It's Good To Be Back!

Hello Everyone,

It’s good to be back!  

The festive season seems to be a long way behind us but the weeks we had away from delivering to you, our lovely customers seem to have gone in a moment.

And now its time to restart our deliveries.

The weather has been even more wet and windy than normal but we have had very little damage which could not be rectified. Lucky us and I hope you have all been lucky during the latest storms, and you are having a happy and successful start to the New Year.

Bob and I have fully rested and feel refreshed.  Seeing lots of our family has been wonderful. I have been able to prepare meals with thought behind the menu. Box sets, films and programs have all been caught up on. We have also cracked on with re-establishing the smooth running of the house…cupboards and shelves cleared and cleaned, wardrobes refreshed, out with the old (No! Not us two!) but not much of in with the new. The charity shops gained and our home feels much lighter and organised. 

Bob has taken the time to plan for the new growing seasons. The Crop Plan is up on the white boards, the seeds have all been bought, the Business Plan has been updated to cover 2024/25 and the Implementation Plan drawn up to cover our intentions for the coming months. This is the way Bob works, I like it and Bob does a fine job of creating these documents. He will continue to revise these documents through the year as things change. However, we begin the year with a brand new plan and we operate very well having a plan🤞

Our ‘Plan’ is much the same as in all years…

• to offer a good service;
• grow fresh, local, organic produce to the best of our ability;
• care for our environment, customers and crew;
• enjoy what we do.

All of which we cannot do without the crew and customers. This coming year we would like to continue making progress while concentrating on a lack of ‘waste’. Waste being - a waste of produce, time, effort and space. For instance...

• we are going to use all the space we have much more efficiently by never having ground free of a crop during each season;
• we will under sow where we can, e.g. marigolds and basil under tomato plants;
• using ground fabric coverings to grow through, which should reduce some of the effort we take to care for the growing crops particularly less weeding;
• using more flowers, herbs and nematodes to reduce the harmful and unsightly littles bugs we do not want to find amongst our crops plus increase our yield  with the use of bees for pollination;
• using our time more wisely is always a challenge but we are all going to consider more on how we use our time and hopefully as a result become more efficient.
• ensure we have as little waste on the farm as possible. So that more goes to customers. We need to educate ourselves to know exactly when a crop needs harvesting rather than too early or too late. I think we have the years under our belt to have faith in our judgments.

The new season actions are underway. The lovely Lucy has already sown this year's broad beans. I might add sown in clean and fresh seed trays. Lucy has spent lots of her time preparing the tools of our trade. Everything has been given a good clean - trays, pots, greenhouses, tools (sharpened too), shed, barn, polytunnels, fridges and packing area. All the rubbish has been removed…just a question…where does all the rubbish come from? does it just appear and get saved for later!? 

The trees in the Orchard Field, which required a winter prune, have all been pruned and we await another bumper crop of fruit during the autumn season. The fruit bushes and other trees will have a cut during Spring.

I have topped up all the Pantry Jars. I have restocked the chutneys which are now on to the website - jams will be going on in the next couple of weeks.

Bob and I have also nearly finished all the admin involved with our small business. It may be small, but my goodness the admin seems to keep growing! Would be great if someone out there could simplify some hoops we have to jump through!

You may be wondering about Graham the Great? Well he has taken January off to travel through Europe with his family. Looking forward to hearing tales on his return. 

So, it is as you were. Like the TV shows say…the website is now…Open!

We are hoping and expecting lots of you to want to order over the first few weeks, restocking on your Fresh Local Organic Produce. We will be accepting more orders over the next few weeks which may mean that some areas will be receiving their goodies on a Wednesday. This is a logistical reason…the van can only carry so many boxes and our delivery boy (Bob, who is far from being a boy but enjoys the idea of being classed as a ‘boy’!) finds it an issue when he is still delivering late into the evening particularly when it is still quite dark.

Speaking of the dark nights…only nine weeks till it is British Summer Time. Till then we are gaining two minutes of light at the beginning and end of each day. Hooray!!! I say it to myself each and every year…”this year I will soooo make the most of the light nights”…maybe this is the year? 

Great to talk to you all again,

 Have a great week,  

 Ann👩🏻‍🌾