Half way through the year already. The busy spring rush to get everything sown and planted is over. We have passed the long days of mid summer, as always the work was never ending, watering mulching, weeding, mowing, more sowing and planting.
Now we move onto the summer harvest time. Moving from one glut to the next and waiting in anticipation for each crop to come ready. We have enjoyed endless broad beans and peas over the last few months. Now we are harvesting the first tomatoes, cucumbers and courgettes from the polytunnels, fresh and full of flavour.
Next week we will be starting sowing the fast growing winter leafy crops, spring onions and carrots, along with hardy annual flowers.
Our seasonal veg bags have been going out for the last couple of months. Getting fuller and fuller as we enter the summer glut season. Full of nutrient rich, fresh, tasty produce gown in organic rich soil.
July has been the month of weddings. Weddings delayed due to Covid are all coming this year, including our eldest son Ben and his new wife Naomi.
This year the field has become much more than a field. We are at last connected to the world, we have Wi-Fi and mobile phone signal, allowing us to run our business more easily. We have the online shop and can now receive orders immediately. Connected we can take card payments from customers who visit the land.
In May Anna joined our team as an apprentice grower. She has been invaluable this year in the veg garden, keeping on top of planting and harvesting and putting the veg bags together each week.
Also joining the team is Agathe from France, who is with us for 3 months as an intern. She has been mainly learning the flower side of the business and enjoying putting together posies.
This year we joined a network of flower growers Flowers from the Farm. There are so many people growing flowers in the UK now, it lovely to see the rise in interest.
Joey and Dave have finished installing the solar electric system. Giving us lights and refrigeration. I don’t know how we managed so long without these 20th century luxuries.