VEG BOX NEWS
March 2010Harsh winter hits local growers, but Spring is in the air
Laurence Guy, our Box Scheme Manager, sees light at the end of the tunnel… Having managed the Better Food Company’s box scheme for a number of years, I can start to get a picture of the yearly journey we all take with our food. Working with the seasons, and sometimes pulling my hair out trying to find enough local variety to fill the British boxes, has been a rewarding, if sometimes challenging experience.
After the extended periods of winter, where the produce available is less than bountiful, seeing the blooms of life re-emerge is always intriguing.
One of the most prominent harbingers of Spring is purple sprouting broccoli. I can hardly have a conversation with a grower in February and March without them mentioning this early sprouting crop. Fantastic simply steamed, it makes a regal accompaniment to any meal. See our website for more recipes for, or get yourselves a copy of the fantastic Boxing Clever cookbook (available in the shop), where there are no less than 19 recipes for it!
This year’s mother of all chilly spells has made the seasonal transition feel more acute than normal. Stories of reluctant growth and foraging by hungry pigeons have dominated the headlines. We’ve heard stories of whole crops of root veg, cauliflower, kale and cabbages ruined by frost and extreme weather. With growers able to do little but stand by as unhappy spectators, it’s little wonder that we can’t wait for the bleedin’ weather to lighten up a bit.
Despite all this, it’s fantastic to see how many people have engaged with buying local food, meaning that we can support our small gaggle of producers, growers and suppliers. Such support can only be a great sign for the health of our community, our local economy and environment. As we look to grow more produce ourselves at Woodbarn Farm, we really hope you join us for the ride into sunnier times ahead.
Important Changes for 2010 In order to keep the boxes brimming with fresh organic goodness, we’re adjusting our prices slightly in an upward direction, from 4th January 2010. What’s changing?
- Overall, the box contents will increase – more variety and quantity across the board – see below for details. This is in response to customer feedback – people have told us they would rather pay a bit extra for more in their boxes.
- Secondly, we haven’t put our prices up since 2006, so a small amount of the price rise is to cover a general increase in costs – something we’d originally planned to do last year, before the banking crisis.
This year we’re doubling our acreage down in Chew Magna, which means you’ll be getting even more really fresh, local organic veg for your money at the best value. We’re working closely with a number of local farmers with the same principles as us, whose focus is also on the diversity and variety that bigger producers aren’t interested in taking on. A better way forward
A lot has changed since our box scheme launched in 2006. Not only was our own growing operation in its infancy, but generally the UK’s regular supply of quality organic veg was patchy. Three years on and we’re 70-100% UK depending on the season, with ¾ of produce coming from local farms and up to ½ grown by us. Despite what you may read, our experience is that the UK’s organic vegetable growing industry is in great shape, becoming more and more economically viable and doing a hugely important job in giving people choice, quality and variety. We passionately believe in growing food with integrity, heart and soul. We are all part of a movement towards sustainability, and better tasting vegetables to boot… An increase in variety and quantity:
Family Providers - The main difference you'll see is more fruit to sustain you through the week.
Gert British - More of the basics like potatoes, onions, carrots and the odd higher value item included to increase the variety.
Veg Variety - More of an emphasis on Mediterranean items like aubergine, fennel and tomatoes throughout the seasons, with continued great variety.
Veg No Potatoes - More quantity and the ability to add the odd higher value item.
Fruit boxes – More quantity and higher value items throughout the year. Price Changes
Medium boxes: £8
Large boxes: £15
Large Family Provider (fruit and veg) £20 FREE DELIVERY for orders of £15 and over. £1 is charged for deliveries under £15.
