This is completely irrelevant to anything that I’ve been writing about before but also something thats been bugging me for a few weeks now, Are we starting to lose the art of communication and conversation? NOW, I realise that as I write this I am writing to people I’ve never met and people that I haven’t sat down with and had a face to face conversation but sometimes it is good to put down on paper (meaning laptop) whats in our heads or what we have been doing.

What I mean by loosing it this, Just under 2 weeks ago I was at a local food event in my town centre, It was an Artisan Cheese Fair which by the way was amazing! For anyone thats been to anything like this before you will all know that the exhibitors are edged to the side of the halls where they can display what they are selling, and we as the consumer have to join the very long, very british line to get round the event.

In front of me and my wife stood a man and his friend, a seemingly ordinary chap just blending in with the rest of the crowd, Like everyone we shuffled along, ate some cheese and shuffled along again and as we were moving from stall to stall I could see the ordinary chap just jotting a few things down on a small black notepad.

After 15 minutes or so we came to a beautiful little stand where they sold Ewes Milk Cheese, It had a parmesan type texture but a beautiful meaty flavour to it, Anyway as we were eating we all stopped and chatted to the owner of the stand about where they are located, how they came about the farm and so on and I was fascinated how a complete stranger was happy to talk about their life and share stories with people she had just met after a few minutes she turned to the ordinary chap and asked him what he thought about the produce, and with a single dismissive cheese filled breath simply replied “You’ll have to read my blog to find out” and left!

Now as you can see from the entries below this I’m all for blogging and tweeting its great it truly is, but this woman who had clearly worked so hard to produce something so beautiful and unique was just looking for the validation of people who were clearly there to celebrate a love of food and all she got was the back of a very rude very ordinary chap.

Im not knocking the use of Twitter, Facebook and any blogging site for that matter I think its great that we can still keep up with each other regardless of our schedules or timezones, But next time a stranger engages you in conversation don’t be like the Ordinary Chap and just dismiss them as you may find that you’re missing out on a great story with what could be a truly amazing person, and thats something that you woudnt get on Twitter would you?

So in the biggest will they, wont they since Ross & Rachel (Yeah I watch Friends) We have finally been allocated a large plot of land. Its taken a lot of meetings and a lot of hunting around but we’ve done it.

The plot is at our local country park in Melton Mowbray and is a lot bigger than we ever imagined it would be, Its 200ft long and 65ft wide. There is no clearing needed so we are ready to get growing as soon as possible.

We’ve had some amazing support on this not just from Melton Borough Council but also from the residents of Melton and people that Ive spoken to about it, They have all seen this as a positive thing that I have started and going forward we hope to make this a wider project and get a lot more people involved.

We are in the process of completing a funding application so that we can start to buy materials for the site. The biggest thing we need at the moment is fencing as its pretty exposed up there right now. We’ve had a donation already from Morrisions supermarket in Melton, they have sent us a greenhouse, seeds and some compost, this has been such an amazing help and goes to show that there really are some generous people out there.

We are still relying on donations from people to help get this off the ground so if you know anyone or you yourself can help then please please get in touch with me, this really is a great cause my email address is amb.23@hotmail.co.uk or if you want to get in touch with any feedback is welcome as always.

Ive also come to the decision that im going to sign over part of the land, approx. 30ft by 65ft to a local primary school so they too can start to grow on the land and start to run classes for the pupils of the school and hopefully educate them on where their food comes from. It will mean that from an early age they will show an appreciation for their food and make them think about what they are eating and where their food comes from.

I’ve also been thinking about the future and where this project is going as I don’t want this to become something that doesn’t grow and reach a wider audience, So I thought what if dotted around the town centre we had some small flower boxes filled with different types of veg so that if you walking through the town then you can just help yourself to what ever is in the planters, Some will be filled with salad leaves that you can just pick a few bits off hear and there and then other boxes that may have some potatoes in or other veg, the ideas are endless with it and its another way that we can reach the town and the people that walk through it everyday to get them involved in the project as well.

