Village Raw - ISSUE 13

JULY TO SEPTEMBER 2021
FREE
VILLAGE RAW
STORIES FROM CROUCH END, EAST FINCHLEY, HIGHGATE, MUSWELL HILL AND SURROUNDING AREAS
Cartographies of the Imagination:A paper exhibition of experimental cartographies / De La Jardin: Jacqueline de la
Fuente and her recycled art / Escape Room: Adrian Hardy and his miniature worlds / Planet-friendly Family Feasts: A week
of nutritious family meals on a budget / Flour Power: How sourdough bread supported the nation and blossomed in our streets.

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CONTENTS
THE SHOW GOES
ON DE LA JARDIN
Jacqueline de la Fuente
and her recycled art
ESCAPE ROOM
Adrian Hardy and his
miniature worlds.
CARTOGRAPHIES
OF THE IMAGINATION
A paper exhibition of
experimental cartographies.
PROJECT PIPE DREAMS
A film about one man’s dream.
HOW I LEARNED
TO LOVE LITTER
Creating an art project
through litter picking.
EDITORIAL
Putting together Village Raw is becoming easier and harder at the same time.
Over the last few years we’ve assembled a lovely community of writers, photographers,
illustrators etc. and it’s been amazing meeting and getting to know
so many of you within the various communities we cover.
We met someone at an event recently (yes – in person!) who turned out to
be a subscriber. She described the magazine as “a chronicle of the bits of the
community that I love”. It’s always good to hear positive feedback, and it’s great
to hear when people have connected or networked through the magazine.
We’re not marketers or business people (perhaps we should do the British Library
start-up programme outlined on pages 20-21) and with every issue of Village
Raw it’s great to see the number of subscribers increasing; but we still need more
to make it sustainable. The more subscribers we have on board, the easier it will
get, and the more space and time we’ll have to grow and develop the project.
You can support the magazine with a subscription from as little as £2 per
month or £20 per year. The bonus is that you’ll receive your copy through the
post, alongside our usual subscriber letter, and WHEN we can start mingling again
more easily, you’ll also be invited to subscriber events and magazine launches.
Luciane and David
hello@villageraw.com / www.villageraw.com
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ADVENTURES OF A POND NEWBIE
Improving the back garden
ecosystem with an upcycled pond.
START AS YOU MEAN TO GO ON
How the British Library is supporting
local businesses.
COMING TO YOUR DOORSTEP
How the pandemic shifted priorities
towards zero waste living.
PLANET-FRIENDLY
FAMILY FEASTS
A week of nutritious family
meals on a budget.
FLOUR POWER
How sourdough bread supported the
nation and blossomed in our streets.
EDITORS
Luciane Pisani
David Reeve
GRAPHIC DESIGN
Luciane Pisani for Studio Moe
COPY EDITOR
Carla Parks
ADVERTISING
hello@villageraw.com
COVER IMAGE
Cartographies of the Imagination
CONTRIBUTORS
Dan Bridge, The children of Muswell Hill Primary
School, Fiona Dear, Sheldon Gardner, Adrian Hardy,
Manu Fraser, Mischa Haller, Will Hearle, Lisa Jones,
Julie Kim, Kate Kuzminova, Miki Lentin, Becky Lima-
Matthews, Katrina Mirpuri, Ola Nwakodo, Carla Parks,
Andrew Schlussel, Rebecca Shahoud, James Taylor.
Designed and published by Studio Moe Ltd.
© 2021 Studio Moe Ltd. All rights reserved.
Reproduction of any contents of Village Raw
magazine without prior permission of the
publisher is strictly prohibited.
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THE VIRTUES OF LIVING
WITH WONDERFUL HERBS
Ola Nwakodo introduces us
to healing herbs.
VILLAGE GREEN
Priory Common Orchard
protest chairs.
THANKS TO:
Kirsty Badenoch, Julie Bland, Alice Dix, Ewa
Domaradzka, Michelle Eshkeri, Meletios Evdokias,
Carla Francombe, Manu Fraser, Jacqueline de la
Fuente, Mickela Hall-Ramsay, Paul Handley, Adrian
Hardy, Nonia Jeroh, Martin Jay, Ines Lanza, Karen
Leason, Jo Venegas Meza, Gilbert Reines, Kate
Schwarz, Sayan Skandarajah, Sophia Sutton-Jones.
PRINTING
Printed in East Finchley by JG Bryson on chlorine
free paper produced by an EU Ecolabel certified
mill from FSC and PEFC regulated forests.
Village Raw July to September 2021.
03

VILLAGE RAW
ARTS & CULTURE
DE LA JARDIN
Interview by Becky Lima-Matthews. Photos by Sheldon Gardner.
As the old saying goes, one person’s trash
is another person’s treasure. Many creative
people have reused and recycled the proverb
time and again. Chef Yotam Ottolenghi used
it to describe how the byproduct of one
food can be perfect for making another.
For Jacqueline de la Fuente, it’s the guiding
principle of the business she runs from
her home in Crouch End, where she lives
with her husband and two children.
An artist and maker, Jacqueline takes other
people’s discarded materials and turns
them into colourful art and sculptural
vases that have been featured in Design Milk,
Architectural Digest Mexico and Apartment
Therapy, sustainability is central to her
approach, influenced partly by her Filipino
heritage and her experience as a textile
designer. Becky Lima-Matthews caught up
with Jacqueline to talk about the work she
creates through De La Jardin.
Everything about the way you work is grounded in sustainability,
starting with the name of your shop. Can you talk about that?
My art is fairly new but the name De la Jardin has been around for
years and is simply a humorous combination of my surname and
my husband’s, Gardner. What I love about it, though, is its reference
to nature. It translates to “of the garden”, which feels very
relevant to my art and its part in sustainability.
Having a young family now has made me more aware of our
daily waste, from egg cartons and household packaging to cardboard
boxes, and more so now with our current climate. With my
passion for ceramics I wanted to see if I could combine this with
everyday materials that I could recycle, especially those we often
regard as poor quality, but are in fact quite the opposite.
Each vase is handmade from recycled card and paper. Is your creative
approach influenced by techniques you learned as a textile
designer and baker?
Making the clay is very similar to making the mixture and forming
the decorations for a cake. I do a lot of drawings and sketches to
develop my ideas and experiment with paints before translating
them into the 3D shapes, which is similar to my design days.
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VILLAGE RAW
ART & CULTURE
Your process starts by shredding paper and card by hand and
soaking it in water until it becomes a pulp. You then mix in flour
and glue with a small amount of joint compound to make the clay
sturdier. Were you surprised by the results?
Despite knowing what I could achieve with the textures, I was surprised
by the feeling of the clay, which allowed me to shape and
sculpt it easily.
Using a mixture of card and paper helps make the clay much
stronger and almost like stoneware once it’s dry. Each part of the
vase or object is made in stages and left to dry before being assembled
together. This is then sanded so the surface is textured
and tactile but smooth to the touch. The slow and deliberate construction
leads to very little or no waste when I make each vase.
Some pieces are left in their natural pulp or hand painted using
water-based paints.
Holding my first finished piece, I was surprised by how it dried
into a strong and stone-like vase with quite a weight to it, similar
to ceramics and pottery clay.
You were born in Surrey, but both your parents came from the
Philippines and you moved back there for two years when you
were eight. Is that where the seeds for reusing and recycling
came from?
Growing up I was taught to be resourceful and not to waste, which
has always been part of our culture in the Philippines. I remember
my grandmother turning broken or used items at home into
something new.
Launching an independent, creative business is challenging at
the best of times, but you only started making your vases a few
months before Covid-19 struck. Did creating become a vital outlet
for you?.
I felt like it brought me comfort during such a difficult time and
it gave me an opportunity to express myself. It was a form of escapism
when we were all restricted to our homes - and let’s not
forget homeschooling!
Understandably, you didn’t quite know what to expect when you
first began sharing your work online in March 2020. But people
quickly began to take notice....
When the pandemic hit I really didn’t think there would be much of
a reaction to my work. I wasn’t sure if anyone would understand
my process of circular design and working with waste materials
by elevating them into a new aesthetic. I had only made three
styles - the La Lune in Black, Mio in Lilac and the Leif pot in Natural.
As soon as I shared these on Instagram, someone got in touch
and bought all three original pieces.
Soon after, a London interior design studio commissioned you to
make a Mio vase and they’re now stocked around the world. How
does that feel?
I feel very fortunate to now have my vases stocked in various
countries such as Cool Machine Store in Belgium, Jolie Laide in
Australia and soon the LES Collection in the US. Most recently, I
caught sight of my La Lune Stroke Vase in the home of [television
presenter] Laura Jackson, which was such a nice surprise,
but most of all it was a real honour to have my work featured in
the Architectural Digest Mexico Sustainability Issue in April 2021.
Working from home has its challenges, especially during the
lockdown months. How did you find it?
All my art and vases are made from my home. I have a small shed
which my husband built for me, to do all my sanding work as my
business started to grow. My home is covered in vases and I’m
very lucky my kids understand what I do and know not to touch!
However, I will need a bigger studio space soon.
Supporting local business and forging closer links with the community
have been some of the silver linings to a turbulent year.
How are you part of the community of independent businesses?
There are many independent shops and cafes, which I truly admire,
as they all bring their own unique personalities to our area,
and draw our community closer together - such as Middle Lane
Market and Sourdough Sophia, to Pickled Pepper and Niddle Noddle,
which my kids love. And let’s not forget our local greengrocers.
As well as using my own paper waste I sometimes source
them locally. Middle Lane Market is just up the road from me, and
the owners Andrew and Kelly have always been so supportive and
are happy to give me any paper card waste whenever I call upon
them - especially stacks of their bright-pink, egg-carton trays! It
feels good to help reuse other waste from local businesses, and I
like the idea that we’re both doing our bit for the environment and
supporting each other at the same time.
What would you advise others thinking to create in a more conscious
way?
There are many waste materials close to home that are of high
quality, even though it’s no longer classed as useful. We just need
to work out how to manipulate and rework them, but also bear in
mind the process it takes to make this into new designs. Experimenting
with waste materials can cost very little, but hopefully,
in doing so, it will expose new ways of using it with less impact on
our environment. •
Check out Jacqueline’s designs at: www.delajardin.com or through Instagram: @delajardin
6

