Again the month of January has been quite mild and as we change to February we are seeing some colder but drier weather. I enjoy a dry spell at this time of year as we start our annual tree pruning and pollarding of the alder windbreaks. We find pollarding allows them to still perform as a windbreak but gives us our annual wood requirement for our woodburner in the house. It is also the time of year when we start to sow the first crops of the season and already spring onions spring cabbage rocket and swiss chard have been sown and are gently growing away in the poly tunnel. These early crops will take the frost and we will now continue to sow new crops on a weekly basis through until June. January is also conference month and Debra and I attended the Organic producers conference which was held this year in Birmingham. As per usual it was good to get together for a couple of days and look back over the season gone and then forward to the one to come. The international speaker was very inspiring and was Miguel Altieri from UC Berkley where he is professor of Agroecology. This as all of you who have been to our nursery is the way we grow our crops along side timber production and methods like this are being seen as a local solution to food security around the world. For us here at GwN it is quite a special year as we celebrate 30 years of organic production 25 years of marriage and 20 years of our box scheme. We will be holding a Barn Dance later in the year to celebrate. Watch this space for further details. Our Facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/GardenersCottageatGrowingWithNature) for our house which we have decided to rent out for holiday lets is building nicely with lots of favourable comments coming in . Our new website www.growing-with-nature/gardeners cottage is now live with full online availability and booking available. We have now had our first clients who tell me that they enjoyed their stay with us. I mentioned last month about a group of major manufacturers of organic products called the Organic Trade Board (OTB) who have raised about £1millon which has been match funded by the EU and is running a generic advertising campaign called Why I love organic. This is running all this year and involves full page adverts in the popular press as well as some TV ads. They have a website and are looking for feedback and interaction with people who do buy organic and hopefully will increase the market by the end of the year. If you are interested please take a look at www.whyiloveorganic.co.uk/ .
SMALL BAG - Potatoes Carrots Onions Kale Beet Mushroom Swede .
MEDIUM BAG - Potatoes Onions Carrots Tuscan Cabbage Bramleys Celeriac Artichoke Swede Garlic.
LARGE BAG - Potatoes Carrots Onions Parsnip Leeks Cabbage Artichoke Bramleys Mushroom Garlic .
EXTRAS AVAILABLE
All extra's are available in addition to your standard bag. Crops available this week Potatoes ,Carrots, Onions, Tuscan Cabbage Spinach Cabbage Sprouts Celeriac Leeks Parsnip Swede Jerusalem Artichokes Mushrooms Beetroot Brocolli .
SMALL BAG - Potatoes, Carrots Onions Spinach Leeks Sprouts Parsnip . .
MEDIUM BAG - Potatoes,Carrots Onions Leeks Sprouts Beetroot Cabbage Parsnip Mushrooms .
LARGE BAG - Potatoes, Carrots Onions Leeks Beetroot Tuscan Cabbage Brocolli Swede Sprouts Mushrooms .
EXTRAS AVAILABLE
All extra's are available in addition to your standard bag. Crops available this week Potatoes, Carrots Onions,Tuscan Cabbage Curly Kale Mushrooms Spinach Beetroot Sprouts Celeriac Parsnips Swedes Leeks Jerusalem Artichokes Brocolli .
Newsletters are provided free of charge to our customers at the beginning of each month.
This excellent recipe book specially written for members of a box scheme in Scotland is available direct from the publishers and writers themselves. For anyone who has ever wanted to do something different with Swedes Cabbages Beetroot Sprouts and the Kales then this book is an absolute must.
To order direct contact J & J Publishing on 01343 850 123.
For a wide choice of vegetable recipes please see www.vegbox-recipes.co.uk
Supported by the Lancashire LEADER+ programme,
funded by the EU & Defra and supported by Lancashire Economic Partnership
