NEWSLETTER – MARCH 2010

 

Hello, and welcome to the March newsletter.  Well, I’d like to say that spring is here, but it isn’t yet.  Although it has warmed up a bit, nothing is really growing away.  This year’s lambing is the most protracted I’ve ever had.  Although this has nothing to do with the current weather, it is probably just as well, as the grass hasn’t started growing yet.

 

I took advantage of the recent dry spell to sow the early carrots and parsnips.  They are being watered in as I write this, and looking at the forecast, probably as you read it too!  Still, we DO need the rain!  When it dries out again, the maincrop potatoes will need to be planted.  The early ones have already been planted in one of the tunnels, but they’re not up yet.

 

In the boxes, it’s still a bit “rooty”.  The pak choi have done really well this year, but are going to finish soon.  To carry on their mantle of being something green in the box, I have a crop of very good spring green in the glasshouse at Oake.  The large boxes have some this week, but there will be some for all next week!

 

The potatoes in the boxes now are variety ROMANO.  The previous variety was Cosmos.  Normally Cosmos start sprouting at Christmas, but this winter has been so cold that they made it into March without many sprouts!  Romano will hopefully keep into May.  The apples in this week’s box are BELLE de BOSKOOP and are eaters.  The cookers are now long gone, although there’s nothing to stop you cooking an eater.  I wouldn’t try eating a cooker though – well, not raw, anyway!

 

My regular reader will recall that I’ve mentioned several times that I’m going to have some pork available soon.  The pigs have been growing quite quickly recently and after weighing them yesterday, I have booked some in for soon after Easter, estimated delivery date 22nd April.  They are not organic, but are outdoor reared/free range happy pigs!  They have been fed on corn from a local farm, so the feed is totally traceable and GM free.  I will probably be selling them in “quarter pigs”, which will roughly be 12 - 15kg packs, at £5 per kilo.  These will contain the usual leg joints, fillet pork, chops, spare rib and belly pork. If you are worried about freezer space, then 15kg of pork will fit in a carrier bag. If you would like some, could you please let me know as soon as possible?

 

NEWSLETTER – FEBRUARY 2010

 

Hello, and welcome to February’s witty yet informative newsletter!  Well, the snow has gone now and the weather seems back to normal.  It’s now that the after effects of the snow become apparent.

 

As mentioned before, the winter leaf has suffered the most in the frozen weather and snow.  It will start to grow again in about a month, when spring starts to arrive.  Until then, the Pak Choi is holding the fort for green produce and things are still a bit “rooty”.  Roots are seasonal, though, and make good soup if you don’t like them boiled, steamed or fried.

 

When the snow was on the ground, the only plants with their heads above the parapets were the purple/white sprouting and curly green. Now, pigeons love these at the best of times, but due to the shortage of alternatives, they massacred my brassicas!  Hey, I’m a poet!  These will re-grow in time, especially if we get some nice weather or an early spring, but I would have liked to be putting them in the boxes now!  Ho hum!

 

The bramley apples have now finished and the eating apples are “Kidd’s Orange Red”.  These are far better quality than the recently finished Fiesta and are very more-ish!

 

My tunnel rebuilding project is progressing.  I’ve got to have the first of them clad by April to house the cucumbers, courgettes, tomatoes, peppers and maybe aubergines.  The second one doesn’t have to be finished until the end of the summer but I’d rather get it done and draw a line under it!  I’ve also had a bit of a break from doing the tunnels to put a sliding door in my propagating tunnel so I don’t have to do the limbo with my creaky back every time I go seed sowing!

 

The seasonal roll of the dice known as the lambing season is only two weeks away now.  These new-born lambs won’t be ready until July/August, but in the meantime I still have some of last years left if anyone would like one/half for their freezer.  They are organic and I’m guessing that they will be available early March. Please let me know if you’re interested!

 

NEWSLETTER – JANUARY 2010

 

Hello, and welcome to the January newsletter. I hope you have all had a nice break at Christmas and wish you all a Happy New Year!

 

Well, let’s start with the obvious topic first – the snow!  In spite of the media hysteria telling us it’s the worse snow in the history of the world ever, it’s not even as bad as last year, and not a patch on 1963 or 1947 (I’m reliably informed!).  It is hanging around longer, though.  It hasn’t collapsed my polytunnels this year either, as I haven’t yet put them up again after last year’s snow!