VILLAGE RAW
ARTS & CULTURE
ESCAPE ROOM
Artist and musician Adrian Hardy recreates
haunting models of abandoned buildings
(and a famous local landmark).
Words by Rebecca Shahoud.
Photos by Dan Bridge (portraits)
and Adrian Hardy (still rooms).
“I wanted to draw attention to the fact that things are often
not what they first appear,” says artist, graphic designer, multiinstrumentalist
and modelmaker Adrian Hardy, who has created
– among other things – a hyper-realistic model of Crouch End’s
independent cinema The Arthouse. It stands complete, with
stained glass windows, film posters, hanging baskets and even a
six-centimetre bicycle, made from solder wires and garden ties.
Lit up with LEDs and fibre optics, it was on display at Irvin Bar and
Grill in Topsfield Parade. Sadly, for its diners, the restaurant closed
its doors for the last time in April, and Adrian has the model back
in his possession.
Adrian’s ability to distort perception could be due to his
birthplace, an outrageously picturesque area that inspired an
infamous children’s series and is now coveted by various filmlocation
scouts. He was born in the southernmost tip of Northern
Ireland, in Kilkeel, Co Down – a fishing village in the shadow of the
Mourne Mountains. He describes the mountains as the “most
beautiful” in Ireland. “I’m biased, of course,” he says modestly,
but he’s not alone in that thought.
The Mournes are where CS Lewis found inspiration for The
Chronicles of Narnia. The Belfast-born author wrote about how, in
a certain light, the mountains made him feel as if “a giant might
raise his head over the next ridge”.
The area was also used to shoot the series Game of Thrones
and Vikings, and Robert Eggers’ upcoming 2022 feature film The
Northman was filmed on the Mournes. Perhaps it will be shown
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VILLAGE RAW
ARTS & CULTURE
Previous page: Adrian in his studio (left) and White Bedroom model (right). This page: Interior with Dutch Paintings model.
This page: Interior with Las Meninas model (top), Adrian with the Arthouse model (bottom).
at The Arthouse. Looking at the vast, unmanicured landscape is
enough to make anyone feel very small. But for those with vivid
imaginations, the hypnotic scenery is proof of other realities.
Adrian started making models at the back of his classroom,
where his surreal sculptures may have shocked the nuns in his
Catholic grammar school, but impressed lecturers at Belfast
School of Art, where he went on to study. He supplemented his
student grant by playing gigs in pubs across Northern Ireland
– sometimes Belfast – driving hours back to Kilkeel through
mountainous roads. This was during the Troubles, and the roads
were often barricaded. Adrian admits it got a little nerve-wracking
when he was flagged down by soldiers waving red lights.
Following the death of his father in 2010, Adrian went
back to Ireland to start work on another large, scaled-down
project. Armed with a camera and a tripod, he spent six months
roaming the countryside for abandoned buildings. To get to his
destinations, he often had to wade through waterlogged terrain
and brambly thickets. Farmers shouted at him for trespassing.
He was chased by dogs.
“In my childhood, I was surrounded by the remains of
other people’s lives,” Adrian says. “My father’s job was selling
second-hand furniture gathered from clearing old houses.”
These memories created the foundation for his Stilled Lives
photographic exhibition.
The photographs are only one half of it; the images are
mirrored by haunting replicas of the rooms themselves. The model
rooms contain many of Adrian’s artistic influences: paintings by
artists including Velázquez and Hoogstraten – himself a master
of illusion – as well as images of the original rooms within the
model ones.
“It’s an escapement into another world. Worlds within worlds,”
says Adrian over a pot of hot tea at Beam café in Crouch End. “I
wanted to ask, what is reality and what is fiction?” Adrian found
beauty in the relics: “Tinned boxes under beds, a pair of boots,
photographs, letters, a piano now watched over by pigeons.”
In 2015, Adrian’s model-making skills were noticed by Tristan
Sharps, artistic director of Dreamthinkspeak, a company that
specialises in site-specific theatre. He was commissioned
to recreate derelict rooms in Shoreditch Town Hall as part
of theatre production Absent, before the show was taken to
Blackpool, where Adrian reproduced the Winter Gardens Empress
Ballroom. This was his biggest challenge as a modelmaker, with
hours of research undertaken, hundreds of sketches drawn and
measurements logged before he could start to build.
Would he be open to more commissions? “More than happy,”
he nods. “Especially for some of the local buildings in Crouch End,
like the Clock Tower or Dunns Bakery.”
Readers may recognise Adrian as a music teacher – he has
taught hundreds of children in the area, and is currently working on
a production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream at Coleridge Primary
School. He is currently planning an exhibition, and is yet to confirm
a location, but he’s keen on showcasing his works at the new arts
centre in Hornsey Town Hall, once development is complete.•
More of Adrian’s work can be seen on his website: www.adrianhardymodels.co.uk
10 11