Christmas 2009Laurence, our box scheme manager For me, Christmas is always a point of reflection. Everything about it manifests in me as a comparison upon past years, whether it's the decorations I always put up or the record I always play, it links me to other times and other people. I can't help feeling that the Christmas meal is the ultimate embodiment of that feeling. As a life long vegetarian growing up in a somewhat leftfield family, every Christmas played out with its own particular array of culinary memories, each unique and special in its own way. All the recipes I've included this year come from those memories and make me hungry just thinking about them. But it isn't just about the eating, the preparation is a massive part of what makes it special. Spending time as a family creating a meal that will in the end fill you all to bursting point before finally sending you to sleep in front of whatever television programme it is that you've negotiated to watch. One of the things I love about planning your meals around a box scheme is that it forces you to take this spirit and run with it throughout the year. In fact of the many lovely comments we've received this year I can remember several that reference that feeling of Christmas every time a box is delivered outside your door. And when you're left with a squash, some beetroot and a bag of greens you've never encountered before there's no shying away from your creative juices in the kitchen. The winter is also a challenging time for our dedicated team of pickers, packers and drivers, all of which suffer the indignity of cold dark mornings with only the elements for company. I know as I prepare the Christmas meal this year I'll be thinking about all the cold hands that have worked this year to make the meal possible. I hope you have a truly great Christmas 2009.
November musings from Laurence, our box scheme manager Picking up any of the main broadsheet newspapers over the weekend and you would most probably notice a feature highlighting the troubled lead up to the Copenhagen Treaty in December. Touted as a defining moment for the global community to set down realistic targets to tackle climate change, it is now feared that without America drawing out any meaningful commitment towards reducing their carbon emission it will be extremely hard to persuade the rest of the global community to make similar commitments. For all his detractors our Prime Minister has at least been forthright in calling for solid carbon reduction targets to be set down by the European Community. With over two years of preparation for the Treaty by negotiators it would seem that there is already much positive work that has been done to secure long term financial aid for the developing world to tackle its own social and environmental problems. It strikes me that improving global social equality has to underpin any efforts to tackle our environmental impact. With a rapidly expanding global population and with the knowledge that there are already over a billion people alive today who live on less than a dollar a day, a commitment to a more just world is not only right but essential to framing a global problem with a global solution. For more information on a local charity making great progress in challenging this inequality check out: www.theconvergingworld.org.
Celeriac - the aroma of AutumnLaurence's update for September Certain smells seem to signify the changing tide of the season like cut grass in spring and the smell of sweet aromatic fruit in the summer. For me the smell of celeriac sums up the turn towards colder weather with it’s nutty, almost cinnamon-like aroma. For those of you who are seasoned box scheme cookers, I’m sure that the celeriac holds no fear for you, though it has to said that it isn’t always the easiest vegetable to incorporate into your supper. Our lovely local celeriac from Farringtons are quite small so have yet to develop the tough bitterness that can sometimes spoil this relative of celery. Whilst young I think the best way to use celeriac is in a remoulade, a kind of celeriac coleslaw often used as an accompaniment to fish but works as a salad in its own right. There are a few variations but for the basic recipe peel and chop the celeriac into thin matchstick pieces. Add chopped parsley, soy sauce to taste and mayonnaise to coat. For variations add mustard and sliced apple. The potatoes in the boxes are our own Arran Victory again, which are best used in mash or as roasters. Remember not to over boil as they disintegrate easily. The white cabbage in the large family providers are a little green and young but still very tasty. With lots of local sweet corn, cherry tomatoes, leeks and parsnips alongside our own fennel, salad packs and Autumn King cabbages there is plenty for you to get your teeth into.
August thoughts from Laurence
Whilst we all try to cling onto the last remnants of summer, I fully expect to see BBQs blazing well into September; in meteorological terms the beginning of September means the beginning of autumn. For many growers in the UK the autumn represents the pinnacle of the growing season and it is no coincidence that the Soil Association festival, held in Bristol in a couple of weeks, corresponds with this time of plenty. Indeed our harvest festival this Saturday at our farm in Chew Magna promises to be a great celebration of all things Autumnal with delicious food, beer and fun activities. In our boxes this week we’ve got the first of our parsnips as well as the new season of British Apples in our fruit boxes. The two combine beautifully in one of my favourite soups, curried parsnip and apple. For a twist on the classic roast parsnip try; peeling and cutting the parsnip into strips before boiling until tender, melt a good knob of butter with some honey and the zest of an orange before tossing the parsnips in the butter mixture ready to serve. Alternatively toss the cooked strips of parsnip in a mixture of seasoned flour and parmesan, heat up a little oil and butter in a pan and then baste the covered parsnips before placing in a hot oven to crisp up.
