10th September Harvest Festival at Sutton Community Farm
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On Saturday SPK and Sutton Community Farm hosted the annual harvest festival... in the rain. But that didn't matter as we packed in a lot under one canvas including a vibrant and colourful harvest display of all the fresh and seasonal produce from the Farm. For this special event were were joined by Cotton Tree Juice Bar blending warming veggie smoothies, Hix Soho delighting us all with SugarPit Beef, Togarashi Cuttlefish and Green Tomato Bloody Marys, Bread Angels, Gaye, Joel and Edward who sold out cakes and pizza made in the cob oven, NaturallyThinking giving out cucumber facewash for free and Sarracenia Nurseries who sold a number of carnivourous plants! We also had a pop up cinema and bar!Proceeds from Pavlina's gorgeous 'Happy Pickle' made from courgettes from the Farm and Judy's Strawberry and Vanilla Jam went to the new Rhurbarb Triangle. Joris, our Head of Production gave Farm tours and games and delighted our guests with huge tromboncinos and cinderella pumpkins! The winner of our raffle was also very happy with all the flavour from his prize, a very large veg bag! Huge Thank You to all that came down and joined in the fun, here's to more fun next year! |
1st September SPK banquet at Green Wrythe Primary School
We hosted our 3rd banquet at Green Wrythe Primary school for children from Crystal Palace Football Foundation summer club. Despite last minute challenges, our fabulous tutors Kate and Bread Angel Gaye set up a pop up kitchen in the playground and created a wonderful menu of Guacamole Dip in Lettuce Leaves for starters, Vegetable Chili for main course and Fruit Kebabs for dessert. The children were so eager to help us with the cooking and serving that Kate had to keep them busy making the starters and the dessert which they enjoyed. We served lunch once parents had arrived and shared stories of eating habits and new recipes. We were delighted that both kids and adults wanted second and even third helpings which is a testament to our chefs and the fresh organic produce grown at Sutton Community Farm!
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3rd August -Volunteer Banquet at Sutton Community Farm
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Volunteers are at the heart of the Farm, they help with sowing, harvesting and packaging produce for our Vegbox customers; the Farm would not be the same without out them. To show our appriciation and to celebrate the efforts of all who have made the Farm successful, Sutton People's Kitchen held a banquet for 43 volunteers and their guests. Food writer and chef Rachel de Thample served up a 3 course meal honouring the 'mighty' and 'seasonal' courgette! After leading a demo on DIY Courgette Pesto, Rachel invited our guests to make their own. This was accompained with Sticky Mitts Baker Gaye's wonderful Herb and Garlic Flatbread and Mint Dip which went down a storm. This was followed up with Courgetti and Tomato sauce made from produce from the Farm and complimented with Courgette cake and Strawberry compete for dessert. Heavenly!
It was a glorious event and we look forward to recieving our volunteers again at the Farm soon! |
30th July - Sutton People's Kitchen Last Pop Up Stall for Summer 2016
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Despite a quiet day on the High Street, our chef Carla, created a buzz with her Mixed Bean Salad and Veggie Quesidallas (Mexican pizza) with Avocado Salsa. Our great team of volunteers broke the record, inspiring the public with quizzes and Sugarsmart activities. We also completed the highest number of surveys since the Pop Ups started. Hurray! We are always interested to hear how people will incorporate more veggies to their existing diet while reducing their salt and sugar intake. Our visitor of the day was Danielle from Sutton Council, who posed for a celebratory snap with stall manager, Jon.
