MJM Blog

Martin — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 15:55:41 +0000

Well, its been months since my last post, no real excuse except being away in Ireland, Holland, cornwall and many other parts of the UK lol, we returned home yesterday after 12 days away and on Wednesday we’re of to Beautiful Days at Escot Park which is our highlight of the year, the best festival going.

We’ve had some ups and downs over the last few months and on many occasions we’re about to throw in the towel, we’ve had so many shows flooded out, washed out, cancelled etc that its been a seriously hard struggle, possible the lowest point of our 4 years and that coupled with the massive rise in costs for our beef and other ingredients has nearly sunk us, we’ve managed to weather them all (including the weather LOL) (sorry for the very lame joke )

We have also had some really really good shows ( Tatton Park, Tewksbury, Kelmarsh to name a few)as well which always seem to come at a time when we’re thinking about stopping trading and its those that have kept us at it. The 12 day tour of Ireland was one of the best things EVER, a weekend in Shanes Castle for a game fair, then staying a week at the Irish Heritage Park camped in the early christian rebuilt area was cracking, though when the wind was howling it was a bit spooky, one night the wind was so strong it collapsed the already wet and heavy canvas trading tent so that was a small blemish on the overall fun of the week ( though it rained at least once every single day ), then the following weekend we packed up and trundled of to Barrys Viking do at Bunratty Castle which was really good, if you ever get chance to go to Bunratty you shouldgo and have a look.

well, of to go and refill the dehydrators so I can empty them at 3am and then refill then so we can be ready for BD’s on Wednesday.

Martin — Sun, 11 May 2008 21:38:39 +0000

WOW , Ive just noticed the best thing ever about working late, the light in my store room where we do the vac packing causes moths n bugs to fly closer outside the window , which causes the bats round here to swoop ‘n’ dive outside the windo (we’re 4 floors up lol), its a truly awsome and very cool thing to watch when your doing a monotonous job like vac sealing bags .

Martin — Sun, 11 May 2008 20:47:31 +0000

Finish the first batch of “Maybe The Hottest Jerky In The World this w/end, super-bleedin-spicy lol, made from the Naga-bin Jolokia which is 3 time the strength of a sctoch bonnet, its a truly mouth watering experience , went down quite well at our local farmers market so thats a good thing, to farmers markets this weekend both went ok , glorious weather .

As we have a Colonel Kilgore’s Napalm Surprise jerky which is the smoked version of the spicy Im considering smoking half of the SUPER spicy and calling it Dr Strangeloves Atomic Experience, will have to think about that , will have to smoke some tomorrow and see how it goes, well, back to vacuum sealing , only another 1113 bags left to do tonight .

Martin — Tue, 06 May 2008 10:06:27 +0000

What an great weekend, we were at Cosmeston Medieval Village www.valeofgamorgan.gov.uk/cosmeston for the me the battle weekend, the rising of the welsh against the english in the 14th century (the english lost again 2 tries to 1, you had to be there to see the scrummage with the head of the english champion between the english army and the welsh army lol) .Really nice weather no snow or hail at last it was nice to dress in a tshirt in the evening for a change!!!!

Trade was brisk which is always nice and met loads of people we havent seen since last year, also helped marshal the battle on saturday and played possibly the worst trick ever on a friend, wont go into to much detail but it involved him being dead on the floor and me going to give someone water who was overheating in their armour slightly so I took the shortest route, stepping over his head just after calling his name so he looked up ( evil smily here sorry, sam) ( and pete) ( and dave)(and nige).

It really was the best show we have attended this year and I cant wait till next bank holiday (may 25/26) , the multi period with greeks to napolaonics to 1879 and of course the muddy evils.

One of the finest moment of the weekend was walking around the lake to the adventure play ground at about 2 in the morning on Sunday night, though felt a lil “tired and emotional” on the monday morning and suzie had to coddle me a little.

Having a day off to day, though feeling slightly guilty about not going out in the garden to relax in the sunshine but there are 2 more levels to do on Call of Duty 4 so its a darkened room, a pot of tea , pint of milk and a packet of choccy biccys for, Ive been out since thursday in the fresh air lol

Martin — Thu, 01 May 2008 09:23:14 +0000

Today we received OFCOM’s decision regarding our complaints about the editing of the episode of Dragons Den we did, we can now openly say what we complained about ,in the studio when the Dragons were opting out of the oppotunity to invest Mr Peter Jones was very polite, he pointed out that while its a “family lifestyle business” and a “good product” he cant see it being a big enough investment for him to want to be involved in, all the while he was polite, positive and friendly, which is why I responded politely etc, when it was aired on BBC 1 he was edited in such a way that he was aggresive, rude and very dismissive of our business and efforts over the last 3 years, yeat we were shown still being polite etc, had he spoken to me that way in the studio I would have responded very differently indeed, I would not have been rude or aggresive but I definatly would not have been so positively polite to him .There are a few little other “editorial” decisions, its not his fault the way it was edited but its the fault of the editors of the programme, also we were constantly and activley encouraged to dress as we normaly do, as was shown on the programme, yet we feel now that we were being led onto the programme simply to be mocked, we would have done it anyway but still feel that our business is not what we were on there for, so unfortunatly OFCOM have decided that its OK for people to say something to you and then have it re-edited so what was said to you in person has been rejigged in such a way that while the gist of what was said to you is the same but in a far more aggresive way than it was origionaly, we have been told we can appeal, which we fully intend to do.

