FINAL NEWSLETTER – 31^st MARCH 2026

Hello, and welcome to the final monthly newsletter.  Yes, I’m afraid you read that correctly.  I am stopping the box scheme after the 28^th April delivery.  “Why’s that?”, I hear you cry!  Mainly because at nearly 62, it is starting to hurt!  For a while now I have been managing arthritic wrists, dodgy shoulders and knees and an iffy Achilles tendon.  I might have been able to squeeze another couple of years out but no way would I be able to make it to my state pension age of 67.  Add into that the fact that I have parents in their 80s and a wife with MS and I feel that my efforts may be required in other directions at short notice, and I don’t want to have to turn them down when they need me.  Also, I want to make the most of our daughter being around before she goes off for her own life!

I have such a long list of jobs around the house and farm that have always been put on the back burner that I will now be able to do, at my own pace.  I can also get a backlog of my own medical issues sorted out that I have been working through for a while, so I don’t think I will be bored for a bit.  Of course, I will still have the horse liveries, apples and juice in the autumn, and the sheep to lamb in the spring.  I will have a lot more time to myself though in the summer.  I can’t face another summer like last year. 

I still intend to do some wholesale veg but I’m relieving myself of the tie of weekly deliveries.  I will miss delivering and seeing everyone.  Some of you have become friends while some of you I have never met!  Some of you have been having boxes for well over 20 years, while one customer has been having boxes since we started doing it nearly 33 years ago!

In this time, we have had 9 Prime Ministers of varying quality and duration, the occasional boom time and several recessions.  I have got married and become a father and had a 25 year club cricket career!  We have also had to deal with two Foot and Mouth outbreaks and Covid.

What I won’t miss is the treadmill of chasing late payers on Saturday night  and chasing late orders on a Sunday morning, then doing the harvesting in case something goes wrong on the Monday.  Also, I have had to keep looking up the One Network website on a Monday night to see which road is open this week and most of all, making sure my car is on the road for another week!

One important thing – some of you have credit balances due to not cancelling standing orders when you (or we) have been on holiday.  I will contact those of you asap and let you know how far ahead you are to avoid overpayment.

I can still deliver lamb to those who want it, as before.  I haven’t really advertised the lamb in the newsletters lately because I haven’t had enough to go around the people who already have it, but the reduction in veg growing area can be taken up with a few more sheep. 

Those of you who like the apples and juice, I think I could still do that when I go to Tesco each fortnight.  Maybe juice in boxes of 12 (it keeps a long time out of the fridge) and bags or boxes of apples, maybe sacks of potatoes too.  If you are interested in this, maybe let me know and I could do a monthly newsletter saying what I have available.  Having said that, you may find another supplier who can do all of that! 

Anyway, there are a few boxes left before then and hopefully the cauliflowers will last till the end.  The squash too with careful management!  There are plenty of leeks and potatoes – you may wish to buy a bulk sack in the last few weeks.  They are now CAROLUS and should keep for a bit in the cool and dark.  The pak choi has at least another week left and I’m hoping the kale will last until the spinach has regrown.  After today, the Bramleys have finished, so any apples will now be eaters – red/green Braeburns or the green Sturmers.

NEWSLETTER – 17^th FEBRUARY 2026

Hello and welcome to the February newsletter.  Apparently, it has rained on every day so far this year.  What a contrast from the summer!  Consequently, I am doing a lot of inside work at the moment, waiting for it to dry out.  One job that has to be done by the end of the month is hedge trimming.  I’m picking the driest days to do this and surprisingly I’m not cutting up the fields too much with 4WD at 0.7mph!

So, the failure of the mizuna combined with the frost attack on the kale means that there is little leaf in the boxes at the moment.  I am trying to compensate by continuing the cabbage weekly and by putting in an extra leek!  Next week, I am hoping there will be some spinach in the tunnel, then, on the 3^rd March, I will tag some kale onto a delivery to remind us what it is like!  After that, the pak choi won’t be far away, and there may be some spinach or kale regrowth too if we are lucky!  The pak choi are a leafy salad, but you can eat the stalks too.  They are best used as a lettuce substitute, or in a cheese sandwich or stir fry.  They can also be steamed.

