Putting a local sparkle into saving and borrowing

“Championing those fab people who create that little sparkle… the truly traditional as well as the contemporary and inspired…”

Those lines are from the About Muddy Carrot page of this website, but they could just as easily describe FundingKnight – a new financial provider who arranges crowdlending to businesses.

At this point, you might well be wondering what crowdlending is and, indeed, why financial matters have a place on this website at all – especially if you’re more used to coming here to read great stuff about pigs foraging in the Wyre Forest - but please, bear with me, I promise to explain.

  

So, first things first….

What is crowdlending?

Well, it basically means everyday people – like you or I – investing in British businesses - typically the small, independent ones that breathe the lifeblood into all of our local communities.

A lender like you could put in anything from £25 up and see their money pooled together with cash from lots of other lenders and turned into a business loan.

Our borrowers come to us because they don’t want, or can’t get, the business finance they need from a bank or traditional sources.

We thoroughly check them, including carrying out all of the usual credit checks a bank would run, and then offer them up to our lenders.

We encourage lenders to spread their cash across lots of different businesses which lets them build their own individual portfolios whilst helping to keep risks to a minimum.

Who do we lend to?  How can I apply to borrow money?

FundingKnight typically lends to businesses who:

·         Have been trading for two or more years

·         Are a limited company, and have filed at least one set of accounts with Companies House

·         Have a UK bank account and are based in the UK

We can lend from £10k to £100k and have funds ready and available for businesses who apply now.  To find out more, or to apply please visit our website.

How can I become a lender?

You can sign up and register as a lender on the FundingKnight website.

We are in the process of putting the finishing touches to the next phase of our website but in the meantime, our brochure site gives you some more information about what we’re up to.  Please do sign up to stay in touch – that way we can keep you up to date as things develop.

Why should I care?

Of course, I also promised to explain just what a financial company is doing on this blog at all.

Well, really, it’s because we’re a local company, committed to local communities.  Ultimately, we want to take our campaign for a better way to lend and borrow nationwide and help people all over the country invest in their community but, right now, we’re starting local and focusing particularly on Dorset and Hampshire.

We know that people care about where they live and the businesses that help the local economy to thrive.

We believe that, given the chance, people would love to invest in those businesses – putting their money to work whilst giving local business a much needed boost.

We believe that there’s a better way to lend and borrow and that’s why we created FundingKnight.  Please do pop along and sign up to stay in touch.

Hazel McHugh

FundingKnight

Go Lisa - uplifting start to Strictly Come Dancing

What a first week performance from actress Lisa Riley - boy she's got rhythm!   I loved her whole dance, so self-assured, an amazing performance to "Think" by Aretha Franklin, with brilliant facial expressions - but she definitely stole the show with her final lift with Robin Windsor leaping into her arms and wrapping his legs around her.  If you missed it do watch it on YouTube, they have great chemistry.

There was even a rare smile from judge Craig Revel Horwood who said: "Three words darling - you can dance." Riley then kissed and hugged him.

In an interview with Chris Evans this morning she said: "We'd practised the lift all week; all the way through we were at belly button level, but going live on Saturday night he was sat on top of my boobies!"

I'm not sure how she can top that performance - go girl!

Mists and Mellow Fruitfulness

I love Autumn and Spring - both are times of change.  The magic of autumn lies in the cool mornings, the earthy smell of damp ground and a feeling of a time of rest approaching.  (If only that last bit were true!...) So, how best to exploit this mellow time?  Soup making, for a start.  Well, our marrows were a complete non-event this year so I thought I'd pop out and get one.  Not so simple, it turns out.  Demand in Beaminster for marrows has outstripped supply, with orders being placed at the local supplier ahead of any deliveries such that furtive "under the counter" arrangements to bag the elusive local vegetable were being made.  This time I was in luck though, and was able to obtain a couple of smallish specimens, too small for the popular stuffing option - but fine for soup.

Here's the recipe I used:

Marrow Soup

500g marrow
40g butter
1 medium onion
2 carrots
1 smallish potato
1lt chicken stock
Ground ginger
150ml cream
croutons or fried sage leaves to garnish

Peel the marrow, cut along its length and scoop out the seeds (feed them to the chickens).  Roughly chop the flesh.  In a large pan, melt the butter and add the marrow, and the peeled and chopped onion, carrot and potato.  Fry gently for 5 minutes until they soften but don't let them brown.

Add the stock to the pan, with salt and pepper to taste, bring to the boil then put the lid on and simmer for half an hour or until all the vegetables are tender.

Allow to cool a little, then whizz in a blender.  Or, if you like a bit more texture, you can rub it through a course sieve instead.  Return the pureed soup to the pan and heat it through and adjust the seasoning, adding ground ginger to taste.  Gradually add the cream without letting the soup boil.  Serve with crunchy bread croutons or a few flash-fried sage leaves and a swirl of cream.

Forest Pig Charcuterie win 4 Gold Great Taste Awards

Sally Levell of Forest Pig Charcuterie writes:

We are thrilled that we have been awarded 4 GOLDS in the Great Taste Awards, two of them 2 star. We are particularly pleased that the judges recognised  our artisan production methods and long maturation process that allow the full cured flavour to develop. The judges comments have given us a real boost, this is only our second year trading and it is amazing to receive such fantastic feedback. We also received some good suggestions from the judges that will help us to improve our products further and this is most valuable information.

