What's new at The Organic Farm Shop?

4 April 2009: Mike has been busy on the farm trying to get as much field work done as he can before the weather breaks. He says it is a good time to kill weeds, hot dry days and frosty nights, kills the troublesome twitch or to give it its' proper name, couch grass.

Broad beans have been sown and soon the first lot of early cabbage and calabrese plants will arrive from the plant raisers. These plants have to be totally organic, the seed and the compost, and grown by registered growers.

The next crop to sow will be potatoes followed by 15 acres of new ley. A ley is a mixture of different grasses and clover. The cows continue to calve - 6 so far and no losses.

On the new vegetables price list you will find some price increases, it isn't because we are trying to make a quick buck, it is because of a shortage of organic produce and still a weak pound. We have entered what is known as the 'silly season', (April and May) when homegrown and local produce has come to the end of the season and most has to be imported. For instance with broccoli there are only a handful of growers in Spain supplying the whole of Europe, so they can almost charge what they like.

As this coming week is Easter Week and the shop will be closed on Good Friday may we ask you to place your orders a day earlier please if you are able to - Scarborough orders in by Wednesday and Malton orders by lunchtime Thursday. Deliveries to Scarborough will be on Thursday as usual, but Malton will be a day earlier on Thursday evening, instead of Friday.

We hope you will have a good Easter. As always a big thank you for staying with us. Anne (and Mike.)

Previous news:

• March 09: calving
• Oct 08: waiting for first frost
• May 08: busy planting, but no rain. Watering woes, new calves and a new "what's in season" web page
• April 08: first calf, new shampoos, bodywashes and soaps