Hi there,

Welcome to The Life Larder! This weekly newsletter serves up a bite-sized menu of stories and ideas about making food that’s not only delicious but also healthy and sustainable.

Each issue is packed with inspiring articles, flavourful ideas, and voices from across the vibrant food world. Think of me as your friendly guide, helping you create meals that nourish your body, delight your taste buds, and care for our planet. Treat this newsletter like a personal larder - always stocked with something you’ll love.

It felt like we tumbled into the autumn equinox this week. Baking heat for months, then a chill in the air and a moment before the leaves fall. I’ve been waiting patiently for autumn to come this year for many reasons; one because I’ve been getting married (a picture for you below!); so things have been busy personally as well as here at The Life Larder.

This week I’m sharing my takeaways from Yeo Valley’s Garden Festival which happened last week and was an absolute joy to attend (if you weren’t there, I’ll see you next year?) and a recipe for the last of the tomatoes.

As always if there’s someone who you think would enjoy this issue of The Life Larder please send it to a friend and share the love <3

Before you tuck in…

Main Menu

Stories and insights from experts and yours truly

Thoughts from the Garden.

My takeaways from Yeo Valley’s first festival.

A few thoughts from my days in the garden (one for the gardeners!):

• How can we use our waste to our advantage? John Little shared ideas of how to use our waste in the garden to create habitats for wildlife and for us; from using ceramic dust from your local tip as a topper on bare soil to stop weeds, to using dead wood to create spaces for nature to thrive, we often have what we need for less than we think it will cost, we just need to get creative

• Sheila Das spoke about growing the next generation of gardeners, how we get more people into the industry and how we can ensure that gardeners are paid fairly for what they’re doing. I loved her ideas around not just following traditional training routes in to the industry - there are so many alternative ways now to train

• Ollie Hutson, Head Gardener at The Pig Hotels spoke about how he works with chefs as if he was a supplier - they use order sheets and create a true supplier relationship to create healthy boundaries for both gardeners and chefs - not just chefs picking things from the garden as they go!

• And Alys Fowler shared a compelling argument for why perennial vegetables should have a home in every garden, from giving us food all year round, to growing in mixed spaces and giving us incredible nutritional benefits, her recommendation was 30% perennial plants in every garden - that’s a great stash of food if you’ve run out of veggies for the week!

• And finally - if your plants aren’t being eaten, your garden isn’t part of the ecosystem!

Tomato & Red Bean Hummus

A twist on the classic to use up the last of the tomatoes.

Another recipe from my demos over summer in the RHS world food garden at Wisley. This can be SO easily made up with lots of different substitutes (go wild with whatever beans you can get your hands on) and use the more traditional garlic bulbs and lemon instead of the garlic chives and apple cider vinegar I’ve used here if you like. The key is to use up those tomatoes and enjoy the last bite of summer.

A wedding!

If you’ve made it to the bottom of the newsletter, here’s some love for you from our day.