VILLAGE RAW
PARTNER CONTENT
CARTOGRAPHIES OF THE IMAGINATION
Hot on the heels of the OmVed/
Thrown Contemporary Growth
exhibition, and its involvement
in the Highgate Festival, OmVed
is playing host to a month-long
experimental drawing festival,
Cartographies of the Imagination.
Words by David Reeve.
Photos by Will Hearle (top) and courtesy
of Kirsty Badenoch (opposite page).
Showcasing four years of drawing research, OmVed’s glasshouse
will be transformed into a three-tiered paper exhibition of
experimental cartographies, mapping places known, unknown,
forgotten and fictional, designed by nature-inspired architects
PiM.studio. The otherworldly setting forms the inspiration for a
series of conversations, workshops, feasts and a growing, participatory
exhibition exploring the real and the imagined through
the discipline of drawing.
“To map a place is to create a whole new one,” say co-curator
Kirsty Badenoch. “Through the act of plotting, tracing and redrawing,
new relationships are made that both belong to - and are
entirely distinct from - the terrains they started out describing.”
Co-curator Sayan Skandarajah adds: “Cartographies of the Imagination
explores the outer limits of what a map can be, interrogat-
ing the bit of lost land that falls between the pages of an atlas,
journeying to places known, unknown, forgotten and fictional.”
Kirsty and Sayan are artists and landscape architectural researchers
- the exhibition brings together the pair’s experimental
drawings into lost lands and cityscapes, alongside works from
leading voices in visual art, film, technology and academia. Exhibiting
artists include: Francesca Benedetto, Nat Chard, Penelope
Haralambidou, Charnjeev Kang, Aisling O’Carroll, Saskia Olde Wolbers,
ScanLab Projects, Mira Sanders, Doug Specht, Llew Watkins
and Izabela Wieczorek.
A series of experimental evening salons, and day and weekend
workshops throughout the month, will explore how we navigate,
perceive and translate the world around us through drawing. This
Drawing Laboratory invites schoolchildren and youth groups, art
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and architecture students, artists, makers, growers and other
creatives to participate in a giant collaborative map of the imagination:
Cosmocartos. The map will be on show throughout the
exhibition, a live drawing experiment that is drawn, redrawn and
re-redrawn over the course of the festival, by the eyes, hands and
imaginations of many. Additionally, a host of parties, supper clubs
and tours will invite guests to meet, talk and celebrate throughout
the festival.
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All events will be run at reduced capacity, in limited time slots, adhering to current
government guidelines.
The exhibition runs until the end of July. You can find out more about the exhibition
and events on the website: www.cartographiesoftheimagination.com and Instagram:
@cartographiesoftheimagination

VILLAGE RAW
PROJECT
PIPE DREAMS
How a film about one man’s
dream becomes a celebration
of life and friendship.
Words by Miki Lentin. Photos by Manu Fraser.
“Before we start, I just want to say that this is not a film about
pipe organs,” local filmmaker Manus Fraser says, “it’s a film about
the greatest question on earth – what makes us who we are?”
It’s a Thursday morning. I’m sitting opposite film director
Manus Fraser outside Velasquez and Van Wezel in Crouch End. The
sun is glaring into my eyes, the coffee is strong, and we’ve met to
discuss his latest film, Project Pipe Dreams; a film that isn’t about
a pipe organ, but about aging, a bloody-minded determination to
follow your dreams against impossible odds, and a retired South
African primary school headteacher, Gilbert Reines.
So what does Gilbert do, when an organ he buys arrives from
Canada at Holy Innocents Church, Crouch End, 17 years ago? Despite
being from a musical family, he’d never attempted to build
an organ before, but just like dreaming of a better society while
growing up in apartheid South Africa, he wasn’t deterred.
He did the only thing he could think of - he built, wired, restored,
polished, climbed up and down ladders, tested and played
the organ, all by hand. He constantly added parts and pipes, until
eventually he started to find peace with the beauty of the sound.
Nothing was going to stand in his way.
That was until Manus found Gilbert, now aged 84, up a ladder
in Holy Innocents Church and their lives changed forever. “Here,”
Manus says, “was this fascinating character, who had a magic
about him, a real lust for life… it was handmade insanity.”
Manus spent three years with Gilbert, not only documenting
the continuing build of the organ, but also his life, his dreams, and
the legacy he wanted to leave. And as Project Pipe Dreams started
to take shape, Manus discovered that this wasn’t just a story
of something being built by hand, but also a story of friendship,
a handmade piece of art that sustained them both. It was also a
story of grief - during the build Gilbert’s wife died, so the organ
became his focus.
As the filming progressed, the organ was now the connection
between Manus, Gilbert and the world around them. Gilbert, the
teacher, was now being assisted by Manus, the filmmaker, and his
nephews: Remo, a former trapeze artist, and Clem, the hot-rod
building organ specialist. They both flew thousands of miles every
few months to help get the job done. Between them there was a
frequency of work that defied logic, a life-affirming determination
to finish what Gilbert had started, so that together they could
create an experience everyone could enjoy.
“You know, every pipe organ is unique. The sound waves each
pipe creates resonate with the other pipes, creating frequencies
and sub frequencies that we cannot hear but that have a physical
effect on the human body,” says Manus. “That’s not something
that can be reproduced through a recording on your laptop.”
Manus reflects that, for Gilbert, this project was about leaving
a gift to the community. Gilbert died in August 2020. He wanted
everyone around him to enjoy the unique sound of an organ as
much as he did, and importantly Manus wanted viewers to celebrate
the things that are often overlooked: the elderly, the broken
parts of things that are sometimes discarded, the quiet rebellion
of not giving up.
I ask Manus if the organ is finished. He sighs. “When is something
ever really finished?” But was it Gilbert’s experience of
apartheid that made him determined to leave the world a better
place? “I’m still not sure,” Manus says, “I hope the audience will
make up their own minds. What I do know is that he was an inspirational
character who believed you could achieve anything if you
put your mind to it. As he says in the film, ‘Got a dream? Go with
it man!” •
Project Pipe Dreams, by Big Wide World Films, will be shown at The Arthouse Cinema in the
near future. See listings for more details.
14

VILLAGE RAW
HOW I LEARNED TO LOVE LITTER
Love isn’t always poetry, romance and chocolates. You can tap into
the emotion by simply being a good citizen, argues Andrew Schlussel.
Words by Andrew Schlussel. Collage by Muswell Hill Primary School children.
I love litter. I’m excited when I see it because I love picking it up. I
wasn’t always this way.
When I was a child, my dad took us on a trip to Germany. I fancied
myself a budding artist and I was drawing in the backseat
while we cruised along the Autobahn. Inspired by our museum visits,
I was drawing Jesus Christ on the cross. My siblings started to
make fun of me so I crumpled up the piece of paper and threw it
out the window. My dad was furious, and let me know how wrong it
was to litter, especially as we were guests in a very clean country.
I still feel guilty. The message was heard loud and clear. I never
intentionally littered again.
When a work colleague asked for volunteers to join his litter-picking
group, I enthusiastically joined. His vision is to make
finding a piece of litter on the ground as rare as finding a £50
note. We use technology and creativity to raise awareness and
make a difference. The group is called PicUp, because the main
tool we use involves taking pictures of the litter you pick up. We’re
using an app called Litterati. When you use the app, it documents
what, where and when you picked up litter, and the data collected
is used to get corporations to change their ways and gives governments
the information they need to effect change.
In July 2020 I hosted a webinar with Jeff Kirschner, the CEO of
Litterati. One question that had been burning inside me is: how
do we stop people from littering in the first place? What is the
psychological state that causes them to litter and how can we
counteract that? The answer? You don’t. People who litter are not
worth the time and effort. He believes that collecting data is the
best way to make a difference on a large scale. I found this freeing
when I heard this. If litter collecting is motivated by hate or
disgust, it is unpleasant. If it is motivated by love of your environment
and community, it feels great.
PicUp put a creative spin on the use of this app, by using
those images to create photomosaics. Our first one was of Tower
Bridge, to remind people that the beauty of London is tarnished
by being covered with litter, and that each small action makes
a difference, literally contributing to the bigger picture. Then
we completed a challenge where we exclusively collected PPE -
masks and gloves. We raised money for the NHS, then honored the
heroic frontline workers by creating images of them with discarded
PPE litter, to remind people to take care of their environment
while the NHS takes care of us. To this day I’m excited every time I
see a mask or glove on the ground.
One festive November we were celebrating Guy Fawkes on the
grounds of a school and I was astounded by the amount of litter
at the end. I realised we are failing to teach our children to take
care of their environment. We decided to take the PicUp project
to schools, and Muswell Hill Primary quickly embraced the idea.
The challenge was to have the children pick up 3,000 pieces of
litter, from which we made a photomosaic to put up at the school.
The challenge started on Earth Day, April 22nd, and ended on June
5th, World Environment Day. We ended up collecting 2,134, a little
short of the goal, but plenty to make a nice photomosaic.
Did it make a difference to the amount of litter on the streets
in Muswell Hill and the surrounding area? No. Things seem worse
around here lately; I think the warm weather has brought everyone,
along with their litter, out into the streets and parks. Did it
make a difference to the children? I hope so. Maybe a few of them
will think more about the litter they generate and what they do
with it afterward. The image of the school made from pieces of
rubbish will hang for a long time, so even those who didn’t participate
in the challenge might reflect on it.
I’d like to see us bring this challenge to 10,000 primary schools
around the world. PicUp has begun conversations about simplifying
and automating the process, to make it easy for schools to do
this project on their own. You can learn more at picup.org.uk. It’s
easy to get involved and help. The next time you see a piece of
litter, pick it up, and you may learn to love it too.•
You can learn more at: www.picup.org.uk
16 17

