Slow Food and slowing down in the field
We've had a discussion at home this week about veg boxes - over the past year we've stopped having a veg box and just relied on grabbing things, often at random, from the unit. We have access to all the veg we want it so somehow seems logical that giving ourselves a box is unecessary - costs us more and means we can't use up any dodgy veg that can't go into the boxes. But we've realised that not having a box has had a big impact on our behaviour - we are falling into the trap of deciding what we want to eat and then bringing back veg for that meal. This has made us less adventurous and less creative. We are definitely eating less veg and less variety as a result.
We are going to start getting a box again so that we know each week we have an amount of vegetables that we have to get through - even though sometimes it can be hard to use it all, or we don't feel like eating something from the box, we know that just having it there in the kitchen will mean we'll be forced to find a recipe or make a soup that at the moment we're ust not doing enough. This is ultimately why our business will always focus on the veg boxes, even though we also have the shop. We have customers who have stopped their boxes and then return realising they can't do without, if, like us, you find you're missing your box just give us a shout and we'll get you back on the round :)
And Chris got to stay over at one of his favourite places last weekend....
In the field
Things are starting to slow down, but there is still much to do. Those on social media will have seen that we had a visit from Slow Food Wales who took a heap of photos and videos where Chris talked about why slow food is so important and what it means to grow without chemicals. It was a fun morning and certainly got us thinking! Always good to have these conversations and keep working on what can be done and addressing the challenges that we face.
Martin, Jenny and Rosie have done a load more weeding though this is starting to slow down. Rosie has also managed to get a load more rhubarb into a new bed. We're hoping we should have an amazing crop of rhubarb next year! We've also just sown a load more chard in the green-house, hoping to take advantage of this warm weather and see if we can get more things going... we've one bed left in the polytunnel that would be cool to fill.
Harvesting - we were a little lighter this week - 5kg of salad leaves and 15kg of curly kale, 3 more courgettes (they're still going!), and about 500g of tomatoes..
In the boxes
Small: Sweet potatoes, pears, Savoy cabbage, leeks, palermo peppers
Regular: Squash, apples, cauliflower, curly kale, mushrooms, tomatoes, salad
Squash is either Hoargarth or Hunter Butternut squash grown in Prion, everything else should be fairly self explanatory. The tomatoes may need a few days to ripen... but we didn't want them to go to waste as they're so tasty.
In the shop
It's all about squash this week - we've got all sorts in: Uchi Kiri, Hoargarth, White Acorn 'Mashed Potato', Crown Prince, Harlequin, Patty Pan, and Butternut Hunter Squash.
We also have a great selection of brassicas - broccoli, cauliflower, savoy cabbage, January King cabbage, and red cabbage.
Also: onions and potatoes from Bryn Cochyn, leeks, beetroot, sweet potato, small courgettes (a few), salad, tomatoes, cucumbers, garlic, roscoff onions, fresh ginger, fresh turmeric.
Fruit: Russet apples (Ashmead Kernel), pears, bananas, clementines.
Plus the other organic bits (see our range here), Pentreflin milk, Nant y Felin sourdough and eggs.
Recipe inspiration
This savoy cabbage thoran looks fab and a great way to use up cabbage.
Finally, here's a little feel-good video of an elephant saying thank you. Just because.
have a great week