Preparing for the Soil Association Annual Review

Hello Everyone,

Well look at these beauties…strawberries are on the way, as are other soft fruits, beans, salads, cucumbers, tomatoes, peppers and aubergines. All my favourite vegetables to grow. It must be the Summer Season. It is not just how tasty these goodies are, it is also how lush everything looks. The green of the fresh leaves and the flowers waiting to become the fruit all appear so very new. But, the produce will not be ready for another few weeks. We will all have to be a little patient until the Fresh Local Summer Organic Produce  is available.

Tomorrow we have our annual review from The Soil Association. We have never had a review during this part of the year…our busiest time of the year. We are trying to remove the Winter and early Spring crops to make way for all the lovely crops of the Summer Season. Time is critical…not only do we need to have the seeds sown and ready for planting, then preparing the land for the big plant out, then to actually plant out…now time is being used up prepping for a review. Bob and I know that all the documentation has to be ready and available but I have to admit that we are never, ever ready until the hours before the review begins. So, there have been a few days where admin has become top of the ‘list of things to do’, unfortunately. 

The nerves before having a review have long gone. We realise what the Soil Association expect and we do not feel we will have any issues (fingers crossed). However, we (by that I mean Bob our delivery Boy, head gardener, administrator, IT dept and mechanic) have loads and loads of documentation to search, collect and collate. All just very time consuming.

As we have little time to waste, just a very quick chat while we crack on with getting ready for tomorrow.

Wish us luck,