Sutton People's Kitchen would like THANK all our of visitors, our support groups and teams of volunteers that have made our Pop Up Stalls so successful. We are keen to continue our presence on the high street and are in the process of securing more funding for future events. Please check out the links to get involved in Sutton Community Farm or Sutton People's Kitchen. |
16th July - Popping up at 'Enjoy Sutton Farmers and Artisan Market'
On Saturday, SPK popped up at the 'Enjoy Sutton Farmers and Artisian Market' and head chef Gill whipped up a Pea Dip starter and a Vegetarian Spaghetti Bolognaise made with lentils and courgettes. We love surprising our visitors with tasty and nutritious cooking demos and giving them recipes to try at home. Our team of volunteers made a stirling effort in securing a high number of visitors over to complete surveys with us in exchange for 5-a day recipe cards and seed goodybags. We were also lucky to have the wonderful Pavlina promoting Suttton Community Farm's organic veggies and Vegbox scheme, on her own stall next to us. There is nothing quite like fresh and organic summer salad on a hot summer's day! Karina, our facepainter, made us all laugh with her fantastic artwork. Our LAST POP UP will be on the 30th July. Come and see us for more fun and learning. Looking forward to seeing you there!
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9th July - 'No chemicals 100% pure vegetables!
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Hip Hip Hooray, the sun was out all day! Our chef, Kate made delicious Sweetcorn and Cauliflour Fritters with Tomato Salsa, made with fresh juicy tomatos from Sutton Community Farm. A number of new volunteers joined us this week including George who managed to get lots of new people over to the stall, with his fun and informative rap!
We only have two more Pop Up stalls left this month so come on down on the 16th or the 30th of July to try our tasters, learn more about Sutton Community Farm and how to cook using new ingredients. We look forward to seeing you soon! |
2nd July - Pop Up Stall with Gaye Fisher from Sticky Mitts!
Setting up the stall in the pouring rain is never easy but as soon as we were settled, our chef for the day, Gaye Fisher from Sticky Mitts delighted us all with her tasty Vietnamese Crystal Rolls. These attracted a crowd due to the complicated way they are made and many visitors asked questions about the ingredients. Gaye's Courgette, Chickpea and Coconut Curry proved so popular we ran out of ingredients by the end of the day. Top marks also go to our chef's wonderful flatbread which she made on site as a compliment to the curry. Helen from Live well checked the blood pressure of our visitors and promoted healthy eating and exercise, while Karina, our fabulous face painter delighted adults and kids with her fruity facepainting! We can't wait to be back on Sutton High Street next week!
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29th June - A Community Banquet made for all!
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On Wednesday, we hosted our FIRST Community Banquet for as many as 50 familes, supported by Thames Valley Housing Association. Our chefs, Carla, Jon and Jackie served up Vegetable crudites with Hummus and Flatbread to start and Vegetable Coconut Curry with Couscous for main. For dessert, guests could make their own fruit and yogurt pots, from a selection of soft fruits and compote. We surprised and pleased our guests with tasty and nutritious food they could also make at home. As well as interactive games, crosswords and SugarSmart activities, our fabulous face painter, Karina, kept the children entertained all evening! Parents went home with salad seeds, recipe cards and potted edible flowers. Conversations about 'home grown strawberries' and 'yummy blueberries' flowed throughout the evening , leading to big smiles all round! The night was a complete success and we hope our guests enjoyed themselves. We can't wait to host another community banquet, so keep your eyes peeled for news about our next one! |
25th June - Top Scores for Jon's Vietnamese Salad!
Despite the rain last weekend, our pop up stall on Sutton High Street created quite a stir. The rain worked in our favour as people stopped for shelter and tried the nutritious Vietnamese Salad and Vegetable Saute, made by our chef, Jon. Our SugarSmart interactive games were a hit with the children. By taking part in our quiz, many adults learnt more about the salt and sugar content in different products. We gave away Berlotti bean seedlings and recieved feedback from a few visitors who stopped by especially, to say that had tried Rachel de Thample’s recipe from last week and LOVED IT. Many visitors also asked about our VegBox Scheme so we hope that means more people love fruit and veg! We will be back on the High Street on the 2nd July, rain or shine! |
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18th June- Sutton Farmers and Artisan Market with Rachel de Thample
11th June- St Helier Festival 2016!We had a great day at the St Helier festival on Saturday 11th June despite the heavy rain shower!