 

The effect of this on the veg is that I can’t harvest anything, partly because of the frozen ground and partly because I can’t see where it is!  Luckily I keep a bit of a stock of the root crops in the cold store as they keep well and that is what I’ve put in this week’s boxes.  The green items are grown under glass.  Of these, the mizuna you have been having for several weeks now and will recognize.  The other one is a pak choi.  This is another oriental salad and, like the mizuna, can be eaten raw in a salad, or steamed or stir-fried.  They are also nice in a cheese sandwich!

 

The apples in this week’s box are not all that good cosmetically and aren’t really intended for the fruit bowl.  They do make delicious apple sauce if you peel them, though.  They are the last of this variety and I would like to just say that anyone ordering eating apples from my price list at the bottom of the newsletter will have apples of a far better quality!  Hope you don’t mind but things are thin on the ground this week!

 

According to the weather forecast, it’s going to be warm and very wet on Friday and I imagine that the snow will be washed away.  Hopefully I will then be able to replenish my cold store and everything will be back to normal for next week.  The spinach won’t have survived the snow, however, so there will be no more of it until it re-grows in the spring.  Also, I harvested nearly all of the curly green over Christmas, so not much of that either until the spring I’m afraid.  This does make the boxes a bit “root based” but then, it IS winter, and I’m not going to import Canary Island tomatoes to put in the boxes!  If you have a surplus of roots, they make lovely soup - just what you need in this weather!

 

NEWSLETTER –DECEMBER 2009

 

Hello, and welcome to the December newsletter.  Is it ever going to stop raining?  My main winter job is rebuilding the polytunnels that collapsed in the snow earlier in the year, and the weather is slowing down progress and making it a real chore. 

 

I hope you are enjoying the various squash that have been in your boxes lately.  I expect you recognized the onion squash (the red/orange one) you had in Halloween week.  The light tan coloured ones since then are butternut squash.  To follow these, we have Crown Prince.  These grow to a large size so will probably be supplied cut into segments.  All these squash can be baked, roasted in strips like a parsnip or made into soup using any pumpkin soup recipe.

 

If you have been having a box for a couple of years or more, you will remember that I used to have some organic pigs.  When the price of feed went through the roof, I stopped doing them for economic reasons, although it was always my intention to restart if the economics allowed me to.  Well, with this in mind, I have just bought some weaners, but they will not be organic.  They will be outdoor reared, though, and their feed will be entirely local, GM free and traceable.  They are expected to be ready for sale towards the end of March.

 

NEWSLETTER –OCTOBER 2009

 

Hello, and welcome to the October newsletter.  Quite a lot to tell you this month, so I won’t waste any space talking about the weather!

 

Firstly, as promised in the last newsletter, the Rainbow Chard - for that is what it is!  It is a version of Swiss Chard that comes in rainbow colours (that’s how they thought up the name!).  There are some red stalks in there which look slightly like beetroot leaves, and some people have been known to throw these out for that reason.  I’d just like to say that we NEVER include beetroot leaves unless they are actually attached to the beetroot!  All these Chards should be treated in the same way as spinach except that you can eat the stalks (well, the smaller ones anyway).

 

Next, I’m sure you recognize the Chinese cabbage.  These can be steamed, boiled or stir-fried, but my preference is to use them uncooked as a lettuce substitute.  If you have one of the large boxes this week, you will have a bag of rocket to give it a bit of a kick!

 

Next, the marrows!  These are a smallish variety we have grown to avoid the box being totally filled by the marrow before we put anything else in!  The squash will be along fairly soon too.  Also available are a number of Halloween Pumpkins.  These are £4 for a football sized one and are obviously suitable for lanterns ….but, don’t throw away all that pumpkin flesh – make some pumpkin bread or pumpkin soup with it!  I’ll state the obvious and say that if you want one in time for Halloween, please could you let me know in time to deliver it next week!

 

Now, there are recipe ideas for most of the new crops mentioned above on my web site.  For those that aren’t there, there is a very good web-site www.vegbox-recipes.co.uk which includes a lot of recipes and also chat/forums for people who want to share ideas for the common good!  Certainly worth a visit!

 

Well, that’s about all for now except to say I’ve still got some lambs if anyone wants a half/whole one.  Also, I’ve still got cooking and eating apples available as last month. 

