Mello View and their special stew recipe

During this crazy year where we all were forced to slow down, where plans were impossible to make and we had more free time than ever, many of us turned to the same pastime. Cooking. 

Watching people discover their inner Julia Child, embracing their mistakes, getting inventive when ingredients were hard to come by and making an effort to minimise food waste was a beautiful thing. Food has always been a central part of my life. My entire family loves to cook and eat. So when I meet others that are cut from the same cloth, I can’t help but feel an affinity to those people. 

In October I was invited to the small holding and event space, Mello View on the border of Somerset and Dorset. I’ve known Vicky and Ed, the owners of this food oasis, for just over a year. They needed new photography of their recently completed barn and I was more than happy to photograph it for them, giving me a legitimate excuse to trade the bustling streets of London for the muddy country roads of Somerset. 

The view

The barn

Like me, Vicky and Ed had once lived in London. In 2014 however they decided to leave the city so that they could start their dream of living off the land, growing and rearing what they ate as well as cooking and entertaining for others. They eventually found a 1950’s cowshed with an unobstructed view of Axe Valley. Ed began building their dream home, which has all been documented by the Channel 4 series Grand Designs. Several years later, they’re now married with two beautiful boys, a few cows, pigs, chickens, ducks and hens. They’ve created a beautiful little pocket of greenery with a farm garden that would be an endless source of inspiration for any chef or home cook. 

It was a sunny day but the Autumn air was crisp and by the end of the shoot we were all ready for something warming. Ed, who had an effortlessness way about him in the kitchen, that only a practiced chef would have, began to make us lunch. As we chatted, he chopped, sautéed and stirred the ingredients together. I had no idea what he was cooking up but I’d learned over time that whatever it was, it would be delicious. 

When the stew was finally done we were more than ready to dig in. Hearty, flavourful and entirely delicious it has now become a staple in my home. Though I only tried for the first time this October, I’ve already recreated this stew three times. It’s important to note that this recipe is quite simple. What makes it magic is the quality of the ingredients. Ed had reared the pig himself, the chicken stock he’d also made the day before and all the vegetables were grown on his property. The chickpeas I’ve learned were these from Brindisa. Though I’m not asking you to rear your own pig or buy these specific chickpeas, just make sure that you’re buying something good. It’ll be worth it!

Feel free to adjust the quantities to your personal liking. It’s quite an easy stew to adapt. This recipe is for a stew as there isn’t much liquid, but if you’d prefer it to be a soup simply add more stock and/or water as you see fit.

You can follow Vicky and Ed’s story here.

Mello View Stew Recipe

Ingredients

700g jar of Chickpeas (best if in a glass jarred, not tin)

500g Chicken broth, can add more if you’d like the stew a bit more soupy

2 Parsnips, cut in quarters lengthwise

3 Carrots, sliced

2 leeks, sliced into thin rounds

3 garlic cloves, roughly chopped

150g Bacon lardon, cubed

1 cup of water

Instructions

1. Fry the bacon on a medium heat in a dutch oven until it begins to brown. Once browned, remove with a slotted spoon, leaving the fat in the pot. 

2. Toss the carrots into the pot with the bacon fat and sauté until softened.

3. Next add the leeks. Once softened, add the garlic. Season with pepper. 

4. Add the bacon back in along with the parsnips and chicken broth and a cup of water. Let it simmer for an hour, add water if it starts to dry up.

5. Ten minutes before you serve, add the chickpeas to the stew. When it’s at a consistency that you like, serve.
   

Words & images: Ariana Ruth

Ariana Ruth is the Editor-in-Chief of Table Magazine, a bi-annual publication sharing food stories and the people that make up the food community.

Waldorf Family: who's behind the educational and seasonal pieces?

It was a long time ago but I acutally studied to become an elementary school teacher. I also worked as one for a couple of years. During that time I came across different theories and educational methods. One of them was the Waldorf theory by Robert Steiner. What I liked about it was its strong link to nature and the seasons, and that is why I loved getting to know Stephanie Green, the founder of Waldorf Family, and her beautifully illustrated educational products.

Please introduce yourself.

My name’s Stephanie Green, I’m the artist and founder of Waldorf Family. We are a sustainable home and lifestyle brand, making illustrated educational and seasonal pieces for families.

When did you start Waldorf Family and why?

