Mind the gap! The ‘hungry gap’ that is…

If you’ve been getting a Barcombe box for a while you’ll be familiar with exactly what that means, but if you’re new here, or you’d like a refresher, head over here to our page on Seasonal Eating and scroll to the bottom where we’ve dedicated a section to explaining all about it. On our new site you can also find outwhat we grow, and why, and when, as well as explore lots of ideas and fun facts about all the produce we offer. For example, did you know we have someone called Captain Shaddock to thank for grapefruit and that the Tudors ate sweet potatoes?  

Anyway, whether you’re familiar with this dreadful sounding part of the year or not, we’d like to stress, especially in an era of toilet-paper hoarding and rising living costs, that no one is going hungry if we can do anything about it, don’t panic! Although, full-disclaimer, looking at Martin’s latest recipes will almost certainly set your stomach growling…

At Barcombe we’re committed to helping people get informed and excited about locally grown food, and, from experience, think it’s key to move away from a mentality of scarcity and rigidity, which leads to supermarkets having to impose rationing on cucumbers, and instead, get curious about what nature is currently providing. When there’s less variety available, like in early spring, it’s a good opportunity to get creative, and a reminder not to get stuck in culinary ruts, or take ingredients for granted. 

With the first warm weather, those classic afternoons where we tear (at least one of) our jumpers over our heads and, forgetting that the sun can actually emanate significant heat, turn pink across our pasty faces, it’s easy to immediately crave juicy fruit and Mediterranean dishes. The reality is though, that we’re a few weeks away from even planting our tomatoes and aubergines, so it’ll be a few months more before their branches are laden down and begging to be harvested. (If you can’t wait, of course we can provide plenty that were ripened a little closer to the equator, but that are never transported by air). 

It won’t actually be long now before we also plant our celeriac, which like all root crops takes time to convert light through its leaves into dense, starchy energy. The patch will be ready to start digging up in autumn which, if you count back the months, taking into consideration the dark, cold dormant ones, gives you some idea about when things like the carrots you’ve been dicing up recently must have been sown (way back in 2022!) and therefore why stores are currently running dry. Indeed, everything that’s emerged from the earth this calendar year is aromatic and quick growing like wild garlic, hydrating and crunchy like radishesor is the sudden effort of plants that have been biding their time in the soil through the winter (green garlic, purple sprouting broccoli and the tender stemmed brassica shoots we use in our stir fry packs). There simply haven’t been the flowers, pollinators or high temperatures needed for peaches or peppers yet!

No, there’s no use denying we’ve now finished off the very last of our stored squash from Metke at Bore Place (we’ll rely on Spanish butternuts until September) and we’re coming to the end of the UK apples and pears too (make a note to bid them farewell in style with a final crumble, perhaps using any blackberries you foraged and cleverly froze). The lamentable dwindling of the parsnips is also in sight, even our seemingly inexhaustible sea of leeks is looking depleted and the coriander is beginning to bolt so we’ll have to mow it before we know it. However, if all this is coming across as depressing, if not downright unnerving (what ARE you going to have for tea?) it’s worth remembering that sometimes the best comes last, with the leeks going out with a bang in the form of asparagus-like ‘scapes’. Talking of asparagus, perennials like this indescribably delicious delicacy, along with rhubarb, are also something to celebrate as we collectively consider stowing away our cosiest coats, downgrading our duvets and tentatively wondering about the temperature of the sea… 

Whilst it’s true we’re clearing the watercress, winter purslane and chicory beds, this makes room for the summer purslane, agretti and rare varieties of lettuce that will replace them in our ever changing salad mix. Freshly-drilled rocket and frilly mustard leaves are tasting especially new and somehow ‘clean’ and lastly, as I write this, another trick we have up our metaphorical sleeves is snuggled underground… our gleamingly white salad turnips are quietly swelling in size and by the time you read this they will be big enough to pick. They’re not the kind Thérèse Coffey urged us all to cherish back in February, but a sweet, buttery treat we are pretty evangelical about. After all, this isn’t our first hungry-gap-rodeo and we carefully plan our farming to get the most from our land, whilst caring for it in the best way we can. Though January was technically the beginning of 2023, April is when it all gets going for us and we’re excited to have you on board over the (hopefully!) bountiful months ahead. Off we go/grow!