 

NEWSLETTER – SEPTEMBER 2009

 

Hello, and welcome to the September newsletter.  Well, I hope you’re all enjoying the barbeque autumn!  For the growing fraternity it’s just about baled us out after a pretty poor summer.  I have got all the potatoes harvested now and have even made a late cut of hay for the sheep.  Bulk sacks of potatoes are now available and the prices are at the end of the newsletter.

 

The recent good weather has helped produce my best ever crop of runner beans which I hope you have all enjoyed.  Also, the tomatoes are ripening like mad, just as I thought they were about to come to an end!  There are even some late lettuce now the sun’s out! 

 

I am about half way through picking the apples.  The Discovery are now all gone.  This week’s apples are Tydeman’s Early Worcester, which is an eater.  Then we will be on to Spartan.  I haven’t yet picked the Bramley cookers, but should have very soon, so I have included the price below too.

 

By the time of the next newsletter, I’m sure it will be far more autumnal and the squash will be ready to harvest.  Also, I’m hoping to have some Halloween pumpkins again.  Within the next couple of weeks, I will be putting some rainbow chard in the boxes.  This is like Swiss chard except multicoloured.  Just treat it the same as you would the spinach.

 

NEWSLETTER – AUGUST 2009

 

Hello, and welcome to the Ashes-winning August newsletter!  Well, the monsoon finally stopped for a while earlier in the month.  I don’t think it’s disrupted too much on the farm, but there will be a short gap with the lettuce as I didn’t manage to plant any during the wet period.

 

The cucumbers haven’t really recovered from the Red Spider Mite attack I mentioned in the last newsletter, only producing the occasional good one.  Must send in the predators earlier next year!  The tomatoes seem to have avoided the potato blight so far though, and are producing nicely.

 

The grapes in this week’s boxes are from the glasshouse at Oake.  There should be some purple ones soon as well.  We also have a good crop of runner beans due to them having had constant irrigation since they were planted!

 

I have now picked the first variety of organic eating apples from the orchard.  The variety is DISCOVERY and they are being sold as an extra to the boxes at £3 for 3lbs (or 1.36kg if you’ve got a calculator!).  Please order them as you would your box!  I’m not usually a great fan of the variety but they’re tasting really nice this year!  More varieties to follow! 

 

Those who ordered organic lamb had it delivered last week, but there are still plenty left if anyone would like a half or whole one for the freezer.  They are supplied fresh (ie not frozen), and are jointed, bagged and labelled so all you have to do is pop them in the freezer!  I’ve even had the wool taken off for you!  Please let me know if you would like some.

 

The current projects on the farm are leek weeding and harvesting the potatoes.  These are now from the outdoor crop and are COSMOS.  There are a high proportion of bakers this year.  In fact, I think they are the largest I’ve ever grown – due to the wet weather no doubt!  Please remember to keep them cool and in a dark place to stop them going green.

 

NEWSLETTER – JULY 2009

 

Hello, and welcome to the July newsletter.  Is it ever going to stop raining?  After a good start, I’m afraid that summer has reverted to type!  Luckily I managed to get most of my planting done while the weather was still dry.  Hasn’t needed much watering in, though!

 

The most important function of this newsletter is to inform those of you who would normally have a box NEXT Tuesday (4th August), that it will be a day late, on Wednesday 5th August instead.  I hope this doesn’t cause any inconvenience.

 

Well, the boxes are looking very summery now.  Unfortunately, you are probably wondering where the cucumbers have gone!  I’m afraid they have been infested by Red Spider Mite.  These are neither red (apart from the harmless dormant females) nor spiders, but an aphid-like pest that feeds on cucumber leaves and fruit.  The best method of control for the organic grower (and some conventional growers use it too) is to introduce a predatory mite called phytoseiulus persimilis which feeds on the RSM and hopefully keeps it in check.  Unfortunately, the RSM had got too strong a hold by the time I introduced the predators so, although I find the occasional good cucumber, there probably won’t be many more this year unless the plants can grow away from the infestation.  There is plenty of information about this on the internet for those of you who are interested!

 

To compensate, there are plenty of tomatoes coming on now.  However, there may be a problem with these just around the corner too.  Tomatoes, being in the same family, are susceptible to potato blight, and with both crops being grown on the same farm, cross infection is quite likely.  Anyway, we may be lucky, but the weather is on the side of the blight!

 

Several of you have mentioned that you would like a half/whole lamb soon, and I am going to get this arranged as soon as I can as some are now fit.  If anyone would like to add themselves to the list, could they please let me know asap please?