VILLAGE RAW
ADVENTURES OF
A POND NEWBIE
Climate campaigner Fiona Dear explores how she can improve her own back
garden ecosystem with the addition of a bathtub pond.
Words and photo by Fiona Dear.
I *love* gardens, and I’ve long embraced the joys of leaving nature
to take over. Bees, bugs and other wildlife are having a hard time
in our paved, tarmacked and pest-controlled world. Wildlife needs
all the help it can get, as places to live and feed are lost at an
alarming rate. I’d read that ponds are gold dust for wildlife, so this
year I decided to create one in my little garden.
I mostly followed advice from the RSPB on how to make a
mini pond. I’m an upcycling enthusiast, so I took to Whatsapp and
asked if anyone on my street had a container we could use as
the pond base. We had a few offers, but then we spotted an old
bathtub, in our neighbour’s front garden, and he was more than
happy for us to take it off his hands.
I ordered an oversized plug and aquarium-safe silicone sealant
to keep it watertight. I then dug a hole for the tub, and used the
remaining earth to build flower beds around it - to provide easy
access for wildlife, but with the added bonus of keeping our
toddler at a safe distance from the water. Rocks scavenged from
our local Facebook group provided a staircase out of the pond for
critters, and gravel from our front garden lined the bottom.
Lastly, I needed plants. I couldn’t scavenge these, so I headed
to the garden centre. I started with two potted plants and
three bundles of oxygenators, but have added lots more (plus
some water snails) since. That’s partly because I have a plant
addiction; but also, as the water darkened, I needed more plants
to oxygenate the water, cover the surface to stop algae taking
over, and offer additional entry and exit routes for creatures.
Then to fill it up. Ideally you should fill the pond with rainwater,
but we don’t have a water butt so it was tap water plus a wildlifefriendly
dechlorinator.
Having established the pond, I quickly became obsessed. I
had lots of questions, and found it hard to get straight answers by
Googling, so I took to Facebook and found a brilliantly knowledgeable
wildlife ponds group, where I shared some pictures.
The main advice was to build a more gradual slope to help
critters exit the water. This was tricky, because baths are slippery!
But I eventually created a “beach” by putting a paving slab on top
of rocks, then a slanted roof tile covered by gravel. An unexpected
bonus of all this work was figuring out how to keep cats away, and
give the pond wildlife a chance. A sonar repeller, lavender plants,
and a forest of twigs in popular areas did the trick.
We added some tadpoles from a neighbour’s pond but, alas,
that didn’t have a happy ending. I’m not sure what happened to
ours, but I suspect that as the pond was still finding its balance,
the conditions just weren’t right. One day our lovely tadpoles
were just not there. I later read that the best time to start a pond
is in autumn, so that it’s settled by the time things get interesting
in spring. I also found out that moving tadpoles or frogspawn
between ponds can transfer diseases, so from now on I’ll just wait
for critters to come to me.
The pond now has its first natural inhabitants: insect larvae.
Okay, not the most exciting creatures, but they’re the basis of the
food chain. Fingers crossed that diving beetles, dragonflies, bats
and, of course, froggies will follow.
Has the pond been as easy as I thought? Er, no. Has it been a
source of absolute joy? Oh yes. Would I recommend it? Absolutely.
For the wildlife, for your wellbeing, for the beauty…
•
Check the RSPB website for how to create a mini-pond: www.rspb.org.uk
18

VILLAGE RAW
PARTNER CONTENT
START AS YOU
MEAN TO GO ON
The British Library is helping
entrepreneurs make their business
dreams a reality with support
available locally.
Words by Carla Parks.
When she was still only 21, Mickela Hall-Ramsay had a dream to
empower kids and provide them with opportunities to make the
most of themselves. Just over 10 years later, she runs HR Sports
Academy, a social enterprise in Haringey that has touched the
lives of over 35,000 young people through its sports, afterschool
and holiday clubs.
With her brother Christian as her co-pilot, she’s managed to
succeed where others have failed - but it has been a journey of
highs and lows. “You go through a rollercoaster of emotions as a
founder and it does require a lot of perseverance and resilience,”
Mickela tells Village Raw. “The only way to make sure you get
through it is by having a key support system that is there for you
and having a strong network of professionals.”
More and more of us are starting our own businesses. Last
year, there were nearly six million small businesses in the UK, a
growth of nearly 2%. It’s estimated that there are 77 companies
founded every hour. Sadly, about 50-60% of businesses will fail
within three years. Getting support in the early stages is crucial
and yet many new business owners struggle to access it.
For today’s entrepreneurs, however, there are plenty of resources.
The British Library Business & IP Centre (BIPC) is one of
the most extensive, with virtual courses, workshops, access to
business and market research information, and one-to-one mentorship.
All the support is either free or low cost. In the last year,
it was able to pivot its courses and workshops to be fully online,
supporting about 26,000 business owners during the pandemic.
To date, one million people have come through the BIPC’s doors
since it was founded in 2006. Those who have used its services
are up to four times more likely to create a sustainable business
than those who don’t, with a failure rate of just 10%, much lower
than the national average. The BIPC expanded to other libraries in
the country several years ago and has a particularly good track
record of being inclusive and diverse: over half who use it are
women and a third are from underrepresented backgrounds.
Mickela used the British Library’s support to scale up HR Sports
Academy at a time when she felt she had hit a wall. “I had got to a
stage where I’d been doing something for so long and it was consistent
but there was no growth,” she recalls. “I think a lot of it was
because we were fully engrossed in delivering. There was no time
to sit down and look at how the business was progressing.”
Mickela benefited from workshops, targeted courses with
professionals, and mentorship that allowed her to successfully
restructure her business. The founder is now the ambassador of
Start-Ups in London Libraries, a service available to anyone with
a business registered in London in the last 12 months or an idea
they’d like to develop. The aim is to bring some of the BIPC’s vast
resources to your local library and high street, with 10 participating
boroughs in the capital, including Haringey.
Nonia Jeroh is one of the small business owners to have used
the start-up service since its launch in 2019. She’s the founder
of Crafty North Londoner, a platform for sustainable makers and
creatives to sell and exhibit their work both online and in person.
The British Library programme helped her with creeping selfdoubt,
particularly the mentorship she received from Haringey’s
dedicated business champion, Nicola Moore. “Family and friends
will always be your cheerleaders,” she says, “but an outside perspective
makes all the difference.”
She advises others to build a network and take advantage of
the wealth of knowledge. Many who have been through Start-ups
in London Libraries – and that’s nearly 2500 people so far – rate
the course on Intellectual Property as particularly valuable. “It really
helps to talk with those who have been through and overcome
challenges,” Nonia adds. “It’s fair to say the last year has taught
us situations can change at any given moment.” Crafty NoLo has
recently launched the Made in Haringey Pop Up shop in The Mall
Wood Green. This summer it will be hosting an amazing range of
local and north London-based female makers and traders, from
homewares to accessories and much more. The Pop Up is the first
of its kind in Haringey, which has been funded by Haringey Council’s
Good Economy Recovery Plan and The Mall Wood Green.
For Mickela, things are looking up after Covid negatively affected
business. She used powerful storytelling to tell of the
academy’s impact, attracting funding and grants that kept her
afloat when schools shut. She’s now a mentor to entrepreneurs
who come through Start-ups in London Libraries, passing on
what she’s learned. “This programme is an amazing opportunity
for people to gain valuable information. Not having that can slow
people down,” she observes. “It becomes very daunting, very
nerve wracking, and you just don’t take that leap.”•
For more on Start-ups in London Libraries, visit bl.uk/SiLL
To find out more about the BIPC, go to bl.uk/BIPC
You can contact Nicola Moore, Haringey’s small business champion, by emailing
startups@haringey.gov.uk
PHOTOGRAPHS OF MICKELA HALL-RAMSAY BY ELLIOTT WILCOX. SELF-PORTRAIT BY NONIA JEROH.
Top and bottom right:
Mickela Hall-Ramsay
at HR Sports Academy.
Bottom left:
Nonia Jeroh, the founder
of Crafty North Londoner.
20 21

