NEWSLETTER –JANUARY 2012

Hello, Happy New Year and welcome to the January newsletter. The first thing many of you will notice is a large marrow in your box (if there were enough to go around – otherwise you’ll have squash instead!). These were well received last time I put them in the boxes and several of you enjoyed stuffing them and baking them (recipe on my website) or making them into soup. A handy tip from my wife is to cut the marrow into chunks and boil it for a few minutes to separate the tough skin from the flesh. Then just use your favourite soup recipe. We put a Bramley apple in with ours and it was really nice, so there are some Bramleys in your box this week for this purpose!

So, on the subject of apples, the Spartan eaters have now finished, and next week the eaters will be “PEARL”. These are a bit like a Cox, with softer flesh than the Spartans. When these have finished, we will be moving onto “FIESTA”.

In early February, I will have the last lamb for sale this season. It is sold in half lambs (approx 8 kg) and comes bagged and labelled ready to put in the freezer. It is jointed into legs, shoulders, chops and mince. There may even be some burgers! Please let me know asap if you would like some.

Some of you have asked “what is the feathery item in this week’s box?” The answer is MIZUNA, otherwise known as Japanese Mustard. It has a mild taste and is best used in a salad or a cheese sandwich, although it can be stir fried. We have also started picking the curlygreen, now that the spinach has slowed down due to the weather, and some of you will have sprout tops in this week’s box (the rest of you will have sprouts!).

NEWSLETTER –DECEMBER 2011

Hello, and welcome to the December newsletter. It’s only a couple of weeks since the last newsletter, so I haven’t got much to say! I just wanted to let you know the Christmas bulk prices and remind you of the delivery dates over the festive period.

So, firstly, the Christmas delivery dates. I will be delivering each Tuesday as usual, except that the Tuesday 27^th December delivery will be on Wednesday 28^th instead (ie Tues 13^th, Tues 20^th, Weds 28^th Dec, Tues 3^rd Jan etc). The traditional Christmas box, which will contain parsnips and sprouts, will therefore be the one on 20^th December.

If you are a fortnightly customer and you wish to change your week, or if any customer wishes to change the size of their box to ensure they have enough veg to feed all those visiting relatives, then please let me know in good time! As a general rule, could you please order by Saturday night for the following Tuesday delivery? However, an order can never be in too early, especially over the Christmas period!

Now those bulk prices! As promised, I am offering bulk parsnips and also 2kg bulk bags/nets of sprouts for sale over the Christmas period. I have priced the latter at £3.50, which is cheaper than a leading supermarket has been advertising their “Value” range for. Add to that the fact that mine are probably fresher and are organic and I think you have got yourselves a good deal. After all, every little helps!

NEWSLETTER – 22^nd NOVEMBER 2011

Hello, and welcome to the November newsletter. What a mild autumn we are having! We haven’t had a frost yet, which is good news for getting the last of the more tender veg harvested before it freezes. Once that’s done, though, we really could do with some, otherwise there are going to be a lot of bugs around next year!

You will, by now, have noticed the marrow in your box. This is a smaller variety, otherwise we wouldn’t be able to get anything else into the box! If you are a keen cook, you can stuff them with meat, apple, or anything at hand and bake them. There’s a recipe for this on my website. If time is a bit more restricted, then the best thing to do is to make soup out of it, especially if we get some of those frosts I was on about! A handy tip from my wife is to cut the marrow into chunks and boil it for a few minutes to separate the tough skin from the flesh. Then just use your favourite soup recipe. We put a Bramley apple in with ours and it was really nice! By pure coincidence, there are some Bramleys in your box this week for this purpose! These boxes aren’t just thrown together, you know!

You may also have noticed the rainbow chard. No prizes for guessing how it got its name, but just treat it the same as Swiss chard, or spinach (ie boil/steam). The red leaves are chard leaves – not beetroot leaves. The only time we put beetroot leaves in the boxes is in the summer, when they are attached to the beetroot!

So, it’s less than five weeks to Christmas now! Delivery wise, I will keep going right through, except the Tues 27^th Dec delivery will be on Wednesday 28^th instead. Then it will be Tues 3^rd January as normal. Please remember to cancel me in good time if you are going to be away for any of these dates!

The Christmas boxes will contain the usual favourites such as parsnips and sprouts. There will probably be some sprouts before then, but I want to make sure I don’t run out before Christmas. I am hoping to have enough of both to offer them to you in bulk sacks for Christmas to feed all those hungry relatives! I’ll put a flyer in the boxes in a couple of weeks’ time to let you know the quantities and prices.

