Our MD Phil Haughton gets up early …

The longest day is almost upon us. It’s a joy to hear the bird starts chirruping at 5am and still going well after 9pm. June, July and August see supplies of fresh vegetables build to a bonanza of abundance. Spring brings early salads, asparagus, strawberries, purple sprouting broccoli, spring greens and even some early bunch turnips and carrots if you’re lucky. But summer sees the bonanza crescendo with bunch carrots and beetroot, peas, French beans, tomatoes, leafy herbs, summer squash, cucumber, raspberries, blackcurrants, leafy greens, broccoli, cauliflower, kohlrabi, bunch onions, garlic … the list goes on. What a feast, but of course how much of this we get will depend on many things, including: 1. The weather. Yes that old unpredictable chestnut. We’ve caught up, after a cold spring, so let’s be positive and expect more from our summer than last year. 2. Our wonderful farmers. They decide what to grow and in what quantity, depending ontheir predictions of demand. Last year so many growers got stung and lost money, so this year some are not growing at all, some have cut back on variety, and some have stopped direct retail to supply wholesale only. The general demand for fresh organic vegetables has been growing and so it will be interesting to see if The Community Farm have enough to go around.

Keep buying lots of organic fresh food so that:

• growers will feel more confident of expanding; • bees will be happier and colonies more likely to thrive; • you know you and your family are contributing to the sustainability of mankind on our planet.     We’re supporting the Soil Association’s Keep Britain Buzzing  Campaign – see www.soilassociation.org/wildlife/bees for what you can do to get involved…