Newsletter 13th & 14th September 2007 |
| Posted on Sep 18 2007 at 1:00 PM |
…..and still the sun shines – or peaks out from behind the clouds at worst! Perhaps some hope for the winter squash maturing after all? We had a lovely farm walk on Monday evening and thanks everyone who came along and made it so enjoyable. We walked through the wood, which was greatly admired – amazing how well that’s grown in just under 5 years. This was followed by a walk around one of the vegetable fields where we saw the effects of the weather across the different plantings in the field – great variations in weed competition and control. As we promised then, in the box this week is the sample of a new variety we tried this year called “Violet Queen”. This is actually a cauliflower, but looks more like a loose calabrese head. As explained on the farm walk, this is much smaller than had been hoped for, (llast week it was the size of a tuppence, and this week it is verging on being over), and unless we get a flood of responses saying what a wonderful delicacy it is, it probably won’t get selected as one of the mainstay vegetables to grow again at Linscombe! As an aside, have you heard about the Spanish legs of ham from pigs which are shepherded for two years on a diet of acorns, then cured for two years (instead of one) and considered such a delicacy that you have to compete for them at auction and even then you have to be selected to bid at the auction? Perhaps we should try that with the “Violet Queen”. Never mind, Romanesco caulis are just showing signs of maturity a few beds over.
Calabrese – please eat this on the day you receive your box if possible, as it is not keeping at all well once picked- dry weather is to blame along with our reluctance to start irrigating so late in the year. If you can’t eat it on the day it was picked, then get it straight into the fridge. Phil chopped up and sautéed ours in the tiniest amount of water and butter for less than five minutes and it was absolutely fabulous. Also in the box are either aubergine (small and large boxes) or Putza Gold pepper (medium box), and another sample of the Brandywine tomato, either the pink or yellow version, sorry we didn’t have enough to give both.
News from the office. Chris is away on holiday this week and then finishes at Linscombe, so we wish her all the best for the future. In the meantime we have Fiona temping part-time in the office. These changes mean that we will be rigorously enforcing our deadlines for accepting changes to your box orders. From this week, all changes to box orders, whether you are a Thursday or Friday box, will have a deadline of Monday. This means all our orders can be processed on a Tuesday, which will hugely reduce the administrative work, as normally we are spending time backdating all our computerised lists to accommodate last minute orders. But, no more! So, be warned, you must get your changes for orders, extras etc in by Mondays at the latest, including cancellations. If you do find yourself with a last minute weekend break, then we are quite happy to store your box in our insulated pack-house for your collection at the beginning of the week, or alternatively, you will probably find that a friend will be delighted to collect your box for you in exchange for a munch at some of the goodies!
Other news from the office – some of you may have met our student Nick Bale, who has been with us over the summer as a part of the Shell Step Undergraduate Programme, which introduces businesses to students (and vice versa!) thus enabling students to gain first hand experience of working within a business. Nick, who studies at Reading University, has been working on a marketing and advertising project for us – many of you will by now have encountered our jute bags and seen our new leaflets which he re-designed, which have been just a part of his work with us. We are delighted to announce that last week Nick not only won the Devon finals for the Shell Step project, but the South West Regional finals as well. Today (Thursday) he is in London (with a jute bag full of vegetables needless to say) competing in the National Finals, so we are wishing him lots of luck.
Enjoy your vegetables,
.All the best, Phil, Helen, Tom, David and James and team.
Extras currently available:
White pots £1.20/kg, 2kgs £2.20, 10kgs £8.
Red pots £1.50/kg.
Carrots, £1.40/kg, 2kgs £2.50,
White onion £1.40/kg Red onion £2/kg,
basil 65p/25g, parsley 65p/50g, chard £1/220g, kale £1/220g.
Sweetcorn 60p each or 4 for £2. Red Tomatoes £2.75/kg, £2.50 for 4kgs or more.