Many plants to "plant out"

Hi All,

We all know that this last year has seen many changes and has been ‘unusual’ to say the least. From our farms point of view, maybe a few little changes……

Last year the government began a campaign to back British workers for British farms, the so called ‘Pick for Britain’ campaign. We all realise that this was due to the fact that European workers were going to find it very difficult to work on farms in Britain as Brexit flagged up lots of issues plus COVID restrictions on travel. The campaign has now been dropped as, frankly, it just didn’t work. This is not only due to a very low take up due to it being hard work, but also because it is generally seasonal work, a long way from home, lack of transport, care of children issues….in fact all sorts of issues.

Here on the farm we are very lucky. We have a lovely Lucy who actually lives nearby and is a horticulturist, we have a great Graham who lives not too far away but has transport and wants to learn and we have the helpful, smiley Scarlett who also lives very near to the farm. How lucky are we! The big plus is that they all ‘get’ the ethos we are trying to establish….. Fresh Local Organic …..Win. Win. Win.

Thank goodness we have the Crew as the big “plant out” begins!
The sowing began in January, the seeds germinated and grew in the heated greenhouses now it is time to plant them out. As the over wintering crops come out and popped into your organic boxes (and now also Jesmondfoodmarket), the new season crops replace the space in the ground. As we are “no dig”, little prep is required, although a fresh top up of new compost maybe needed in some areas. Volcanic rock dust is scattered occasionally. This helps to increase the minerals within the ground and so the plant, which is to be grown, enjoys the extra nourishment.

Lucy is living and dreaming onions. She is planting out the twelve thousand red onions which were sown earlier this year. Our overwintering kale has more or less come to an end but don’t panic….more has been planted out for later this summer. Only got more broccoli, calabrese, cauliflowers, cabbages, leeks, onions, aubergines, cucumbers, peppers, chard, beetroot, celery, celeriac, salad and leaf crops to go out…in all over twenty thousand seeds (so far) to plant out! Thank goodness the Crew ‘get it’!

We have also direct sown our turnips, carrots and radish….they are all coming along very nicely.

More seeds will be sown for the next season of growing over the coming weeks.
All according to the plan which we created over the festive period last year. So far the crop and seeding plan, which is regularly tuned, is going well.

The infrastructure of the farm is also being finely tuned. From things as simple as putting up a shed to store equipment to having watering systems in place to solving problems with pests. (There is soooooo much more to our infrastructure).
All this hard work from the Crew has helped to create Our Farm.
So, we have changed very little this last year, we have just grown….in staff levels, farm levels as well as plant levels.

Thank you for placing your orders in really early, it is so helpful, especially as we are harvesting many, many more veggies. Thank you for returning all our boxes. Thank you for all the lovely comments you keep sending.

You are all wonderful customers, who also ‘get it’.

Take Care, Still Stay Safe,
Ann👩‍🌾