Soil Association Inspection

Hello Everyone,

Once again, a mega huge thank you for the positive response we received regarding the vegetable boxes delivered last week.

It is very reassuring to hear kind words from you all. Hoping you are enjoying time in your kitchen creating and cooking.

A lot of our time is spent harvesting, packing and delivering for you, our lovely customers. Yet we still have to, somehow, find time to tend the growing crops and plant out fresh ones. As I mentioned last week we have only a few choices to plant out at the moment…mainly Peppers and Aubergines. Bob was able to plant out the two varieties of Aubergines we have, one being Black Pearl and the other being Three Knights. The bed these went into was quickly turned around from a lettuce bed to the Aubergine bed over last Tuesday.

The soft fruit cage had been left to do its own thing but this also included some weeds doing their thing to. They have since been removed and the ground hoe'd revealing emerging Gooseberries and Blueberries.

The Tayberry, Raspberry and Blackberry canes are covered in blossom this year as a result of ideal growing conditions…warmth and water. There is an abundance. The new Strawberry plants, unfortunately, are struggling this year. We were hoping for some fruit but it would seem it is a no. We probably planted out the new plants a little later than expected resulting in a slow start with little growth or blossom. Next year will be much better, well we hope it will be better.

The outside crops have been taking full advantage of the good weather conditions and are coming along a treat. You were able to sample the first of the outside vegetables last week…Kohl Rabi. There is soooo much more to come such as the Brassicas, Garlic and Fennel imminently. We do need to find some time to harvest the Onions and maybe start the Garlic as they will be needed for next week’s boxes. We need a few extra days in the week, especially next week.

If you are a regular reader of ‘Ann’s Journal’ you will know that we are inspected each year by the Soil Association. This is something we now take in our stride with little worry. However, there is always a huge amount of admin to provide and yes, we always leave this till the eleventh hour. If only we had continued with our good intentions from the Soil Associations last visit then we wouldn’t be in a slight panic situation. Bob will now have to gather aaalllll the information over this weekend to be ready for our inspection on Monday, yep, Monday. So, quite a bit of information gathering and collating to be done…Bob, over to you.

As we do have a visitor on Monday, we also take the time to spruce up the farm a little. One thing being to cut and strim the grass. We do have a big grass cutter which can be attached to the tractor. This makes cutting quick but still the best part of a day to complete. One huge advantage being that it is a sitting down task but it also provides the opportunity to just look around and check what is happening. While I was cutting the path in the Orchard (a running track for the grandsons) I was able to spy all the fruit on the trees which are beginning to form. There is a lot! Bob and I will be checking each tree for any created nests by the codling moth laying larvae. These larvae or worms will burrow into the apple, leaving wormholes and making the apple rot. We literally take off individual nests from the trees as we see them, reducing any damage. They look like a cobweb in a ball, just in case you have fruit trees and were considering checking them.

Well, I am now going to have a wander around the farm to see what the availability is for the boxes this week, Bob is still at his desk. He will gather himself when the football starts by which time we should be ready for tomorrow.

Thank you for your continued support.

Take care,

 Ann