Welcome Back newsletter

The new season of delicious organic vegetables has started - a week or two earlier than usual. This is partly due to the sunny weather in April which brought on the crops in the polytunnels. The cold weather that we had in May did not affect them too much, although the field crops were held back. However, if the monsoon continues, we may regret our early start...!

We hope that you enjoy the new vegetables, freshly picked for the Farmers’ markets and for our box customers.

Please see below the main points of information that we have for you:

* Box prices – still held at £8 a Small box, £10 a Medium box, £12 a Large box. However, if our costs continue to increase, we may have to revise this later in the season.

* Statements – our database expert, Fred, has revised the layout of the statements - hopefully they will be clearer to understand than before. Please remember to pay on time as this keeps our costs down.

* Current collection points – please see below to check again for the most convenient point to you.

* Green plastic box deposits – still kept at £10 for three boxes. Please do return the boxes, again as this helps keep costs down.

* Advance payment – we would appreciate it if customers continue to pay two weeks in advance. This also helps keep our costs to a minimum.

* Electronic payment– we would like to encourage customers to use this method of payment if possible. Please see below for our bank details.

* Amendments, cancellation and extra orders. Please note the new system. You must receive an email or a telephone call from Linscombe Farm office in confirmation for any box changes. If you do not receive confirmation of an amendment, then this change will not have been made. Please ring or email again to ensure that the amendment has been carried out as you wish. We do need changes by Monday for Thursday deliveries and by Tuesday for Friday deliveries so that the picking schedule can be organised.

Vegetables

Almost uniquely for a box scheme, ALL the vegetables in the box are produced on the farm – we never import any produce, either from the UK or abroad. This principle reflects our overall aims for the farm: to create a healthy environment that produces wholesome food for the local community. Each week, the box has a range of "staples" such as potatoes, carrots and onions, other roots such as beetroot, celeriac, swede or squash, plus greens such as calabrese, kale, chard, cauliflower, cabbage, broccoli, spinach and a salad. In the summer, the range includes courgettes, beans, peas, tomatoes, cucumber, lettuce, peppers and aubergines. Each week, we try to include between 9 and 12 different vegetables in each box. The items above are an indication of the range of vegetables – there are lots of others! If you are not too sure how to cook a particular vegetable, look on the website for a recipe. All your recipes are very welcome too – send them to us and we can put these on the website too.

We grow over 300 varieties of vegetable, and pride ourselves on supplying interesting and varied boxes, which are standardised to provide a balanced and broad range of nutrients which helps achieve the recommended "five-a-day". This season we are giving everyone the option to have one or two seasonal dislikes and we will substitute something else, so that unwanted items are not just wasted or end up on the compost heap. This is no mean feat for the packers to do!

We also supply optional additional items – such as bags of potatoes, carrots and onions. Extras are delivered to the collection point with your box, labelled with your name.

As usual, please take your empty box with you when you collect your full one. Each box is labelled with your name in a specific colour which identifies the collection point. Look out for any extras you have ordered – remember they are NOT always in your box, but placed to the side. Please don’t leave any money, messages or cheques in the box. It won’t be collected for a week, and may not be noticed at all if the boxes get stacked. The place/people at the collection point are not involved in organising the scheme, or taking payment.

Payment:

Again as usual, your payment may be made by cheque made payable to Linscombe Farm, by cash or by electronic bank transfer. Payment should be made once per month. Ideally, we would like everyone to remain in credit and pay for two weeks’ boxes in advance.

Paying by bank transfer is very easy and enables you to stop paying whenever you like, for example if you go away on holiday and won’t be paying for boxes during that time. It also prevents large bills building up and helps us keep our costs down. Please call us for bank details.

Please ensure that the name on your vegetable box account is given for the reference in the instructions to your Bank and follow this with VB (in order that we will know that the amount paid is for your vegetable box) and your customer reference number. This will help us to allocate it to your account correctly. If the Bank account is in the name of a partner with a different name, please make sure that the person whose name appears on your statement is the name given for the reference.

If you have any further queries, please contact us either by telephone or email.

We look forward to hearing from you,

Phil and Helen Thomas

Linscombe Farm

Soil Association Symbol G2047 Organic Certification UK5

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