News from the farm

30/06/26

The start of boxes

We're now going into our third week of running the box scheme and we're starting to find a rhythm. Although we've ran a box scheme before, we're growing on a new site, packing in a temporary room and using a new to us system so there's been lots to figure out.

The support we've had launching the scheme has been wonderful and it's very reassuring to find out there's an appetite for what we're doing. We've had some great feedback about the quality and variety of the veg we're offering.

Summer crops coming on

One good thing about the recent hot weather has been the growth in the polytunnel. Some of the tomatoes are taller than us now and we're starting to get fruits ripening - hopefully next week we'll be able to share them with you. We've got something like 15 varieties of tomatoes to enjoy this year, we'd love to hear which end up being your favourites.

Also in the polytunnel the aubergines and peppers are really starting to flourish. We'll be picking the sweet peppers green this week. It can be hard at this time of year to get the colour to develop on peppers so we'll do this first pick now so the plants can put their energy into the next wave of fruits.

Introducing - Huauzontle (Aztec Broccoli)

Throughout the year there'll be some vegetables going into the boxes that you probably haven't come across before - hopefully you'll agree it's one of the perks of supporting a small scale veg box scheme.

The first one we'd like to introduce you to is a Mexican plant called Huauzontle. It fits the gap of wanting a sprouting broccoli type crop during the summer. The plants are already huge and covered in shoots of new buds.

It has a really mild taste, similar to spinach and can be cooked like any other sprouting broccoli. We've enjoyed it simply fried as a side dish (you may want to remove the stalk for this), as well thrown into pasta water for the last few minutes for a really easy way of getting more greens in.