who have been making Gorwydd Caerphilly for 20 years. Made from unpasteurised milk from the on-farm herd of cows, the cheese is made by hand then aged for 8-12 weeks
All Mark’s Bread is baked by hand at his bakery in Southville, using organic flour from Shipton Mill. Much of the bread is slow fermented using a sourdough culture, or overnight raised for improved flavour and digestibility.
Darryl has been raising Limousin cows and Suffolk Mule sheep on his farm in Pilning for 30 years. Much of the beef and lamb served in Poco comes from his farm, including the Merguez sausages and many of the joints such as brisket and shoulder of lamb.
The Old Market Assembly bakery has been open since December 2015, and supplies sourdough bread and cakes to retail customers, and cafes and restaurants across the city.
In 1999, Geoff began milking purebred pedigree Jersey cows on his 120 acre farm near Frome. Now with a herd of around 120 milking cows, he milks once a day and produces delicious organic milk, cream, butter and buttermilk.
Seven years ago, the folks at the Ethicurean started making their own Vermouth and The Collector was born. Flavoured with 20 botanticals that are mostly collected from their garden and the surrounding countryside, the small batch production takes place in a converted glasshouse overlooking the Mendip Hills
After taking on management of a local vineyard 10 years ago, Ingrid planted her own vineyard in 2008 in the Wrington Vale in the Mendips. She produced her first bottles of wine in 2013, making rosé wine from her Pinot noir and Serval grapes.
After weeks of work, I'm really happy to say that my Hand That Feeds exhibition as part of Bristol Food Connections is up! The exhibition features portraits of local farmers and producers and aims to connect consumers with the people who produce the food they eat.
Charcuterie. Originally devised as a way to preserve meat before we all had fridges tucked away in the corner of our kitchen, this method of preparation has become an art unto itself. Late last year I stumbled across Somerset Charcuterie at a local food festival, and was delighted to discover that they sourced their ingredients locally. I figured it was time that I found out more about this art.
I’m sure I’ve mentioned my love of cheese before, but in case you missed it, I bloody love the stuff. I came back from Canada with a particular appreciation for feta after sampling some that a friend made on her farm, so the discovery of Homewood Cheeses put a big smile on my face. Fortunately Tim and Angela were up for a visit, so off to cheese-making land I went.
I stopped shopping in supermarkets several years ago. I had a multitude of reasons, including the poor deal they give suppliers, lack of provenance information about produce, the difficulties faced by small independent businesses, and the fact that I simply grew to hate the experience. Now, I manage to buy a good chunk of produce direct from farmers and local producers, but I still need to go to shops to buy food a couple of days a week. So if I don’t go to supermarkets, where do I go?
I used to think making good coffee was buying ground coffee rather than instant. Moving to Canada, I found myself in a country where everyone ground their own beans, had preferred local roasters and blends, and used a stove top expresso maker or fancy machine. The problems with good coffee is that once you’ve experienced it, it’s really hard to go back…
Breakfast heaven to me is a bacon sandwich; thick rashers of back bacon sandwiched between lovely fresh bread. Living in Canada, I craved decent back bacon (they seem to favour the streaky kind), so when I got back to Bristol and stumbled across some amazing back bacon stocked in a shop round the corner, I enquired of its origins. Sandridge Farmhouse you say? A visit was most definitely in order.
I remember fields of rape from my childhood, vast swathes of yellow covering the countryside in the early summer. I never really thought about what it was used for until recently, when I started looking into local alternatives to my olive oil habit. While I’m not going to completely give up my mediterranean addiction, I did wonder if there was something more local that I could use alongside it.
