Back to School

The day dawned bright and early, well early at least and after a healthy breakfast of muesli and youghurt I and my housemates tripped through the dew of the orchard towards the school where a special welcome breakfast awaited 62 nervous newbies.

Breakfast over, and fortified by a rousing speech of welcome and intent from Darina Allen, the cohort for September 2010 set out on a tour of the gardens and farm to get the whole picture and an understanding of the relatrionship between soil, foodstuff and human well being.

The Herb Garden

Pausing only for a brief exposition of crop sowing we planted spring onions in  the greenhouse and hopefully will use the matured product in our final dish of the course. Then a trip to see the milking parlour and the recycling operation and a demonstration of waste being turned into good rich compost via the 300 or so hens who wander the grounds.

So we had been walking for about 2 1/2 hours and were feeling a little tired so we sat down and did the proper introductions and personal aims from the course before being called in to lunch!!!

Now this was not just a jolly. Oh no this was serious stuff building each person's master pallette and contained items that some found challenging such as smoked eel. It was locely though and the hazlenut meringue delivered both taste and texture.

Then the first really serious session as we had demonstrrations of the dishes we would be expected to cook tomorrow along with finding out who our first partner would be - mine isn't here yet - and which days we would be on the duty rota - Thursday am I have to collect herbs and veg from the gardens before class starts.

Lots of helpful hints and suggestions followed and before we knew it it was 5:30 and our first day had ended. Tomorrow we get exposed to sharp things and hot ones too. Should be fun!!