VILLAGE RAW
SUSTAINABILITY
COMING
TO YOUR
DOORSTEP
With the pandemic shifting
social and environmental
priorities, Lisa Jones
explains how the milk
floats she grew up with
inspired the vision for
The People’s Pantry.
Words by Lisa Jones.
Photos by Julie Kim (bike)
and Lisa Jones.
Global crises have always left social and
economic devastation in their wake, but
also accelerated positive change. World
War II brought us the NHS, World War I
paved the way for the suffrage movement,
the Spanish flu gave way to the roaring
twenties. Even the plague flicked a coin
over its shoulder and ended feudalism.
The impact of this pandemic is expected
to linger for a decade: across education,
employment models, urban planning,
digital policies, community support, and
confidence in central government. Meanwhile,
Dr Nicholas Christakis, author of
Apollo’s Arrow: The Profound and Enduring
Impact of Coronavirus on the Way we Live,
foresees an era of indulgence. He envisions
packed sporting and cultural events,
gorging on missed social experiences, and
a smattering of “sexual licentiousness, liberal
spending and a reverse of religiosity”.
However, my money is on Covid ushering in
an era of heightened social responsibility.
The pandemic has introduced us to our
neighbours, revealed our community as
supportive and talented and demonstrated
that shopping locally is convenient,
personal and more reliable than our shaky
global supply chains. We have belatedly
appreciated key workers, acknowledged
that life really is too short and that “stuff”
is thus pointless. We peered outside our
bubble (in its original sense) and realised
that change is needed. And nowhere more
so than environmentally.
Climate breakdown has been high on
the agenda for decades. But being so
cataclysmically confronted by the connection
between human health and that
of our planet - while witnessing its baby
steps towards self-healing - has been
frightening, humbling and hopeful. Roads
were safer, wildlife bolder, skies clearer,
air cleaner, neighbourhoods quieter, birds
louder… the future brighter?
I believe so. So strong is my faith in a
societal epiphany that my husband and I
launched a business embracing all of the
above. The People’s Pantry is an e-commerce
refill service, delivering unpackaged,
ethical and sustainable household and pantry
staples to doorsteps, in reusable jars
and bottles. The “empties” are then left out
at the next delivery, to be sterilised and reused,
in a model pioneered by the milk round.
We began trialling this during the lockdown
with an ex-Royal Mail delivery bike we named
Eric. Alongside Eric we’re launching a parallel
mobile shop in July. Ernie (of course) is a
1970s electric milk float, impetuously bought
off eBay in Lockdown 2.0. It has since been
meticulously restored and repurposed with
refill dispensers, from which customers can
fill their own containers, closing that loop
still tighter. Ernie will be variously pitching up
at markets, car parks or your own street, if
neighbours book a visit.
Refilling is the future. However, it brings
with it a whole new revolutionary vocabulary
and set of hashtags, which notably don’t
include “recycling”: #ReduceReuseRecycle
has become #UseCleanReuse. That milk bottle
collection is now a “closed loop system”
or a “circular economy”. Target shoppers
are “conscious consumers” who check the
“traceability” of each element of a product’s
journey, eschewing “SUPs” (single-use plastics)
and smelling corporate “greenwashing”
of carbon and ethical footprints a mile off.
Not only do we want to help reduce
those SUPs by making refill shopping as
simple as possible, but we also want to reinstate
the weekly shop as a social event
accompanied by the feelgood of contributing
and belonging to one’s community.
Covid has highlighted that it not only matters
what we consume, and what social
and environmental impact it has had on its
journey, but who sells it to us and how.
And that goes for our little section
of the supply chain too. Setting up The
People’s Pantry has gloriously revealed a
parallel, zero waste world of impassioned
independents, all prioritising integrity,
transparency and authenticity over profit.
Each with a story, many working with
friends or family, all determined to make
a difference (as well as sell exceptional
products), and all energised by a collective
cause.
I’m not suggesting for a minute that
this movement compensates for the
tragedy of the pandemic. But these are
exciting times, nevertheless, reaffirming
the good in humanity and potentially putting
the consumer in control of our planet’s
future.
•
For more information and bookings across N8, N10, N11
and N22, visit: www.thepeoplespantry.biz
22
23

VILLAGE RAW
FOOD & DRINK
PLANET-FRIENDLY
FAMILY FEASTS
Can you cook five family meals on a small budget using only high-quality
ingredients from independent suppliers? Village Raw joins
chef James Taylor in the kitchen to find out.
Words by Carla Parks.
Photos by Kate Kuzminova.
Recipes by James Taylor.
Despite good intentions, the furthest I get with planning family
meals is knowing on Monday what we might eat on Tuesday. More
often, I find myself standing in front of the refrigerator in the evenings
wondering how I can make a meal from an odd assortment
of vegetables and condiments. It’s a bit like an episode of Ainsley
Harriott’s Ready Steady Cook on repeat.
Add in two children who don’t like to eat the same things and
it becomes a daily challenge that can involve sprinting to the
supermarket for something packaged in a plastic tray. We order
weekly takeaways, too, which often induce pangs of guilt because
of the amount of plastic containers that come with the food.
Like many people, I aspire to eat better-quality food that isn’t
being shipped halfway around the world or wrapped in cling film.
I’d like to use up more of what I have already, but I find that much
of my food gets wasted, mainly because I tend to buy more as a
solution to not knowing what to cook. According to Wrap, a charity
that works to create a more sustainable world, we throw away 6.6
million tonnes of household food a year in the UK alone. Almost
three-quarters of it is food we could have eaten. This waste contributes
to destructive greenhouse gases, harming our planet.
Could a chef change my unsustainable habits and those of
other busy families who don’t have weekly planners, big budgets
and a whole lot of time? James Taylor hopes so. He’s an executive
chef at two local primary schools, working with a meagre budget
of about 75p per child. He wants to prove that children can be well
fed on quality ingredients that cost less.
Previously a chef at the Pavilion Cafe in Bounds Green, James
now combines the day job with catering for private clients and
hosting supperclubs. He comes across many people who want to
embrace a more “flexitarian” way of eating. “Lots of people I speak
with say their ideal way of eating would be to have less meat and
fish,” he tells me. “But when they do, it would be the highest quality.”
Applying the principle that less could be more, James wanted
to see whether it was possible to cook five family meals using
high-quality seasonal ingredients, sourced only through independent
suppliers, for a budget of £70. The Office for National
Statistics estimate that a typical UK household with 2.4 people
spent £97 on food weekly, including restaurants and takeaways
but not alcohol, in 2019/20. We’ve adjusted our budget to take
account of the fact that it’s only Monday to Friday.
What follows are five easy-to-cook, healthy recipes that any
family can make in less than an hour. You will need to invest in
some store cupboard essentials such as couscous, chickpeas,
rice, lentils and pasta. We used Nourished Communities, an online
market stall based in Highbury, for some of ours. We supplemented
this with additional dry goods and tomatoes from Middle Lane
Market in Crouch End.
Keeping to our plan to stay local when possible and avoid
supermarkets, we sourced our organic vegetables through Crop
Drop, a subscription box service in Haringey that will drop your
fruit and veg at different collection points in the borough. Our
large box included fennel, onions, potatoes, carrots, beetroot,
asparagus, spring greens and pea shoots, costing £15.50.
We bought our free-range, slow-grown chicken from Fosse
Meadows Farm, a small business based in Leicestershire, but
which sells to Ally Pally Farmers’ Market. Eight drumsticks cost
about £7. Our fish was sourced from SoleShare, a fish box scheme
in London that only works with small-scale British fishermen.
24 25

