At the farmers’ market last Saturday I scored a spectacular own goal. It was as though I had leapt like a salmon and fired an overhead scissor kick into the top corner of the net past my own goalkeeper!
In these digital days I take 75% of payments via my little card reader that is linked to my phone (and looking at that photo what a grubby phone it is) in to which I tap the value of the sale using the app of the PoS device (point of sale for those of you that are unfamiliar with the terminology of the retail world…..I like to be a little patronising sometimes). I then present the card reader to my customer and they tap their card or offer up their phone to transfer the money from their account into mine. So far so good. However, on this occasion something went awry. The procedure described was followed, the card reader pinged to indicate the sale had been completed and off went the customer with their goodies. Several minutes later my own phone flashed up a notification from my bank to tell me that I had just made a payment to Moyns Park Organics for £17.50. I had paid for my customer’s order!
My phone is protected by a case that has a flap to cover the screen. On the inside of that cover there are slots in which you can store your debit card, drivers licence, library card, donor card and old age pensioner bus pass – I haven’t yet got one of those, but as a senior citizen I really ought to. In my tale of woe my own phone was obviously too close to the card reader and from within its slot in the case my personal debit card had kindly paid for the vegetables. By the time that the penny had dropped I had made a number of other transactions and could not remember who had spent £17.50, so in my head I had written it off and marked it down to experience. Yesterday the very honest customer asked me if their payment from the previous week had gone through, because it hadn’t shown up on their banking app. That was very nice of them and I expressed my sincere gratitude for putting things right. I have now taken to removing my phone from its case while I am trading at the market to avoid further own goals.
I have employed the Trailcam on a couple more occasions in the orchard and have captured dozens more images of the usual suspects on their nightly visits to the all you can eat buffet. In fact there are so many videos that I am going to have to be a bit more imaginative with the siting of the camera to get better quality rather than quantity. It is getting close to the rutting season and I would love to capture some footage of that, so I need to find the right spot to set up the camera in the woods. D’Arcy has shown up in the images from time to time, but he/she is not around as much as they were – maybe it’s just got too busy down there.
Yesterday morning in the half light I was cutting lettuces for the market at 6.30 and had the company of two Muntjac, one on my side of the fence and one calling to it from the copse on the other side of it. The one in the trees was barking very loudly, it must have rudely woken the people that live in the cottages that back on to the garden.
It’s gone too flipping dry again. The little bit of respite of a couple of weeks ago is a distant memory, so plants are getting stressed again. The mustard cover crop that I sowed the week before last is trying to germinate, but without some rain it will be very patchy, and there is no sign of the rye/vetch popping through yet. I have removed perpetual spinach from the shop this week to give it a rest, it’s a crop that needs moisture, and it ain’t getting any. The batch of spinach that I planted about 3 weeks ago in the polytunnel is close to being ready to pick. Even the grass has slowed down again, and it seems to have an odd feel to it, no spring, lacking guts.
The broccoli wasn’t the best last week so I am getting it from a different grower this time round – one that is located in the fens. If there is not a significant improvement in its quality I will give broccoli a miss for a while. There are still some French beans, plus Romanesco cauliflower, red and savoy cabbage. Leeks, onions, carrots, beetroot, sweet potatoes, red onions and parsnips. We are down to limited quantity of cherry tomatoes now, and there are still some green peppers from the greenhouse. Mushrooms this week will be the open cup ‘Portabellini’ type – basically small Portabellos.
I collected the apple juice last Tuesday, 142 bottles from the first batch, and it’s come out pretty well. It is quite well rounded with some sweetness, but not too much. I am hoping to drop off another lot of apples tomorrow if my pick goes well.
Wasn’t the full harvest moon beautiful? It was close to setting when I was on my way to the garden yesterday morning and it looked huge. I tried to take a photo of it but it didn’t do it justice. By the way, Harvest Moon, it’s a lovely song.
Right that’s me done. Have a nice week.
Phil