The season of mists and mellow fruitfulness is upon us and a plentiful harvest means that farmers, growers and artisan food producers are busy turning their produce into everything from jams and juice, cheese and chutney to pies and puddings.
HARVEST is a special edition of The Frome Independent, part country fair, part harvest festival and part food show that will celebrate all that glorious local produce, and bring together some lively English traditions too.
On Sunday 5th October, Frome will be burgeoning with goodies for the food-lover. The Westway Centre will be transformed into a culinary paradise, with free talks and demonstrations at Harvest H.Q, covering everything from those most traditional Somerset products; cider and cheese to Autumn foraging and making honeycomb chards.
The day will conclude with a cookery demonstration with Somerset-based chef and Masterchef 2014 finalist Angela Langford, who will create a dish using produce sourced from The Frome Independent’s talented array of food producers.
For those of you who are getting into the spirit of cooking, growing and baking at home this autumn, there will be a chance to show off your skills. The organisers invite veg growers to bring along their biggest and weirdest home grown vegetables, kids to make vegetable animal creations and junior and adult bakers to enter the Cake Off Competition.
Prizes will be given for the most inventive and best tasting baked creation and after judging all cakes will be shared as part of the inaugural Frome’s Big Afternoon Tea run in conjunction with The Frome Big Christmas Get Together. Entries should be brought to The Westway Centre between 10.00am – 12.45pm. Judging will be at 1.00pm and tea and cake sharing from 1.30pm.
And for kids of all ages there will be activities and attractions to keep them occupied all day – from traditional folk storytelling, vegetable animal making, pizza creating to rare breed farm animals, not to mention a conker tournament like no other!
All this, plus the usual array of talented designer-makers, vintage experts, street food gourmets and a soundtrack from the Vintage Mobile Disco and Lost & Found Productions Market Stage. October also will see the launch of a new park & ride bus service from the Frome Medical Centre car park on Enos Way. See you for HARVEST on Market Day! – Sunday 5th October, Frome Town Centre 10.00am – 3.00pm – www.thefromeindepen dent.org.uk
Harvest HQ Programme
• 10.30am Fish Food – Bioaqua Farm. Chef, educator and co-founder of Bioaqua Farm, Antonio Paladino, will share his approach to symbiotic fish and vegetable farming whilst demonstrating a tasty trout dish. www.bioaquafarm.co.uk
• 11.15am Know Your Apples – Worley’s Cider. As an expert Somerset artisan cider maker Neil Worley is a man who knows his apples, come and pick his brains about apple identification and cider making. www.wor leyscider.co.uk
• 12.00 Cake Art! – The Bakemonger – Ever dreamt of honey-comb shards and chocolate graffiti? This incredible Frome cake artist is taking the town by storm, come and learn her secrets of making edible art. www.thebakemonger.com
• 12.45pm Very Berry – Hej Gro – Foraging talk. Usually found on Catherine Hill selling homemade preserves from a vintage pram, Pavla Kislerova is one of the market’s longest standing traders. This expert Frome forager will give a talk on berry identification, and demonstrate the rudiments of making Rosehip Syrup. www.face book.com/HejGro
• 1.30pm Hard Cheese! – Westcombe Dairy. Award winning Somerset cheesemonger Tom Calver sheds light on the secrets of Westcombe Dairy’s tried and tested cheesemaking process. www.westcombedairy.com
• 2.15pm Market Menu – Angela Langford. Somerset born and bred chef and 2014 Masterchef finalist cooks up a meal with ingredients entirely sourced from The Frome Independent’s brilliant farmers and food traders. www.angelalangford.com
HARVEST HQ can be found in The Westway Centre and all talks and demonstrations are free so come early to grab your seat!
HARVEST EXTRAS:
Cake Off Competition and Frome’s Big Afternoon Tea. Enter a your best baked creation in the junior or adult categories for a chance to win a rosette. Entries will be judged by Angela Langford and The Bakemonger after which they will be shared as part of the inaugural Frome’s Big Afternoon Tea run in conjunction with Frome’s Big Christmas Get Together. The Westway Centre. Free.
Oh My Gourd! A competition to find Frome’s biggest and weirdest home-grown vegetable and best animal made from a vegetable or combination of vegetables. The Westway Centre. Free.
Field to Fire will be helping the young chefs of Frome to make their very own wood fired pizzas. From rolling the bases to dressing their own pizzas they will then watch their creations cook – from a safe distance! We will also be quizzing the children on their knowledge of ingredients and where they come from. 11.30am-12.30pm and 2.30pm-3.00pm in the Flea Market. £3.50 per pizza.
Traditional Folk Storytelling – local storyteller Lisa Kenwright will entertain the kids with some traditional tales. Ellenbray courtyard. Free.
Vegetable Animal Workshop – with Morag from Doodlebug Club. If you didn’t have time to make one at home come and create a vegetable animal at the market. The Westway Centre. Small donation towards materials.
TFI’s Harvest Conker Tournament hosted by ‘William the Conkerer’ aka Andy Jacobs of Wild Robot. To enter bring a shoelace, grab a conker and protective goggles enter the ‘conkerena’ and take your place on the leader board. At the Village Green in the Flea. Free entry.
