Well we got it. Not what they said we would get, but we got it, and possibly more tomorrow. When I left Moyns Park this afternoon I measured 16mm in the rain guage, an accumulation of yesterday and today, and very welcome it is too. The good thing is that, thus far, the precipitation has been steady and fairly gentle, not the violent stuff that we were warned of, so all in all I am pretty happy. Yes you heard it here, I am not miserable, glory be!
However, the happiness is not overarching, because there are things that I am not best pleased about. In the week past the flea beetles have arrived in vast numbers and have decimated the brassicas. Only last week I was moaning about the cabbage white butterflies, but they are nothing when compared to our equivalent of a plague of locusts. As I walked through the cabbage patch last week all that I could hear was the pinging of the tiny black beetles as they scattered from one plant to another after peppering the leaves of all things brassica with little holes, making their target plants unsellable. Some of the younger ones should survive and grow through the infestation, but it leaves me with a big hole in what I can offer you in the way of greens, so this week we are down to chard I’m afraid.
Last week I thought that I would treat you with some bought-in purple sprouting broccoli, just for a change. When it arrived it was slimy and smelly, so it went straight on to the compost heap – what a waste! I was able to harvest enough of my own broccoli crop to provide a substitute. Don’t worry, I will receive a credit from the supplier to cover the cost of the rejected produce, but that’s not really the point. It should not have been sent to me in that condition.
Assisted by the loopy weather I have to confess that I have got my timings wrong, and as a consequence there is no lettuce this week. The next batch should be okay for next week. It will give you some respite from salads for a week – you are probably getting fed up with them by now anyway. What I will have is Florence fennel, my own garlic, rhubarb, the first of the marrows, patty pan and spaghetti squash, and pointed white cabbage – ideal for making coleslaw with I should think, but if you are having a break from salads you might not want that. Hmmm, I haven’t thought this through have I? Also on offer are my onions. They will be ‘green’, meaning that they are freshly harvested so will not have cured (dried), so are best used fresh. There are regular brown onions and also torpedo shaped Florence Red, which are quite like banana shallots to look at. Lemons will be the green skinned summer fruiting Verdelli. Last week I ordered 2 boxes, one had regular sized fruit in it, which is what I put in your boxes. The other had great big things the size of hand grenades in it, and I don’t know what I will receive this week until the delivery arrives, so I have assumed they will be big and have priced them accordingly. If they are not I will have to sort something out to make it right with you.
Pheasant update. She has still got at least three chicks, because that’s the number I saw this afternoon in the garden. During the week I had to rescue the babies on a couple of occasions, once from the polytunnel (again) and another time when two of them dashed into the sunken greenhouse. they led me a merry dance nipping underneath the benches and hiding, but eventually I caught them both and delivered them in the direction of their anxious mother who does the hokey cokey in front of me when she is in a heightened state of anxiety. She is very sensible though, in that to my knowledge she has kept her brood within the confines of the relatively safe fenced garden.
Last night I attended a screening of a film titled ‘Don’t fight the land that feeds you’ by Colchester based film maker, Marley Karazimba, who was commissioned by Essex County Council to produce a piece of art about regeneration, the people of Essex and the land that nourishes them. It depicts a number of farmers, growers and community projects from across the county that share a common thread – producing food using sustainable growing methods to provide local communities with ‘clean’ nourishing fruit, vegetables and meat. The short film captured the passion and commitment of those involved in small scale ethical food production. Hosts of the film screening were Christophe and Holly who run the ‘Cradle’ vegan bakery/restaurant/café in Sudbury, and who feature in the film. I have supplied vegetables to Cradle from the day it opened back in 2017 and am a great admirer of what they do. I am not a vegan myself but am in awe of Christophe’s plant based culinary creations, some of which we were treated to in the form of canapes last evening.
This week’s main photo was taken in my garden at home and shows a bumblebee hard at work on an Echinacea flower.
I’m off now, enjoy the respite of this more traditional summer weather. Funnily enough it has coincided with the start of the school summer holidays 😀
Phil