As last month, the squash is now Crown Prince and the potatoes still Alouette.  Any apples will be Bramleys.  The eating apples are still going with Braeburn and Sturmer to go.  Braeburn is best known as a southern hemisphere apple but is being grown here increasingly as the climate changes.  Not quite as sweet in this country, but still nice!

So, on the farm at the moment, the sheep will be lambing in a few weeks and I still have a long list of maintenance jobs to do.  Then it will be spring again, and the nervous wait for the next drought!  At least the lake is now full!

NEWSLETTER – 20^th JANUARY 2026

Hello, Happy New Year and welcome to the January newsletter.  I hope you all had a great Christmas and thank you to everyone who left presents out for me when I delivered the Christmas boxes!  We have had a mix of weather since Christmas.  Firstly that cold but sunny spell which was great if you kept moving and had shelter from the wind.  Since then, it has gone back wet and windy which is less enjoyable, but at least my lake is three quarters full now! 

One consequence of the weather is that the kale is a bit limited at the moment.  I’m doing what I can but there may be the odd week without green leaf in the boxes.  The mizuna has failed, otherwise I could have put that in instead.  The latter got off to a bad start when I planted it at the end of the summer and had to use mains water to water it in.  What I thought were a couple of dry patches turned out to be disease which spread through the crop.  Never seen that before in 30 years of growing it!  The pak choi seem ok, though, so we have them to look forward to. 

In the rest of the box, the squash is now Crown Prince and the potatoes still Alouette.  Any apples will be Bramleys.  The eating apples are still going with Kidds, Spartan, Braeburn and Sturmer to go.  Braeburn is best known as a southern hemisphere apple but is being grown here increasingly as the climate changes.  Not quite as sweet in this country, but still nice! 

So, on the farm at the moment, the sheep are about to be housed so I can keep an eye on them as they approach lambing.  Then I’ve got the hedges to trim when it dries up a bit before working my way through all those irritating maintenance jobs that seem to accumulate from being put off when I am busy during the summer! 

NEWSLETTER – 2^nd DECEMBER 2025

Hello and welcome to the December newsletter.  Firstly, the Christmas delivery dates!  As hinted in the last newsletter, we will deliver on Tuesdays right through except that there will not be a box between Christmas and New Year, re-commencing on Tuesday 6^th January 2026.  It would be a great help please if you could let me know your ordering intentions as soon as you can so I can plan ahead and maximise my time off!  An order can never be in too early!  Thank you!

I will assume that any fortnightly customers having a box on the 2^nd and 16^th December will want their next box on 6^th January, but you are welcome to slip an extra one in on the 23^rd – just let me know, please! 

This week there are swedes in all the boxes.  Bizarrely a lot of them are rotting in the field this year.  Not like they have had that much rain to contend with, especially in the summer.  That is why you may get two of three “bits” of swede rather than one complete one.  The water level has at least risen far enough in the lake for me to irrigate the tunnels now.

There WILL be sprouts and parsnips in the 23^rd December boxes, and there will be enough sprouts for me to offer them in 2kg nets for the 23^rd December delivery, as usual.  The carrots, onions and maybe the parsnips will be bought in from another organic grower as I haven’t grown the first two this year and am not sure how good my own parsnips will be.  Unfortunately, this makes them expensive but I have trimmed my margin to the bare minimum as a Christmas present to you all! 

NEWSLETTER – 4^th NOVEMBER 2025

Hello, and welcome to the November newsletter, and we are only just beginning to get the rain we need to replenish after the summer drought.  My lake hasn’t started refilling again yet so the tunnels are still being watered on the mains.  Not too muddy underfoot yet though.