VILLAGE RAW
FOOD & DRINK
We got two fillets of coley from a once-a-week monthly subscription
box that ordinarily costs £42.75. Our portion came to £10.70.
In order to make the most of his weekly budget, James explains
that most of the meals are vegetarian or plant-based, using
high-quality meat and fish on just two days out of five. As more
people become aware of the damage industrial farming can do,
he believes this way of eating is better for our planet, our health
and even our pockets.
We ended up spending a total of £55.40 for five evening meals
for a family of two adults and two children, well under our original
budget. This included adding in the cost of olive oil, butter, spices,
and additional items such as ginger and garlic. All the recipes were
made on the same day over five hours and there was no waste.
I came along to see James in the kitchen, and I can confirm
he didn’t appear to be breaking a sweat. As a vegetarian, I enjoyed
the charred spring greens and the freshness of the curry
cooked with quinoa, but the chicken was particularly popular with
children. Some of the portions were generous, with leftovers that
could be turned into easy lunches the next day.
“I’m aiming to encourage sustainable cooking, responsible
sourcing and healthy eating, using high-welfare and organic
ingredients,” the chef says. The grains in the dishes are interchangeable,
he adds, and the spices and flavourings could be
altered to suit your tastes. James plans to experiment with differently
themed meals in the future. Watch this space.
COSTINGS
9 1 large organic veg box
from Crop Drop organic veg............... £15.50
9 8 chicken drumsticks from
Fosse Meadows at Ally Pally
Farmer’s Market .......................... £7.08
9 2 fillets of coley from SoleShare
from a once a week monthly
subscription @ £42.75....................
9 350g penne pasta..........................
9 150g barley couscous......................
9 150g greenwheat freekeh...................
9 2 x 400g tins chopped tomatoes...........
9 1 bulb garlic...............................
£1.80
95P
9 100g tomato puree............................. £1
9 125g butter............................... £1.40
9 120g dried chickpeas......................... 31P
9 200g quinoa............................... £1.20
9 1 lemon................................... £2.32
9 50g ginger root.............................. 50P
9 300g arborio rice......................... £1.19
9 90g parmesan.............................. £3.61
9 2 x Cuore di Bue tomatoes................. £2.49
9 Miscellaneous – olive oil,
spices, salt & pepper................... £1.50
9 Total cost for 5 evening meals
for 2 adults and 2 children..............
£10.70
£2.80
£1.05
£1.90
£57.30
PAPRIKA CHICKEN
DRUMSTICKS WITH COUSCOUS,
PEASHOOTS & ASPARAGUS
INGREDIENTS
For the chicken:
8 chicken drumsticks / 2 tbsp olive oil /
1 tsp smoked paprika / squeeze of lemon
For the couscous:
150g barley couscous / 300g water
or vegetable stock / 1 tbsp olive oil /
1 tsp paprika / 1 tsp smoked paprika /
2 tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice /
handful of peashoots
For the asparagus:
4 to 8 asparagus spears (depending
on size) / 15g butter / salt & pepper
METHOD
1. Preheat the oven to 220 0 C.
2. Coat the chicken in the olive oil, smoked
paprika, some salt & pepper and
a squeeze of fresh lemon juice.
When the oven is at 220 0 C, put the
chicken in and cook for 40 mins, turning
over halfway through cooking.
3. For the couscous, bring the water
to boil with salt, pepper, olive oil,
and spices. When it’s boiled, squeeze
in the lemon juice.
4. Pour this liquid over the couscous,
stir and cover with a lid to allow the
couscous to steam.
5. Leave for 10 mins, then separate
the grains with a fork.
6. Cook the asparagus to your liking –
I roasted it in a pan with butter, oil,
salt & pepper, then added a splash
of water to cook through. It could
also be steamed for a few minutes
so it is cooked with a bit of a crunch.
7. When everything is ready, finish
the couscous with some chopped
peashoots.
8. Serve the couscous on a large plate,
with chicken and asparagus on top
so everyone can help themselves.
PENNE IN A CARROT
& TOMATO SAUCE
INGREDIENTS
For the carrot and tomato sauce:
330g carrots, rough chunks / olive oil
salt & pepper / 1 onion, finely diced /
4 garlic cloves, finely sliced / 1 tbsp tomato
puree / 400g tin chopped tomatoes /
300g water or vegetable stock
The rest:
400g penne pasta / 1 spring green
(we used cabbage) finely sliced, 20g
butter / water / parmesan to serve
METHOD
1. Preheat the oven to 180 0 C and season
the carrots with salt, pepper & olive oil.
2. Roast in the pre-heated oven for around
20 to 30 mins.
3. Meanwhile, gently cook the onions
and garlic in a saucepan.
4. When they are soft, add the tomato
paste, tinned tomatoes and water.
5. When the carrots are golden and
slightly soft, add to the saucepan.
6. Season with salt & pepper and cover
with a lid. Leave to simmer gently
for around 20 mins.
7. When the sauce is ready, blend until
smooth and leave over a low heat.
8. Bring a pan of water to the boil
and season generously with salt.
When boiling, add the penne pasta.
9. When the pasta is 5 mins away
from being cooked, melt the butter
in another saucepan and add the
cabbage, salt, pepper and a splash
of water. Cook for a few minutes
until the cabbage is soft.
10. When the pasta is cooked (it should
take around 10 mins until al dente
(firm to the bite), drain and add straight
to the sauce. Add some of the pasta
water if the sauce is too thick.
11. Finish the dish with some shaved
parmesan, any herbs or salad you
have to hand (peashoots in this recipe)
and serve with the side of cabbage.
26 27

