He say yes!!….except that he wasn’t from Del Monte, he was the man from the Soil Association. Last Wednesday was my annual day strapped into a chair with a piercing light trained on my eyes, a steady drip drip of a tap adding to the tension and inducing a feeling of blind panic as he grilled me on when? where? how? How much? I considered just giving him my name, rank and serial number, but I’m not very brave so I just spilled the beans to him. It’s really not that bad, but it is quite intense – 5 hours of digging and delving. I have two Organic certificates, one for everything that I grow myself, and for that there is always a full audit on a specific crop to demonstrate full traceability, from the source of the seed I sowed (must be organic), on which date that I sowed it? into what type of compost (must be SA approved)? When did I transplant? When did I harvest, and what was the yield? I have to show my seed sowing, transplanting and harvesting records. Then there are all of the questions about pest and disease control, soil enhancement, feeding. The other certificate is for the produce that I buy in and resell. For that I have to show the organic certificates of all suppliers, show my purchase records, and do an audit on an item that I have bought to demonstrate the path of it from goods-in to goods-out – opening balance, closing balance, sales. I don’t quite know what business it is of the Soil Association to know commercial details, but thems is the rules. Anyway, the auditor was very satisfied with my systems and there were no non compliances, which was very satisfying, and so I can relax for another 12 months. A bonus is that I have a tidy shed for a while as it always has its spring clean before the visit.

The Swallows are back, Hoorah! I know that they have been spotted in some places for a couple of weeks or more, but this afternoon was the first time that I had seen ‘ours’ skimming above the field behind us. We don’t normally have Swifts here, but they should be back very soon, so I will look out for them in Walsham Le Willows and at the water tower at Stowlangtoft. I am yet to hear a Cuckoo this year.

I took Nellie to Moyns Park this morning, and after a walk in the woods that gave us both great pleasure, we wandered through the orchard on our way back. A good percentage of the apple trees are now in blossom and they looked a treat against a clear blue sky. There could be a frost tonight, but I don’t think that it will be severe enough to cause any damage. There were two at the beginning of last week and the courgettes under the glass cloches survived them. A decent apple harvest this year would be nice, though some of the varieties are biennial croppers, and as last year was pretty good they may take a year off.

On Thursday I went out to the van for something and noticed that the nearside rear tyre was as flat as a pancake. I put the spare wheel on in its place and called the tyre shop, but they didn’t have my size in stock, so it would be the following day before they could fit it. Fridays are always busy, so having to go off to Haverhill after doing my delivery round wasn’t ideal, but I really didn’t want be without a spare for long, particularly with the current state of the potholed roads. The tyre and suspension businesses must be doing a roaring trade, such is the pitiful state of our roads – it’s an embarrassment. I’m sure that there are third would countries with better than the appalling stretch through the village of Sturmer.

This week the availability list is little changed from the previous one. I was too late to secure any long cucumbers this week, even though I placed my order only an hour and a half after my supplier published it’s order form. I have managed to get some short ones though from the same grower. My own spring greens have all been cut, but I am getting some from a farm in Lincolnshire, and there will be purple sprouting broccoli again. Leeks, parsnips and beetroot are in the shop, but all of these are nearing the end now. Apples are Spartan, Oranges are Valencia Midnight, and lemons are from Portugal – and I hope that they are not as large as last week’s! They were lovely, but I lost money on them. There are avocados too.

I am currently thinking that I will not take my ‘Hungry Gap’ break from deliveries until the beginning of May. Last year I suspended them for 3 weeks and missed 2 farmers’ markets, which is what I will probably do this time too. So this week and next will be as normal. I will then put all of my efforts into growing my own stuff at the time when there is very little UK produce to be had. I might fit a few days off in too, to charge my batteries ahead of a long summer growing season. If new season vegetables come on stream sooner than I am anticipating I might reduce the number of weeks I am ‘off’.

It’s getting late now so I will call it a day. Have a good week, it looks like being another dry and fine one.

Phil