The Big Box Scheme Picture: July 2009Phil Haughton, MD and main grower at Woodbarn Field, Chew Valley July is blowing out with a heat wave. It’s great to have some good summer heat, and it’s making everything grow like mad. This is good: you will a huge abundance of our own-grown field produce in the shop, in our boxes, and in a few restaurants around town. Prices are coming down on new potatoes and so we will be dropping the old potatoes soon. The heat can be problematic too – the broccoli and caulis in particular are suffering. They’re all ripening at the same time, so we had a huge glut we had to cut this last week. I was reminded why box schemes started back in the 1980s. The glut and famine of crop production left farmers with the extreme situations of either having no demand or not being able to satisfy demand. It was based around an informed partnership of farmers who grew the food they believed would suit what people wanted to buy. The wonderful reality is and always has been that we decide what goes in the boxes and sometimes it will be super abundant and other times it reflects the seasons and is a bit lean. Over a given season you always get really fresh good value vegetables from our farm topped up with bought-in produce to ensure you have year round supply and variety. As a grower I love this. I want to share and celebrate what we grow and also know that my customers appreciate that growing good organic veg is not an exact science. Big box schemes have become highly sophisticated in making sure you get what you want and the farming system largely wins or looses by its ability to perform to specifications given. This is the supermarket approach to customer service. Its fine and yet in our seeking convenience and security we can loose spontaneity and variety. Today at the field I was praising the team’s efforts and we all felt excited by how much great fresh food we are harvesting every day. We hope you are really enjoying the fruits of our labour.
May/June Overview from Laurence
Visiting our new growing venture just outside Chew Magna earlier in May, it was fantastic to see so many of the crops destined for your boxes and for the shop bedded in. A beautiful aspect looks over Chew Valley Lake and there is the possibility that we can take on more land as demand grows – it’s inspiring to see the land taking shape. With our long term food security threatened by factors as diverse as diminishing oil reserves and disappearing bee colonies it remains a real positive to see the roots of our local food production continue to flourish. If any of you are passing Chew Magna and fancy taking a look at where some of your produce is being grown please get in touch for directions – it’s just off Denny Lane, literally a stone’s throw from the lake.
We’ve got lettuces, spring onions, spring greens and chard already harvesting and more on the way, including tomatoes and strawberries.
With the first glimmers of summer, we can finally see the end of the hungry gap. Some good weather, plus increasingly good planning by local growers, means that the last few months have been given a real boost at a time when things are normally very limited. And with a predicted good summer ahead, things look better than ever for UK organic crops.
And this was in the Mail on Sunday, so it must be true: In her weekly column Sheherazade Goldsmith recommends signing up for an organic box scheme as one way to reduce your carbon footprint.
March/April Overview from Laurence
Spring spurs on a sense of hope after the trials of the cold months left behind. For many of our growers the warmer weather kick starts the growth of seasonal earlies such as purple sprouting broccoli, January king cabbage, endive, parsley and the first crop of cucumbers. For other growers the feeling of renewal hasn’t quite arrived with the sight of many crops left to grow and recuperate after the stultifying effect of the snow, wind and frost. Of course the hungry gap with British produce is no new phenomenon and in the past much of our preparation for this time of year would have concentrated on making preserves and pickles from the bounty of the summer months gone.
It’s a testament to how far British organic produce has come over the past few years when we see our British box of mixed vegetables valiantly pushing on with ever increasing variety. We believe that buying locally should never be a chore or even kept in the same breath as our responsibility to the planet, though of course this is incredibly important. Buying local, organic produce should be about enjoyment, freshness and taste. Working with many local restaurants, cafes and schools we’ve seen how important these qualities have become to the people of Bristol. Living responsibly and with care for those things near isn’t always easy but they are definitely something to enjoy.