VILLAGE RAW
FOOD & DRINK
VEGAN POTATO & CHICKPEA
CURRY WITH QUINOA
INGREDIENTS
For the potato and chickpea curry:
120g dried chickpeas (soaked overnight
& boiled) / olive oil / 1 onion, finely sliced
/ 4 garlic cloves, minced / 40g ginger,
finely grated / 1 tsp turmeric / 1 tsp
ground cumin / 1 tsp ground coriander /
2 tbsp tomato puree / 400g tin chopped
tomatoes / 300g water or vegetable stock
/ salt & pepper / 700g potatoes (3 medium
sized), medium dice / ½ spring green
(such as cabbage), finely sliced.
For the quinoa:
200g quinoa / 600g water/ 2 tbsp lemon
juice / 2 tbsp olive oil / salt & pepper
METHOD
1. Soak the chickpeas overnight, then boil
in salted water for around 20 minutes
until they start to soften.
2. Add some oil to a saucepan and sweat
the sliced onion, followed by the ginger,
garlic, turmeric, cumin, coriander.
Allow to cook for a few minutes.
3. Next add the tomato paste, tinned
tomatoes, water, salt & pepper
and cover with a lid. Leave to simmer
for 10 mins.
4. Add the potatoes and chickpeas and
leave with the lid on to simmer for
around half an hour until the potatoes
are soft.
5. For the last 5 mins of cooking, stir in the
finely sliced spring greens to the curry.
6. For the quinoa, put the quinoa, water,
lemon juice, olive oil, salt & pepper
in a saucepan and bring to the boil.
7. Turn the heat down to a simmer and
cover with a lid. Leave to cook gently
for around 20 mins until the quinoa
is cooked through.
BAKED COLEY, ROASTED
FENNEL, POTATOES,
TOMATOES & FREEKEH
INGREDIENTS
For the fish, fennel, tomatoes and
potatoes:
1 large fennel bulb, cut into small wedges
/ 400g potatoes, medium sliced / salt
& pepper / olive oil / 2 large tomatoes,
large dice / 2 fillets of coley / 30g butter /
lemon wedges
For the freekeh:
150g freekeh / 1 onion, finely diced /
2 cloves garlic, minced / 1 tsp paprika /
400ml water
METHOD
1. Preheat the oven to 200 0 C.
2. Add the fennel wedges, potato slices,
salt, pepper and a good drizzle of olive oil.
3. Roast for around half an hour, turning
the vegetables over halfway through.
4. For the freekeh, gently cook the diced
onion and minced garlic in a saucepan.
Add the freekeh, paprika and water.
Bring to the boil and then leave to
simmer with a lid on for around 20 mins
until the freekeh is soft.
5. With the vegetables almost cooked
(crispy on the outside and almost
cooked in the middle) , turn the oven
down to 180 0 C and mix in the diced
tomatoes. Lay the fish fillets on top,
add the butter on the fish and place
some lemon wedges on top.
6. Return to the oven and cook for a
further 15 mins until the fish is just
cooked through.
7. To serve, lay the freekeh out on a large
serving plate. Place all the roasted
vegetables over the freekeh and lay
the fish and lemon wedges on top.
8. To garnish, I blitzed up some pea shoots
with olive oil, lemon and salt to make a
dressing, then drizzled it over the top.
BEETROOT RISOTTO
INGREDIENTS
For the Beetroot Puree & Garnish:
3 medium beetroots (around 400g), medium
dice / 100ml beetroot cooking liquid
For the Risotto:
1 Tbsp olive oil / 30g butter / 1 onion, finely
diced / 3 garlic cloves, minced / 300g
arborio rice / 800g water or vegetable
stock / salt & pepper / 70g parmesan,
grated / fresh herbs or salad to garnish
For the roasted greens side:
1 spring green, cut in half lengthways /
20g butter / 1 tsp olive oil
METHOD
1. First, cover the diced beetroots with
water, season with salt and pepper, then
bring to the boil. Leave to simmer for
around 20 mins until cooked through.
2. Drain the beetroot, saving 100ml of the
liquid. Blend 2/3 of the cooked beetroot
with this liquid until it is a lovely smooth
puree. Set aside the puree and remaining
cooked beetroot.
3. Gently cook the onions and garlic in the
butter and olive oil until very soft. Season
with salt and pepper. Add the rice, mix it in
and toast for another few mins.
4. Now, gradually add in the water or
vegetable stock a little at a time. Keep
stirring the rice until the liquid is almost
absorbed before adding more liquid.
5. While the rice is cooking, warm up the
butter and olive oil for the greens. Put the
greens with the core side down to get a
lovely caramelised colour. Turn over to
brown the other side, then add a splash
of water and lid to cook through. Season.
6. When you’re about to add the last liquid
to the risotto, stir in the beetroot puree
to allow the rice to soak up that flavour.
7. Finish by stirring in most of the parmesan.
8. Just before the risotto is ready, roast the
remaining diced beetroot in the oven or a
frying pan. Garnish the dish with this, the
parmesan and some fresh herbs or salad
leaves. Serve with the roasted greens. •
28 29

VILLAGE RAW
FLOUR POWER
How sourdough bread supported the nation and blossomed in our streets
Words by Katrina Mirpuri. Photos by Mischa Haller.
30

VILLAGE RAW
FOOD & DRINK
Opening pages and this page: Crouch End’s new addition - bakery Sourdough Sophia.
This page: Sophia Sutton-Jones in her bakery.
No one could have guessed what 2020 had in store for us. The
Covid-19 pandemic sent the nation into a frenzy and we saw
everything from toilet roll shortages to empty shop shelves over
the course of lockdown. The irrational need to stockpile soon
fizzled out but when the dust settled, we found ourselves short
of something far more valuable: flour and yeast.
Londoners took to Facebook groups to ask, “Does anyone
know where I can buy some flour?” Braver folk knocked on their
neighbours’ doors to ask for the sought-after white stuff. Why
were we endlessly searching for flour when the world was going
into meltdown? It turns out, when times get tough, we turn to the
simple things. We rolled up our sleeves, got our hands dirty and
made delicious home-baked sourdough bread.
Sourdough is not a new phenomenon; however, it certainly
entered a new level of fame over lockdown. There’s always been
a demand for the stuff, but there’s a much deeper reason why
we took such an interest in it during the pandemic. The fiveday
process of making sourdough is lengthy and needs close
attention. It requires you to create an ingredient called a starter,
which you monitor and feed daily like a household pet. The weeklong
project is attractive for those looking for a new hobby, and
its calming qualities have offered a sense of therapy to those
who usually live a fast-paced life.
East Finchley resident Ines Lanza wanted to focus on the
peaceful perks of baking, so she began an initiative called Mindful
Sourdough at the start of lockdown. She offered free online classes
for those looking to learn the craft, whilst encouraging them to
practise mindfulness along the way. “I think during lockdown many
people wanted to learn a new activity,” Ines explains. “Baking
sourdough was the new frenzy and it allowed people to create their
own starter from scratch and keep it indefinitely, and learn how to
bake bread in a simple yet nutritious way.”
It takes patience to let dough ferment properly, an activity
which encourages mindfulness. “Some bread-making was taking
up to 24 hours before being ready,” Ines adds. “The application
of time was essential for the mindful process. It’s also a very
calming activity.”
You can’t rush the sourdough process. It forces you to
slow down. Similar activities such as knitting, crocheting and
gardening also gained traction over lockdown for similar reasons,
and many found themselves feeling grounded after participating
in such tasks. Whether it’s banana bread, sourdough or focaccia,
chances are you had a go at making some form of bread at some
point. Yes, it was popular before lockdown, but it appears that
the demand for consuming and making sourdough increased
significantly during the pandemic.
Michelle Eshkeri from East Finchley’s renowned Margot Bakery
recalls the increase in interest during the peak of lockdown, telling
Village Raw: “We sold many bags of flour and gave away more pots
of sourdough starter than I could possibly count in 2020. I was
also being tagged in people’s posts using recipes from my book.
“For the first time, a lot of people had the time to attempt the
more challenging sourdough sweet doughs that take two to four
days to make. It was one of the really lovely parts of a challenging
year, to see people embracing sourdough and enjoying it so much.”
The community spirit that arose from baking sourdough was
unforgettable. People exchanged baking tips online, and it even
allowed many local bakers to grow their businesses commercially.
Take Crouch End’s hottest new bakery, Sourdough Sophia, for
example. The bakery was born after owner Sophia Sutton-Jones
decided to raise funds via Kickstarter following the tremendous
success of her sourdough home deliveries during lockdown.
She was able to secure a spot in the heart of Crouch End for
the premises, and her bakery now supplies locals with an array
of breads, sweet treats and innovative sourdough creations.
People are happy to queue outside the bakery in the morning and
it has often sold out before midday. This is proof that despite the
popularity of commercial chains selling sourdough, people still
yearn for a warm, freshly baked loaf of bread to start their day.
On her success, Sophia says, “I pinch myself every day that
this has finally happened. It was my dream since I was a little
girl, so to see my store come to life has been one of the nicest
experiences in my life.”
Despite sourdough seemingly being everywhere, it turns out
that it isn’t always the real deal. Sophia clarifies: “Sourdough
should only contain flour, water and salt. To use it as a trendy
description for yeast-packed, fast-leavened breads made in
factories or even filled with additives is something that has given
sourdough a bad name.” Sophia says she is true to the meaning of
sourdough. With no nasties or additives, each loaf is made fresh
32 33