In last year’s November newsletter, I put the prices of the boxes up.  I wasn’t planning on doing it again this year, but in return, could the late payers please pay me a bit more punctually so I don’t have to chase you and the box hoarders please return them to me on a more regular basis?  Then I’ll have more time to spend on growing veg rather than admin!  Thank you!

So, in the boxes this week, some of you will have a slice of pumpkin. This is best turned into soup with plenty of seasoning as they can be a bit bland.  Others of you will have a mini pumpkin, similar to last week, or a bit of Red Kuri squash.  These are more flavoursome and are probably best baked, maybe sliced in oil.  From next week, they will probably be Sweet Dumpling (stripey!).  The leeks have grown well considering their lack of water and are currently going in every week.

This week, the apples in the boxes are the tail end of the Discovery.  From next week, I am going to start putting roots in instead – swedes, celeriac, eventually parsnips – so any apples from then on will be Bramley cookers.  For those of you thinking that far ahead, I expect that at Christmas I will deliver on Tuesday 23^rd December, skip the 30^th and restart on the 6^th January but I will confirm that in the next newsletter. 

NEWSLETTER – 9^th OCTOBER 2025

Hello, and welcome to the October newsletter, and the weather is what I would call seasonal!  A nice working temperature but with some occasional rain too.  The veg is certainly appreciating it.  The leeks have come on well and will soon be in the boxes.  Due to the hot summer, the squash are early and some Red Kuri have been put in the boxes already.  When these have finished, there are other varieties to follow – mini pumpkins (great roasted in a tray, in slices with olive oil), maybe the odd butternut and sweet dumpling too, before getting on to the crown prince.

My main job at the moment is apple picking.  I am picking about a ton per variety and am just over half way with three main varieties to go.  All with a ladder and bucket.  I am looking forward to finishing it!  The apples in the boxes are currently Discovery.  In a few weeks, I will juice the remainder and move onto a different variety which will probably be Pearl (bit Cox-like) or the Coxes themselves.  There is far less scab about this year due to the dry weather.

My lake is now totally out of water.  The pumps are sat on the bottom with their inlets above the waterline!  All season I have had to make choices about where to direct the water.  The spuds seem to have done alright without it, bizarrely, and the summer transplants have been irrigated in to get them going and have been fine.  The tunnels have had to be prioritised (cos it don’t rain in there!) but now they are having to be done on the mains which is expensive and time consuming moving all the lay flat tubing.  The summer salads, which have pretty much finished anyway, aren’t worth the water. The stream which feeds the lake normally starts running in November, but may be later this year. 

NEWSLETTER – 9^th SEPTEMBER 2025

Hello, and welcome to the September newsletter, and at last we are getting some rain.  The fields are greening up again and the veg looks less stressed.  This should mean that cabbage will be appearing in the boxes in the next week or so, but next week should see the last of the lettuce for the season.  The Romanescu caulis going to be a bit late, though.  The Chinese cabbage, which ended up being grown in a tunnel this year, are looking good.

The yellow ravioli-like object in this week’s box is a Patty Pan squash.  We cut ours into small chunks and roasted them, skin and all, in some olive oil.  Shortly, the Red Kuri will be ready – early this year due to the hot weather.  The leeks are also growing nicely now after the rain.  Due to a lack of variety of veg, down to the weather, apples will be in the boxes for a few weeks.  Currently the variety will be either Discovery or Worcester.  They are also available in bags if you would like some more, as are potatoes, now that the maincrop harvest is under way.  The variety will now be ALOUETTE, the red skinned one from previous years.  The yield is much better than expected considering they had no irrigation, and the foliage burnt off about 6 weeks ago.

Due to a shortage of spinach, we have started on the kale already.  It is a good crop this year, and is still under fleece to protect it from pigeons and deer.  There are two types – the cavolo nero (as in this week’s boxes) and the more traditional curlygreen.  What I do to cook it is to chop it up into small bits, removing the thick stalk.  Then I put it in a steamer and pour half a kettle of boiling water over it before microwaving it for 6 minutes, but you are welcome to deep fat fry it if you prefer!