Laurence is our Box Scheme Manager
Week beginning Monday 30th March 2009
The first of the local ridge cucumbers always seems to symbolise the beginning of bigger and better things to come from local produce and I'm very happy to say that they've arrived slightly ahead of schedule this year.
The cucumbers in some of the boxes are joined by some lovely Somerset leeks, flat leaf parsley and coriander to add a little freshness to your dishes, plus the early box stalwart, winter purslane (the small, rounded leaf – lovely in salads and stir-fries). The Italian tomatoes that had looked so good recently have arrived over ripe so we've replaced them with some Italian peppers instead.
We've had some requests recently to increase the amount of carrots in the larger boxes so we have dutifully responded with a few more across the board – all the carrots come from our friends in Wales.
The pentland javelin potatoes are good boilers but would also be excellent sautéed. Try frying boiled slices of potato with cumin seeds and a little turmeric for an Indian twist. Our purple sprouting broccoli has finally shaken off the effects of the wintry weather and is looking excellent, though we don't have too much of it left, so sadly it can only feature in the GB boxes and the large Veg Variety.
Thanks for all the box feedback we've had recently, it's really useful for us to know how we're doing so please contact us if you have any thoughts or if you create any recipes that you'd be willing to share.
Have a great culinary week.
Laurence, Box Scheme Manager
Week beginning Monday 23rd March 2009
It’s officially Spring and the warm weather comes as a welcome relief after a long, tough winter that has held back a lot of local and UK crops. The warm weather has been particularly kind on the local supply of purple sprouting broccoli from Farrington Gurney which features in a few of the boxes as a replacement for the continental broccoli scheduled for this week. We also have purple cauliflowers in a few of the boxes. These are essentially larger heads of purple sprouting broccoli. The potatoes this week are called Edzell Blue and have a lovely flavour and floury texture. In parts of Scotland the cooking of Edzell Blue was seen as a test of a cook’s ability as they break down easily if over-cooked. I’d recommend you use them for mash, fluffy chips or roast potatoes. The endive in a few of the boxes this week come from Somerset and have a slightly bitter taste so are best accompanied with a sweet honey based dressing but also compliment mustard, aniseed and natural citrus flavours. The sorrel in the large Veg Variety boxes has a slightly acidic flavour and is a great accompaniment to oily fish or added at the last minute to add a bite to soups.
Thank you once again to everyone who voted for us in the Observer Food Awards. We won’t get the results until June, but we’re mentioned in last Sunday’s Observer Food Magazine as a great independent retailer. We’ve also been short listed for the Soil Association’s Organic Retailer award and the Natural and Organic’s Best Local Retailer award – a great achievement against some stiff competition. Watch this space…
Have a great culinary week.
Laurence
Box Scheme Manager
Week beginning Monday 10th March 2009
Praise be to the warm weather! Our leaves and purple sprouting broccoli are loving it and are featuring in a few of the boxes this week, along with our baby red cabbage in the large GB boxes. In fact there’s a feeling of spring about all the boxes this week with some pink fur apple salad potatoes, lovely January king cabbages from our friends in Farrington Gurney and some good looking cauliflowers and spring greens from Cornwall. It’s enough to make you want to dust off the picnic blanket and head out into the wilds. From across the channel, there’s the first smattering of broad beans and some butternut squash, which are both fantastic in risottos.
We’d like to thank those of you who voted for us in the Observer Ethical Food awards over the last week. We’ve been reliably informed that we’ve had a load of mystery shoppers checking us out over the last few weeks and we’re hoping we can improve on our third place finish last year. However …
Even in Veg Land we have a crazy award season – we’ve just found out we’ve been short listed as Best Organic Retailer in the Soil Association’s Natural & Organic Award – PLEASE vote for us – we’re up against Abel and Cole and Riverford, among others, so we need all the local support we can muster! Go to http://www.soilassociation.org/ click on Best retailer award, tick our box and submit at the bottom of the page. Thank you – these awards count for a lot, especially to a small business like ours.
Have a great culinary week!
Laurence
Wholesale and Box Scheme Manager