Thank You

Hello Everyone,

Thank you for your continued support for Hexhamshire Organics. A few weeks ago we raised our box and minimum order prices, basically by 10%. We were expecting a bit of a down turn, however, low and behold, we have still reached capacity every, single, week! Thank you, we really appreciate the confidence you have in Bob and myself and our Crew, especially when we are all in uncertain financial times.

When I go food shopping (obviously food, the only other items I buy tend to be books, toys, clothes and postage for our three mini people, never that little black dress these days!), I look closely at the packaging, quality, weight and cost of the fruit and vegetables in the display areas. If Bob is with me, we tend to give out a mighty ‘tut-tut’ at how surprised we are at the packaging and definitely at the price. Generally, the quality is good considering some of the air miles they are travelling. However, the cost of most items have definitely increased and only a few products are decreasing in cost. Very often our Hexhamshire Organics produce is much cheaper than the goods flown in from the other side of the world!

The result of my mini research is that we seem to be competitive, I would like to say more tasty, use far less packaging (although it is getting less in the shops), rather larger than shop bought and looking quite presentable. We do like the goodies to look pleasant even with that ‘just been harvested’ appearance. Plus we are in your area, delivering to your very door our…

Fresh Local Organic Seasonal Produce 

Our produce is generally larger, in size, than the shops as we may leave the leaves on the produce. For instance, HexOrg celery sticks are complete with the leafy greens. The shops are unable to do this as the produce just wouldn’t fit on the shelves, plus the leaves would wilt from harvesting to storing to selling. This would not look good. The leaves left on is a good indication that the produce is freshly harvested. Many of our leaves can also be used in your cooking…such as the celery, which can be added to many dishes you maybe cooking and the carrot tops from our new baby carrots can be used as a pesto. (Top Tip here - remove the green tops from your carrots on receipt as your carrots will stay firmer for longer).

We also tend to have larger greens…the shops would never cope with some of our cabbages which are heavy and enormous. They would definitely not cope with our lettuces…they have been beauties and would never be seen in the fridges. Even though very large, we have had lots of lovely comments about our lettuces, especially how they keep really well for more than a week!…More lettuces in the coming weeks.

Our herbs are amazing and I am not ashamed to boast about them. Once again, soooo unlike the shop bought herbs. Ours would certainly not fit in the packets the herbs are sold in. We also offer a huge choice of an assortment of herbs which will not be seen in the shops. You will receive grand bunches of the herbs to create culinary magic in your kitchen. The word to describe our herbs is ‘intense’. They certainly are more aromatic and flavoursome. We have a herb for all your dishes over the summer months, from bbq to pasta to salads to roasting to stewing, to freezing to preserving. Or to my new latest thing…making tea and smoothies. They also look fab in a vase or jug in your kitchen! More herbs coming soon.

Above you can see our Hexhamshire Organics courgettes are being harvested in abundance. Hooray! We will have our three varieties of courgette on the website from this week. If buying, you will receive whatever is harvested on the day. They grow very quickly and are not at all like the shop bought (which I found tasteless from what I can remember). You may get a round courgette…summer squash which are much more popular in the Mediterranean areas. These can be used in exactly the same way as the long green and yellow courgette. Or you can scoop the middle out and use the filling to cook with while the outer ball can become your bowl for the prepared dish. Go posh and organic! 

Please don’t think that I am damming the shops. I, obviously, want to big up what we and all other farmers do. I also want it to be known how hard farmers and growers work to produce for the big shops and supplying local customers. More importantly, I want it to be seen by the big shops and their customers that the farmers and growers are crucial to the well being of us all and for them to appreciate how hard the producers graft. Buying from the likes of us…a small local producer…and understanding what we are trying to achieve says to Bob and I that you do understand and acknowledge our ambitions and maybe also enjoy the goodies. Having a choice is good, so, whether using the big shops or the likes of us please buy seasonal produce from local and British farmers…however, I am preaching to the converted…Big Thank You 🤗 

Have a great week,

Ann👩‍🌾