We source ingredients for quality and provenance and spices are hand ground on the day of use for maximum freshness.  However we firmly believe that the biggest impact on the flavour of our salami is the quality of the meat.  Our pigs are reared to over 12 months of age, spending at least the last 8 months foraging in the Wyre Forest in collaboration with the Forestry Commission, with only minimal supplementary feeding. This provides a high quality carcass with well muscled dark meat.

It can be hard but rewarding work being a “grower producer”, we do everything ourselves from breeding to production. The only part we don’t do is the slaughter but we have the pigs returned to us in halves and do all of the butchery in house.  It can be a long day travelling into the forest to look after the pigs and coming back to carry out production, often followed by a return visit to the forest.

The award winning salami are:

Rustic Salami

Rustic Salami – 2 STAR award Judges comments: Gorgeous, really good quality, full flavoured pork perfectly balanced with the other ingredients. A really good example of artisan charcuterie at its best – intelligent use of flavourings, excellent fermentation and maturation processes.

Spiced Walnut Salami - 2 STAR award Judges comments: Visually beautiful, with lovely visible walnut. Great taste and texture. The aroma is strong but not overpowering, very pleasant to eat, with remarkable length, and just the right amount of heat. Overall a fantastic product

Forager Salami - 1 STAR award Judges comments - A wonderful aroma from this salame. Well balanced cure with very subtle spices, which is good.

Chorizo - 1 STAR award Judges comments - Looked very firm to start but turned into a wonderful blend of coarse and smooth textures. Taste: excellent balance of ingredients.

Thin Thoughts on The Men Who Made Us Fat

Writer - Fiona Mackenzie-Spence

This three part BBC programme was fascinating and dealt with the consequences of a chemically made cheap sugar alternative called HFCS or High Fructose Corn Syrup and how it is changing the way our bodies actually work. Dr Robert Lustig, featured in the programme, shows how HFCS is one of the major causes of obesity in adults and children today You can view his 1½ hour seminar about this here on this link – very educational  http://youtu.be/dBnniua6-oM

This means that we no longer have to just look at what kind of food we’re eating and how much, but we have to check exactly what’s in the ingredients. You can find HFCS in a low calorie “Ranch dressing”.  Corn syrup is in an awful lot of food and drinks.  Glucose syrup is also in a lot of food and can be made from corn, although it can also be derived from other foodstuffs.  The real issue here is sugar and if you want to lose weight, you need to consider that it’s as addictive and bad for you as nicotine and not eat it.  

If you want to lose weight you have to eat fresh, healthy, nutritious food. We can eat meat, fish, eggs, cheese, vegetables, butter (a little) and NEVER butter substitutes, fruit, nuts, salads and things like Allbran, or Grapenuts are very good sources of fibre.  Locally produced food is fresher and will therefore carry more nutrients. Visit www.thinthoughts.net for further tips and advice on weight loss.

CarFest 2012

Whole Buffalo spit roast

Did you hear about BBC Children in Need's CarFest 2012?  It's the brainchild of Radio 2's Chris Evans and is likely to raise  £1million for Children In Need (well done Chris!)

We were lucky enough to get a family ticket for CarFest South, tempted by the local food, and a visit to the inspirational organic farm of Laverstoke Park - Oh and not to mention taking the family to their first music festival (our idea of a perfect weekend away).

Laverstoke Park in Hampshire is famous for its buffalo milk mozzarella and ice cream, both of which we can testify to being excellent.  Buffalo also provides a tasty and healthy alternative to beef - and we were able to try it straight from a spit roast as a hot bap. Mmm, a real testament to local food!

Muddy Carrot camping HQ!

Although the name suggests a paradise for petrolheads (which it was for James - his guilty pleasure) we enjoyed the excellent local produce with food stalls from salad bars to sustainably caught fish - deliciously grilled in front of you. There were artisan crisp producers and even a social barbecue area where you could cook what you'd bought on big, ready-lit communal barbecues. The whole feel of the event was good-natured and stress-free (as long as you weren't bursting for a pee at the wrong end of a loo queue!)

Joliet Blues Band 

Not quite the real John Lennon

The third main element to CarFest was the music - a great introduction to rock festivals for children who, like ours, hadn't been to anything like it before. The music was great, we enjoyed tributes to the Beatles and the Blues Brothers, and fab performances from Texas, The Feeling and Razorlight.

We are hopeful with a name like CarFest 2012 that next year may see CarFest2013 and if so we'll be at the front of the queue to nab some more tickets in aid of such a good cause!!

Local Sourcing in France!

Salut!

The rural French are renowned for persisting with their own local suppliers for their everyday groceries; even small villages usually still have their own boulangerie/patisserie, butcher, and épicerie (grocers) as well as the social hub - the café or café-tabac.  Team Muddy Carrot took a short camping break in the Loire earlier in August and enjoyed daily visits to the local shops for supplies of baguettes, croissants, patisseries and some delicious coarse duck and rabbit pâtés-maison.  (Just as Bridport still supports its bakers, we're glad to say)

Not to miss an opportunity, some local producers set up one evening to offer their wares to the captive market in the campsite selling crépes, saucisson and fruit liqueurs from little market stalls. A bottle of intensely-flavoured raspberry cordial accompanied us back home, and has been a delicious addition to puddings and ice-cream.

On our return journey we stopped for a visit to the vieux ville part of Orléans with its stunning cathedral and ancient architecture; well worth a visit if you're ever in the area - especially if you're a devotee of Jean d'Arc.

A bientôt!