NEWSLETTER – 25^th OCTOBER 2011

Hello, and welcome to the October newsletter. With Halloween only a week away, your seasonal veg box has a slice of pumpkin in it this week. I suggest you make soup out of it, possibly using the recipe below; to warm the inner person now the weather has turned autumnal again! I suggest that you don’t skimp on the seasoning with pumpkin soup, as they don’t have a strong flavour of their own.

You will need: Pumpkin diced, 1 medium onion chopped, 1 pint of vegetable stock - more for a large pumpkin, 1 teaspoon of dried herbs, salt and pepper.

Fry onion in butter or oil for 5 mins add pumpkin and toss through. Add stock and herbs and simmer for ½ to 1 hour until pumpkin is soft. Liquidise and serve.

There are some other recipe ideas 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!

This is not a good year for squashes, according to the papers! My Crown Prince squash are looking good, but the Butternuts, in spite of having plenty of foliage, don’t have any fruit of note. This is not the first time it has happened, and it’s a shame as they are one of the most popular and recognizable varieties. The marrows have done well, though.

The salad crops are now grinding to a halt, except for the peppers, and we will be moving over towards turnips, beetroot and swedes soon. I have a good crop of parsnips too, but they say they are better once they have had a frost on them. The leeks are looking good too. The apples are mostly picked now. The eaters are currently Spartan. I have also picked the Bramley cookers.

NEWSLETTER –SEPTEMBER 2011

Hello, and welcome to the September newsletter. According to the forecast, we are going to be enjoying a heatwave this week. Other than that, autumn is certainly here now, and will be reflected in the contents of your boxes over the next few weeks as we move away from the salad crops that have dominated the summer towards more autumnal fare!

The lettuce have nearly finished now and the cucumbers, tomatoes and courgettes are slowing down, as the days get shorter and the light levels reduce. There are still plenty of peppers, though the aubergines are few and far between due to a poor crop. We will have some Chinese cabbage soon which will provide some leaf for a salad, or you can steam/boil them if you prefer. Also, there will be some rocket (loose leaves in a plastic bag) soon.

If you are unsure what to do with any of the veg in your box, I have a few recipe ideas on my website. There is also a very good website www.vegbox-recipes.co.uk which has even more!

The Discovery apples are now coming to an end, but we have a lot more varieties to follow on. The next variety is Tydeman’s Early Worcester, then it will be Spartan. I also supply them in 3lb/1.36kg bags for £3, so let me know if you would like to fill your fruit bowl! There are still some home produced grapes to go in the boxes over the next few weeks.

Elsewhere on the farm, the polytunnels are now clad, and waiting for crops of spring cabbage, mizuna and pak choi to be planted. These are having to be watered on the mains now as my lake has dried up to a puddle over the course of a very dry year.

It’s play time for the rams now, as they have been put in with the ewes. Every morning there are a few more red backsides as they gradually get in lamb! However, I still have some of this year’s lambs left if you would like one/a half for the freezer. They are supplied in “half lambs” at £8/kg. Half a lamb is about 8kg to 10kg, and size-wise should just about fit in a carrier bag. The lambs are supplied fresh, rather than frozen, and are cut into the usual joints i.e. legs, shoulders, breast (de-boned and rolled, or minced if you prefer) and chops. They are bagged and labelled, ready for the freezer. Just let me know if you would like some!

NEWSLETTER –AUGUST 2011

Hello, and welcome to the August newsletter. It really is getting autumnal already, but I have got all my summer hay making and planting done and am now concentrating on getting the leeks weeded and re-cladding the polytunnels that collapsed in the snow.

However, some bad news in these recessionary times – I am going to be putting up the prices of the boxes as from the 1^st September. Each week when I decide what I’m going to put in the boxes, I price them up to their value to decide the quantities of each item that I’m going to include. As the value of vegetables inevitably rises, due to inflation if nothing else, then these quantities decrease to balance the value of the box. Therefore the box prices have to go up, but you will be getting a bit more veg as a result, so it’s not bad news really!

The new prices will be: Small box - £7, Medium box - £9.50, Large box - £12. As you will see, I have increased the differential between the box sizes to address the fact that as the prices have risen, this differential has decreased on a percentage basis. I have put a lot of thought into this and hope that you agree with my theory!

