I had the pleasure of chatting with Leon, chef patron of The Looking Glass in Cheltenham.  They've just taken on an allotment with the hopes of growing some of their own produce for the restaurant.  What's even better is that the allotment is a 2 minute walk up the road from them!  Talk about local food.  

"Our dream was to open a restaurant that showcased the best of the Cotswold's as we believe the region produces some of the finest ingredients our country has to offer. That dream has become a reality.  Our food is always fresh. Always free range. Always organic. Never imported. Never mass produced. Never ‘bought in.’ Everything is made in house; from our freshly baked birch sap roll & cultured butter to our elderflower vinegar.  Traditional sourcing, meets modern cooking…"

Follow The Looking Glass:

https://thelookingglasscheltenham.co.uk/

https://www.facebook.com/thelookingglasscheltenham

https://www.instagram.com/the_looking_glass_cheltenham/

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https://www.facebook.com/RoughAroundTheHedgesUK/

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Music track by:  https://soundcloud.com/aka-dj-quads

I wanted to talk about how everything went in 2018...what worked on the allotment, what didn't and some of the reason's why. It's been an interesting year and we've learnt a lot so hopefully next year, we can use the experience to grow more food, more variety and be more productive. Music by DJ Quads - SoundCloud All seeds purchased for The Real Seed Catalogue. (Not a sponsorship)

In today's episode, I had a chat with Hannah from "The H Word". It was great to get into nutrition from a "vegetable-point-of-view". We spoke about a variety of subjects all to do with health, food and.....COURGETTES!!! Hope you enjoy Intro music by: @dcuttermusic / www.davidcuttermusic.com Outro music by: soundcloud.com/joakimkarud

There's been a lot in the media about how the UK will run out of food if we don't reach a deal with Brexit. A lot of focus has been put on the negative side of things, but I believe there could be opportunities too. https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2018/aug/07/uk-run-out-of-food-no-deal-brexit-national-farmers-union https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2018/jul/29/no-deal-brexit-food-supply-chain-crisis https://www.theguardian.com/politics/shortcuts/2018/jul/12/a-no-deal-brexit-survival-guide-what-food-to-stockpile Intro music by: @dcuttermusic / http://www.davidcuttermusic.com Outro music by: https://soundcloud.com/joakimkarud

This is the first time I've had "guests" on the podcast but who better to kick it off than Matt & Katie. If you've watched any of my YouTube video's you would have seen them plenty of times. Today we chatted about our experience on the allotment so far, ups and downs and things we've learnt. Hope you enjoy! Music by: @dcuttermusic / http://www.davidcuttermusic.com and https://soundcloud.com/aka-dj-quads

Lettuce shortage: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-44664834 Can market gardening be profitable? I think it can and today I go through few things to consider that can affect whether or not you could make money from growing vegetables on a small scale Music by: David Cutter Music - http://www.davidcuttermusic.com & https://soundcloud.com/andrewapplepie

In today's podcast, I talk briefly over two different types of farming that are becoming popular, namely, urban,small scale intensive farming and indoor, vertical / hydroponic / aquaponic farming. What are the differences between them and what my thoughts on them. Music by: David Cutter Music - http://www.davidcuttermusic.com Outro Music by: https://soundcloud.com/joakimkarud

Following on from the first podcast, today I spoke about a few companies that receive farming subsidies in the EU. If you don't already know, it will blow your mind. More reading here: http://farmsubsidy.openspending.org/ Music by: David Cutter Music - http://www.davidcuttermusic.com Outro Music by: https://soundcloud.com/joakimkarud

In this installment of a series of podcasts about "Food Politics", I chat about what farm subsidies are. I am by no means an expert but chat broadly about where they come from and who gets them. In the next episodes, we'll go into more details about this fascinating subject. Music by: David Cutter Music - http://www.davidcuttermusic.com Outro Music by: https://soundcloud.com/joakimkarud Links / References: https://fullfact.org/economy/farming-subsidies-uk/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agricultural_subsidy http://www.economicshelp.org/blog/21641/agriculture/farming-subsidies-in-the-uk/ https://ec.europa.eu/agriculture/cap-overview_en https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/jul/01/farm-subsidies-blatant-transfer-of-cash-to-rich https://www.desmog.uk/2015/07/27/landed-gentry-jackals-claiming-billions-farm-subsidies