NEWSLETTER – 12^th AUGUST 2025

Hello, and welcome to the August newsletter….. and still the “lovely” weather continues, but for me it is a nightmare.  No grass in the fields for the sheep and the lake is virtually empty now for the veg.  I can’t remember a worse year.

So, having come out of the hungry gap, we appear to be going back in again!  I think the tunnels are just too hot for the crops.  The aubergines that started fruiting about a month ago have stopped fruiting now.  Plenty of flowers on them but no fruit.  The tomatoes have done well for a few weeks but this will probably be their last week as there are no green tomatoes left on the plants (apologies also if they are not keeping well – I don’t think they like leaving the cold store).  The courgettes are still going well, and the cues are ok, but the inside leaf and beans have fried and the outdoor spinach needs a rest, and some rain.  Then there is the afore mentioned problem getting the lettuce to germinate.  There will be no more lettuce until October, just before the Chinese cabbage start.  The summer plantings outside are generally good though, so in a month or so we should be alright for Romanescu caulis and cabbage, especially if we have some rain.  A month after that, the leeks will be almost ready. 

NEWSLETTER – 1^st JULY 2025

Hello, and welcome to the July newsletter.  The first item on the agenda is to tell you that there will be NO BOXES ON THE 22^nd JULY as we are on holiday, a gap of one week only!  If you are a fortnightly customer having a box today (1^st), then you will be unaffected.  If you are having a fortnightly box on the 8^th, then I’ll assume you will want your next box on the 29^th July but you are welcome to slip an extra one in on the 15^th – just let me know! 

We are starting to come out of the hungry gap now.  The cucumbers are abundant but will slow down soon as the red spider mites are starting to gain a hold.  I have some predators on order for this week to combat them.  The courgettes are slowly building up and the aubergines and tomatoes can’t be too far away either.  There are small amounts of salad onions and parsley while there seems to be just enough leaf at the moment too.  Drop of rain wouldn’t hurt, though!  The lettuce, however, have been very erratic this year.  They don’t germinate above 25 degrees, so I have lost some in that way.  Some of the seed appear to be dud anyway so I think I am down to two varieties now.  If you can get them to germinate, then the problem is to stop them frying in the sun.  After this week (with possibly a few next week) there will be a lengthy gap.

I will soon start digging the new potatoes from the tunnel.  They will be CAROLUS and will be easy to tell apart from the current old ones.  They will start appearing in the boxes either on the 15^th or 29^th July, depending on how long the old ones last.

The funny thing in this week’s boxes that you might not recognise is a Globe Artichoke.  I have printed some details overleaf of what to do with them.

Elsewhere on the farm, the main planting season is nearly over (just the leeks to go) and my main jobs are to keep the weeds under control and, of course, irrigating!  The lake is just about holding up, in spite of the dry weather

NEWSLETTER – 10^th JUNE 2025

Hello, and welcome to the June newsletter.  Well, we have had a small amount of rain now, which has helped, but we could do with a lot more really as reserves are low.  I am writing this waiting for a promised thunderstorm (EDIT – which never came)!

We are coming out of the hungry gap now, but things are a bit hand to mouth still.  The cucumbers have started early but have now tailed off a bit while the courgettes are just coming into action.  Over the next couple of weeks we will have beetroot and kohl rabi from under the fleece outside.  The kohl rabi is a purple sputnik-like root which you should treat like a turnip.  We have, for the time being, an abundance of chard and spinach from inside the tunnel and out under the fleece.  Let’s enjoy it while we can! 

The lettuce, as in many years, will be a bit sporadic.  There are some under the fleece that will be ready in about a fortnight but then there will be a gap for a bit because it was difficult to get them to germinate in all that hot weather.  If you have broad beans this week, you are one of the lucky ones because I got less than one crate from the whole crop.  Not really sure why but I have heard of others with a similar lack of yield.  The carved up cabbage is in for its last week too!