For now, really thats all ive got to tell you just wanted to give you all an update on where were at with this, hopefully next week I will have more for you now Its always difficult thinking of a way to sign off when you’re writing a blog, but one thing I will leave you with and I want you to think about is this, Where does your food come from and what can you do to reduce your food miles and help educate the people around you?

Now my life’s not all about planting seeds petitioning the council and growing veg on wasteland, Between all this I do actually eat food and cook inbetween all of this as well.

This week I started on a bit of a health kick, as like most men I can stand to lose a few pounds as that lunch time pint and weekend curry slowly starts to catch up on me, Im not foolish enough to start going running so I decided to blow the dust off the healthy eating cook books and start to look at those dreaded low fat recipe books.

As I opened the book I was expecting page 1 to be Tofu and steamed chicken but to my surprise there was Beef Tacos with all the trimmings and my mind slowly started to change, now don’t get me wrong theres no substitute for a fillet steak with garlic butter and chips but I think I could start to like this.

Im currently into day 3 of the low fat meals and we’ve had tacos, steak and now carbonara  and this brought me to thinking, does it mean by cutting out the fat that we are cutting out the taste and the flavour? And to be honest……….NO!

Now Im saying this only 3 days in and I may be climbing the walls in a week or so for fish and chips or some carbs but I think that with a little knowledge of what to put with what then we all may be able to eat a little less fat and live a little better.

By the way Im really not preaching to anyone about healthy eating or exercise as Im not one to talk (trust me) but I no longer think that No fat no means no taste

Try this and you may see what I mean, its a start at least

• 2 small sirloin steaks , all fat removed
• 2 tsp sweet paprika
• 1 large sweet potato, cut into wedges
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 150g cherry tomatoes , quartered
• ½ red onion, chopped
• a small bunch of coriander , chopped
• 1 tbsp red wine vinegar

1. Heat the oven to 200C/fan 180C/gas 6. Rub the steak with 1 tsp of the paprika and season well. Toss the potato with half the oil and season, then roast for 25 minutes until browned and crisp.
2. While they’re cooking, mix the tomatoes, onion, coriander, vinegar, remaining oil and paprika in a small bowl and toss. Season.
3. Chargrill (griddle) the steak for 2-3 minutes on each side and serve with the potatoes and the salsa.

So I haven’t written to you for a while, not because I haven’t got anything to say I think from my twitter feed you can see that but mainly because we seem to have hit a bit of a block with the community project, it’s all still going ahead as planned and by hell or high water I will get this done.

The main reason Is due to a lack of land space, the first plot as you know wasn’t exactly child friendly so the search went on for a new plot and I found the perfect place it was near a stream cut off from any real public access apart from an unused footpath that ran alongside it, So off I went to speak to the council about it. I submitted the idea to them and as usual they were really enthusiastic about it, but once again luck was not on my side.
It turns out that this is a protected area and this got me thinking, how much land out there is just a disused dumping ground for people to abuse? How much is just sitting there crying out to be put to good use? Why are there not more people in local areas wanting to do something with this? What is the land protected for or from?
I’d like to hear from you if you’re in the same situation as I am and are trying to set up a community project but are coming up with the same road block, How have you got a round this? Did you reach an agreement or are you like me still simply looking for that perfect patch?

We’re planning on having a lot of different veg on the plot ranging from potatoes, tomatoes, courgette to something a little different like garlic, celeriac, pumpkins and a few verities of squash. Eventually the plan will be to have a few animals that are raised as food but for now the focus remains as an allotment rather than a small holding.

So I have managed to get a local business on board with the project who sound as enthusiastic as I do about this and they come with the added bonus of been ex allotment owners and full time gardeners, they now run a beautiful Deli in Melton Mowbray selling Italian ingredients and food to people who want a welcome change from the Melton Mowbray Pork Pie visit http://www.caffedeli-italia.co.uk for more info
I have also got people from my full time job involved as well (yes I do have one) so were finally able to call ourselves a group, The decision on land will be made this week (fingers crossed) so watch this space for a very excited update over the next week.

As mentioned I always want to hear from you so please get in touch via the contact page or leave some feedback.