Years ago we lived in Bristol and I was introduced to these amazing ideas like seasonal living, mindful living rhythms, and we celebrated all these amazingly colourful festivals. I was focused on being a mama and just loved living it; then in 2018 I started to draw little pieces for family and friends. With a little apprehension, started to share on Instagram and before I knew it, other people really engaged with the concept. I think I just gave visual form to a core idea that resonates with all people: we all share this same experience, of living on this planet right now. We created Waldorf Family the company around the illustrations and the soul intention to help people connect with nature.

What are the core values of Waldorf Family?

Sustainably and connection. Everything we make is sustainable. We use FSC wood, and brass fastening so that they can be recycled. There’s no plastic. We are UK made so our miles on products are kept to a minimum. The idea behind each product is to nurture connection to nature, in the maths collections that’s all about finding beauty and symmetry, with the Wheel of the Year is about engaging with the pattern and flow of the natural world.

What are lovely ways of incorporating the Waldorf method into everyday life?

There are a lots of ways to bring seasonal living into your lives, for us it started with a focus on festivals. So celebrating the darkness coming with lantern walks and Easter by planting an Easter garden and helping it grow. We also grow a lot of vegetables, but we supplement with a seasonal delivery box of veggies: so what we are eating reflects what’s happening outside – lots of salads in summer and root veg in autumn. I also think if you are starting fresh trying to let your children take the led a little is a great start, we can learn a lot from children – their sense of wonder for example can be a renewing, refreshing energy to welcoming into your family. 

The wooden wheel of the year is a lovely piece to teach children about the seasons.

What are the benefits of working with your educational products?

Less stress and deeper learning. Children are naturally really curious and given time they will unfold, like a flower in the sun. The educational products make space for this. For example the Maths collection together the Songs, Multiplication Wheel and the Maths Wheel can be used by a child to investigate step counting, multiplication, they could work independently or with an adult. What we do at home is listen to the CD in the car, and the kids follow allow on the Wheels on just reading the numbers on the Multiplication Wheel, we do one times table each day. We listen to it a few times, then sing it all together. Just from this my youngest who’s 7 can sing you all but the 9’s (because we haven’t done them yet) and my oldest has gone from hating Maths to realising once you know the times tables all the rest of Maths becomes easier. I think as parents and teachers we know how important the tables are; so it’s easy for it to become a pressured point, “learn them, learn them quick them everything gets easier”. I think given time and the right tools children will learn them: and we know self-actuated learning takes root as a much deeper learning. More than this independent learning aspect I think we should not underestimate two other elements, beauty and sensory learning. So the Waldorf Family collections are all colourful, I think all humans respond to colour but perhaps none more so than children I think colour fills us with joy and I think starting number work from this perspective is great. The second aspect that informs the collection is this idea that we are not just our hands or eyes or ears. We are amazingly complex creatures and so the Maths collection responds to us on many levels, colours, sounds, textures as well as intellectually. For younger ones simply using their hands to make patterns on  the Maths Wheel can help from a hand eye coordination and dexterity point of view. Finally that concept of discover is a great joy to watch when working with the Maths wheel, for children to see this language of Maths – which is highly beautiful – plotted out to become a symmetrical star pattern – but then more than that if they are using it in a number work block and doing all the tables the might be this moment when they realise after 5 – the midpoint- that the patterns are reflected – the same in the top half of the tables to the bottom. This “ah –ha” moment is another wonderful deep learning moment. To realise through the wheel the concept of symmetry  is a great building block for geometry later.

Where are your products made? What materials are used to make them?

We use FSC approved wood, so that means it’s all coming from sustainable forests. Then they are held together with brass, the boxes and packing are recycled Kraft paper. We have to use a bit of gum on the sticker to close the box – but we deliberately don’t use tape because it’s tricky to recycle. Everything we use is from the Earth and can be composted or recycled.

All wheels are made from FSC approved wood.

Out of all of your products, which one is your favourite and why?

At the moment I’m smitten with the Perpetual Moon Calendar. We love watching the moon in our house, we have a great big telescope and very excitable children, it’s just such a joy to watch them use it. On another level I’ve been really touched with the Maths Collection I have people writing to me to say its helped their dyspraxic son or stopped a worried child from being so stressed that’s huge and makes my heart happy.

What are the things that make you feel heiter?

Colour, like the rainbow, but also when the sun catches the leaves on a tree just right and they look like they are so vividly that colour: that really lights me up.

Interview and image: Katharina Geissler-Evans, heiter magazine