Soft Fruit Area completed

Hello everyone,

Bob and I hope you are all very well. Thank you for your orders and for returning the boxes. 

As you are probably finding, doing your domestic shopping, there is an increase of pricing on most products. We are finding the same with all the products we have to buy. The boxes are, a for instance, this week. We have had to buy a pallet of the boxes and they have increased by approximately 30% compared to this time last year. They have now increased to one pound per box. So it would be great if you continue to return the boxes so we can reuse them, and control the cost to each delivery. Thank you.

Over recent weeks the number of customers who are buying boxes has grown again and the demand for our veg boxes has steadily increased. As a result we have reached our capacity for the number of boxes we can pack, load into the electric van and deliver to you our lovely customers.

Bob and I have therefore decided that at the point we reach our full quota for that week the website shop will have to close. We want to continue to provide the best service we can and we think we can do this by limiting the numbers for each week, so we apologise for any future disappointment. 

We update the website with what we have available each Sunday morning so the best way to confirm your order for the week is to use the weekly email as an early prompt, as many of you do, to submit your order.

As you can see from the picture above, the soft fruit area is now complete. The Crew (Lucy and Graham), Bob and myself are really happy with how it has come together. We think it looks quite professional and we cannot wait for the canes and blossom to grow. Once everywhere is green and lush it should look spectacular. In total we have:

• 1000 strawberry plants
• 40 rhubarb crowns
• 100 summer raspberry canes
• 100 autumn raspberry canes
• 20 cultivated blackberry canes
• 12 tayberry canes
• 20 gooseberry bushes
• 15 blueberry bushes.

These soft fruits are in addition to our 55 apple trees, 20 plum trees and 10 pear trees. The assortment of organic fruit we will be providing the box scheme over the coming seasons will therefore be quite a good selection. We cannot guarantee fruit thru the whole of the year, after all we are aiming to be seasonal. But there should be sufficient for you to fill your freezer. Hexhamshire Organics, as we keep saying will soon be totally seasonal.

Now that the soft fruit area is complete we are about to begin to create the new growing area in the Orchard Field. The digger and dumper have been hired, the drainage pipes ordered and the compost set for delivery. We will begin to create the new growing area in nine days time. This area will be our overwintering growing bed. But it is going to take some graft to establish this huge bed…a fifteen thousand square foot bed!

Going to crack on then…and don’t forget to place your order asap.

Take care,

 Ann👩‍🌾