Our chefs Annabelle and Carla made delicious salad tasters to give away - Rainbow Couscous salad and Beetroot, Apple & Mixed Leaves salad and we also had kale seedlings and bags of seeds to give to visitors to our stall, as well as a fun game to raise awareness about levels of sugar in sweet drinks. The kids enjoyed having their faces painted by our lovely face painter Karina who will also be joining us this Saturday on Sutton High St. Huge thanks to Clare, Sharon and Lewis at Tweeddale Children's Centre for hosting our stall! |
It was great to be back on Sutton High Street with our pop-up, as part of Enjoy Sutton’s Farmers and Artisan Market! Our chef Rachel made heavenly Indian Coconut Courgette Fritters (Latkes) with Spinach and Mint Raita, the recipe kindly donated from her book ‘FIVE:150 effortless ways to eat 5+ fruit & veg a day’. We had kale seedlings and bags of seeds to give to stall visitors and two fun games to raise awareness about levels of salt in foods and compare the sugar and fat contents of three different lunch boxes. Our lovely face painter Karina joined us again and was so popular with the stall’s youngest visitors that she hardly stopped all day! We’ll be back on the High Street Saturday 25th June!
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23rd April - Annabelle's 'winter warmer' on a chilly day in Sutton
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This was our last pop-up on the High Street until the summer, although it actually felt like more like winter weather on the day!
We were very proud to have another fantastic chef, Annabelle Randles, joining our pop-up. Annabelle cooked up a delicious Sweet Potato Stew to warm up visitors to the stall, and prepared a very tasty Apple and Beetroot Salad. Annabelle writes her own blog, The Flexitarian, where you can read about food, ethics and the environment. Visit this fascinating blog to find out more about the flexitarian diet, and try out some of the clever seasonal recipes featured. Pavlina, our farm recipe writer, prepared some delicious organic loaves, savoury crepes, salads and risotto which attracted a lot of attention - all made using the contents of last week's vegbox. If you missed the chance to try Jenny's (Herb Infusion Co’s) native and organic teas, you can place an order online with your vegbox. We'll be back on the High St in June! (18 & 25th) |
16th April - Sutton Farmers and Artisan Market with Rachel de Thample
On the 16th of April we had the opportunity to be part of the fantastic Enjoy Sutton Farmers' and Artisan Market. We were delighted to have food writer Rachel de Thample as our chef, who brought along copies of her amazing new book, FIVE. Visit us on the 23rd on the High Street for a chance to win a copy!
Rachel showed us how easy it is to have your 5-a-day with simple tricks, such as blending up cauliflower in a food processor to make a delicious 'couscous'. It was a chilly day and her Warming Tunisian Stew was just the thing for visitors to the stall to warm up, and the Garden Greens Aioli was a hit, using our heritage purple carrots as dippers. All the recipes are published here on our website. Our American student team enjoyed talking to parents and children about healthy eating, encouraging visitors to taste some more unusual vegetables such as raw golden beetroot! |
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9th April - Cooking Demonstration at our Pop-Up Stall
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Our guest chef, Jennie held cooking demonstrations where she taught us how to make a healthy, mayo-free coleslaw and a Moroccan Stew from scratch. You can access the free recipe cards at our website.
This week Live-Well Sutton joined us to provide health advice and perform blood pressure test for our visitors. They will return to to our market stall on the 23rd of April. The 'What's in the box?' game was an exciting activity, where kids had to guess what organic, fresh veg was hiding in the box, then they were able to taste them as well. Our visitors were also able to find out more about our community farm and VegBox Scheme. |
2nd April - Our First Pop-Up Stall on Sutton High Street
On the 2nd April we have launched the first Sutton People’s Kitchen pop-up event in 2016. It was a fun day with all the activities and free delicious food tasters cooked by Chef RF (find the recipes at our website).
Children were having fun drawing their favourite fruit and vegetables, and the parents also had a chance to participate in fun learning activities regarding the Eatwell plate and the Sugar Smart app. Sharp Fitness joined us to promote a healthy lifestyle through physical activity. |
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