On the farm, I am about to get all the brassicas planted.  A bit of rain would help soften the soil!  Then the leeks will need planting.  I’ve also got to tidy up the grass fields with the topper so the sheep can find the grass!  The lambs are growing away well now.  We have an orphan lamb on our lawn.  It is called Lambo-ghini and demands milk every time we go past! 

The potato variety is VALOR.  They need to be stored in the cool and dark now to stop them sprouting and going wrinkly.  Sometime in July, we will move on to the new season crop in the tunnel.

NEWSLETTER – 13^th MAY 2025

Hello, and welcome to the May newsletter.  Well, we are firmly entrenched in the hungry gap now.  This is when the over-wintered crops are near the end but the new season ones aren’t quite ready yet.  There were shades of this last month – let’s call that the slightly peckish gap – but since then the caulis and psb have finished, and the remains of the squash, and the leeks are nearly at an end too.

I use my tunnels to try and reduce this where possible, and we are cutting some lovely lettuce from them at the moment.  The radish are also tunnel grown. These, while starting well, seem just to be bolting now in the heat, so there might not be many left for a while. There is a decent looking crop of broad beans to come soon while the cues, courgettes, tomatoes, aubergines and French beans have been planted.  The courgettes will be the first to bear fruit in early June hopefully. 

This spell of dry weather, which I’m sure you are all enjoying, is good for getting things done on the farm but not so good for growing crops!  Yes, I’ve got irrigation but the lake is down to half full now, 6 weeks earlier than usual, so I can keep the existing crops going but what about the ones I’ve yet to plant?  I’m seeding these at the moment, wondering whether I am wasting my time if I have no water.  Just have to hope, I suppose.  Trouble is, if it starts raining, it may not stop for a couple months and then we will have the opposite problem.  Why can’t we have everything like it used to be?  Rhetorical question!

The leaf is overwintered spinach regrowth.  You can eat the smaller stalks.  This will last a week or two more and hopefully the new tunnel crop will be ready by then.  There is also a bit of parsley regrowth.

The potato variety is TRIPLO.  They need to be stored in the cool and dark now to stop them sprouting and going wrinkly.  They are still edible even if they are wrinkly, and you can pull the sprouts off but I know how annoying it is when the peeler snags on a wrinkle!

NEWSLETTER – 15^th APRIL 2025

Hello, and welcome to the April newsletter.  Well, it has hardly rained since the last newsletter.  Even the most cautious of us must now concede that spring is here!  I’m afraid the ground is quite dry now and I must do that farmery thing of saying that we could do with some rain!

In the boxes this week you may have noticed some nobbly potato-like things in one of the corners.  These are Jerusalem artichokes.  You can treat them just like potatoes or, if feeling more adventurous, there are plenty of other ideas on t’internet!  They contain inulin (not to be confused with insulin) which is good for gut health but can make one a bit flatulent!  Some people spell artichoke with a silent “f” at the beginning for this reason!

The potato variety is now VALOR.  The Carolus have now finished until the new ones are ready in the tunnels.  They are due to be ridged tomorrow.  I have now stopped bulk sacks of spuds until the main crop is ready in the autumn.  Due soon (maybe next week) are radish.  Normally I sow the red ones first and finish with the mooli but I picked up the wrong seed at the time, so it’s mooli first this year!  Otherwise known as daikon, they are larger and hotter than the traditional red ones and are popular in Asian cuisine.  Also coming soon, maybe 3 weeks’ time, are the green frizzy tunnel lettuce with broad beans a while after that.

This week’s leaf is Red Russian kale.  It has got a bit stalky but the leaves are fine.  There is also some spinach around in the tunnels but that will keep for when the kale has finished.  The caulis may have a couple of weeks left in them, the psb less than that, but cabbage is abundant!