Dealing with the rise in temperatures

Hello Everyone,

Welcome to the month of May and the temperatures are rising - at last. With this rise in temperature a very different set of processes need to be in place here on our farm. Firstly: The fridges ALL get switched on. The crops we harvest will need to be placed into a cooler atmosphere to ensure they keep crisp and fresh. We have three very large fridges and we always run out of space at some point during harvest. 

Secondly: We have very large white thermal insulated boxes which help with the overflow of harvest and also for deliveries. They sometimes need the large ice-packs to keep them cool, however, they are efficient enough if the vegetables are placed inside the box straight from the cold fridge.

As you can see from the packed fridge above, one days worth of deliveries of leafy greens can be quite extensive. We have been filling the goodies in compostable potato starch bags. We do find them very efficient, keeping the produce fresh with a long shelf life while also having the ability to compost within six months. But, the big "but", they are really expensive and the latest price increases have given us quite a shock! Sooooo, we will be trialing a different bag. We would like your ‘feed back’😉pun intended! The bags we have sourced are clear which means that the goodies can be recognised better, they are degradable but they do take two years to degrade. They are cheaper, we are a business and unfortunately we have to consider this, especially as we go through soooo many of these bags.

Thirdly: Watering will be back on the agenda. Even though we have had such a lot of rain, like flooding standards, we now will water in…everywhere! Between all Crew members the conversation will be ‘have you watered?’, ‘where have you had the water on?’, ‘my alarm is on my phone to remind me of the watering’ and ‘have you switched the water off!?’. Daft isn’t it! But watering is ESSENTIAL to help the crops to grow and mature for you, our lovely customers.

Fourthly: we will have visitors…frenemies…they may look nice but some visitors can be lethal! We will constantly be on the look out for white aphids, black aphids, saw flies,  beetles, cabbage whites, slugs, snails and pigeons…all enemies. But also for ladybirds, bees, frogs, toads and all those invisible creatures who will help our cause, our friends. There is a balance of nature and it is all about making this balance even.

Lastly: cutting the grass and minimising the weeds. Our ‘no-dig is a great help in keeping the unwanted plants from growing. Our system of growing beds are great at having reduced weed growth. We are able to control the growing of all within the beds. What we have to control is the growing around our fruit and vegetable beds. We try really hard, except this tends to be a job we consider at the back of our never ending list of ‘jobs to do’, to cut the grass around the beds. The wild areas can get out of hand and then Mother Nature takes over. She may just blow the unwanted seeds into our growing areas or she may just allow them to creep silently under the ground. We can but try, but she will always win, me thinks.

So, the change in months and seasons means a change in jobs and processes all to ensure Fresh Local Organic Produce.  It all takes lots of time…so I had better crack on…

Take care,

 Ann👩🏻‍🌾