Anyway, economics aside, one advantage of the new box sizes will be the return of the onions. I’m sure they will have come down in price by September and that I will be able to source them more locally. At the moment, all the box contents are home grown (apart from last week’s garlic). Coming up soon will be some home produced grapes, and the peppers are just starting to fruit. There will be the occasional aubergine, but probably only in the larger boxes as I won’t have very many this year.

The apple season is now upon us – early this year – and many of you will have had some Discovery in your boxes. I also supply them in 3lb/1.36kg bags for £3 if you would like to fill your fruit bowl. They really are good quality this year. Just let me know, please, if you would like some!

If anyone would like some organic lamb for the freezer, then please let me know. I will be doing some for delivery early in September, so will need to know by the end of the month, or sooner please! I supply them in half lambs, which includes two leg joints, two shoulder joints, a number of chops and a bag of mince. Size wise, it will fit into a carrier bag. First come, first served!

NEWSLETTER –JULY 2011

Hello, and welcome to the July newsletter. Having got the irrigation up and running again, at great expense, we have had some sensible quantities of rain lately. I irrigated all the early plantings several times and that, combined with the hot weather, has produced some early crops of lettuce and beetroot and an abundant crop of spinach. The maincrop potatoes are looking healthy, with no blight yet, and the sprouts have just been weeded after recovering from their pigeon attack! The bunched carrots are the best I’ve grown for a while too!

In the tunnels, the courgettes are still going strong and it’s a much better crop of cucumbers this year. The tomatoes have just started fruiting too. The aubergines, however, aren’t going to be so productive this year as they are shaded by the side of the tunnel, but there is a good crop of peppers coming along. So, the boxes are looking a bit more summery now the hungry gap is well behind us.

The leeks have now been planted and irrigated, and there is just one more day of planting to go. This will be the Chinese cabbage and turnips. I am rationing out the water in the lake and there will be just enough to irrigate these in! The float carrying the pumps is already resting on the bottom of the lake, so I know exactly how much water there is left – about 6 inches before I start sucking mud!

Elsewhere, the lambs are coming along nicely. I have to separate them from the ewes soon as they will be competing with each other for the grass. The idea is to give the lambs the best grass to fatten them, while the ewes have the poorer stuff to dry them off. Next newsletter, I should know when I will have some lambs ready for sale as several people have asked already.

I am waiting to do one more cut of hay soon. I should really have cut it last week, but I hadn’t finished mending the hay turner from the first cut! It only just made it to the end!

NEWSLETTER –JUNE 2011

Hello, and welcome to the June newsletter. Well, we still need that rain! A neighbouring farmer told me that we have had an inch in both of the last two months, but I don’t remember it! The irrigation lake is rather low, but I have been having a battle with the equipment too!

The problem I mentioned last month resulted in having to replace the electric cables, which had stretched. I used it once and then it packed up again. The fault was traced to a transformer. I spent a day and a half on the phone and internet trying to find a repair/replace option only to discover a damaged cable when I dismantled it. One quick repair later and it was up and running again. If only everything was as simple!

So, the vegetables in the boxes are now looking a lot more summery with new season crops of spinach, parsley and salad onions. The potatoes are new as well – variety COSMOS – and the cucumbers and courgettes in the tunnels are rampant!

The pot herb this week is Coriander and I’m afraid that they have suffered due to the weather. The compost has very little nutrient in it and during the hot weather, they need so much water that it washes out. What they really need is to be potted on or planted outside. This will provide them with the nutrient they need and they should green up. To compensate for this, I have put them in the boxes at a reduced price. I thought it would be a shame to throw them away.

From now on, the carrots will be washed. They won’t keep as well as “dirty” carrots so I recommend keeping them in the fridge. In fact, most of the box would be better kept refrigerated. The potatoes need to be kept cool and dark to stop them going green.

NEWSLETTER –MAY 2011

Hello, and welcome to the May newsletter. As I write this (Friday night), it has just started raining. This is welcome anyway, but particularly welcome as I have spent all day failing to get the irrigation pumps to work. This is annoying on two fronts – firstly as I planted the sprouts yesterday and they will frazzle without water, and secondly as I spent £4000 getting the pumps replaced last year. And you wonder why farmers are reputed to be grumpy!