VILLAGE RAW
FOOD & DRINK
www.intrepidbakers.uk
Come visit our patio!
Try nostalgic food with a glass
of wine in our newly reopened
patio and venue area.
This page: Margot Bakery in East Finchley (top) and SourJough’s floral sourdough buns (bottom).
by hand every day. “It’s exactly as it should be. No factory, no huge
machinery or stabilisers, just true bread the old-fashioned way.”
Food trends come and go, but it’s important to recognise that
sourdough is far from a craze, as it has been in demand for many
years. Margot Bakery in East Finchley has supplied the likes of
Panzer’s Deli, La Fromagerie, Ham restaurant and Spice Deli.
Newer bakers are learning to utilise their skills for creative
outlets. North London local Jo Venegas Meza was a newbie to
sourdough last year but she now knows how to batch bake and
has two online outlets to share her work. Her latest project
@theliterarybakery brings a scene from a novel to life using a loaf
of bread as a canvas. “At the beginning we were baking maybe once
or twice a week and buying the bread the rest of the week,” Jo
says, “but soon we started to bake so often that we never bought
bread again!” Her other profile @SourJough is solely focused on
sourdough, and showcases breads from Chile to London.
Over lockdown, sourdough has proven to be one of the most
welcoming and useful skills to have acquired. A small amount of
flour power has created new space for creativity and business,
and it shows no sign of slowing down.
•
You can find out more by visiting: www.margotbakery.co.uk, www.sourdoughsophia.co.uk
and on Instagram: @mindful_sourdough / @margotbakery / @sourdoughsophia /
@sour_jough / @theliterarybakery
PHOTO BY KATE KUZMINOVA (TOP) AND JO VENEGAS MEZA (BOTTOM).
Wine Range
Live events
Our passion for food is
reflected in the incredible
tastes & textures we serve.
Covered patio &
heated!
Venue hire
Pastries
Freshly Baked
@intrepidbakers
info@intrepidbakers.uk
38 High Street, N8 7NX
34 35

VILLAGE RAW
WELLBEING
THE VIRTUES OF LIVING WITH
WONDERFUL HERBS
Ola Nwakodo is a medical herbalist based in Muswell Hill, and in the
coming issues will be offering guidance and answering your questions.
Words by Ola Nwakodo. Photo by David Reeve.
“Herbalism is based on relationship – relationship between plant
and human, plant and planet, human and planet. Using herbs in
the healing process means taking part in an ecological cycle. This
offers us the opportunity consciously to be present in the living,
vital world of which we are part; to invite wholeness and our world
into our lives through awareness of the remedies being used…”
Wendell Berry, novelist, poet and environmental activist.
Like good nutrition, herbalism is a way of life. It is the people’s
medicine, it’s been around since humans sought out food and
healing from the plant kingdom. Our use of herbal medicine as
a way to treat illness or enhance the quality of our lives is well
documented. It’s the inspiration and origin of more than 50% of
drugs in clinical use in the world.
We live in close communion with the natural world - plants,
the food web, the soil, the water web and life all around us. Plants
give out more than they take in. I feel privileged and grateful to
live together in community.
One of the first things I do in the morning is to make a brew
with fresh lemons. This tea awakens, flushes the body with
antioxidants and prepares the digestive system for its daily
work. A variety of blended teas keep me hydrated, bright, calm,
and clear-headed throughout the day. They also feed my entire
system. Herbs reach each and every cell in the body - nourishing,
tonifying organs and strengthening the whole person.
As a practising herbalist, herbal medicine is my instant goto.
For sudden headaches I reach for cups of wood betony or
meadowsweet tea. For tension, stressed nerves, a troubled mind,
pain, cuts or bruises and sleeplessness, there’s a variety of flower
herbs, roots, berries, fruits or bark remedies.
In the course of a week I will see clients living with diverse
conditions, some complex, others relatively straightforward
health issues. Each consultation is usually 45 minutes. It is useful
to have a diagnosis at hand; however, it is the person whom I have
been taught to primarily care for. I may ask: what, if anything, has
led to their health condition; how are the presenting health issues
affecting them, are they worsening and why; what symptoms are
most concerning or life-debilitating; are they eating well? I’ll check
what medications they’ve been prescribed and at what dosage.
Do they need further investigation, and what herbs, foods or any
other viable strategies could support recovery?
Some clients are on medications but are feeling worse. Perhaps
they are experiencing nutrient depletion due to prescribed drugs or
side effects are making them ill. Herbal medicine gives value here.
For example, prescribing potassium-rich herbs or a supplement,
such as CoQ10 for a client on a certain type of blood pressure
medicine, can change a challenging health picture.
Where clients’ lives are stressful and they still need to push
through, adaptogenic plants, adrenal tonics, nutritious and relaxing
herbs could help the body bear up and the load feel lighter. These
can be dispensed as capsules, tablets, teas and tinctures.
As I get older and continue to be exposed to stress, I am
more mindful of my health: my regular intake now includes plants
that support bone, brain, heart, and circulatory health. Even in
accidents, herbal medicine can be an ally. I took a tumble recently
and hurt my big toe. The pain was excruciating but so was the wait
for treatment or care. X-rays revealed no breakages. I was still in
agony. I was put on the foot clinic’s waiting list and told to take
ibuprofen until the pain and inflammation went away.
Bearing in mind that the National Institute for Health and
Clinical Excellence recommends against the extended use of such
pain medicines, I went home, made a healing salve with yarrow,
plantain, St John’s wort, marigold flowers, frankincense essential
oil, magnesium and CBD, and poultices with bran, lobelia and
Jamaican dogwood. Months later, still no contact from the hospital.
Plants provide us with vital nutrition and medicine. Extending
our relationship with them can only enrich our lives. A guiding aim
of my practice is to restore herbs in the home, as food, as first aid
and as preventative medicine.
•
In the next issue I will be answering your questions. Please email hello@villageraw.com
with anything you’d like answered.
36
37

VILLAGE GREEN
PRIORY COMMON ORCHARD
Photo by David Reeve.
With a planning application for the destruction of
the existing building, and the construction of a new
nursery and residential building over three floors high,
this set of protest chairs appeared in our much-loved
community garden. They read, from left to right:
Exploring humankind’s
connection with nature
• Save our orchard, Love from the people of N8 N10
• 3.5 blocks is too high!
• S.O.O (save our orchard) Without light it will die
• We u just the way you are

P I A N O C E N T R E S I N N O R T H L O N D O N
Renaissance have two piano centres here in North London,
both showcasing a good selection of our new and restored pianos.
Visit us in store or shop exclusively online today!
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