G and S organics

Getting round to the blog after such a long break it feels like there is a lot to write about..some crops have been and gone through the 'garden' since the last blog with lots of salads, some spring onions, broad beans, baby turnips, radishes, garlic, mange tout all doing well. we had a great salad last night which consisted of everything in the garden so all of the above plus beetroot the flavours were amazing but the best it was the fusion of all the colours..why is that baby versions of sliced winter veg like turnip and beetroot look so good and in winter look so unappetizing?

The garden and polytunnel have faired better in the driest spring and early summer we have had in the region for over 80 years than the field crops. After two of the wettest summers on record we decided to grow the field veg on ridges this year, which has been a complete disaster.

I got a bit of a shock when I went to water the polytunnel and found piglets sleeping in amongst the tomatoes, squash and cucumber plants. They got a shock too and tried to bash out of the sides of tunnel ripping the plastic and loosening the sheet further. Beth has had to chase geese of the kids early potatoes and her own beans a few times too. This particular batch of pigs have caused a regular headache as they seem unwilling to stopped by electric fences, I assume that the ground is just too dry for them to get a good contact to earth as all the sow's still get a shock and are rarely spotted outside there own paddocks. Strawberries have proved a particular delight and those that were not chopped of by the plastic mulch flapping in the wind have now all been eaten by them, luckily the blackcurrants aren't quite as tempting for them.

We have an acre of what should be secong early potatoes that we should be harvesting in about two weeks time which are no where near ready, some having not shown any growth and all still far of flowering. An acre of carrots will mostly have to be written off, a few leaves are showing but even if it rained heavily and the temperatures maintained this level it would still be too late. The broad beans and parsnips have been a total failure with about 3% germination. We have some hope for the onions, greens and turnips as these were later going in and have had some rain but still they should be up and away by now and are nowhere near. It's amazing the difference water and wind protection makes..some of the seeds like the beans were sown in the field the same time as the garden but in the garden the plants have grown, been cropped and are now being replaced compared to maybe an inch at most of growth in the field. We can see that it's not impossible to grow veg up here provided we break the wind, improve the organic matter of the soil to retain moisture and add irrigation. Nothing a few hundred thousand quid wouldn't sort out anyway!

Speaking of cash it's the worst time of year financially for us at Christmas Farm. We have yet to get any of this year's lambs finished for the box scheme as the grass just is not growing as we would expect. We've paid for the turkey's, duck's and geese for Christmas and they'll be eating us out of house and home for another five month's before they meet there demise and we get some cash back. So order your turkey or goose now and you can come on Beth's Christmas prep courses free..the crops in the field being a write off will cause us more financial hardship as we normally rely on these providing staples like carrots, beans and lettuce for a large part of the year and whilst the garden crops keep us going for boxes during the summer they will not provide much to store for winter.

To try to get some cash in Beth's been doing evening meals the first saturday evening of every month which have been incredibly popular but I do feel sorry for her after being stuck in the shop all day and then coming back to do it all again on a night. I've also been trying to add to the farming fund by doing some fencing and building jobs locally, which is taking us both away from progressing the building work on the farm that we had hoped to get done this summer. It's a difficult time of year recruiting new members for the box scheme too, as a lot of people are growing there own or away on hols and don't want to commit to regular deliveries. Still as we always remind ourselves 'we eat well for peasants'.

We'll get an open day organised as soon as we can get the place tidy enough not to be embarrased soon but we may see you on our Steak night on August 7th. Check the website or call in the shop for details.