Anyway, moving on – there are a few new crops creeping into the boxes at the moment. There are a few cauliflowers that survived the snow and an abundance of rhubarb. The spinach is regrowing in the warm weather, although the latter will hasten the demise of the leeks. In the tunnels, the radish are doing well and there are even a few courgettes on the way. The cucumbers, tomatoes and aubergines have all been planted, and the peppers are due to join them later in the week. The indoor and outdoor potatoes have been ridged too.

You will, by now, have noticed the pot Basil in your box. The idea is that you can put it on your window sill and use it on a cut and come again basis. In a few weeks, it could be planted outside. Hopefully there will be some chervil and coriander in a few weeks.

Now is probably your last chance to have some pork this year. It is rare breed, outdoor reared and fed on corn from a family farm, but not organic. It is being supplied bagged and labelled ready for the freezer. It is being sold in quarter pigs (approx 15kg) for £5.50/kg. Please let me know asap if you would like some! First come, first served!

Now that summer is almost here, I am stopping doing bulk sacks of potatoes, onions and carrots until the autumn, as they won’t keep very well. In the boxes, the leafy crops will recover quite well by damping them down and then putting them in the fridge. Most of the rest of the veg would be best kept in the fridge too. We still have free-range, non-organic hens eggs at £1.00 per half dozen.

Before I go, could I remind you to return as many empty boxes as possible, please? It makes sound ecological sense and helps me keep my prices down! One customer in Bristol just spent £2.61 sending me an empty box back through the post. That’s a bit excessive! I’m quite happy to pick up the empties when I deliver the following week’s box!

NEWSLETTER –APRIL 2011

Hello, and welcome to the April newsletter. Well, what lovely weather we’re having at the moment! I’ve been irrigating already and am afraid I must display true farmer tendencies and say that we really could do with some rain!

For those of you who have been watching Lambing Live, my lambing has nearly finished now, and the lambs are all gambolling away out in the fields, enjoying the sunshine until the advent of the cricket season brings a deluge of rain! Continuing on the livestock theme, the pigs will be ready in about a month, so anyone interested in having some pork, please let me know. As mentioned before, it is not organic, but is free range and fed on a known family supply of corn.

In the veg world, I have done all the early planting – potatoes, carrots, parsnips, spinach, lettuce, cabbage, salad onions, parsley and tunnel courgettes. Of the existing overwintered crops, most are coming towards the end now as we enter the “hungry gap”. My use of polytunnels reduces the effect of this as much as possible, though. I hope you’ve enjoyed the pak choi. It is going to seed a bit now, but is still edible. What I’ll probably do is supply just the leaves (like I do with spinach) rather than let you have flower stalks and all! When the pak choi has finished, there will be some spinach. I like to put something green in each week if I can.

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.

Just a reminder about all the Bank Holidays coming up – we haven’t been invited to the Royal Wedding, so our deliveries will continue as usual! That reminds me, I must take that toaster back to Argos! However, the 10^th May delivery will be on Monday 9^th instead. I’ll try to remember to put a flyer in the boxes to remind everyone nearer the time.

NEWSLETTER –MARCH 2011

Hello, and welcome to the March newsletter. Well, I may be proved wrong, but I think spring is here! It is certainly greening up outside, and it is in the veg boxes too. I hope you are enjoying both the mizuna (feathery leaved one) and pak choi (trumpet shaped one). Both are best raw in a salad, or cheese sandwich, but they can be steamed or stir-fried if you wish. Both have been grown in the polytunnels.

Also in the polytunnels, I have planted the early potatoes, but they’re not up yet. The variety is COSMOS, the same as in the boxes at the moment. Soon, though, we will be moving on to the later variety ROMANO, which has red skins. I have also sown some broad beans outside, which are coming up now after about 6 weeks! Also on the subject of varieties, we have a few BELLE de BOSKOOP apples (large, green and russetty) before moving on to the IDARED (smaller and redder).

Elsewhere on the farm, I am just about to start lambing, so if your box is slightly late, and I look a bit stressed, there is probably a good reason! The pigs are also growing well, and I will have some idea of when they are going to be ready hopefully by the next newsletter.

I would like to take this early opportunity to advise you that during the Bank Holiday bonanza at the end of April, it will be deliveries on Tuesdays as usual. I haven’t been invited to the Royal Wedding, so don’t see the need to have a day off. I suppose it’s fair enough – they weren’t invited to mine ……. well, they didn’t come, anyway!

As my regular reader will know, we have some non-organic, but free range eggs available sometimes. It’s hard to match supply to demand, but they are laying more now that spring is here, so if you would like some, please let me know. They are £1 per half dozen.