Ann's Farm Journal

Keep up with all of our updates from the farm including what’s new in season!

Taking a Week Off From Delivery

Taking a Week Off From Delivery

Hello Everyone,

Bob and I hope you are all really well and staying very safe. For those that received a delivery last week you should have received a note advising that while we are delivering this week there will be no deliveries the following week (week commencing 19th October).

Hexhamshire Organics has been a very busy place to be over this last year. This is just how Bob and I want it to be. Here’s the but……but we need to re-group and catch-up with ourselves. The number of lovely customers has increased, the business has grown and as a consequence our work load has increased. Thankfully, we have a crew now and we and the crew are going to use the break from collating orders, harvesting, packing and delivering to catch up and also carry out some time critical activities.

As mentioned in the note in your box, we will be planting out Onion and Garlic Sets (only 12,000 onions and 3,000 Garlic!). These sets will mainly be planted in the Pond Field just where the potatoes had been. Good weather on the days we intend to plant would be appreciated.

We will also be removing summer plantings of tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers and herbs. These areas will then be prepared and the over wintering brassicas will be planted out in their place. Some plantings have already been achieved, but as the business grows, so does the amount of planting. Our aim is to be able to provide Fresh, Local, Organic Produce throughout the year……Seasonal Produce. We have such a lot growing right now, but we want to be able to provide you with more Organic Vegetables in the Winter Season too.

Kate, our Mummy Tamworth is expecting again. She is due to have her babies in November. We have already set up a cosy pen for her next to the barn. We do need to move her from the Well Field to her new pad. This will also happen during this time.

We also need to catch-up with admin. This is never classed as a priority, but needs must. The main task here is to be prepared for our annual Soil Association Review. This is a must. We so like having a Certification behind our business. It provides us with an approach to our business and you, our lovely customers, with a guarantee of an Organic Product.

We also would like to spend, at least one day, planning for the next year. We know that this will not be a complete plan but it will be a start. Making a start will be an achievement. The time away from the box scheme is our starting point. I will truthfully tell you how much we achieve, as writing down what we want to complete seems a tall order. Fingers crossed……..

There are some lovely additions to this week’s produce; Cauliflowers and Jerusalem Artichokes are a particular highlight. We have had some lovely feedback about the Chinese Cabbages which were in lots of last week’s boxes. To help with how to cook them Faye, our Masterchef Semi Finalist has provided two recipes, below.

Take care, Ann