A bit dissapointed to say the least but I suppose if you dip your toes in the world of cheap entertainment that is a risk you take, doubt I’ll ever really believe owt I see on TV again ( though I very rarely did before but thought that Dragons Den was a programme about business not the Business X Factor it seems to have turned into cheap and sleazy TV) we’re very disappointed in the decision to say the least but will not just sit back until we have explored every other avenue.

Martin — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 09:28:54 +0000

s’been awhile since my last post because my PC must have taken umbrage with a previous post as it wouldnt let me in to make a post LOL,luckily Phil made it better and now I can post again, s’been a busy week, suzie did the Real Food Show at Earls Court, yet again another financial disaster, it cost more to do the show than she actually took, but if you have 500 producers in one place and the entry fee is £20 I suppose thats only to be expecte( though it was well run etc and the gala night for the traders was great apparently ) ,most of the traders suzie spoke to all said the same thing, some good contacts were made but overall not a good weekend, I on the other hand , went to the Mid Wales Mouthful in Builth Wells, a well organised lovely show with incedibly helpful staff ( 3 cheers for you guys) with Anthony Worral Thompson doing displays on the Saturday and local Young Farmers having a cookery competion on the sunday, though IMHO it would be better as a one day food show or have a different celeb chef for the sunday as there was a marked difference in trading on the Sunday, all in all though a show that will go from strengh to strengh in the future,

Getting geared up for this weekend, Suzie is at Margam Park doing Fortress Wales which is a multi period reenactment and Im at Cosmeston Medieval Village in Penarth doing the Battle Weekend (the uprising of the Welsh against the English, guess we English lose again just like bloody rugby lol, ho hum )

Will post pics as soon as I have em of Rob who gave me invaluable help at Builth.

Martin — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 11:26:59 +0000

YAHOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!! got the results from the labs we sent our jerky and fruit leathers to, we can now put 12 months on the sell by date finally YAY !!!!!!! though the happiness was slightly tinged by yet another person ringing us to tell us that Dragons Den is being re-run on Sky, no probs with that but we’re bloody furious that they are using me, suzie n John as the advert, no other participents for the last series, just us, and doing their utmost to make us look stupid in the process, as they were certain our appearance was ridiculous and no good for business it sucks that they think its OK for advertising their programme, OFCOM told me yesterday that we should have their findings about our complaint about misrepresentation next week,if they find in our favour we will be contacting the production team for their response before we decide what the next step to take. Watch this space .

Martin — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 11:10:04 +0000

We’ve recovered after a very busy weekend, we did the Food Food Food show at Llantrwyd Wells on Saturday which was a great show, will definatly do it next year twas well organised, well run with some very interesting cooking displays (which we were trading right next to so got a sample dish of each display done through out the day ), unfortunatly financially it wasnt great , the same can also be said of both the markets we did on sundat, suzie ‘n’ daisy went to Swansea whilst I went to Cardiff, even though the weather was good and we werent competing with a major sports event both markets were quite poor for us, is it the “credit crunch ” ? god I hate that term lol, is it the “recession” we’re talking ourselves into ? who knows ? still, bought a half lamb from the FFF show, then won almost half a lamb in the raffle at the end, as I say a cracking little show with a great drive through the heart of the Beacons to get to and cant wait till next year.

Found a 25 kilo sack of hemp seed in the store room I bought last year to try hemp seed fruit leathers with, they didnt work very well but today Im making

Honied Hemp ‘n Sesame Cluster : hemp and sesame seeds raosted then mixed with honey and spicys then smoked

Oak Smoked Hemp Seeds: roasted hemp seeds mixed with lemon pepper, spicys and herbs then smoked

Martin — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 10:07:14 +0000

If anyone is interested and in the area Suzie will be at Wallys today in Cardiff with a small table doing tatsers to get people used to real jerky and not the mass produced pap thats currently available generally in shops lol whilst I stay at home and try and “organise” our stock room into some semblence of order, tis a bit of a mess but given enough fresh coffee and toast Im sure I shall have it done by……………………….well at least this weekend . Incidentaly we’re trading at Food Food Food fair at LLantwryd Wells which is held at the Drovers Rest, will post pics of our new and tarted up stall after the market

Martin — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 16:15:27 +0000

A rather creative weekend , rather bad turnouts at the weekend markets, suppose that was because of the weather or maybe the end of the easter hols who knows, suzie did the market yesterday so I stayed home and created

Tomato, Basil ‘n’ Balsamic Flakes

Tomato, Chilli ‘n’ Herb Flakes

these are made almost the same way as the fruit leathers but we have decided to make an alternative to crisps and tortilla chips, so we have made them thicker and we dry them for longer so you have a savoury but very healthy dippin thing for humus, salsa etc

Benedict Olives (named after Ben Jeale lol)

these are olives and cherry tomatoes marinated in balsamic vinegar, fresh herbs garlic and cracked black pepper, left for 2 days or so then air dried to retain all the flavour, and finally

Suzies Raw Food range , the first one being

Raw Apple Flakes , these are made by zapping fresh crunchy apples with a little water then air drying them to retain their “fresh” flavour, non of which is lost.

now just have to design the labels for them lol.