 

NEWSLETTER – JUNE 2009

 

Hello, and welcome to the June newsletter.  I’m recovering from my appendix operation now and am doing all the farm work again – with care though, rather than gusto or panache!  At least I won’t have to have it out again!

 

Well, we are coming out of the hungry gap period now, with lots of fresh new season produce in the boxes.  This includes the lettuce, courgettes, spinach/Swiss chard, the first cuts of cucumbers, with salad onions and parsley on the way very soon.  Also, if you haven’t got new potatoes this week, then you will from next week onwards.  They are variety PREMIERE and are very good quality!  Remember that new potatoes should be kept in the dark otherwise they will go green.

 

Last week, some of you will have had a pot Basil.  These are probably best planted outside or potted on as soon as is practical.  The organic compost doesn’t have much nutrient content and they will suffer otherwise.  This week, the larger boxes have got a pot peppermint (the plant, not a polo!).  This is ideally timed to go with the new potatoes.  It would also benefit from being planted out soon.  There are more pot mints on the way for the smaller boxes in a week or two when they’ve grown a bit more.

 

In the fields, I have planted the winter squash today and sown the maincrop carrots, spinach, rainbow chard and beetroot.  I reckon that in doing this I have crawled half a mile, pushed a seed drill a mile, and walked even further!  I don’t need to go to the gym!

 

Between now and the next newsletter, I have got at least an acre of brassica plants to plant out and also the leeks.  It’s the busiest time of the year for me.  I’ve also got hay/silage to make when it stops raining for enough consecutive days.  The sheep were sheared nice and early this year and the lambs are coming along well.  Although they probably won’t be ready before late July, don’t be afraid of letting me know if you’d like one for the freezer when they’re available!

 

There are no bulk items available now until the autumn as they don’t keep so well this time of the year. 

 

NEWSLETTER – MAY 2009

 

Hello, and welcome to the May newsletter.  Well, it’s been a funny few weeks!  Having only been back from holiday a week, my appendix decided to malfunction, resulting in another “weekend away” in hospital!  Apologies to those of you who were due a box last week and didn’t get one, and thank you to anyone who sent a get well email or card!  I’ve got some help now, while I recuperate, so hopefully it will be business as usual again!

 

We are now well into the “hungry gap” period of the year when the over wintered crops are finishing/finished and the new season crops are not quite ready.  The leeks have got a bit too woody now and the curlygreen and sprouting broccoli are well out in flower!  There may or may not be another week of cauliflowers.  However, next week there should be the first cut of new season lettuce, which should continue throughout the summer.

 

One way of combating the hungry gap period is to grow crops in polytunnels or under glass to protect them from the winter elements.  My regular reader will recall that I had a number of these collapse under the snow, but in the remaining one I have taken the first cut from a crop of courgettes and have some tomato and cucumber plants starting to grow away.  The spring cabbage is being harvested from the wreckage of one of the collapsed tunnels!

 

The outdoor potatoes have now been ridged and the indoor ones are growing rampantly.  They should be ready to harvest by the time I’m fit enough to do it, but in the meantime, the old season crop is holding up well in the cold store to the extent that I am still offering them in bulk sacks as long as you don’t try to keep them for too long!

 

NEWSLETTER – APRIL 2009

 

I hope you are enjoying the purple and white sprouting currently in the boxes.  It really is one of the highlights of the year’s veg, assuming you like it!  The kale is now coming to an end and hopefully the spinach/chard will have started growing again sufficiently for me to put some in your next box.  I have salvaged all the pak choi I can from beneath the collapsed polytunnel so there will be a gap in the salads until the recently planted outside lettuce are ready in late May.  Before then, we should have a crop of cauliflowers for your enjoyment as long as they don’t all come while I’m away!

 

As we get nearer to spring, please note that the potatoes will try to sprout, so it’s best to keep them cool.  I would keep them in the fridge but that may be a bit extreme!  If they do sprout, you can still eat them – just remove the sprouts!  What you mustn’t do is let the sprouts get too long as they will remove moisture from the potato and it will shrivel and become unusable.  The leafy items in the box are definitely going to keep longer as well if they are damped down and kept in the fridge, possibly in a polythene bag. 

 

You will have noticed that the carrots are now washed.  They will not keep as well as “dirty” carrots so I am stopping doing them in bulk sacks for the summer.  It’s probably best to keep them in the fridge too.